What to eat today?

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Navajas á prancha

Razor clams are pulled from the sandy beds of the Galician rías, and in the seafood bars of Vigo and A Coruña they arrive straight from the griddle, opened up and glistening with garlic oil. They take two minutes to cook and are eaten with the fingers. Live razor clams twitch or pull in when touched: throw away any with cracked or broken shells, or that don't react at all. A common mistake is leaving them on the heat after they open, which turns the meat rubbery. Chef's tip: lay them all hinge side down in the same direction so they open evenly and the juices stay in the shells.

20 min

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Mexillóns en escabeche

Galicia's estuaries are lined with the wooden rafts (bateas) where mussels grow on ropes, and the region's canneries have long sold them in escabeche: steamed, shelled and kept in a warm-spiced marinade of oil, vinegar and paprika. Made at home, they're a tapa for an aperitif with crisps and cold drinks, and they keep for several days. Throw away any mussels with cracked shells, and any open ones that don't close when tapped, before cooking. A common mistake is pouring the marinade over cold mussels straight from the fridge: mix while both are warm so the flavours soak in, then chill. Chef's tip: they taste best after a full day in the fridge.

40 min

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Raxo

Order a ración of raxo in a tavern in Santiago or A Coruña and it comes sizzling on a metal plate: little cubes of pork loin marinated with garlic, paprika and oregano, fried until browned, with chips and sometimes Padrón peppers alongside. This contains pork. Unlike zorza, which is chopped like chorizo filling, raxo keeps its meat in neat cubes and is gentler on the paprika. Marinate the pork in the fridge, covered. A common mistake is crowding the pan, which stews the meat instead of browning it, so fry in two batches. Chef's tip: let the cubes sit for a minute without stirring when they first hit the pan, so they form a golden crust.

50 min

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Caldeirada galega

In fishing towns like Ribeira, Bueu and Muxía, caldeirada was the fishermen's way of cooking whatever the boat brought in, and it is still served at seaside restaurants and at the July fiestas of the Virgen del Carmen, patron of sailors. Unlike merluza á galega, it uses several kinds of fish, such as monkfish, ray, conger or hake, layered with potatoes and onion and cooked in very little water, then finished with plenty of ajada. A common mistake is stirring the pot, which breaks the fish into flakes; shake it gently instead. Chef's tip: put the firmest fish at the bottom and the most delicate on top, so everything finishes cooking together.

60 min

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Frixuelos

When Antroxu, the Asturian Carnival, comes round in February, kitchens from Avilés to the Oriente villages fill with the smell of butter and batter, and plates of frixuelos stack up for anyone who calls in. They are thinner and lighter than a pancake, flavoured with lemon zest, and are rolled or folded while warm with a dusting of sugar, a drizzle of honey or a spoon of rice-pudding cream. Grandmothers also make them on cold Sunday afternoons, so they are hardly kept for Carnival alone. Chef's tip: rest the batter for at least 30 minutes so the flour softens and the frixuelos turn out lacy and tender instead of rubbery.

35 min

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Casadielles

Look in the window of any confitería in Oviedo or Gijón and you will find casadielles, plump little pastry rolls stuffed with ground walnuts and sugar, fried until blistered and rolled in more sugar. Village bakers turn out trays of them for patron-saint fiestas and for Antroxu, and they keep for days in a tin. The traditional dough is moistened with dry white wine and the filling scented with anise liqueur; both are given alcohol-free swaps below. Chef's tip: roll the dough very thin, about 2 mm, because thick dough stays doughy inside before the outside browns.

70 min

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Carajitos del profesor

Salas, a small town on the old pilgrim road through western Asturias, is known for these cracked, chewy mounds of toasted hazelnut and sugar. Local lore says they were first baked for a teacher at the town's school, and the pastry shops still sell them by the bag to travellers and to families heading home from Sunday market. They need only three ingredients and no flour, so they suit anyone avoiding gluten. Chef's tip: toast the hazelnuts until they smell like praline before grinding them; it is what gives the biscuits their deep flavour.

35 min

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Tortos de maíz

In the cider houses of Asturias, tortos arrive as a starter: small discs of corn dough fried until crisp outside and soft within, usually piled with something rich on top. Inland farms once ate them in place of bread, since maize grew far better than wheat in the damp valleys. This meat-free version tops each torto with a fried egg and blistered green peppers, with a little crumbled cabrales for those who want it; cabrales is usually made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian blue cheese if that matters to you. Chef's tip: knead the dough with hot water and let it rest; cold water gives a crumbly dough that cracks in the pan.

50 min

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Patatas al cabrales

Cabrales is ripened in limestone caves in the Picos de Europa, and the bars of Arenas de Cabrales and Cangas de Onís pour it, melted into cream, over hot chips as a ración to share with a bottle of cider. The sauce is sharp, salty and very rich, so a little goes a long way. Most cabrales is made with animal rennet; for a strictly vegetarian dish, choose a blue cheese labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: keep the sauce below a boil once the cheese goes in, or it splits and turns grainy.

45 min

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Cachopo

Asturias takes cachopo so seriously that Oviedo holds an annual contest for the best one, and some restaurants serve versions big enough to hang off the plate. At home it is a Friday-night or Sunday treat: two thin veal steaks enclosing serrano ham and a good melting cheese, breaded and fried, then cut at the table so the cheese oozes. This contains pork (serrano ham). Serve with chips and roasted green peppers. Chef's tip: chill the assembled cachopo for 20 minutes before frying so the crumb sets and the edges stay sealed.

45 min

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Titaina

Titaina comes from the Cabanyal, the tiled fishermen's neighbourhood by Valencia's beach, where it is still served as a tapa in the old bars and spooned onto bread at home on summer evenings. Green peppers, onion and ripe tomatoes are cooked down in olive oil with toasted pine nuts until sweet, then mixed with tuna. Fishermen used tonyina de sorra, salt-cured tuna belly; this version uses good tinned tuna in olive oil, which is already cooked and easy to find. A common mistake is cooking it fast on a high heat: it needs a slow 40 minutes so the vegetables melt instead of fry. Chef's tip: add a pinch of sugar only if your tomatoes are sharp, and stir in the tuna at the very end so it stays in flakes.

65 min

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Borraja con patatas

Borage grows all along the Ebro valley, and in Zaragoza it is almost a point of pride: markets sell bundles of the thick, hairy stalks from autumn to spring, and borraja con patatas is a weeknight supper in thousands of Aragonese homes. Boiled until tender, the stalks taste mild and green, a little like a cross between cucumber and chard, and the floury potatoes soak up a simple dressing of olive oil and fried garlic. It is vegan and gluten free. A common mistake is skipping the cleaning: the fine hairs and stringy outer fibres must come off, or the dish feels prickly. If you can't get borage, chard stalks are the closest stand-in. Chef's tip: fry the garlic in the oil slowly, off a high flame, and pour it over sizzling hot so it sings when it hits the vegetables.

55 min

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Cardo con almendras

On Christmas Eve in Aragon and neighbouring Navarre, a dish of cardoon is as certain as turrón: the long, pale stalks are boiled until tender and served in a velvety sauce of ground almonds, garlic and the cooking water, often as the first course before fish or lamb. The flavour is like artichoke, gentle and slightly bitter, softened by the nutty sauce. It contains no animal products. A common mistake is leaving cut cardoon in the air; it blackens within minutes, so drop each piece into lemon water as you go. Ready-cleaned jars of cardoon are sold in Spain and work well if you skip the first two steps. Chef's tip: whisk a spoonful of flour into the cooking water; it keeps the stalks white and gives you a ready-thickened broth for the sauce.

95 min

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Paparajotes

Paparajotes are the sweet of the Murcian huerta's spring festivals, above all the Bando de la Huerta, when the city fills with people in traditional dress and stalls fry them by the hundred. A lemon tree leaf is dipped in a light batter, fried and dusted with cinnamon sugar; you hold it by the stalk, pull off the crisp coating with your teeth and leave the leaf, which flavours the batter but is not food. Newcomers who try to eat the whole thing are a long-standing local joke. Chef's tip: use only leaves from an unsprayed lemon tree, washed and dried.

30 min

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Cordiales

Murcian Christmas tables always have a plate of cordiales, small domed cakes of ground almond and egg with a spoonful of cabello de ángel, the stringy candied squash jam, hidden in the middle. They are sold in every pastry shop in Murcia from December and baked at home in the weeks before Christmas, traditionally on a round of edible wafer so they lift cleanly off the tray. They should be crisp at the very tips and soft and moist inside. Chef's tip: make them a day ahead; the almond paste firms up and the flavour deepens.

43 min

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Pan de Calatrava

Pan de Calatrava is Murcia's thrifty Sunday dessert, a flan thickened with yesterday's bread or leftover sponge and baked over a layer of dark caramel. Murcian grandmothers made it to use up the end of a loaf, and it is still on the menu at family-run restaurants across the region, cut into slices and served cold with the caramel running down. The milk is infused first with lemon peel and cinnamon. Chef's tip: let it chill overnight before turning it out, so it slices cleanly and the caramel turns to syrup.

80 min

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Yemas de Ávila

Inside Ávila's medieval walls, little boxes of yemas are the souvenir every visitor carries home: soft, deep-yellow balls of egg yolk cooked with sugar syrup, rolled in sugar and set in paper cases. They are linked with Saint Teresa, the city's famous nun, and are eaten with coffee after lunch, especially around her feast in October. The yolks are cooked until thick, well past the point that makes them safe. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and never stop stirring; yolks scramble in seconds if they catch.

40 min

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Ponche segoviano

Segovia's confiterías have sold ponche since the 1920s: layers of light sponge brushed with syrup, sandwiched with thick custard and wrapped in a thin coat of marzipan whose sugared top is branded into a diamond lattice with a hot iron. It is the cake for a family celebration, or the sweet finish after a roast suckling-pig lunch in the old town. The syrup is traditionally laced with liqueur; leave it out, or swap it for orange juice, for an alcohol-free cake. Chef's tip: let the custard cool and set completely before assembling, or the layers slide.

120 min

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Queso manchego en aceite

Manchego farmhouses have long stored cheese under olive oil so it would keep through the hot months; the oil seals it, softens the rind and deepens the flavour. In bars across Toledo and Ciudad Real a saucer of these oil-darkened wedges arrives with bread as soon as you sit down. PDO manchego is made with animal rennet; if you eat vegetarian, choose a ewe's-milk cheese made with vegetable or microbial rennet. Chef's tip: use a cheese aged at least three months; young cheese goes soft and greasy in the oil.

15 min

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Cochinillo asado

In Segovia, in the shadow of the Roman aqueduct, restaurants bring out the roast suckling pig whole and carve it with the edge of a plate to show how tender it is, then smash the plate for luck. It is the great Castilian Sunday and celebration lunch, served with a plain lettuce salad and nothing else. This contains pork (suckling pig and lard). At home, half a pig fits in most ovens; ask your butcher to split it. Chef's tip: roast it skin-side down in water first, then flip it, so the meat steams tender before the skin turns to glass.

170 min

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Lechazo asado

Along the Duero valley, in towns like Aranda de Duero, Sepúlveda and Peñafiel, wood-fired asadores roast quarters of lechazo, lamb fed only on its mother's milk, in clay dishes with nothing but water and salt. Families drive out for it on a Sunday and eat it with bread and a salad of lettuce and onion. A little lard is rubbed on in some asadores; this contains pork (lard), or use olive oil. Milk-fed lamb is small and pale; spring lamb works but needs longer. Chef's tip: don't add herbs or garlic; the delicate flavour is the point.

130 min

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Callos a la madrileña

In old Madrid taverns around La Latina and Lavapiés, callos come in little clay dishes, sticky and brick-red, on winter Sundays and as a weekday tapa with bread. The tripe is cooked for hours with a pig's trotter until the sauce sets like gelatin when cold, then finished with chorizo, morcilla and paprika. This contains pork (chorizo, morcilla, ham and pig's trotter). Buy beef tripe that the butcher has already cleaned and blanched. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; callos taste better reheated and the sauce thickens beautifully overnight.

270 min

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Mojo verde

Green mojo is the cooler partner to red mojo picón on every Canarian table, the sauce that goes with grilled fish at harbour restaurants in Puerto de Mogán and La Restinga, with papas arrugadas, and with fried goat cheese. Fresh coriander and green pepper are pounded with garlic and cumin, then sharpened with vinegar and loosened with olive oil into a bright, grassy sauce. Some islands use parsley instead of coriander. It keeps for three or four days in the fridge. Chef's tip: add the oil slowly while you stir, so the sauce emulsifies into a thick, creamy green rather than splitting into herbs floating in oil.

15 min

Spanish Chutneys & Dips

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Gofio escaldado

Gofio, flour ground from toasted maize or wheat, has fed the Canary Islands since before the Spanish arrived, and a bowl of escaldado is its simplest, most comforting form. Hot broth is beaten into the gofio until it turns into a soft, savoury paste flecked with mint, eaten by scooping it up on chunks of raw red onion. In fishing towns the broth is usually fish stock left from a sancocho; this version uses vegetable broth so it is vegan. Pure maize gofio is gluten free, but most blends contain wheat, so check the bag. Chef's tip: add the broth gradually while you beat, as dumping it in at once makes stubborn lumps.

25 min

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Bocadillo de calamares

Madrid sits hundreds of kilometres from the sea, yet its most famous snack is a crusty roll stuffed with hot fried squid rings, eaten standing at the bars around the Plaza Mayor at any hour. Locals order one with a cold drink at the counter and squeeze over a little lemon; some add a smear of mayonnaise. Chef's tip: fry the squid in very hot oil and for barely a minute, so it stays tender inside a crisp coat.

25 min

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Magras con tomate

Teruel is famous for its cured hams, and magras con tomate is how Aragonese home cooks have long turned a few thick slices into supper: the ham is fried briefly, then simmered in a homemade tomato sauce and served with fried eggs and bread for dipping. It is a typical dinner in the Bajo Aragón and at bar counters in Zaragoza's old Tubo district. This contains pork (cured ham). A common mistake is frying the ham too long; it hardens and turns very salty, so give it barely a minute a side. Use hand-cut slices about 5 mm thick if you can. If you serve the eggs with runny yolks, they are not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system; fry them until the yolks are firm for those diners. Chef's tip: don't salt the sauce until the ham has been in it for a few minutes.

50 min

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Conejo a la aragonesa

Rabbit has always been the everyday meat of rural Aragon, and in the farmhouses of the Somontano and the Cinco Villas it is braised slowly in a clay pot with lots of garlic, thyme and rosemary from the hillside, and a glass of the local white wine. The result is lean, tender meat in a small amount of rich, garlicky sauce, served with fried potatoes or bread. The wine can be replaced with chicken stock and a spoonful of vinegar if you prefer no alcohol. A common mistake is boiling the rabbit hard; the lean meat tightens and goes stringy, so keep it at the gentlest simmer. Chef's tip: mash a few of the soft braised garlic cloves into the sauce at the end; they thicken it and make it sweeter.

90 min

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Menestra de Tudela

In Tudela, at the southern tip of Navarre, the market gardens along the Ebro send out artichokes, peas, broad beans and asparagus all at once in April and May, and the town celebrates with its Jornadas de Exaltación de la Verdura. Menestra is how those vegetables reach the table: every one is cooked on its own, the artichokes and chard stalks are dipped in flour and egg and fried, and everything is brought together at the end in a little garlic and onion sauce. Local cooks often add cured ham; this version leaves it out and is fully vegetarian. Chef's tip: save a cupful of the water the vegetables were boiled in, because it gives the final sauce far more flavour than plain water or stock.

95 min

Turkish Breakfast & Brunch

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Murtuğa

A Van breakfast is famously huge, with herb cheese, honey, kaymak and olives, and in winter it often includes a pan of murtuğa: flour slowly toasted in plenty of butter until golden, then scrambled together with eggs into rich, crumbly nuggets. It's a dish from cold mountain homes where a filling breakfast had to last until evening, eaten hot with bread or on its own with tea. Common mistake: rushing the flour on a high heat so it scorches before it cooks through; keep it low and keep stirring. Chef's tip: beat the eggs with a splash of water before adding them; they spread through the flour more evenly and stay softer.

20 min

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Kayısı tatlısı

Malatya grows more apricots than anywhere else on earth, and its sweet shops make the most of the sun-dried fruit with kayısı tatlısı: plump dried apricots soaked, poached in a light syrup until glossy, then split and filled with thick kaymak and topped with bright green pistachio. They're served chilled in small dishes at the end of a meal or with coffee. Common mistake: boiling them hard, which bursts the skins; they need only a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: choose the soft, pale, whole dried apricots rather than the sulphured orange halves; they fill neatly and taste of honey.

40 min

Turkish Desserts

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Hingel

Hingel is the comfort food of Kars and Ardahan, on Turkey's high north-eastern border, where long winters made potatoes and butter everyday staples. Half-moon dumplings are filled with mashed potato and onion, boiled, then smothered in caramelised onions, garlic yoghurt and plenty of browned butter, much like manti but larger and softer. Common mistake: a wet potato filling that leaks through the seams; dry the boiled potatoes in the pan for a minute before mashing. Chef's tip: fry the onions slowly in the same butter you pour over at the end; it picks up their sweetness.

90 min

Turkish Pasta & Noodles

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Ayran aşı

When the summer heat hits the eastern plateau around Erzurum, Erzincan and Sivas, families switch from hot soups to ayran aşı, a cold soup of thinned yoghurt with cooked whole wheat, chickpeas and handfuls of mint, dill and purslane or cucumber. It's ladled from a big bowl at lunch with flatbread, and it's as refreshing as a drink but filling as a meal. Common mistake: adding the grains while still hot, which makes the yoghurt split and turn sour-tasting; cool them completely first. Chef's tip: make it a few hours before serving and chill; the wheat soaks up the yoghurt and the herbs perfume the whole bowl.

60 min

Turkish Soups

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Judiones de La Granja

In La Granja de San Ildefonso, the royal summer palace in the hills above Segovia, local farmers grow judiones, enormous flat white beans with skin so thin they melt on the tongue. Restaurants in the town and in Segovia stew them with chorizo, morcilla and pork for cold-weather lunches, followed by a roast. This contains pork (chorizo, morcilla and pork rib or ear). Large butter beans or Greek gigantes work well elsewhere. Chef's tip: never stir the beans; shake the pot instead, so they stay whole.

170 min

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Hornazo de Salamanca

Salamanca's students and families picnic by the river Tormes on Lunes de Aguas, the Monday after Easter Monday, and the hornazo is what they unwrap: a golden pie with a bread-like crust, packed with layers of marinated pork loin, chorizo, cured ham and hard-boiled egg. It is eaten cold, in thick slices, and bakeries sell it all through spring. This contains pork (loin, chorizo and ham). The dough traditionally includes white wine; use water with a little lemon juice to keep it alcohol-free. Chef's tip: fry the loin slices first so they are cooked through before they go into the pie.

100 min

Spanish Breakfast & Brunch

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Duelos y quebrantos

Cervantes names this dish in the first lines of Don Quixote as the knight's Saturday supper, and in La Mancha it is still a quick, filling plate of soft eggs scrambled into fried chorizo and streaky bacon. It turns up for a late breakfast in roadside inns near Campo de Criptana, or for supper on a busy weeknight with bread and a salad. This contains pork (chorizo and bacon). Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly wet; they finish cooking on the plate.

17 min

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Patatas revolconas

Shepherds in the Gredos mountains of Ávila once lived on these "tumbled" potatoes, roughly mashed with garlicky paprika oil and topped with crunchy fried pork belly, called torreznos. Bars in Ávila, Salamanca and Béjar now serve them on the house as a tapa, or as a starter before a steak on a chilly evening. This contains pork (pork belly). Chef's tip: save the potato cooking water; a splash makes the mash loose and spoonable without milk or butter.

55 min

Spanish Sides

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Soldaditos de Pavía

Madrid's old taverns near Puerta del Sol have fried these golden fingers of salt cod for well over a century, and they are still eaten standing at the bar with a small glass of something cold. Legend says the orange-red strip of pepper recalls the uniforms of soldiers in a Pavía regiment. The cod is soaked for two days to remove the salt, then fried until hot through, so it is fully cooked. Chef's tip: use cold sparkling water in the batter for a lighter, crunchier coat.

40 min

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Treacle tart

Treacle tart is an old English nursery pudding, a favourite of Victorian kitchens and still served with clotted cream or custard in pubs and school canteens. Despite the name it's made with golden syrup thickened with fresh breadcrumbs, sharpened with lemon zest and juice, baked until chewy at the edges and soft in the middle. Chef's tip: warm the syrup before mixing so the breadcrumbs soak it up evenly.

60 min

British Desserts

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Buñuelos de calabaza

When the Fallas bonfires go up in Valencia each March, every other street corner has a stall frying bunyols de carabassa: rough, ring-shaped pumpkin doughnuts pulled from the oil by the dozen and eaten standing up, usually with a cup of thick hot chocolate. The dough is little more than yeasted flour and cooked pumpkin, which keeps the inside soft and faintly orange and the outside crisp and blistered. They contain no egg, milk or butter, so they are suitable for vegans. A common mistake is adding flour until the dough feels like bread dough; it should be sticky and slack, almost a thick batter, or the doughnuts come out heavy. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water beside the pan and wet your hands before shaping each one; the dough then slides off your fingers into the oil instead of clinging to them.

65 min

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Fartons

In Alboraya, just north of Valencia, the horchaterías that serve cold tiger-nut horchata in summer put a plate of fartons beside every glass: long, slim, soft buns with a shiny sugar glaze, designed to be dunked and to soak up the milky drink without falling apart. The dough is enriched with egg, milk and sunflower oil rather than butter, which gives them their light, cottony crumb. They are just as good with coffee or cold milk. A common mistake is rushing the second rise; under-proved fartons stay tight and bready instead of airy. Chef's tip: roll each strip a little thinner than you think, about as thick as your finger, because they almost double in the oven.

45 min

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Coca de llanda

Every Valencian grandmother has a coca de llanda, a plain, fluffy sponge named after the shallow metal tray (llanda) it is baked in, and it turns up at breakfast, at afternoon merienda and in lunchboxes all over the Comunitat Valenciana. Sunflower oil and milk keep it moist for days, lemon zest perfumes it, and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top bakes into a crackly crust. A common mistake is opening the oven in the first 25 minutes, which makes the middle sink. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 10 minutes in the tin before it goes into the oven; the cinnamon sugar then sits on the surface instead of sinking in.

50 min

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Arnadí

In Xàtiva and the villages of La Costera, arnadí is made for Holy Week and given as a gift between neighbours, its golden peaks spiked with almonds and pine nuts like a little fortress. The recipe is a legacy of the region's Moorish centuries: roast pumpkin and sweet potato cooked down with sugar and ground almonds until thick, then shaped by hand in an earthenware dish and browned in the oven. Texture-wise it sits between a fudge and a very dense pudding, fragrant with lemon and cinnamon. A common mistake is using boiled pumpkin; it holds too much water and the arnadí never firms up. Chef's tip: roast the vegetables until the edges caramelise, then leave the purée to drain in a sieve overnight for the best, densest result.

150 min

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Mona de Pascua

On Easter Monday, families across the Valencian Community head out to the countryside or the beach to "menjar-se la mona": they eat an orange-scented sweet brioche, often with a whole egg baked on top, and children crack the egg on a friend's forehead. The bun is soft and fluffy, glazed and sprinkled with sugar or coloured aniseed sprinkles. Here the eggs are hard-boiled first, so they are cooked through whatever the size of your bun. A common mistake is adding all the flour at once to a sticky dough; it softens as you knead, so hold back the last 50 g until you've kneaded for a few minutes. Chef's tip: make the starter the evening before and the dough on the day; the slow start gives a lighter crumb that stays soft for two days.

70 min

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Pollo al chilindrón

Chilindrón is the red sauce that Aragon is known for across Spain: sweet red peppers, onion and tomato cooked down slowly with serrano ham until thick and glossy. Chicken is the most common partner (lamb is the other), and a big pot of it is a typical dish at summer village fiestas in the Pyrenees foothills and at family meals all year. This contains pork (cured serrano ham). The recipe uses a little white wine; use chicken stock instead for no alcohol. A common mistake is hurrying the sofrito: the peppers need a slow 20 minutes to soften and sweeten before the chicken goes back in. Chef's tip: if you have roasted red peppers or a spoonful of choricero pepper paste, stir some in for a deeper, smokier colour.

90 min

Spanish Chicken

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Migas a la aragonesa

Shepherds in the Aragonese uplands made migas from yesterday's bread, a little water, garlic and whatever pork was hanging in the larder, and it is still a cold-weather breakfast, a hunters' lunch and a fiesta dish in villages from the Pyrenees to the Maestrazgo. Fried slowly in a wide pan, the dampened crumbs turn golden and crisp on the outside and stay soft inside, flecked with fried longaniza and bacon. Fresh green grapes or a fried egg on the side are the classic way to serve them. This contains pork (longaniza sausage and bacon). A common mistake is soaking the bread: sprinkle the water on and leave it overnight, or the migas turn to paste. Chef's tip: keep turning the crumbs with the edge of a spatula, chopping as you go; it is the long, patient stirring that makes them loose and crisp.

55 min

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Técula mécula

Olivenza, on the border with Portugal and Portuguese until 1801, kept a taste for the convent sweets of its neighbour, and técula mécula is the town's pride: a dense, golden tart of ground almonds, sugar syrup and egg yolks, sold whole or by the slice in its pastry shops and carried home as a gift. Its playful name is said to come from a Latin phrase meaning with you and with me, as if it were made to share. The traditional pastry uses pork lard; this version uses butter and is vegetarian. Chef's tip: a thin slice is plenty, as it is very rich; serve it with coffee.

85 min

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Sopa de espárragos trigueros

In March and April people across Extremadura walk the field margins and olive groves picking thin, bitter wild asparagus, and much of the haul goes into this soup. The spears are fried with garlic and smoky pimentón de la Vera, simmered with water, thickened with thin slices of stale bread, and an egg is poached in the pot for each person. It is a country supper for chilly spring evenings. Thin green asparagus from the shops works well. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat before adding the paprika, so it doesn't scorch.

45 min

Spanish Soups

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Migas extremeñas

Migas were the breakfast of Extremaduran shepherds, made from the hard bread they carried, and they are still what families cook on a rainy winter day or at a village fiesta, often in a huge pan stirred with a long spoon. The bread is cut tiny, dampened and left overnight, then fried slowly in garlicky oil with panceta and chorizo until loose, golden and crunchy at the edges. They are served with grapes or melon on the side, and sometimes a fried egg. This contains pork (panceta and chorizo). Chef's tip: keep turning the crumbs with a spatula the whole time; this constant movement is what makes them loose.

55 min

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Caldereta extremeña

Caldereta is the feast dish of Extremadura's shepherds, cooked in a big iron pot at romerías, weddings and village fiestas, and in many homes for Sunday lunch. Pieces of lamb are browned and stewed with peppers, bay and smoky pimentón de la Vera, then the sauce is thickened with lamb's liver fried with garlic and bread and pounded to a paste, which gives it a deep, rich flavour. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead if you can; like most stews, it tastes better reheated.

125 min

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Cachuela

Cachuela belongs to the matanza, the winter pig slaughter that once filled every village in Extremadura with family and neighbours for several days. The fresh liver was cooked straight away with lard, onion, garlic and plenty of pimentón, then mashed into a coarse, spicy spread for breakfast on toast. People still make it in Badajoz and Cáceres homes through the cold months, and it keeps for a few days in the fridge. This contains pork (pork liver and pork lard). Chef's tip: cook the liver through but not a minute longer; overcooked liver turns grainy and bitter.

45 min

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Turrón de Jijona

The hill town of Jijona (Xixona) in Alicante has been grinding almonds and honey into turrón for centuries, and its soft, beige, slightly oily bars are on almost every Spanish table between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. Unlike hard Alicante turrón, Jijona turrón is a smooth almond paste that crumbles and melts in the mouth, deeply nutty with a floral sweetness from the honey. A common mistake is under-toasting the almonds; pale almonds give a bland, grey paste, so take them to a light, even gold. This version uses honey and egg white, so it is vegetarian but not vegan. Chef's tip: press the warm paste into its mould under a weight and leave it a full two days before slicing; it firms up and the oil settles evenly through it.

50 min

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Trenza de Almudévar

Almudévar, a small town between Zaragoza and Huesca, gave its name to a braid that is now sold all over Aragon and given as a present at Christmas: a golden plaited loaf, layered with chopped nuts and liqueur-soaked raisins and brushed with syrup until it shines. The town's bakeries use a laminated, puff-like dough that takes a day; this home version uses a buttery brioche rolled around the filling and cut and braided so the layers show. The raisins are traditionally soaked in rum or brandy; use warm orange juice for an alcohol-free loaf. A common mistake is braiding too tightly, which squeezes out the filling and stops the dough rising. Chef's tip: chill the filled roll for 15 minutes before cutting it lengthways; the butter firms and the cut is much cleaner.

85 min

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Almojábanas

In Aragonese bakeries, almojábanas are the rings stacked by the till at Easter and for local fiestas: rings of choux-like dough that puff up hollow and airy in the oven and are then brushed with a white sugar glaze that cracks as you bite. The name comes from Arabic, and versions are found from Teruel to the Ribagorza, some flavoured with lemon and others with anise. They are best the day they are made, with a coffee or a glass of cold milk. A common mistake is opening the oven early: choux collapses if the steam escapes before the shells have set. Chef's tip: beat the eggs in one at a time and stop when the paste falls from the spoon in a thick, glossy V; you may not need the last egg.

55 min

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Ternasco de Aragón asado

Ternasco is the young, milk-and-grass-fed lamb of Aragon, and roasting it in a wood oven with potatoes is how families in Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel celebrate Sunday lunches, christenings and Christmas Day. The meat is pale, tender and mild, and the potatoes underneath cook in its juices with garlic, wine and herbs until golden and soft. This uses white wine; swap it for water with a squeeze of lemon if you prefer no alcohol. A common mistake is roasting too hot: young lamb dries out quickly, so keep the oven moderate and baste often. Chef's tip: ask your butcher to cut a shoulder or a leg of young lamb into large pieces through the bone; more surfaces brown, and it cooks evenly.

120 min

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Cogollos de Tudela con ajos

The lettuce hearts grown around Tudela in the Ribera of Navarre are small, tight and sweet, and they carry their own protected name. In the bars of Tudela and Pamplona they come to the table split lengthwise, still cold, with olive oil poured over them straight from the pan where garlic has just turned golden. Many places lay an anchovy on each quarter; this version leaves the fish out and is vegan. Chef's tip: dry the lettuce really well, because water left between the leaves makes the hot oil spit and leaves the dressing watery.

15 min

Spanish Salads

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Piquillos rellenos de setas

Lodosa, on the Ebro in southern Navarre, roasts its little pointed piquillo peppers over wood, peels them by hand and jars them under its own protected name. When the autumn rains bring mushrooms up in the Navarrese hills, the peppers get stuffed with a thick mushroom béchamel, coated and fried, and served as a starter at family lunches or as a pintxo in the old town of Pamplona. A smooth sauce made from a few extra peppers goes underneath. Chef's tip: chill the filling until it is firm enough to scoop, which makes filling the soft peppers far easier.

75 min

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Pochas a la navarra

Pochas are white beans picked in late summer before they dry, when the pods have gone soft and yellowish, and in Navarre September means bowls of them in every village from Sangüesa to the Ribera. Because they are fresh they need no soaking and cook in about 40 minutes into something creamy, sweet and gentle. Many homes add chorizo or quail; this version keeps to the vegetables and is vegan. Pickled guindilla chillies on the side are the usual partner. Chef's tip: if you can't find fresh pochas, frozen ones are sold in Spanish shops and are very good.

60 min

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Espárragos de Navarra con vinagreta

White asparagus grows under mounded earth in the sandy fields along the Ebro and its tributaries, and the Espárrago de Navarra label covers the spears picked there from April to June. In spring, restaurants from Pamplona to Tudela serve them freshly boiled, still warm or just cool, as a starter on their own or with a sharp vinaigrette full of finely diced peppers and egg. The rest of the year the jarred ones are a pantry staple. Chef's tip: add a teaspoon of sugar to the cooking water; it softens the faint bitterness of the stems.

45 min

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Pastissets de moniato

As Christmas nears, bakeries and home kitchens from Valencia to Alicante turn out trays of pastissets, little half-moon pies of crumbly olive-oil pastry wrapped around a filling of sweet potato cooked with sugar, lemon and cinnamon, finished with a snowy dusting of sugar. They are eaten with coffee or a glass of mistela after the big family meals, and also for All Saints in November. The pastry traditionally includes a splash of sweet mistela wine; orange juice works just as well for an alcohol-free version. A common mistake is overfilling, which splits the seams in the oven; a heaped teaspoon is enough. Chef's tip: chill the filling until firm before you shape, so it sits neatly in the centre and is easy to seal.

95 min

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Coca de tomaca

On the night of Sant Joan in late June, Alicante's beaches fill with people eating cocas while the bonfires burn, and coca de tomaca is the plainest and best loved: a thin, olive-oil dough baked under a layer of tomato, red pepper and onion that roasts down to something sweet and jammy. Bakeries in towns like Alcoy and Elche sell it by the slab all year round, and it is just as good cold the next day at a picnic. Many versions add tinned tuna or sardines; this one keeps it vegetable-only, so it is vegan. A common mistake is piling the vegetables on raw and wet, which leaves the base soggy; salt and drain the tomato first. Chef's tip: bake on the lowest shelf so the base crisps before the topping colours.

65 min

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Ensalada valenciana

Before the paella pan reaches the table at a Valencian Sunday lunch, a big shared bowl of ensalada valenciana goes round: crisp lettuce, thick wedges of summer tomato, sweet onion and black olives, dressed at the table with olive oil, a little vinegar and salt. Restaurants in the Huerta often add hard-boiled egg and tinned tuna; here the tuna is left out and the egg is optional, so without it the salad is vegan. A common mistake is dressing it in advance; the salt pulls water from the tomatoes and the lettuce goes limp within minutes. Chef's tip: soak the onion slices in iced water for 10 minutes, which takes the sharp edge off and keeps them crunchy.

15 min

Spanish Salads

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Fideuà

Gandia, on the coast south of Valencia, claims fideuà as its own and holds a contest for it every summer: a paella pan of short, thin noodles toasted in oil and cooked in a deep seafood stock with monkfish, squid and prawns until the liquid has gone and the tips of the noodles curl upwards. It is served straight from the pan with a bowl of allioli to stir in. A common mistake is stirring once the stock is in; the noodles release starch and turn sticky instead of separate and slightly crisp. Use a well-flavoured fish stock, as it is the backbone of the dish. Chef's tip: finish the pan for a few minutes under a hot grill, the trick that makes the noodles stand up like little hooks.

55 min