The stunning whitewashed town of Tarifa forms part of the glittering municipality of Cádiz where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet – known as Costa de la Luz, the coast of light. Here, the winds can be phenomenally strong so, by day people head to the stunning windswept beach to surf – by board or…
Category: Spain
Cádiz Tortilla de Patatas, a Spanish Omelette
For a time, I lived close to Cádiz in Andalusía, the southernmost point of the country where the Atlantic crashes into the Mediterranean. It’s a beautiful city with a laid-back vibe, brilliant seafood and a maze of curved streets bathed in intensely luminous white sunlight. It’s a place described by the novelist Laurie Lee as “lying curved…
Picasso’s Omelette Niçoise with a Classic Salade Verte à la Française
For Pablo Picasso, food was a central part of life. From the age of 17, he auctioned his sketches for around one peseta (about the same price as a bottle of house wine) to raise money for his supper at Barcelona’s El Quatre Gats (The Four Cats) restaurant – for whom he designed their classic menu and…
Spanish Paprika-baked White Beans with a Sourdough and Manchego Cheese Crust
Now that it’s officially spring I am turning to the brighter, more vibrant dishes I prefer. This one is inspired by a visit to a very old tapas bar I stumbled upon amongst the sprawling tobacco fields that surround the architectural wonder that is the grand old city of Granada in the south. The heat…
Spanish Roast Potatoes with Garlic and Smoky Paprika
Although I loved our recent long weekend in Vienna and Bratislava, I get this kind of ‘eating out fatigue’ when we’re away and literally cannot wait to get back into the kitchen. This particular supper was inspired by the years I lived in Andalusia with a dish of piquant baked beans mixed with wilted spinach, new…
Andalusian Spicy Lemon-scented White Bean Dip
These sunny early spring days are all the motivation we need push open the French windows and think about creating lighter and vibrant dishes. The dip you see here is new to my repertoire and is inspired by a gorgeous little whitewashed cafe high up in The Andalusian mountains above Ronda where I was once…
Roast Chestnut, Mushroom and Oloroso Sherry Tart
A nigh on perfect Andalusian tart for a bright autumnal Sunday lunch. All butter pastry encased around caramelised red onions, wild mushrooms, roast chestnuts, fresh lemon thyme and gently stirred with fragrant oloroso sherry and a generous knob of butter. I put some pieces of creamy citrusy Caerphilly cheese on top of this one just to…
Mallorcan Orange, Almond and Fig Cake
So many of you have asked for the recipe for this super moist gluten-free Mallorcan orange, almond and fig cake which often features on my restaurant menu. It is inspired by the miles and miles of fragrant blossoming orange and almond trees we passed by as we travelled via the extraordinary antique train – El Tren…
Butterbean, Broccoli and Sugar Snap Salad with Mallorcan Caper and Sultana Dressing
Some years back, way before the Internet had begun to rule our lives, the married owners of a design studio I worked for hired an old stone farmhouse deep in the Mallorcan countryside. Their intention was to take the whole summer off which meant that a couple of us had to volunteer to take papers and…
Basque Country Apple Tart
This recipe is inspired by the generously filled apple tarts and pies that, during the autumn months, hit the bars and restaurants of the Basque Country where the terrain is given over to orchards for cider making. Awareness of Spain’s crisply tangy sidra is relatively low in the UK but, like everything else related to fermentation and brewing, it’s catching on fast. I for…
