The Spanish cook and broadcaster Maria José Sevilla’s latest book is full of delicious dishes from her beautiful homeland
Recipes
Andalusian gazpacho
Gazpacho in Andalusía began centuries ago as a light soup made with stale bread softened with water and flavoured with oil, garlic and vinegar. Later, more sophisticated gazpachos made with almonds became popular in Málaga and Córdoba. With the arrival of the tomato, green bell peppers and cucumbers from the Americas, a more colourful and fresher version became a staple of the Andalusian kitchen, especially in summer.
If flavoursome tomatoes are not available you can greatly enhance the flavour of the gazpacho by macerating the chopped vegetables and all the rest of the ingredients for at least two or three hours, or better overnight, before blending. To obtain the texture Andalusians consider the best, which is slightly grainy, gazpachos used to be prepared using a pestle and mortar, but an electric blender does a good job.
SERVES SIX
● 50g stale bread, crusts removed
and crumbled
● 1kg ripe, tasty tomatoes, chopped
● 1 green bell pepper, deseeded
and chopped
● 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled
● 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced, plus
a little extra, diced, to serve
● 100ml Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
● 2-3 tbsp sherry vinegar
● Sea salt
1. Soak the bread in some water and when well-soaked, squeeze the water out.
2. Place the tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic, cucumber and bread in a food processor or blender. Start blending to a creamy consistency, adding the olive oil little by little. Season and add vinegar to taste. Add cold water gradually until the desired consistency is reached, then blend again.
3. Place in the fridge until ready to serve, garnished with diced cucumber.
NOTE: Gazpacho should be served very cold, however, to my taste it does not need ice before serving. As it melts, ice dilutes the concentration of the vegetables and therefore the flavour.
Seville-style paella
In 1992 I was invited to join a group of food and wine writers on a visit to the universal exposition in Seville. We were offered a tasty arroz a la Sevillana, cooked in front of us in a paella pan. This was not a classic Valencian paella, so did not feature any of the usual cooking and ingredient restrictions. It included, among many other ingredients, chorizo, shellfish and fish. It was delicious – and very colourful.
