Albondigas (Spanish Meatballs)

I love meatballs! What can I say! There’s something so satisfying in them. I especially love the Spanish version called albondigas. I always order them in Spanish restaurants and always eat the lion’s share. So, making them at home is dangerous as I have a tendency not only to eat them from the pan, before serving, but also returing to the pan after eating to finish them off; one by one. The sauce for this is beautiful and will greatly benefit from you using good quality chopped tomatoes.

RECIPE:

Sausage with Fava Beans

I’d bought some gourmet lamb sausages a few weeks ago and have been meaning to use them ever since. I love the combination of sausages with grains and pulses so knew this dish would be delicious. It’s a really simple dish to make. You don’t have to hunt out lamb sausages, it would work equally as well with pork sausages, as long as they’re good quality. Instead of rosemary you could use any herb you like such as sage, thyme, oregano or marjoram whatever you think will compliment your variety of sausage the best.

RECIPE:

Chicken in Brandy and Herbs

A delicious little herby number for some chicken. It’s very simple and tasty. I love a meal that just sits in a pot getting tastier and tastier while you get stuck into the wine. Perfect.

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Chorizo with Baked Rice and Eggs.

Here’s another magnificent one-pot Spanish dish. I was inspired by my Lebanese Chicken Fattee to create something which could feed us from the one pot. It saves a lot of hassle and washing up after all. This was an ideal little dish and really tasty to boot. I couldn’t stop eating!

RECIPE:

Saffron Roast Potatoes

The distinctive, yet subtle flavour of saffron makes this delicious side dish really stand out in both taste and colour. The vibrant yellow of saffron does it’s magic on the potatoes and will guarantee a ripple of applause from either yourself or your guests when it comes out the oven. Just make sure nobody’s looking when you applaud your own dish – it’s a tad camp.

RECIPE:

Spanish Quail & Proscuitto Croquettes

I had a couple of quails leftover from something (I forget when), They’d been in the freezer for a while so needed to get rid of them. This great recipe immediately jumped out. Being a child of the 70s I love croquettes. I’d made these before but used chicken – to be honest the taste difference of using quail is not even noticeable – so feel free to substitute. They’re creamy and crunchy all in one. An absolute delight.

RECIPE:

Prawns with Garlic, Herbs and Wine

There are times I wish I hadn’t set a precedent of cooking from scratch every night. Tonight was one of those nights. All I wanted to do after work was heat up some oven chips and make some chip sandwiches. Sadly oven chips do not exist in my house, so after a little scour in the freezer I happened upon some prawns. I wasn’t particularly hungry either so I decided on this really simple little snack! A really easy litte starter or tapas dish. It’s so quick to make and the taste is surprisingly delicious. Less time in the kitchen, more time in front of the TV – lovely.

RECIPE: (serves 2 as a starter of 4 as a tapas dish)

Chicken with Garlic & White Wine

I missed a couple of posts – apologies, but I’ve been quite unlucky of late with my recipe choices neither of which will feature on this site. Bad and bad – firstly a dreadful parsnip puree I had on good authority was delicious, instead was a rancid metallic nightmare. And most recently Balinese duck – which looked lovely in the book, sounded delicious. Instead, it turned out to be a pile of dry old duck meat, half a litre of duck fat, alongside a sour and greasy sauce filled with bits of whole spices to pick out of your mouth. Not good. I was beginning to doubt my cooking abilities. Until tonight. It came in the form of a delicious Spanish chicken dish. I do love garlic. Imagine the surprise when I discovered this dish contained some 16 cloves. You may think the resulting taste would be overpowering, but because of the time it cooks for it mellows considerably into a wonderful, rich sauce. It’s one of Spain’s best chicken dishes and a national treasure to boot – not to mention my cooking saviour.

RECIPE:

Cauliflower Soup with Chorizo

I called upon this delicious soup that I’d made a while back for my first course. It’s a deliciously mild flavour, tarted up with a zing of smoky chorizo sausage. It went down a treat! give it a go, it’s lovely.

RECIPE:

Spaghetti with Chorizo and Prawns

This is a delicious pasta sauce. Seriously delicious and seriously easy! I just love the smoky taste of paprika and I am properly addicted to chorizo. Those Spaniards!

RECIPE: