Wild mushroom empanada

I would say that empanada is a huge baked dumpling or pie, and an older brother of empanadillas, which are small baked dumplings, popular in Spain and several South American countries. In Spain, the most popular are empanadas from Galicia. Their dough contains quite a large amounts of fat (lard or olive oil), flour and water; sometimes a liquid formed during the preparation of filling is also added to it. Fillings are quite varied: meat, fish, seafood, vegetables or mushrooms, but the basis of almost all of them is sofrito: chopped onions and green and/or red peppers fried in olive oil, to which grated tomatoes or tomato sauce is often added. Typical Galician empanadas are prepared in large circular baking tins. The dough should be rolled out quite thin into 2 circles - one for the bottom and the other on top of the filling. The sealing of typical Galician empanada is done by forming spiral shaped edges and its top is often decorated with dough strips. In the middle of almost every empanada you will find a small hole, which helps the empanada to ''breathe'' during baking. Normally it's cut into wedges, served hot or cold, as a snack or appetiser. 

Meatballs in tomato sauce (Albóndigas en salsa de tomate)

When a few years ago I decided to start a blog, not for a moment did I think that I would get so much involved in cooking, photographing and writing the posts. From the begging, I decided that I would never force myself to do it. It so happened that during the last three months I took a break from blogging and instead of writing posts and photographing what I cooked, I preferred to cook just for my own pleasure; not only Spanish dishes, but especially those Polish ones, from my ''old'' years. Thus, my summer menu was full of cold soups with beet, potato dumplings (kopytka), stuffed dumplings (pierogi), cauliflower with butter and bread crumbs and beef roulades. Fortunately, after the storm comes the sun, and now, day by day, I'm more keen on looking for new Spanish recipes and of course on testing them. Today's recipe was tried out by me in late summer, when the stalls sagged under the weight of juicy, ripe and incredibly red tomatoes. Meatballs in tomato sauce is one of the classics of Spanish cuisine. You will meet them in tapas bars and also in restaurants serving traditional Spanish dishes.

Tapa called banderilla

One of the popular tapas served in bars and taverns of northern Spain is Banderilla. These easy treats got their name from spears (one end has the spear and the other ruffled paper of different colours) used during bullfight by banderilleros, who attempt to plant them into the bull's shoulders. Banderilla as cold spicy-sour tapa is made from green olives, spicy pickled green peppers (guindillas), anchovy or tuna preserved in olive oil and pickled cucumbers; skewered together. Sometimes other pickled ingredients as onions, red pepper or carrots are added.

Baked sardines

This tiny, silver and delicate fish with distinctive flavor; and most importantly very healthy, because it contains large amounts of omega-3; tastes better grilled, but I assure you that baked in the oven is also delicious:). When buying the fish, remember that fresh sardines should be silvery and shiny, and their eyes should not be sunken or yellowish, but bright and clear. Fresh fish smell like the sea but have no strong odor, which usually indicates spoilage.

Stuffed and breaded mussels

I must admit that, unfortunately, this recipe doesn't belong to the fastest ones. First you have to scrub the shells, then steam the mussels, remove the dead creatures from the shells, chop them finely and then add to the rest of the stuffing ingredients. After that you stuff the shells, dip them in beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs, and finally you have to fry them in oil until golden brown. These stuffed and breaded mussels are called here simply mejillones rellenos (stuffed mussels) or mejillones tigres (tiger mussels), because they tend to be (more or less) spicy. They are served cold or hot as a tapa to a glass of wine or a beer.

Eggplant in vinegar with garlic, parsley and olive oil

These are the eggplants that I ate for the first time about 10 years ago while leaving in picturesque Andalusian village called Laujar de Andarax. I lived there with Spanish family, owners of quite small but cosy hotel and restaurant, which serves delicious traditional dishes. It was my first contact with a truly Spanish family, with Spanish cuisine and with Spanish language in situ. One of my favourite dishes there were berenjenas mediterráneas - Mediterranean eggplants - cooked in water with wine vinegar, then drizzled abundantly with olive oil and sprinkled with finely chopped garlic and parsley. Eggplant prepared in this way can be eaten alone or can be put on a slice of toast or fresh bread and drizzled additionally with high quality olive oil.

Omelette with asparagus, tomatoes and goat cheese

May has started with quite busy, but relaxing, two short trips. First one to Catalan la Garrotxa (I strongly recommend this part of Catalonia to everyone who likes long walks in nature and to lovers of sausages and dishes with white beans - a pork tripe sausage (butifarra) and Santa Pau beans are the must-try dishes in this part of Catalonia), and then there was a short trip to Poland (lots of Michałki chocolates, chocolate covered dried plums, pork sausages called Kabanosy, sweets with rhubarb and of course Polish dumplings:). After such a binge, now is the time for something lighter. Today's dish is an omelet, called in Spanish tortilla francesa with grilled asparagus, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese - in Spain there are 2 basic omelets (tortillas): Spanish tortilla (tortilla española) - with beaten eggs and potatoes - and French tortilla (tortilla francesa) - made just from beaten eggs.

Sample Basque mini open-faced sandwiches called pinchos

Tasty, little, diverse in terms of combination of ingredients, often colourful pinchos (pintxos in Basque language) can be found on the counter of every Basque bar or tavern. The name comes from the toothpick which usually hold together the slice of baguette and the ingredients placed on it, or which is simply stab into it (Spanish verb pinchar means stab, poke). Generally, the customer of such bar help himself to the pinchos located on the tray on the bar counter. It's hard not to notice that not all the sticks stabbed into pinchos are of equal length, frequently they have also different ends, which indicate a different price of each pincho. After the little sandwiches have been consumed, the sticks still remain on a plate, and that helps the waiter to calculate the bill. Perhaps you are wondering what is the difference between a pincho and a tapa. Well, according to Real Academia Española tapa is a small portion of food served as accompaniment to a drink, while a pincho is a portion of food consumed as an aperitif, which is sometimes stabbed with a stick. And now my yesterday pinchos:):

1. Pincho with beetroot hummus, a few slices of avocado, pickled green chili and radish sprouts.
2. Pincho with blue cheese, pear, walnuts and mint.
3. Piquillo pepper (pimiento de piquillo) pincho with sardine, anchovy and chopped chives.

Salt cod fritters

The basic batter for Spanish fritters called buñuelos is made with flour, eggs, baking powder or baking soda and water or milk. This small treats can be sweet or salty. Among the first ones, there are very popular in Catalonia buñuelos de viento (''wind fritters'') named so because of its fluffiness and because they have a lot of air inside - these fritters are very often filled with custard (buñuelos de crema). In Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands you'll find a variety of sweet fritters types. In The Balearic Islands, for example, regular or sweet potatoes, Mahón cheese or dried figs are added to the fritters batter, and in Valencia you can find buñuelos with pumpkin. Practically, all over Spain, Portugal and also Italy and France savoury fritters are made. The most popular in Spain, are salt cod fritters (buñuelos de bacalao) prepared mainly during Lent and Holy Week. Apart from the basic ingredients like flour, baking soda, water and eggs, the batter for salt cod fritters contains also desalinated and flaked cod, garlic, chopped parsley and sometimes onions and a little bit of turmeric, which turns them yellow.

Bread with anchovies and olives

Skimming over ''The book of tapas'' written by Simone and Inés Ortega - two very popular in Spain authors of many culinary books - I came across a recipe for pan con anchoas y aceitunas (bread with anchovies and olives), similar to Italian focaccia. As you probably may have guessed, this is not a traditional Spanish bread, but since Simone and Inés Ortega (for many Spaniards a culinary gurus when it comes to traditional Spanish cuisine) had included this recipe in their tapas book, I also have decided to share this recipe with you. This bread is made with whole meal flour and a little bit of butter and is covered with sort of compote with onions, black olives, finely chopped anchovies and thyme.

Pisto with fried egg

Pisto manchego or simply pisto is a traditional Spanish dish. Nowadays, vegetables added to a pisto varies depending on the season, region or a personal taste, but the authentic pisto, coming from La Mancha, contained only red and green peppers and tomatoes. Very often onion, garlic, zucchini and eggplant are added to this dish, although some believe that with an eggplant, pisto is no longer a pisto, but French ratatouille. It's served cold or warm, often with fried egg or sausage and sometimes as a snack with bits of serrano ham.

Toasts with sobrasada, goat cheese and pear

Have you ever heard of sobrasada?. It's Spanish raw, cured sausage made with ground pork, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper and other spices. Thanks to its soft consistency, sobrasada can be easily spread on a piece of bread. Just like chorizo sausage it's seasoned not only with salt and pepper, but also with smoked paprika which gives it very characteristic reddish colour. It's a traditional product of Balearic Islands, where it's consumed both fry and raw. In many traditional recipes a little bit of honey is added to sobrasada, so as to alleviate its very intense flavor.

Spanish Russian potato salad (ensaladilla rusa)

Ensaladilla/ensalada rusa (Russian salad) or ensaladilla/ensalada Olivier is the most popular Spanish vegetable salad, which was probably created in 1860 by Belgian Lucien Oliver, chef of Hermitage restaurant in Moscow. Except for the name, Spanish Russian salad has little in common with the original recipe invented by Olivier, who depending on the season was adding to it grouse, veal tongue, caviar, capers, crayfish or smoked duck. Spanish ensalada rusa is similar to Polish vegetable salad, but apart from potatoes, carrots, peas and eggs contains also tuna, green olives, and grilled red pepper. Some add to it crab sticks and/or pickled cucumbers called in Spanish pepinillos. 

Razor clams with parsley and garlic vinaigrette

I finally made it!. On Friday, as I had been assured, razor shells appeared again at the market Sant Antoni, obviously all of them  alive, because only these are suitable for consumption. Those which I bought had so much vitality that when I tried to take a picture, one of them shot at me with water and almost wet my camera lens:). The natural habitat of these mollusks - just like the other clams - are the sands of the sea, hence don't freak out if you detect creaky sand in your teeth while eating them:). You will probably forget about it very quickly, savouring the delicious taste of these sea creatures.

Clams with garlic and parsley and artichokes

Yesterday I had a plan to prepare razor shells, but unfortunately I picked the wrong day!. Why?. Let me start from the beginning: last Friday, looking for culinary inspiration for the coming week, I went to the nearby market Sant Antoni - I like going there from time to time just to wander around and see what fish, seafood, vegetables and fruits are in season. In almost every fish stall I noticed razor shells, snails, all kinds and sizes of clams, and on some of them even goose barnacles. I immediately decided that on Tuesday (not Monday, because on that day nobody buys fish, seafood or meat, because they are not fresh) I will prepare razor clams. So, yesterday morning I went to the market. To my surprise I did not find them in any stall, and when I asked what was going on and why on Friday all had them, but that day no one did (actually it's a little strange that their season has ended so abruptly, I thought), a nice gentlemen explained that on Tuesday it did not pay to bring them because almost nobody wants to buy them, and those are one of the seafood that cannot be eaten the next day. Perhaps there is some logic in it...anyway, I will come back to buy them on Friday. For this reason, today there is no razor shell, but there are clams, and with clams there are artichokes.

Shrimp and green garlic tortilla

I think that I've never met a person who was in Spain and did not try the traditional Spanish tortilla de patatas, called as well tortilla española, which is a variation of an omelette with eggs and fried potatoes, to which sometimes onion is added - a recipe for it here.

Spaniards eat tortilla for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or simply when they feel peckish. You will probably find it on the menu in all bars and restaurants serving tapas, where it's dish up mostly cold, cut into wedges and put on a piece of bread. Very popular in Spain is also serving tortilla baguette sandwich, cold or hot, which is probably, next to serrano ham sandwich, the best-selling food on Spanish railway stations and airports.

There are, of course, many variations of tortillas: with mushrooms, ham, vegetables, spinach and cheese, or the one that I suggest today: tortilla con gambas y ajetes (tortilla with shrimp and green garlic). In fact, a combination of shrimp and green garlic is more frequently served with scrambled eggs (revuelto) than in tortilla, but I prefer it in the second form:). And one more thing, this tortilla is very tasty, but unfortunately after eating it you will breathe the smell of garlic, so just in case do not schedule any important meeting for this day:).

Artichokes stuffed with mushrooms

Being in a middle of the season for artichokes, it's quite difficult to pass by the stalls sagging under, as beautiful as any flower, artichokes. This is one of the reasons they have appeared on my table today. This versatile vegetable can be served in many ways: raw, boiled, fried, breaded, grilled, etc., but for me, the best ones are these baked with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Eating artichokes prepared in this way is, kind of entertaining, because it involves peeling the outer leaves - which are too hard to eat them -, to finally get to their delicate and melting in your mouth centre, called the heart (in Spanish corazón).

Today, however, I suggest the recipe for artichokes stuffed with fried mushrooms and onion, topped with grated cheese and then grilled in the oven. But before starting to prepare them, I have some practical tips for you:

• Artichokes will keep fresh longer if you store them wrapped in a plastic bag, in refrigerator.
• It's better to wear rubber gloves when preparing them to prevent dark spots on your hands.
• After peeling, artichokes turn black very quickly, so it's advisable to put them in water with lemon juice.

Fried mussels

Mussels are one of the seafood, which I could eat every day. They taste good, are quick and easy to prepare, providing the shells are already clean, because this step is probably the most laborious and time - consuming. They can be prepared in a variety of ways, but I like them just plain, without any additional ingredients. I clean the shells scraping them with a knife, pulling off the 'beards' and washing them under cold running water. Next, I put them into an empty pan or pot, cover with a lid and steam until the shells are open, shaking the pan frequently.  Finally, I drain them and they are ready to eat:).

Today, however, not about this way of preparing mussels. The recipe for fried mussels called in Spanish mejillones fritos is from the book of very popular Spanish culinary author Simone Ortega. Her book ''1080 recetas de cocina'' first published in 1972 has sold over 3,5 millions copies and has received nearly 50 releases. Many of the later books Ortega wrote with her daughter Inés Ortega, among them released in English ''The Book of Tapas'' in which I have found the recipe for fried mussels and which includes over 250 new and traditional recipes for Spanish tapas.

The sauce which I have prepared for the mussels is inspired by the different recipe for mussels, but comes from the same book. You can replace it with any other tomato sauce, ketchup or mayonnaise sauce, or simply serve the fried mussels with no sauce, but with salad, for example.

Bravas potatoes

Fried potatoes with brava sauce (salsa brava), is probably one of the most popular Spanish tapas served frequently to wine or beer. Bravo in Spanish means wild, angry, and so is the traditional sauce served with this dish - very spicy. This dish consists of potatoes, cut into large cubes, fried until golden brown in oil and then topped with the sauce. Sometimes the potatoes are first cooked and then diced and fried. Different are also the methods of preparing the sauce. The classic one coming from Madrid and patented there in 1960, is a sauce based basically on tomato sauce and cayenne pepper. In Catalonia and Valencia, however, the sauce is often prepared with olive oil, smoked paprika, vinegar and chili called guindilla and is usually accompanied by alioli sauce made of garlic and olive oil (in Catalan all means garlic and oli means oil). Sometimes fried potatoes are topped with a pink sauce which is a mixture of spicy tomato sauce and mayonnaise.

Spanish tortilla

Spanish tortilla (tortilla española) called as well potato tortilla (tortilla de patatas), is a variation of an omlette with eggs and fried potatoes, to which sometimes onion is added. A typical one is prepared for several people and such a tortilla contains about 10 eggs and nearly 1 kg of potatoes, hence its dimensions, radius and thickness, are a little different than in the case of tortilla made by me. Regardless of the size, the taste remains the same:).