SPANISH FOOD

When in Spain you should have no shortage of food. If there is one thing that the Spaniards love it is a good meal or a variety of tapas. The way the Spanish eat is different from the U.K. The Spanish eat later than the average eating times in the UK. The time that they eat breakfast (el desayuna) varies but lunch (la comida) is normally eaten between 2.30 and anything up to 4.30 in the afternoon. Dinner (la cena) time varies but it is it is unusual to eat before 9.00 at night. During siesta time many bars and restaurants will stay open however they then tend to close later on in the afternoon (usually between 4.30 and 9). The food in Spain is usually fresh as much of it is grown or caught here in Spain. If you are a vegetarian then you need to be careful what you eat because in many places (especially the very traditional areas of Spain) don't consider ham (jamón) as a meat and so they will quite happily put it in food and still call it a vegetarian dish. Sea food in Spain is relatively cheap and eaten regularly. Spain is the 2nd largest (per capita) seafood eating country in the world (Japan is number one).

Although each region has its own specialities there are many common favourites in Spain. No time in Spain would be complete without you trying Paella the ultimate Spanish dish. You can find this dish in most restaurants however if you want to have a really good paella you should either make one yourself but if your not that brave you should wait until a restaurant has it advertised that they are making paella that week because paella is difficult to make well when you are only making it for one or two people. When they make it for a lot of people it tends to taste much better.

The recipe for simple paella is:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups rice
• 8 cups fish stock
• 8 king-sized prawns/langoustines
• 8 mussels
• 200 grams shrimps
• 200 grams peas (fresh or frozen)
• 2 ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 3 strands saffron, crumbled
• Olive oil
• Seasoning

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan and sauté garlic.
2. Add tomatoes, peas, shrimps and saffron.
3. Cook for a few minutes.
4. Add rice, stir well, and then add stock.
5. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
6. Decorate with seafood a few minutes before rice is cooked.
   
7. Cover paella with lid to poach seafood.

You will find that in Spain bread is served all the time with your meal, no matter what you are eating also everything is cooked and eaten with olive oil (aceite) At Christmas (Navidad) in Spain a traditional food to eat is turron. This is made out of almonds. Spain is the largest producer of almonds after the United States. Spaniards collect the almonds around September time an then for Christmas they roast the almonds and slow cook them with honey and egg whites. You can get 2 types of turrón; hard Alicante turron and soft Jijona turron. They both have the same ingredients but the latter is grinded into a paste before it is cooked.

Would you also like to know about...

• Spanish tapas