This week’s Dinner for Two is all about Spanish cuisine; in particular albondgas, patatas bravas & crema Catalana. We’ll also be cooking espanicas con garbanzo, gambas ajillo, and the timeless classic, gazpacho. It’s the perfect dinner to celebrate summer!
One of the greatest things about Spanish cuisine is its authenticity. It doesn’t try to impress, it just is impressive; because of its genuine use of quality ingredients. You really can’t go wrong with fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat and seafood. Add to that smatterings of spice, and you just know that every dish is going to legendary.
This Dinner for Two may sound like a lot of work, but all of the dishes are quick and easy to prepare. In the case of the crema Catalana and gazpacho, they can be made ahead of time which makes entertaining even easier.
Another great thing about Spanish cooking is the techniques and equipment. Both can be highly technical, or utterly rustic, whichever the cook prefers. So whilst some cuisines require precise measurements and strict adherence to the recipe, these dishes are a little more forgiving and allow for personal tastes.
With this in mind, if you’re not a fan of super hot paprika, then you can temper that heat by using just sweet or smoked paprika. If you’re a little diet conscious you don’t have to use whole/full cream milk for your crema catalana, you can use semi or skimmed milk.
Spanish cooking is a hearty and warming cuisine. It fills you up, and comforts you, it’s the perfect regional food for entertaining. These recipes can easily be scaled up if you want to cook just one dish for family and friends, or scaled down for entertaining tapas style.
Spanish Dinner Pantry Ingredients
As with all of our classes and recipes at LPaG, we use fresh and when that’s not available, we go for authentic. If that means canned, tinned, or jar storage, so be it!
These products are fantastic, and add convenience as well as affordability to cooking. What are you going to need on top of your fresh ingredients? Just some tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, olive oil, all purpose flour, cinnamon, cumin, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, hot paprika, parsley sugar,
Spanish Dinner Cooking Equipment
When it comes to equipment, you’ll only need the basics as well. So here’s a handy list:
- Chopping board
- Chef’s knife
- Mixing bowls
- Baking dishes
- Hand mixer or whisk
- Stirring spoons
- Skillet
- Saucepan
- Sieves
Now, on to the recipes, and here they are:
Albondigas
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Chef's Knife
- Mixing bowls
- Cast-iron skillet or frying pan
- Stirring spoon
Ingredients
- ¼ c Breadcrumbs Fresh
- 1 tbsp Milk
- 250 g (½Lb) Beef ½ minced/ground
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 Egg yolk
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- Tomato Sauce
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 Onion medium, finely chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
- ¼ tsp Cumin
- 250 g (½Lb) Tomatoes fresh or canned, chopped
Instructions
- To make the meatballs
- Place the breadcrumbs into a mixing bowl and add the paprika and garlic, mixing thoroughly. Mix together the milk and egg yolk, add to breadcrumbs and leave to soak for 1 minute.
- Add the beef, and combine fully with the soaked breadcrumbs. Once fully combined, roll into an even number of balls - about 10.
- Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, once hot, carefully place the meatballs into the oil. Leave to brown on each side before turning - do not try to force a meatball to turn before it's properly seared or it will tear apart.
- Once all the meatballs are golden brown, remove to a holding plate and proceed with the sauce.
- Add to the pan the olive oil, onion, garlic, paprika and cumin, stirring to combine whilst cooking.
- Once the onion has softened, add in the chopped tomatoes, and thoroughly combine.
- Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover with a lid, and leave to simmer for 5-10mins, or until the meatballs are fully cooked and the sauce has thickened.
- Serve with patatas bravas, and some crusty bread.
Notes
Espinacas con Garbanzos
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Chef's Knife
- Cast-iron skillet or frying pan
- Stirring spoon
- Serving dish
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- ½ Red Onion small, diced
- 150 g (¼Lb) Spinach frozen, thawed and drained
- 150 g (¼Lb) Garbanzo beans/Chickpeas canned and drained
- ¼ tsp Cumin
- ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, once hot, add in the onion and garlic and cook until just golden.
- Add the garbanzo/chickpeas, cumin and salt, tossing the beans to fully coat in the spices.
- Add in the frozen spinach, stirring to mix fully with the beans, and cook over a low-medium heat for 10mins.
- Serve with crusty bread.
Crema Catalana
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Sieve/strainer
- Mixing bowls
- Electric Hand Whisk/Whisk
- Serving dishes
Ingredients
- 15 g (1tbsp) Cornflour/cornstarch
- 240 ml (1c) Milk
- 1 x 4cm/2" piece of lemon and orange peel
- 1 stick/quill Cinnamon
- 2 Egg yolks large
- 100 g (½c) Caster sugar
- 30 g (2tbsp) Caster sugar, for caramel top
Instructions
- Dissolve the cornflour in just enough water to loosen it.
- In a saucepan, heat the milk, peels, and cinnamon stick, and carefully bring to the boil.
- Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together until thick and foamy, add in the cornflour, and 2tbsp of the hot milk.
- Remove the peel and cinnamon stick, and slowly pour the milk into the egg mixture, being careful to continually stir with a whisk.
- Once fully combined, return the egg and milk mixture to the saucepan, and place over a low heat. Cook until the mix has thickened and looks like custard.
- Remove from the heat, and pour into bowls or ramekins. Leave to cool before covering and refrigerating to fully set - usually 4hrs, preferably overnight.
- When you're ready to serve them, remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Scatter the decorative sugar evenly over the top, and use a kitchen blowtorch to caramelise the tops.
- An attractive alternative is to serve them with fresh fruit, particularly mixed berries.
Patatas Bravas
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Chef's Knife
- Paper towel
- Cast-iron skillet or frying pan
- Small saucepan
- Stirring spoon
- Serving bowl
Ingredients
- 2 Potatoes medium, waxy variety
- Olive oil for frying about 1-2 cups
- Salt
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ tbsp Hot smoked paprika
- ½ tbsp Sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp All Purpose/Plain flour
- 125 ml (½c) Chicken stock or a vegetarian equiv.
Instructions
- Carefully cut the potatoes into large chunks - fingers or pieces, as you prefer. Rinse the cut potatoes under cold water, and leave to dry on the paper towel.
- In the skillet or frying pan, heat enough oil to partially submerge your potatoes - you can deep or shallow fry them, as you prefer. If you have an air-fryer you can also use that!
- Once the potatoes are dry, and the oil is hot, begin by adding a third of the potatoes to the hot oil. Do not add more than that, as the oil temperature may drop too low, and the potatoes will not cook without absorbing a lot of oil.
- When the potatoes are cooked, remove to more paper towel and season with salt.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat the oil for the sauce in a small saucepan over a medium heat, and add the garlic and paprikas. Cook the garlic until it is aromatic - about 1 minute.
- Add the flour, and cook for a further 2mins, stirring continually. Once all the stock is added, continue to cook for 3mins.
- Serve the cooked patatas with the bravas sauce as you prefer; together or separately.
- Once all of the dry ingredients are 'cooked', slowly pour in the stock, stirring throughly to remove any lumps.
Gazpacho
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Chef's Knife
- Blender
- Strainer/sieve
- Airtight container
- Glass or bowl to serve
Ingredients
- 4 Tomatoes Large and ripe, halved and de-cored
- 1 Cucumber Small, peeled and deseeded
- 1 Green pepper Small, Bell pepper/Capsicum, de-cored
- ¼ Red onion Small, peeled
- 1 Garlic clove peeled
- 2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp White wine dry
- 1 tsp Sea salt fine
- ½ tsp Black pepper freshly ground
- ¼ tsp Cumin freshly ground
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into a blender, and process for 1-2mins (depending on power of your blender) until completely smooth.
- Transfer to an airtight container, and chill fully in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
- Optional: It's not absolutely necessary, but you can pour your Gazpacho through a coarse sieve to remove any larger lumps, this will give the smoothest finish.
Gambas al Ajillo
Equipment
- Plastic bag or small mixing bowl
- Cast-iron skillet or frying pan
- Stirring spoon
- Serving dish
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 150 g (½ Lb) Prawns Large, frozen and then thawed, peeled, and deveined
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp Smoked paprika
- 3 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp White wine dry
- ½ tbsp Italian flat-leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
- Peel and devein the prawns.
- In a small mixing bowl or plastic bag, mix the salt and paprika, add the prawns and toss until fully coated.
- Heat the skillet and oil on a medium-high heat, add the garlic and sauté until the garlic begins to colour. Add the prawns and cook, turning as required, until both sides are bright pink/red and the flesh is white.
- Pour in the white wine, and toss the prawns so that they are coated in the sauce. Continue to cook until the wine evaporates, then remove from the heat.
- Add in the parsley and mix thoroughly, serve alongside some crusty bread.
Thanks for checking out this post on Spanish Dinner for Two and I do hope you join us at the LPaG community Cook-Along this Friday for our class. If you do, please come back and post a comment, or share a photo with the tag: #LarderPantryandGarden.
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