One of the highlights of our recent trip to Spain was the Taller Andaluz de Cocina cooking school. Held within the Triana food market in Seville, the class started with a tour of the food market. During the market tour, our guide introduced us to fresh vegetables, sweet chorizo, and paprika infused pork fat. "Traditional Spanish cuisine is not complicated. It just requires time and fresh produce," she explained.
The class was taught by a chef who started cooking alongside his mother at an early age and went on to work in a two Michelin star restaurant in Northern Spain. His passion for cuisine was self evident. His advice was practical and uncomplicated. For instance, he advised cooking diced onions low and slow to get a nice caramelization. He also taught me the value of adding salt to draw water out from the center of the onion. No wonder my onions turn out black on the outside and raw in the center! Altogether, the Taller Andaluz de Cocina cooking school was a unique experience involving entertainment, education, and a delicious meal, all for a very reasonable price.
One dish that exemplifies how uncomplicated and fresh Spanish cuisine can be is gazpacho. In fact, gazpacho was traditionally a poor man's food. Traditionally served as a cool summer drink, gazpacho was the original vegetable smoothie far predating the trendy green smoothie. Now, according to our friends who live in Spain, kids may even have gazpacho for breakfast.
Try this recipe to make your own cool and refreshing gazpacho. Cailya, who has always loved tomatoes, slurped this dish up. Because Colin has always been weary of tomatoes, I sweetened his gazpacho up with some strawberries and told him it was strawberry soup. It worked like a charm.
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