Hi, folks--
If you have a chance, check out Williams-Sonoma's current Spring 2001 catalog--they always include free recipes to entice you to buy stuff, and this catalog has several Spanish (or Spanish-inspired) ones that look good:

Green Salad with Spanish Vinaigrette (w/Serrano ham), Garlic Shrimp, Lobster Paella, Crema Catalana, and Dulce de Leche Ice Cream.

They also carry Pons Spanish Olive Oil, DeSoto Spanish Sherry Vinegar, Calasparra rice for paella, Lodosa piquillo peppers, cute pastel-colored "tapas plates", little clay cazuelas, and a glass sangria pitcher (but made in Italy, !).

Also, for the cook who has nearly everything, tiny Calphalon TAPAS PANS! Okay, that may be taking even MY kitchen gadget obsession too far!

I know, you all probably have all the kitchen goodies you could ever use, but someone at W-S must have had a great vacation in Spain recently! The catalog is online, too ( Williams Sonoma webpage ), but I think you have to search for the recipes by name.

[ 04-17-2001: Message edited by: taravb ]

[ 04-17-2001: Message edited by: taravb ]

I received my catalog here in SF yeserday as well - saw all the things you menioned. I thought the Calphalon tapas pans were great but at $29.95 each it is cheaper to buy the pottery cazuelas at 4 for $24.00 to make some tapas dishes.

The products they list are great, but being in a city with a large hispanic population (30% - also asian population is 30%), I can find many of these products much cheaper than the catalog.

Example: I can buy authentic La Mancha saffron at the San Francisco Spice Company in the Mission District for $2.35 a gram. There is a discount for buying 10 or more grams. In fact, my last purchase was a 100 gram tin. If interested, this place does have an online site and a catalog.

Tomas

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: tomas ]

Wow! That's an amazing price for saffron. I get mine from Penzey's (we have a store, but they are online at www.penzeys.com too), but I think it runs about $6 a gram. It's absolutely lovely stuff, though...but still, I use it enough that I like the idea of bulk buying! I stocked up in Spain in March, but I'll go through that quickly.

Penzey's also has a fabulous seafood soup base that works really well for quick paella...all you do is cook up some saffron rice in one pot and saute some chicken, minced garlic, and chopped onions in a bit of olive oil in a skillet. Then add about a cup-and-a-half of water and a teaspoon of Penzey's seafood base, an extra pinch of saffron, some peas and diced red peppers, salt and pepper, and some chopped tomatoes...cook for a minute or two, then dump in the rice and your seafood (shrimp, scallops, whatever.). Cook until the liquid is mostly gone and your seafood is done. This is even really good with just frozen cooked shrimp and leftover chicken. Maybe not completely authentic...but the seafood base gives it a great flavor that's not too overpowering. It tastes like Spain to me!

I liked the tapas pans, but can't imagine myself really using them (and if I did, I would want about 8 of them!). I liked the cazuelas better--I'll look for those in my local store.

It's fun to see a mainstream "American" cooking company feature Spanish cuisine. Maybe a few more people will become enlightened and stop thinking they eat enchiladas in Spain!

Well here is the link for the website that sells saffron - the price is down to $2.05 a gram!!!
http://www.sfherb.com/

There seems to be a new East Coast outfit called www.atlanticspice.com

Tomas

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

For some good spanish recipes, go to Epicurious.com and type in "spanish" as a search word. They list 125! They have a lot of paella recipes. They also have a recipe for turkey almond meatballs that are sooo good. (I NEVER saw turkey meatballs in Spain but they sure are good with saffron rice!) Cheap saffron can also be found at the "cost plus" chain - it's like a pier one imports.

Calphalon tapas pans...unbelievable! What will they think of next. That is very unfair to those of us who can't control themselves. My husband still makes fun of my purchase of lemon nets (I don't even know if that's what they are called) to keep the seeds from falling into your food when squeezing. I thought that was a great item! I'll have to stick to the clay pans that were mentioned or I won't be able to afford my trip to Spain P.S. I love these faces! There is great spanish restarant in Tampa, Florida that has been on the same corner since 1905 in the cigar district called Ybor City. Food is excellent and they have a gift shop with a cookbook, sangria pitchers, etc. I will try to find out if they have a website to post. They have four other restaurants in Florida now as well but the original is the best, of course. I highly recommend it. Ybor City city is also the hot spot for other restaurants and nightclubs with any kind of music you can imagine. All were built in old cigar factories and other old buildings with lots of Spainish heritage.

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]

I found the website for the Columbia Restaurant which is none other than http://www.columbiarestaurant.com !
A Cuban family founded the restaurant but without knowing alot about Spain's history, I don't know what things both cultures share specifically. I'll know better when I return from Spain in May. The Columbia is still a great place that I would suggest to anyone who loves Spain and is travelling to Florida, especially Tampa. The Tampa restaurant boasts being the largest Spanish restaurant in the world...seats 1600 in 11 dining rooms and has Flamenco dancing regularly. The food is great, especially the 1905 salad and the building is quite eclectic (sp?). You can order Sangria pitchers, etc. from their 800 number on the site. Check it out!

[ 04-19-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]
[ 04-19-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]
[ 04-19-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Williams Sonoma also puts out a quarterly magazine entitled TASTE, and the summer issue is all about Spain and also Latino foods!!! It has some great recipes for tapas and paella, and also articles on Madrid, San Sebastian, and El Bulli (Adria's restaurant)....It even mentioned Jaleo from D.C.
I'm sure this coincides with their Spring catalog, but it was really cool to see almost a whole magazine devoted to the cuisine and country we all love so much!!

For anyone paying more than $1.18 a gram for saffron, go to the very reliable www.donajuana.com . Their catalogue lists some excellent saffron for $33.65 per ounce. You must buy a full ounce, however. I've used it and it is excellent.

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: cantabene ]

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

William-Sonoma also has another book added to their list of the Savoring books series. I just bought the Spain one-Savoring Spain and Portugal. It is so beautiful with colored pics on every page....I got the book for 1.00 when I joined the goodcook book club. This book is really amazing check it out........Recipes for everything!