Padron Pepper Tapa

Andrea Meyers - Padron Pepper Tapa

After my first taste of a sautéed Spanish padron pepper a couple years ago, I knew I had to grow them in the garden. Our first plant grew well, but only produced a few peppers, hardly enough for a tapa. The second year was slightly better, then this year I decided to go all out [...]

The Daring Cooks Make Creamy Rice with Mushrooms, Artichokes, and Shrimp

When I saw this month’s Daring Cooks challenge announcement, my pulse quickened and I envisioned a moist, colorful, flavorful Spanish rice. The sofregit seemed perfect for the season, with fresh tomatoes, peppers, and garlic, and this was a perfect opportunity to test out the paella pan (paellera) Michael gave me for Christmas. That I still [...]

Shrimp with Mushroom Tapas and a Cookbook Give Away

In 1985 Penelope Casas introduced U.S. diners to the world of Spanish tapas with the success of her book Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain. Casas is a recognized authority on Spanish cuisine and has published five books on the foods of the region and writes about Spanish food and travel for several major publications. [...]

Vegetable Paella

Paella is the pinnacle of rice dishes, though the grand seafood version we often see in the United States would be unrecognizable to the Spanish peasants who invented it. The dish originated in Valencia and traditionally was made with rabbit and land snails, though sometimes chicken and/or duck was used instead. Seafood came later as [...]

White Sangria

Andrea Meyers - White Sangria

Getting my red wine-loving husband to drink white wine is like trying to get a kid to eat spinach, so he was not exactly thrilled when I told him I was making white sangria. I talked it up, trying to get him interested in tasting something new, but he’s just not a white wine kind [...]

Shrimp in Garlic Tapa and a Cookbook Give Away

I wish I could have visited Spain during my jaunt through Europe in 1996, but time was short and I thought a visit to Spain would come on a later trip that has yet to materialize. One of my childhood dreams was to see the horses in Andalusia, so I must do that as well [...]

Sangria for Cinco de Mayo

Andrea Meyers - Sangria for Cinco de Mayo

Ev is my best girl friend, and she and I have been enjoying each other’s company over good food for almost 14 years. We met in 1993 in Bogotá, Colombia when I was teaching at the embassy school, and our favorite haunt was a little Japanese store and sushi bar around Calle 98 and something [...]