It's Calçotada season!

Spanish black pudding. Dense with rice, fragrant with cumin. Slice and fry or grill. Like the UK, Spain has many regional variations of black pudding, known as morcilla in Spanish. Morcilla de Burgos originates in Castilla y León and has a dry firm texture, due to the inclusion of rice, and shows a Moorish influence in the use of cumin as a seasoning. Approximately 285g  

These small, finger sized, peppers were brought to Spain from Mexico by returning conquistadores and first cultivated in a Galician monastery, where they became known as Pimientos de Padron. They have now become a popular tapa in Spain, served fried and sprinkled with salt; they taste fresh and mild with an occasional spicy pepper providing an exciting contrast!

Potent sweetness. Crimson red. Flamed then hand peeled and packed. Super versatile. Brought back to Spain from the Americas by returning conquistadores, these small red peppers are a very mild variety of chilli. Grown in the Lodosa DOP in Navarra these piquillo peppers are roasted and then peeled by hand.  The peppers are a deep scarlet and their flavour is intense, sweet and mildly piquant.

Intense flavour, melting texture. Improve with age. Shimmers of silver skin. Ortiz buy their sardines at auction houses (lonjas) on the north coast of Spain. The fish are carefully beheaded and gutted by hand before being washed and prepared for cooking. They are briefly fried in oil before being tinned in olive oil. A la antigua describes those products on which the silver skin is kept on the fish.