Top Spanish Tapas...

Catalan rabbit or "Conejo con San Feina". This recipe is 4 generations old that we know of and the first time we got involved making it with some Spanish friends. Even the local vultures overhead seemed to be interested...



Feeds a whole "barrio" or a lot of friends and neighbours!

Ingredients: (serves 12)

4 medium onions
4 medium aubergines
4 medium red peppers
6 medium green peppers
400g pumpkin
12 ripe tomatoes
2 bulbs of garlic
2 rabbits (cut into pieces)
Large glass of Brandy
Salt and pepper
8 tablespoons of Olive oil



How to cook:

1.Prepare the vegetables in advance, better the day before as it can take some time. All of the vegetables except the garlic need to be chopped/diced as finely as possible. When the vegetables are chopped, set aside in containers until ready to be cooked.

2.Separate the garlic into individual cloves (or teeth as the Spanish say), remove the excess outer layers but do not peel.

3.Heat the oil in a large paella pan and add the garlic. Cook gently for 5-6 minutes or so then add the rabbit pieces. Cook the rabbit slowly for 10 minutes until lightly golden, add the brandy, cover and continue coking for a further 20 minutes very slowly until cooked through. Remove and set aside.

4.Heat a little more olive oil in the pan, add the onion and cook, stirring until translucent. Add the aubergines and peppers and cook for 10-12 minutes or so then add the pumpkin and the tomatoes. Cook very slowly for about an hour, stirring occasionally until everything has reduced and you have a rich sauce.

5.Return the rabbit and garlic to the pan stirring well to cover the meat with the vegetable sauce. Season to taste, cover and continue cooking for 20 minutes until the rabbit has taken on the flavours of the sauce.

6.Serve with lots of fresh bread.



Fabulous dish and a real opportunity for a get together given the prep time. Best cooked in a paella pan either over the open fire/BBQ or on an outdoor gas burner.

The red paella is a classic version of paella here in Spain. A lighter version of Spain's most famous dish with a sweet juicy flavour from the peppers and tomatoes. Given its name "paella rojo" as the dish is a fabulous deep red colour, makes a great centre piece to any outdoor or indoor function.

Ingredients:

400g fresh prawns
1 onion
2 red peppers
4 vine tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
350g Calasparra Rice
1 litre chicken or fish stock
3 tablespoons virgen olive oil
150g roasted piquillo peppers
¼ teaspoon sweet Paprika
¼ teaspoon saffron
Salt and pepper



How to cook:

1.Peel the onion and chop finely, peel and crush the garlic. Chop the piquillo peppers and vine tomatoes into small pieces. Clean and peel the prawns thoroughly. Put the stock onto heat.

2.Heat the oil in a paella pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for a few minutes. Add the red pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or so.

3.Add the rice a ladleful at a time and cook for 5 minutes stirring all the time until the rice is translucent. Then add the stock again using a ladle, Calasparra rice needs 1½ parts stock to 1 part rice.

4.Add the saffron, paprika, prawns, salt and pepper. Stir once to mix then lower the heat and cover. Cook for around 20-25 minutes until the stock has been absorbed by the rice.

5.Turn off the heat, add the piquillo peppers and cover again for 5 minutes before serving.

Delicious.

Here we are making another variety of paella, and why not! After all the paella (pronounced "py-ee-ya") is Spain's most famous dish. The recipe below combines prawn and chicken, a simple paella. You could also add shellfish such as mussels too. Full step by step instructions for this paella recipe along with stage by stage photography will be on the Orce Serrano Hams website this August.



Ingredients
2 boneless chicken breasts (no skins)
600g uncooked peeled prawns (leave half a dozen for the final topping)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 Onion
2 cloves garlic
1 Red pepper
1 Green pepper
2 Tomatoes
150g Frozen garden peas
Half a kilo Calasparra rice
1ltr chicken stock
¼ teaspoon Saffron
Salt and pepper




1.Peel, de-vein and clean the prawns, cut the chicken breasts into bite sized pieces.

2.Peel and chop the onion and garlic, chop the peppers and tomatoes.

3.Heat the olive oil in a paella pan, throw in the chopped garlic and fry gently until soft then add the chicken and cook until browned.

4.Add the onion and peppers and cook for 5 minutes until the onion is soft.



5.Add the rice using a soup ladle, counting as you go (you need to add 3 parts water to one part rice) and cook for 5 minutes.

6.Add the chicken stock again ladle by ladle, season and bring to the boil (do not stir). Reduce the heat cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so.



...Top tapas! Mini portions served up in Spain's smallest cazuelas and paella pans.


See the comprehensive step by step photographed recipe on our recipe section.
Click here to have a peak... (Full recipe due next week)

There is nothing like a Spanish paella for entertaining guests! The paella is a very good alternative to the traditional barbeque and much more filling.

Here we have (in Spanish) a traditional paella being made... music's not too bad either! Recipes below..



Homemade seafood paella (stage by stage photos)

Homemade serrano ham paella

Homemade rabbit & pork paella (made and photographed outdoors)

More to follow...

Paella will probably be mentioned a few times on this weblog - and why not! Paella is the most versatile of Spanish dishes and almost any ingredient can be used or mixed...

Here we have a neighbourly get together with a mixed paella on the go, paellas in this garden are usually cooked over the fire but on this occasion the pan was so big it wouldnt fit so a gas burner it was. As with all Spanish meals the eating began late at around 10.30pm ish



Mixed paellas can encompass a whole range of ingredients, for this one it was chicken, pork, clams, prawns, mussels and cockles.



A real meal..... plenty of peppers, garlic, onion, stock and rice. No wonder we needed a big pan (14 people) Paella, Andalucias most famous recipe..

Well! Wat can we say! The traditionally "poor mans" campo dish has been world famous now for years. There are many variations of a pealla - chicken, seafood, beef, pork, vegetable....in fact there isnt much you cannot include in a good old fashioned paella.

Why are we starting with a wicker basket full of pine cones? To cook the ultimate paella it must be heated over flame - forget your packet mixes and ready meals a real paella is an exceptionally versatile dish and something that nowadays is considered Spain finest gourmet dish. In Orce village we even have a "paella night" the biggest pan of paella you have ever seen and enough to feed up to 200 people!



The all important ingredients,



Heating up and that lovely smokey aroma



Adding the rice



Letting it bubble....



This paella was made by our Spanish neighbours over their barbeque. The paella is not just a dish but a social event where everyone gets involved in the cooking and prep. Tapas at hand all the way...

To see this paella being made stage by stage CLICK HERE