Spanish by Pepita Aris

(Note: This is my entry if the Bermuda cruise contest. If you don't mind, please rate this article.)

I walked in the front door and confronted a huge bowl of paella. At least, I thought it was paella. The perfectly shaped peas, bell peppers that seemed to glow, glistening mushrooms, and rice coated with a creamy golden sauce -- as well as few things I couldn't immediately identify -- had me salivating in moments. Paella or not, I know it was Spanish because emblazoned across the book's cover was Spanish. In smaller type below the title I read, "150 mouth-watering step-by-step recipes." 

The book was filled with simple, genuinely "mouth-watering," recipes as well as gorgeous pictures. I opened the book and read about Banderillas, a tapa composed of olives, anchovies, and cornichons and featuring a photo that seemed to spill from the page. Another recipe offered Flash-Fried Squid -- a significant weakness of mine. Delving deeper there was an exquisite photograph of an avocado, orange, and almond salad. And the Pan-Fried Sole with Lemon and Capers I already knew (tilapia is a good substitute in the US).  And what right-thinking Southerner could resist a recipe for Empanada that include pork and sausage in a cornmeal-based pastry shell? I was hooked. The bargain price of $2.99 was irrelevant. I would have paid ten times that without a further thought.

I seldom buy cookbooks anymore (as opposed to books about cooking and eating -- which I still buy). When I need ideas I hit the Internet. It's fast, offers a huge range of recipes, and it's easy to crib an idea here, a technique there, and an ingredient over yonder and quickly combine them into a recipe that meets my needs.

But this book...

The 150 recipes are divided into eight chapters beginning, predictably, with Tapas and ending, also predictably, with Desserts and Baking. In between are chapters on Eggs and Soup, Salads and Vegetables, Rice and Pasta, Fish and Shellfish, Poultry and Game Birds, and Meat and Furred Game. The last two chapters included recipes for quail, pigeon, rabbit, and venison.

I took the book home and drooled over it for a week before deciding where to start -- what to cook first. I started with Cochifrito.

Cochifrito

 

 

 

1 3/4    lb            well-trimmed lamb -- cut into strips
2          tbsp        olive oil
1          ea           onion -- diced
2          cloves     garlic -- chopped
1          tsp          smoked Spanish paprika
2          ea           lemons -- juiced
1          tbsp        chopped fresh parsley
salt and black pepper to taste

Season lamb with salt and pepper. Heat oil over medium high heat in a large frying pan. Brown the lamb, adding the onion about halfway through. Add the garlic and sprinkle with paprika and lemon juice. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Adjust seasonings and serve, garnished with parsley.

My next effort was a Pork Empanada, and I've picked the next three recipes to try. And marked one for my birthday at the end of September. Good food. In fact, seriously good food. This, my friends, is a cookbook.