A selection of Special Offers of Spanish recipe books

Spain has always been famous for paella, tapas, seafood, suckling pig and Rioja but more recently a new generation of chefs and winemakers have been transforming the Spanish food & wine scene.  Here is a small sample of more than 75 Spanish gastronomy and wine books you can find on Books4Spain.

500 Tapas Dishes by Maria Segura

Tapas are an integral part of the Spanish lifestyle. In the sun-drenched streets of Spain, the lively tapas bar hung with smoked Serrano hams provides a focal point for every community. This comprehensive compendium of tapas dishes enables you to bring a taste of Spanish culture into your life with hundreds of recipes to choose from for any occasion. Neither difficult nor time-consuming to make, tapas can be served as a starter, quick snack, side order or as a complete and exotic meal. Choose from scallops with morcilla and sage, boqueronies, patatas bravas, and pannetone with rhubarb, to name but a few. Be it an informal barbecue or sophisticated dinner party you wish to cater for, your only difficulty will be in the choosing.

 

 Spanish Cooking by Miguel Maestre

Miguel Maestre grew up in Murcia in south-east Spain and his childhood memories are of growing up in a large, happy household, and life revolved around cooking and eating. The Spanish people love their food dearly and these recipes are a collection of Miguel’s favourites. He shares his culinary traditions, and his experience working in some of the world’s best restaurants. Miguel’s passion for food and life is infectious and well expressed in the great recipes he includes. As he says, food cooked with love and passion tastes better so why do it any other way?

 

Pizarro – Seasonal Spanish Food by Jose Pizarro 

Pizarro’s infectious enthusiasm for Spanish cooking permeates every page. His message couldn’t be simpler – use fresh, good-quality, seasonal ingredients and they will speak for themselves. Season by season, he explores his favourite ingredients from different Spanish regions (illustrated with beautiful location photography), the culture and history behind them and how best to use them with his exceptional recipes. With anecdotes about typical Spanish pastimes and stories from his youth growing up on a farm in Extremadura, this is a truly Spanish approach to the cuisine, which has integrity and charm. Try a Pea Soup with Serrano Ham to welcome spring, add extra virgin olive oil, lime juice and black pepper to the most ripe of summer fruits to bring out their flavour and create some authentic Spanish meatballs to warm you in winter – these are recipes that you will turn to again and again for any occasion.

My Basque Cusisine – A Love Affair with Spanish Cooking by Ash Mair

Designed after Ash Mair became the 2011 winner of the successful UK show “MasterChef”, this recipe book continues along the theme of Ash’s time on “Professional MasterChef” which was Spanish/Basque influenced dishes put together with mostly easy to get ingredients. Most dishes have a connection to traditional Spanish and Basque cuisine but in most cases have a modern touch, are of a “lighter” style and are made with easily obtainable ingredients. All the techniques are aimed at the home cook and no specialised kitchen equipment is be needed to produce any of the recipes. The book contains recipes for 80-90 dishes. There are also be a number of recipes in the region of 20-30 in a “sauces and basics” chapter, which include items such as stocks, purees and foundation components that are used in multiple dishes. This book’s focus is on getting the right balance between beautiful looking food and perfectly balanced flavours.

Recipes from the Spanish Kitchen by Nicholas Butcher

Nicholas Butcher focuses on the traditional cooking of Spain through its regions and its produce. The book starts with a journey through Spain, region by region. Then there are chapters on tapas, salads, soups, vegetables, eggs, rice, sauces, fish and shellfish, meat, poultry and game and puddings. The author’s enthusiasm for Spanish cooking permeates every page. He explores his favourite dishes, the culture and history behind them and how best to recreate them. Their origins lie in the authentic cuisine of the Spanish cities, towns and countryside. From the bustling capital Madrid and Basque seaside towns to rustic Andalucia he highlights the pillars of Spanish cooking, and the culture in which the food is grown, prepared and eaten. With a love of vibrant flavours and uncomplicated ingredients, Spanish cuisine has its roots firmly in home cooking and has developed out of the ingenious use of local raw ingredients – olives, almonds, saffron, garlic, paprika – together with magnificent fish, shellfish and charcuterie.

The Finest Wines of Rioja & Northwest Spain

Picturesque Rioja, Spain’s most prominent wine region, is a new world within a very old world. Beautifully illustrated with photographs of the people and landscape and with detailed maps, this guide ranges over a diverse area including not only Rioja but Navarra, Bierzo, Galicia, and the Basque country as it explores winemaking from the ancient to the traditional and modern. Written by a trio of experts on Spanish wine, it provides insider information on a region home to Spain’s finest Tempranillo, its exciting Albarino, and many other indigenous grape varieties such as Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Viura. The authors look in depth at topics including climate and soil, grape varieties, and viticulture, and profile more than 85 individual wineries. They also include information not available elsewhere: several top ten lists plus “secret addresses” for the best restaurants and shops in which to find aged and historic vintages of Rioja.

This book is the book for anyone who has more than a passing interest in Rioja, and we are fortunate it is published in English, and even more fortunate that the unidentified translator, or translators, have done such an outstanding job and deserve to be acknowledged.  Andrew Linn

 

Tapas – Classic Small Dishes from Spain by Elisabeth Luard 

The recipes and suggestions in this book demonstrate how simple ingredients can be quickly transformed into mini feasts designed to delight the senses. Among the recipes are salted almonds, bread with olive oil and garlic, salt cod, asparagus with 2 sauces, chicory and blue cheese, mushrooms with garlic and rosemary, aubergine puree, broad beans with ham, tortilla, pickled sardines, spiced mackerel, lamb ribs with paprika, beef in red wine, potted game, croquettes, empanadas and many, many more. In addition there is plenty of helpful advice including a selection of menus that show how to combine tapas to provide meals for every occasion – such as spring, summer, autumn and winter parties, children’s tapas party, vegetarian tapas party and a no-cook tapas menu. The wealth of background information and the superb collection of recipes vividly evokes the spirit of a country where food is the essence of the community.

 

Manzanilla by Christopher Fielden

Manzanilla is a light and very fragrant style of sherry akin to fino but invariably paler, and certainly more fragrant, characterized by its distinctive salty tang due to the fact that it’s aged in coastal Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

A slim volume of just 160 pages, the book is divided into 3 main sections: the history, the people and firms, and some nice recipes (though unfortunately not the one for braised coot mentioned in the introduction!); and of these it is the history that is by far the most interesting.

See Books4Spain’s full selection of over 70 Spanish cook and recipe books

Books4Spain has thousands of books in English about Spain, from Novels and Crime Fiction, Thrillers & Mystery books  set in Spain and books for your Spanish Travel, Holiday & Leisure requirements.  Naturally we also have books about Spanish history, the Spanish Civil War, Flamenco, the Camino de Santiago, Learning Spanish and much more.  Come and browse – Books4Spain can entertain, educate and stimulate!