All of these recipes plus sixty more! are available in Spain...A Culinary Road Trip
Products can be purchased easily at LaTienda.com
Beet and Walnut Puree
Besides its amazing color, this dip has a wonderful combination of earthy ingredients. It's great with warm pita bread - or just with a spoon.
Fabada
Fabada is adored throughout Spain, and it should be adored throughout the world. It'ss an Asturian preparation of fabas (dried fava beans) of the granja (farm) variety and a whole slew of pork products.
Fisherman's Lobster Stew
The secret to the dish is in the sauce, and it's all about reserving the roe from the lobster, which is mixed with punchy garlic, bright parsley, and a swig of brandy. A few other tricks are to use the lobster antenna to remove the sand and veins from the lobster itself and to make a fire using manzanilla (chamomile) branches.
Hake with Clams and Parsley
Claudia had never made hake before and now this recipe, which Mark says is the most useful one in the book, is in her repertoire.
Pisto Manchego
This simple dish, a sort-of pureed ratatouille, is served all over Spain on its own or accompanying meats, eggs, fish, bread (basically anything and everything).
Tortilla Española
Tortilla Española is essentially the national dish of Spain. You can eat it as a tapa, for breakfast, in a bocadillo (sandwich), or for dinner with salad and a bit of jamón. Basically anytime, anywhere. We had a great one at Valdubón and I think it's because they weren't afraid to use A LOT of olive oil. No fear!
Mixed Catalan Grill
You can grill just about anything. We were lucky to have some espardeñas (sea cucumbers) on our hands, so we mixed them with a few gambas (shrimp), peppers, and onions and had a wonderful lunch.
Empanada
The name of this traditional savory pastry comes from the verb empanar which means to coat of cover with pan (bread).
Cocido Madrileño
This dish is for the morning after a big night out on the town. It is the perfect hangover cure.
Paella
It's difficult to duplicate the experience of cooking paella outdoors in Valencia over burning embers of wood from orange trees, but you could do it on a grill on high heat. Most important, buy a proper pan (available at www.latienda.com), cook it a little longer than you think, and DON'T STIR! If you are cooking it indoors on the stove, be generous with the super-smoky pimentón since it will provide the requisite almost-but-not-quite-burned flavor.