AlexP

Personally, I would not mess around too much with the Gazpacho... I like the idea of some good croutons. Eat some cheese and bread on the side as a tapa and have some red wine (Hopefully a Rioja or Ribera del Duero)... You would have an excellent dinner. Good luck Alex

As stated earlier, the traditional Tortilla de Patata has onions, eggs, and potatoes. Some places serve it hot or cold, up to you. Sometimes they give you some mayo (in Spain most mayos has plenty of garlic, ali oli (sp)) I have been in tapas restaurants where they have plenty of versions of tortillas. From veggies. chorizo, jamon, to seafood like shrimp. Can tuna is also a popular addition. There are some places where they do "double layers". A regular tortilla, a "frosting" of can tuna and mayo, and another thin egg tortilla (no potatoes) on top. There are unlimited versions... I cook the traditional tortillas quite often. I personally like them a little runny (sp?), but I have noticed that the Americans that have eating mine, like them on the overcook side... I still think that they are pretty tasty when well done. I let the potato mix to cool a little bit before mixing it with the eggs as other posters mentioned. I have seen recipes that called for you to smash the potatoes and the eggs with a fork. Others just called to mix them a little bit. They required a lot of salt and good olive oil if you want to remember Spain Alex

Regarding Penelope Casas... I think her books are pretty good. I have a couple Spanish cook books from Spain and the recipes are too general. Casas is able to write detail instructions that help a beginner cook. For my dinner... My wife wanted a small paella so I went to our fish market to see what I could find... I was happy to see some life crayfish. My mother always says to buy only life crayfish, so I followed the advice. Anyway, I made a small paella with chicken, chorizo, crayfish, squid, and mussels. It turned out well, although even when I have cooked paella dozens of times, I still cannot make sense of the rice/stock ratio... Taste is usually pretty good, but most of the times, I end up adding either additional stock or water at the end to finish the rice... Alex

"How does one cook a suckling pig? Assume no special equipment. " First, I believe that I have spoken too soon before. I have looked at a few Spanish recipes and most of them called for up to 4 kilos suckling pigs (about 8 or 9 pounds) They are looking at 15 to 20 day old pigs. So my prior post was incorrect. Regarding a recipe, the ones that I looked are pretty simple. In general you want to cut the body in half like a book. You want the pre heat oven about 325 Degrees F. Put the skin side down and cook for about 45 minutes. After that, you want to turn the meat around and spread the skin with lard and some garlic (some recipes call for thyme and rosemary as well) and cook it for another hour and half. Some recipes ask to lower the temperature, others to increase it. I have found that Spanish recipes are pretty general without giving strict details. The goal is to have a really crispy skin and juicy meat. Hope that this give you an idea at least. Alex

I believe in Spain a true suckling pig needs to be no older than 12 weeks. My mother just cooks then in a regular oven. Most of my cooking has been done in the US, so I still need to cook one myself back home. Sorry, I have no real advice on using your bullet for this. But, eating a perfectly cooked Cochinillo (suckling pig).... Delicioso Alex

Wow! I have discovered this site in the last week or so. I like it and find it pretty interesting, although I have a lot to read if I want to catch up . Anyway, yesterday night I cooked a couple Tortillas de Patata (Spanish omeletes) I usually cook them with just potatoes, onions, and a little garlic. Nevertheless, yesterday I included some peppers (green, red, and yellow) and some Spanish chorizo. They turned out well. Alex