Black bread rolls

This rolls look definitely more like black stones than bread, and I assure you that not only in the pictures:), it's their charm:). Their unappetising appearance fortunately does not take away from their taste. What makes them black is - as you may have guessed already- a squid ink. While eating them you taste the presence of garlic, shallots and white wine. First, I thought about making black dumplings - which I certainly will prepare in the near future - but finally I've decided to make these rolls, and all thanks to one of the TV culinary shows 'saber cocinar', in which these rolls appeared and immediately caught my attention. Aren't they original? I like them both: the savoury ones, with ham or cheese, or the sweet ones, with orange jam for example.

Shrimp, mushroom and green asparagus soup

I don't know about you, but I'm slowly starting to evoke spring:). Today I've bought a huge solar yellow bouquet of mimosa, which spread sweet honey scent all over my place. I also gradually begin to replace a thick winter soups with the lighter ones, to which I usually add a lot of green vegetables. This is why I've added green asparagus to the soup that I've prepared today. Unfortunately they are not from Spain, but according to the information on the package, they have flown straight from Peru:). Usually, I try to buy local products and I don't support the consumption of ''fresh'' vegetables, which have flown more than 9500 km in a plane refrigerator to finally find themselves at my table. However, to be quite frank, I'm pretty fed up with winter, so I decided to break my own rules and surround myself with spring colours like green and yellow, because I hope that thanks to that spring will be here soon:).

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.

Black rice with cuttlefish

I like very much black rice called arroz negro. And I'm not talking about black rice called also forbidden or purple rice, which probably has just came to your mind, I'm talking about the same rice that is used in preparing e.g. paella, called bomba rice. So, why the black colour of the dish? Well, the colour is from, as black as coal and very thick, squid or cuttlefish ink which added to the rice makes it black and gives it salty and sweet taste. You can buy it as a liquid - in a little jar or in a little plastic bags (4 g each) - or as a powder - this one, however, is not as intense in flavor as the first one, so I recommend the liquid one. If not in your local store, You will find it, for sure, in one of the online shops:).

This is the second recipe for a black rice on the blog - actually the first one was for black paella, called often black rice. This one contains a cuttlefish called in Spanish sepia or jibia and is based on the recipe from Ferran Adrià book: ''The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià''.

Spanish anise doughnuts

Rosquillas are Spanish deep fried doughnuts with fluffy texture, traditionally prepared during the Carnival and Holy Week period. There are many types of rosquillas and many ways of preparing them. The most common ones are rosquillas de anís aromatised with anise liquor and rosquillas de vino to which, apart from anise, sweet muscat wine (moscatel) is added. Normally rosquillas are deep fried but some recipes show the healthier manner to prepare them in an oven, this one is not the case, I'm afraid:).

Castilian garlic soup

Warm-up and very filling castilian soup with garlic flavor - therefore called sometimes garlic soup (sopa de ajo) - and smoked paprika aroma, shows that with very few and simple ingredients a nourishing dish with distinct taste can be created.

The main ingredients in this soup are: bread, garlic, serrano ham and smoked paprika. The base is water or chicken broth and just before serving raw egg is added, which after a short cooking time splits up into congealed pieces.

Baked bananas with cream cheese and dulce de leche

I will never forget the taste of banoffee pie which I was passionately picking at while working in one restaurant in England. Not that it was the best banoffee pie in the world, but because it was the first time for my taste buds. I was delighted by this unique combination of bananas and dulce de leche, and even though I didn't really like cream, in this excellent company it was also kind of delicious:).

Today's recipe resembles a bit banoffee pie. Consist of 4 levels: baked bananas, cream cheese with yogurt and a pinch of vanilla, walnuts and dulce de leche at the top :)