Arguably this is the most ubiquitous tapas in Spain. Doesn’t matter which region or tapas bar you are on, they will have it,

This recipe only takes 10 minutes from beginning to end and you can use any fish you get your hands on and serve it with any veg you fancy.

A delicious baked egg yolk and caramel dessert. Tocinillo de cielo translates as ‘fat from heaven” and let me tell you: it is indulgent!

For this recipe I removed some of the traditional ethnic ingredients used for it like fish sauce, fermented shrimp paste and palm sugar which unless you cook Thai curries once every two weeks I wouldn’t think you need them in your cupboard and I used simple everyday ingredients instead.

I first tried this dish in a restaurant years ago and fall in love with it. It is not a dish that Spaniards come by often as it is a very regional dish from Valencia, the type that didn’t travel, it stayed in the region.

I love the less loved cuts of any animal – you need to treat them skilfully to get the best out of them. I often find that the result is so satisfying that I keep coming back to it and this oxtail stew is no exception. It’s not a recipe that was handed down by my Mum, but is actually something I have worked out and developed myself through investigation and real passion.

My family has a house in the mountains near Madrid and it is where we all congregate every Christmas. We are completely spoiled in that you only have to walk out of the house to come across wonderful natural ingredients: mushrooms, asparagus, thistles, game, fish, nuts, wild fruits and berries.

This dish has all the elements to be the perfect Christmas centrepiece, if it wasn't for the fact that it is just too easy to make, and you know how complicated we like to make it when it comes to Christmas – nothing can take half an hour.

n autumn, I love foraging for mushrooms and there is never a year when I don’t go to look for them on a few walks. As well no year goes by when I don’t enjoy a good mushroom mellow rice made with mushrooms stock. The reason is that I like to feel the earthy special flavour mushrooms have that sometimes gets lost in between other ingredients. I love a good risotto but unfortunately they abuse so much of the Parmesan and butter that mushrooms get behind those bold flavours. I like my mushroom dishes to taste very pure as if I was tasting and smelling the forest.

When trying to cook with a bit more flavour it is inevitable in lots of different dishes the need to resource to a home-made rich and flavoursome stock. In some dishes it is fundamental to use them as water just doesn’t quite cut it. At times we all resort to the quick and ready stock cube, but if you want to eat a more natural diet or have restaurant tasting dishes that are incredibly satisfying when you serve them at the table then there is no way around it as to make your own. The difference will make you proud and your chicken paellas will taste better than ever.

These pot-roasted lamb shank with artichokes take a while to cook but are in fact very easy to prepare. This is one to make when you feel you deserve a treat – it definitely does the job. Prepare yourself for mellow, fall-off-the-bone lamb. If lamb is not your thing, you can always use shin of beef.

An icon of Spanish gastronomy, Morcilla de Burgos is made with rice and spices. I have eaten tons of this stuff as my mum is from Burgos and there was always a few visits every year with it’s compulsory shopping of flavours from her childhood, which as well is now mine. This is a very popular tapa throughout Spain though and serve with piquillo peppers is the most common way to find it, just like in my restaurants. This combo with the apples makes it a very rounded fine dish.

I have easily tasted around 100 different crème caramels in my life but I have never tasted one as good as the one my mum makes, which originally is a recipe from my great-grandfather who was the Master baker in Burgos most renowned bakery. The earliest memory of my life was my mum cooking this very dessert and as it couldn’t be another way it then became the first ever dish I cooked myself as a 5 years old kid. As you have probably worked out by now, this “flan” is very close to my heart and I hope everyone of you who bakes it finds it as delicious and delicate as I do.

In Spain we eat a lot of chickpeas and pulses in general, it’s an important part of our diet. I always have a few tins in my cupboard to rustle up a quick dinner, it saves you a good couple of hours of simmering. This recipe is super healthy and very traditional, you normally find them as a tapa by themselves but today I needed to make a larger meal for us at home so I added a beautiful fillets of plaice which have turned them into a fantastic “plato principal”. It is more common to find this recipe made with spinach but as I have the spring greens on season and it is one of those ingredients not many people knows how to use I thought I would explain how to cook with them really easily. Enjoy!