Top Notch And Most Amazing Spanish Famous Dishes
Spanish cuisine is an attraction in itself. We offer to postpone everything and go on a virtual gastronomic journey through Catalonia, the Basque Country and other regions of this sunny corner of Europe.
It is believed that the first mention of the Spanish tortilla dates back to 1817. According to legend, a poor resident of Navarre prepared a potato omelet for the Spanish general from all the products that she could find in the house. The assortment was not rich - potatoes, onions and a few eggs, but the general liked the dish, and soon the simple recipe became very popular.
Today, the traditional tortilla can be enjoyed in every Spanish city, from Seville to Barcelona to A Coruña.
During the summer months in southern Spain, there is no better escape from the heat than a well-chilled tomato gazpacho soup. In addition to tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olive oil and garlic are added to it, and, as a rule, served with toast and red pepper.
According to one of the culinary legends, the Spanish muleteers invented the soup, who always had the above products on hand. Today, this traditional Spanish dish is one of the most famous tomato soups in the world. In Spain, you can find many variations of the famous paella, but in any case, rice will be its essential ingredient.
Traditionally, rural Spanish people made paella with whatever products were available to them, adding chicken, rabbit meat and typical Valencian vegetables such as lima beans or sugar beans to rice. But over the centuries, the paella recipe has undergone a number of changes, and today the most popular in Spain is rice with seafood, such as shrimp and cuttlefish. Cuttlefish ink spilling over a plate can confuse an unprepared tourist at first. But once you try this unusual dish, all fears will disappear. When cooking cuttlefish, as a rule, a little trick is applied - its own ink is used for taste, and artificial ones are added for color intensity. Onions, garlic, parsley, cayenne pepper and an indispensable glass of wine add piquancy to the dish. The pride of Basque cuisine is the dry white wine chakoli, which is often used in the preparation of traditional dishes of the Basque Country. One of them is horse mackerel with chakoli. The fish is usually cooked in a pot, adding tomatoes, onions, carrots, leeks, garlic, oil and, of course, a glass of chakoli.
You can taste the perfect Basque horse mackerel with chakoli in the restaurants of Bilbao and San Sebastian. You can't visit Teruel and not try the Teruel migas. It is prepared quite easily - the bread is cut, soaked for a day in salted water, and then fried with butter and garlic, stirring constantly. The result is a very unusual, tasty and satisfying dish of bread crumbs, somewhat reminiscent of couscous. To prepare Catalan eggplant with red pepper, the vegetables are held over an open fire or grilled until the skin turns black. Then cover with a plate and cool, after which the eggplant and peppers are peeled and cut into strips.
Tip: Don't try to chill the vegetables under cold water, as they will lose their juice, which gives the dish its characteristic flavor and aroma. In most places, vegetables are served with toasted bread dipped in tomato juice and oil, with anchovies and onions, and sometimes with tuna. One of the brightest and most satisfying Spanish dishes is Madrid stew. It contains many ingredients: chickpeas (Turkish beans), gelatinous meat, chicken, smoked sausage, black pudding, meatballs, cabbage, onions, green beans, rice, bacon, ham, butter and garlic. After almost three hours of gentle languor, a very tasty, warming and, no less important on a winter day, hearty dish is obtained. The recipe for this dessert with a characteristic nutty taste has been known since the 16th century. The traditional Galician Santiago cake is made with flour, butter, almonds, sugar, eggs and lemons. In Spain, the cake is necessarily decorated with a sprinkle of powdered sugar in the form of a Santiago cross using a special stencil. A glass of exquisite Galician wine Liquor Regueiro will be a great addition to dessert. This concept includes a whole range of desserts: all kinds of pancakes with honey or sugar, cereals and chips from any products (for example, from apples and dried mango), as well as honey cakes made from thin dough, which are always present on the table on All Saints Day and for Easter. So, if you see a sign with the word hojuelas, feel free to come in and order any dessert. Spanish cuisine has become significantly more popular in recent years, becoming one of the most important in the world thanks to innovative geniuses such as Ferran Adria and the Roca brothers. However, typical Spanish food consists of recipes that date back hundreds of years, based on the use of fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. Each region of Spain has its own star dishes and unique flavors, so feel free to try all of the country's specialties.