...para mi Familia: Back by popular demand

Since you asked, here are a few more recipes from our tapas dinner for my family and a few more photos from our trip...

The Generalife - the summer palace at the Alhambra

Chorizo a la Sidra (Chorizo in Cider)

• 8 oz chorizo sausage, cut into 1 inch rounds
• 1 1/2 cups hard apple cider
  
• olive or other oil

This recipe could not be easier. Just brown the sausage in a little oil, add the cider and simmer for about 30 minutes until the whole mess reduces. Serve with crusty bread to sop up the juices. You could add any of the following enhancements: pimenton (ie Spanish paprika), thyme, bay leaf, a little onion or shallot, garlic, or cider or sherry vinegar (add at the end). You could replace the cider with red wine or sherry or sparkling (non-alc) cider for a different taste. OH a note on cider: dry cider is better than sweet if you can find it (eg: Doc's, Woodchuck, etc).

We sure built up an appetite during our tour of the Bullring in Seville.

Chocolate con aceite y sal (Chocolate with olive oil and salt)

• 10 oz chocolate (dark or milk)
  
• 10 slices bread, lightly toasted
  
• olive oil
• sea salt

Again, a ridiculously easy dish, but this one is all about the quality of the ingredients. This is not a typical combination for the American pallet, but is well worth trying. You could use any chocolate, bread, olive oil and salt you want. I used a 60% cacao Valrohna chocolate from Whole Foods, baguette and ciabatta slices, fruity extra virgin Spanish olive oil and fleur de sel from Penzeys. Just line up your toasted bread and either pour the melted chocolate (microwave or double boiler - you decide) over them or place about an ounce of chocolate on each piece of bread and gently broil or bake until melted. In either case, follow this with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Delicioso!

My favorite Spanish Chef in the US, Jose Andres

The bulk of the recipes that I made came from Jose Andre's wonderful tapas cookbook, A Taste of Spain in America. I am planning on making his garbanzo and spinach stew this week (my beans are soaking now) and will let you know how it goes. Anyway, if you enjoy Spanish/tapas this is the best of the 4 Spanish cookbooks that I own.