In the mood for some traditional Spanish cooking

Since living in England, I have become much accustomed to British food. Now, to those of you who think that British food is crap, let me tell you otherwise. It’s not. The only problem is that people rarely have the time to cook dinners from scratch, but when they do… mmm… You can’t really beat a roast dinner with its roasties and gravy, or sausages and mash, or the very traditional curry!

But tonight, I don’t know why, I was in the mood for some traditional Spanish cooking. I’ve tried making potato omelette before, and roast pepper salad, and even Spanish rice (a distant relative of paella, but not the real one), but Spanish cooking requires so much effort and dedication (and time) that I don’t bother very ofter. So tonight, having left work at a relatively early time, I decided I was going to cook something new and different.

I went for San Jacobos (Breadcrumbed fried chicken with ham and cheese) and pipirrana (thinly chopped cold salad made with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper and spring onions). Also, to go with it, some Ainsley’s citrus couscous (better than Tesco’s lemon and coriander one).

Preparing the pipirrana was a bit painful. I’ve seen my mum doing it thousands of times and the process itself is quite simple. It was my first time, yes, and the results were as expected. It just took me 3 times longer than I thought it would! Still, it was very enjoyable, very summery and refreshing. The San Jacobos were easier than I thought, although “stuffing” the chicken with the ham and cheese was a bit tricky, mainly because the chicken breasts that I used weren’t wide enough, if you know what I mean

So, all in all, we had a very different special dinner tonight. And it feels so much better when you cook it yourself!