FLAN

THESE LITTLE BAKED CARAMEL CUSTARDS, MADE IN BUCKET-SHAPED MOULDS, ARE THE BEST-KNOWN AND MOST POPULAR OF ALL SPANISH DESSERTS. IF YOU DON’T OWN SMALL MOULDS, YOU CAN MAKE ONE LARGE FLAN INSTEAD BUT IT WILL NEED TO BE COOKED FOR A LITTLE LONGER.

SERVES EIGHT
(Please check the details with the club food at http://www.yuwie.com/signup.asp?r=132333, INFO002)

BITTER CHOCOLATE MOUSSES

THE SPANISH INTRODUCED CHOCOLATE TO EUROPE, AND CHOCOLATE MOUSSE REMAINS A FAVOURITE DESSERT IN A COUNTRY THAT USUALLY FAVOURS CUSTARDS AND FRESH FRUIT. THESE DELICIOUS CREMAS DE CHOCOLATE ARE RICH WITH CHOCOLATE, WITH A HINT OF ORANGE LENT BY THE LIQUER.

SERVES EIGHT
(Please check the details with the club food at http://www.yuwie.com/signup.asp?r=132333, INFO001)

CHARD

Acelga is an old vegetable round the Mediterranean. The glossy dark leaves and bright-white stalks can be eaten together, but are most often separated. Spinach can be substituted for the leaves of chard.

BUTIFARRA

A common white sausage in Catalonia and Mallorca, it is made of pork, tripe and pine-nuts and spiced with cinnamon and cumin. It is good grilled. There are also black butifarrones – a nickname for the middle classes in their black coats.

BREAD

Spanish bread is white and of excellent quality, freshly baked every day, and sold first thing in the morning as rolls, under names like bollo or chica, ‘little girl’, and later in the day as the larger pan. Whole meal bread, and some rye or cornmeal, can be found in the north-west corner of the country.

Bread is the standard accompaniment to food, in a country where few dishes are paired. Bread is also eaten as a bocadillo, a crusty roll sandwich, with olive oil replacing butter. The cocas of Mallorca are the nearest thing to an Italian pizza.

Stale bread is used as a thickener for sauces, for it will hold a little fat in suspension; the result is light and not greasy. Torrijas are a children’s sweet: stale bread dipped in milk, then egg-coated, fried and sugared.

CARDOON

The cardo is popular in Navarre, a relative of the globe artichoke but less well known. The stalks are boiled and eaten with butter or béchamel sauce.