Results tagged “tapas”

Come along for an informal class to learn how to make classic Spanish tapas dishes. Cooking together will be interspersed with eating tapas and drinking rioja and sherry in a relaxed atmosphere. 

You will learn how to make a beautiful array of small bites and finger food, perfect for Christmas parties, and get to take home all the recipes and leftover tapas!


Spanish tortilla with piquillo peppers
Jamon or Manchego cheese croquetas
Manzanilla olive, anchovy & pickled chilli pintxos
Chilled beetroot gazpacho shots
Chorizo-style meatballs
Mini crema catalana puddings


"I really learnt a lot about techniques, flavours and much much more."

“We had a ball!  It was a fantastic class.”

“Anna makes us feel so welcome. I really enjoy the classes and the incredible meals."


Date:  Thursday 1st December 2011

Time:  6.30pm - 10pm

Location:  London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)

Price:  £50.  Or £90 for two places.

To book:  Email Anna  Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place.  Thank you.

As we got higher into the Pyrenees, the road signs got gradually less French.  Call it Occitan, call it Catalan - whichever way you look at it we were moving into new territory.  As if to illustrate the point, we also quickly found ourselves in the middle of the biggest hailstorm I've ever seen.  This, of course, was the perfect moment to discover that our sunroof didn't seal properly.

We'd come to Spain to settle an argument.  Ever since visiting Hungary, something had been nagging away at us (and I don't just mean Barnaby).  Which is the true king of pigs?  In the Spanish corner, the pata negra pig, black of foot, fed on acorns and cossetted like a prize sumo wrestler (do sumo wrestlers eat acorns? Probably).  In the Hungarian corner, the mangalica, curly of hair, and a whacking 70% body fat.  Both tasty, no doubt - but in the world of cured pork products there can be only one winner.  Only time, and extensive sampling, would tell ...

Various people had told us the food wasn't good in Spain.  Even the Spanish food writer and historian Clara Maria Amezua, who we'd first met at a conference in Greece in May, lamented the decline of Spain's gastronomy.  She attributes this to Fernando and Isabella's (los Reyes Catolicos) expulsion of the Moors and Jews at the end of the 15th century.  With them went many sophisiticated and richly flavoured north African and Sephardic dishes.  But, as we found, traces of their culinary traditions are still to be found. 

And what's more, the ingredients in Spain are glorious.  Top quality fresh vegetables and seafood, in particular, are widely available. Here are ten our favourite taste memories of our journey through Spain, from Catalunya to Andalucia, via the Basque Country, Galicia and Castille.  Often the most delicious things we found were the simplest; those showcasing just one wonderful ingredient...

I have to say that we did have some pretty awful tapas in Spain: Dry jamón on dry bread, soggy patatas bravas, bland tortilla wedges, shrimps with supermarket mayo and so on.  But this was our fault for eating in the wrong places (not that anywhere should really be serving up such atrocities).  When the spot was right, we found divine jamón iberico, moreish pimientos de Padrón (there's always one....), tasty tortillas and more.  But the best spot of all, for a very different concept of tapas, was A Fuego Negro in San Sebastian...