Spicy Romesco sauce with potatoes (Salsa Romesco con patatas.

5 large chillies
10 roasted almonds
6 roasted hazelnuts 
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 thick slice of country bread
3 tomatoes 
1 clove garlic
parsley
1/2 lemon juice
1 tablespoon of white wine
salt



Remove the seeds and stems from the chillies. Soak in warm water, and after 10 minutes dry them with paper towels. 

In a frypan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the slice of bread on both sides until golden brown. Let it cool and cut it in cubes and set aside.

High heat the pan with 2 tablespoon olive oil and the chiles. Cook for a minute and add the tomatoes chopped. Season and stir constantly until the tomato juices have evaporated.

In a grinder place the almonds, hazelnuts and fried bread. After 1 minute add the peeled garlic clove, grind for 1 minute and add also the tomato mixture from the pan, parsley, lemon juice and white wine. Grind meanwhile adding 1 cup of olive oil until getting an homogeneous mixture.  Season to taste. 

Manchego Zuchinni Muffins (Muffins de Calabazín y queso Manchego)

2 cups - 400gr flour
2 tsp yeast

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup - 300 gr white or brown sugar 
2 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1/2 small lemon 

2/3 cup - 100 gr butter

3 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
4 tbsp of grated manchego aged cheese


Preheat the oven up to 190ºC (350ºF)

In a bowl mix the flour, yeast, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, put aside. 

Beat the eggs and sugar until getting a cream. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and butter, keep beating. Then add the zucchini, and little by little add all dry ingredients and mix until getting an homogeneus dough. 

Use butter to cover the muffin tins. Fill up half and and put some grated manchego aged cheese on top. Bake for 25-30 min or until ready. Let it cook for 5 minutes and unmold. 

Mussels and avocado spread (Paté de mejillones y aguacate)

1 can of pickled mussels (or 10 - 12 boiled mussels with a bay leaf) 
1 large avocado
A few drops of lemon
¼ sweet onion or fresh chives
2 tablespoon of thick mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of white wine



Drain the mussels well.
Peel the avocado and remove the bone.

Put in the glass of the mixer mussels, chopped avocado, few drops of lemon (important to avoid mixture oxidation), the chopped onion and mayonnaise and the white wine.

Putting the cool spread in a bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the entire surface of the pate, to prevent it from rusting.

Jijona´s turrón (Turrón de Jijona)

300 grams of ground roasted almonds
100 grams of sugar
200 grams of honey
1 egg whites
powdered cinnamon
lemon zest





Grind the roasted almonds until getting a paste, or buy them already grounded and toasted. 

Whisk the egg white. 

In a frying pan place the honey and the sugar. Will be required medium heat and stir frecuently with a wooden spoon until getting an homogeneous and thick mixture. 

Remove the pan from the heat, add the egg white and stir. You will always have lumps, stir until the lumps have disappeared. The mixture will be ready when turned into a lighter color (About 10 minutes)

Add the lemon zest and cinnamon. Stir and add the ground almonds. Stir well until the ingredients are well mixed. 

Bizcocho de limón y romero (Rosemary and lemon sponge cake)

4 medium eggs
350g caster sugar
325g butter (out from fridge)
1 tbsp cooking cream
grated zest of 1 large lemon
350g plain flour
230ml milk
1.5 tsp fresh rosemary
salt

For the icing
500g icing sugar
Juice of 3-4 lemons







Preheat the oven to 180˚C and grease a 9”/23cm mold. Set aside until required.

Break the eggs into a bowl, with the sugar and beat for 5 mins (until creamy). Add the butter in 4 times,  keeping the beat (medium speed) until butter is well incorporated and soft dough. Then add the lemon zest and the cooking cream, when ready add the flour, milk and a pinch of salt. Beat the dough for a few extra minutes (scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a spatula) 

Finally add the finely chopped rosemary and mix.

Sobaos pasiegos (Traditional muffins from Cantabria)

250 grams of flour
250 grams of butter
250 grams of sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon rum or anise liqueur
1 pinch of salt
zest of one lemon
3 teaspoons powdered yeast




(Traditional recipe from Cantabria, north of Spain)




Mix the yeast with the flour and put aside.

In a deep bowl place the butter lightly melted (room temperature). Add the sugar, lemon zest, a pinch of salt, lightly beaten eggs, rum or anise and flour already mixed with yeast. Knead everything with your hands until well blended and, if necessary, you can use a wooden fork to mix everything. 

Horchata de Chufa Valenciana (Valencia Tigernut Horchata)

250g tigernuts

1L water

100g sugar (or up to 150g)

a small piece of lemon rind

a small piece of cinnamon bark

extra water to hydrate the tigernuts

Hydrate the tigernuts with water overnight or up to two days, by covering them generously in cold water and keeping them in the fridge (otherwise they may ferment). If they are really dry and they need two days, change the water each day. They will swell up a bit. 

Horchata de almendras (Almonds Horchata)

1/2 kg almonds
1/2 kg sugar (may use a bit less if desired)
1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
1 pinch salt
3 liters of water (warm)





Grind the almonds (without peel) and bake in 1 liter of water with cinnamon, salt and lemon skin, boil 2 minutes only. Then strain the liquid through a sieve fabric. 

Lemon Olive Oil

450ml / 17fl olive oil (not virgin)

1 fresh lemon

Peel a lemon, but we will keep only the yellow part of the skin. We put it in hot water about 1 minute to remove the bitterness.

Then we take olive oil and we pour the olive oil into sterilised, sealable glass bottle using a funnel.  Add the lemon peel and close the bottle. We put in a water bath (bain-marie) for 3 hours. Then let stand until the next day.

At 24 hours and we can keep in a bottle and use it when needed. Keep the bottle in a cool, dark place, shaking   the bottles once a week.

Pan de Calatrava (Calatrava´s Bread)

5-6 medium muffins or bread
2 cups and milk medium (about 500 ml)
5 eggs L size
Sugar 150 g
lemon zest
a little ground cinnamon
extra sugar for candy

First prepare the caramel. In a saucepan heat three tablespoons of sugar with a little water to dissolve until it starts to turn brown. Cover bottom of pan and allow to warm slightly.

Break the cupcakes or the bread into large pieces with your hands and distribute through the mold. Separate the whites from the yolks of eggs and beat the whites almost stiff. Add the egg yolks and beat some more. Add the milk, sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix everything gently.