PENELOPE CASAS

The legacy work by one of the most influential experts on Spanish cuisine Penelope Casas was one of the premier experts on Spanish food: She taught readers about jamon serrano, Manchego cheese, and chorizo, in addition to countless dishes, from patatas bravas to churros. She wrote several acclaimed books, and 1,000 Spanish Recipes is her final work and legacy. It is the latest - and a very special-addition to the award-winning 1,000 Recipes series; in this unmatched collection of simple, precise recipes, she takes readers on a culinary journey of Spain from Galicia to Madrid to the Canary Islands. There is a wealth of options for tapas (including 18 Spanish omelets); soups (11 recipes for gazpacho); salads; main courses; vegetable, bean, and grain dishes (50 paellas!); breads; and desserts (20 types of flan). Icons for vegetarian recipes, special menus, and features on Spanish ingredients and dishes will engage and reassure cooks. This culmination of Casas' 40-year career and lifelong love affair with Spanish food will be a treasured cookbook and guide.

Penelope Casas, who introduced the classic little dishes of Spain to American cooks more than twenty years ago, now gives us a splendid updated edition of that seminal book—with fifty exciting new recipes and eight full pages of new color photographs showing tapas in all their glory. Here are all the appetizer dishes that have long been a tradition in Spanish cuisine—mélanges of seafood in aromatic sauces; little ragouts of meat, sausages, beans; colorful salads and marinades; the omelets calledtortillasthat enclose a variety of tasty tidbits;banderillas, zesty combinations on skewers; andempanadas, savory delights encased in pastry. The new recipes Casas includes reflect the influence of the innovative cooking in Spain today—dishes seasoned with soy sauce or balsamic vinegar; ingredients wrapped in flaky phyllo pastry; accents of goat cheese and arugula; foie gras in elegant presentations. With Spanish cooking at the forefront of today's cuisine, this "exceptional book by the leading American authority on the foods of Spain" (as Craig Claiborne dubbed it in 1985) is a must for every adventurous cook in America today.

Penelope Casas, the foremost American authority on Spanish food and the author of the bestselling Tapas, presents more than 175 robustly flavored yet amazingly simple recipes representing the best of Spanish home cooking—the cooking handed down through generations of Spanish "mamás." Long overshadowed by France and Italy, Spain has finally taken its rightful place as one of Europe's great culinary meccas. Consider the reborn cities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao; the new respect afforded Spanish wines; the popularity of tapas bars in the U.S.; and Spain's widely influential Michelin three-star chefs, Ferran Adrià and Juan Mari Arzak. Despite the world-wide acclaim for these chefs, arguably the greatest Spanish food is found not in the nation's restaurants, but in private homes off-limits to tourists, where women still cook the recipes their mothers and grandmothers cooked before them. Now, Penelope Casas takes us into those homes to uncover the secrets of this simple, easily reproduced, and altogether marvelous cuisine. For La Cocina de Mamá, Penelope Casas has collected recipes from great chefs and traditional home cooks in every region of Spain, all of whom have shared with her the dishes they grew up loving and still cook for themselves today. There are recipes for tapas, like Clams in Garlic Sauce; elegant soups and hearty one-pot meals like Stewed Potatoes with Pork Ribs; many wonderful seafood dishes like Fish Steaks with Peas in Saffron Sauce; meat and poultry dishes, such as Pork Tenderloin in Orange Sauce, Rack of Lamb Stuffed with Mushrooms and Scallions, and Lemon Chicken withGinger and Pine Nuts; paella and other rice dishes—and even a few pasta dishes; unusual vegetable preparations, including Sautéed Spinach with Quince and Toasted Sesame Seeds; and desserts like Basque Apple Custard Tart. Whether of Roman, Moorish, or peasant origin, all of the dishes appeal to today's tastes and exemplify the virtues of the Mediterranean diet—lots of olive oil, lean meats and fish, and vegetables. Sidebars throughout discuss ingredients, areas of Spain unfamiliar to most Americans, travel vignettes, and more. At last, Americans can discover the unique and irresistible flavors of authentic Spanish home cooking in La Cocina de Mamá.

From the best-selling author of Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain and The Foods and Wines of Spain. Unless they have traveled to spain, most Americans have never tasted a really good paella. What passes for paella at restaurants and even in cookbooks here is a pale imitation of the real thing, the vibrant Spanish rice dish that marries the robust flavors of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, and pepper with short-grain rice, broth, and meat, fish, or vegetables. Penelope Casas is here to restore the glorious paella to its rightful place as a grain-based meal that will gratify the senses as well as be the centerpiece for easy, elegant entertaining. Casas presents sixty different fascinating paellas, some traditional, some her own creation, showing how easily some of the preparation can be done ahead of time with supermarket ingredients. She includes a superior collection of tapas, the Spanish meal starters, two dozen simple desserts, and a handful of broths and sauces. Her passion for paella, her clear directions, and her creative pairings of fresh ingredients make this unusual cookbook a winner.

With its innovative desing, The 365 Days in Spain Calendar features a full-color photo on every day.