Episode 4 Rick Stein's Spain

Just before the Spanish Civil War,

the writer Laurie Lee tempted his readers with a promise of Spain.

He said, "You will drink harsh wines, feed on stews of beans,

"or perhaps nothing but bread and olives.

"You'll be entering a Spain few have seen,

"the Spain of the Middle Ages, passing through silence

"like an act of God, into regions of rock and pine,

"arriving finally at villages

"that appear never to have been visited,

"or that seem to have been waiting for you to come."

I'm in Extremadura.

This must be the tobacco-growing capital of Spain,

a country that still hangs on its love for cigarettes,

judging by the numerous smoke-filled cafes and bars I've been to on this trip.

I don't smoke myself but it did make me feel rather nostalgic.

Before I got here I thought Extremadura meant extra hard,

even tougher than La Mancha, but it doesn't mean that at all.

It means Extremadura, the area to the south beyond the Duero River.

And that was a sort of no-man's land between the Moors and the Christians,

and it was the area that the Christians were constantly pushing into,

and pushing the Moors further and further south.

And it's very sparsely populated.

In an area slightly larger than Switzerland there's only a million people,

and very little tourism. But looking out all around me at the moment

I think it's bound to get more popular and, of course, with the ham and all the other lovely produce,

great goat, I mean I love goat, you can't get it back in the UK.

It sort of has a feel that's slightly alpine in places

and then there's big open plains in other places - I think it's very attractive.

Apart from the Iberico ham, Extremadura is famous for

the chillies it grows by the million here in the La Vera Valley.

It's the most fertile part of central Spain.

It's one of the most famous imports from the Americas,

and it's hard to imagine the food here without the colour and the fire of pimenton.

Someone told me in La Mancha, where we've just come from,

"When you get to Extremadura and those fields of peppers,

"it'll seem like the fields are on fire,

"they're so intense with red," and indeed they are.

Just looking across there, you've got tobacco crops, those lighter green crops.

And over there you've got the drying sheds for them.

Both crops came from the Americas, as indeed did the conquerors of America.

The Conquistadors all came from Extremadura,

so there's a sort of symbionic relationship there.

But to me this is the most important flavour in Spain.

The first time I tasted pimenton,

which is what they make out of these peppers,

I just thought I've got to have more of that.

It is the flavour in chorizos,

it's the flavour in their soups, most of their stews and vegetable dishes,

and that is why I'm here, that is why I'm so excited to be here.

Making pimenton is back-breaking work.

All those freshly-picked chillies have to be smoked.

They say the discovery of pimenton was an accident long ago.

Apparently during cooking some chillies fell out of a pot by the fire,

and lay there un-noticed.

Once discovered, the cook ground the dried and brittle chillies

and put the powder into a soup and hey presto, a new flavour was born.

So they made this fire of home oak, and just lit it

and the smoke drifts up through these lathes of wood,

right through the peppers above,

and there's about a metre of peppers above.

And that dries and smokes for ten days,

and every two days they turn them over

so that every bit dries thoroughly, and that's the flavour of pimenton -

that sweet, smoky taste.

I've just got to see scenes like this and smell the smells.

It makes me want to cook.

And I'm so lucky to have this idyllic house

in the mountains of neighbouring Andalucia to do that.

I'm going to cook a simple, robust dish of lentils,

the sort of dish you'd find in bars and taverns all around these parts.

I'm looking for stones in my lentils, cos all the recipes say, "Look for stones in the lentils."

Haven't found any stones here, never found any stones.

But I suppose in theory I could break someone's tooth, so I'm looking.

But no stones here.

So into a large saucepan go the lentils

and enough cold water to cover them, and I'll leave them to cook.

Now, Serrano ham. It's a dry-cured mountain ham with lots of flavour

and it comes from the white pig, so it's much cheaper

than the famous Iberico ham that comes from the leaner, black pig.

Next garlic, lots of garlic.

While working on this whole head of garlic,

I read in a book recently about one of the Spanish kings in the 16th century,

one of the Alfonso's I think,

so disliked the smell of garlic and indeed onions,

that he forbade his courtiers from eating them,

and if they did, indeed, have it on their breath,

he'd ban them from the Court,

partly cos of the smell,

but also because garlic was associated with poor people.

Well, nowadays it's completely different.

I mean I can remember when I was little my parents saying,

"Oh, they smell of garlic," you know?

But now you smell garlic on somebody's breath and you think, "They like their food."

So the garlic I'll fry in olive oil until it softens.

The smell of garlic and hot olive oil is to my mind the smell of the Mediterranean.

Next onions, give them a stir and a moment to go transparent.

And then add some finely chopped carrots,

and let them soften for a few minutes.

We're ready now for the Serrano ham,

to imbue everything with its salty sweetness.

I just love cooking this Spanish food.

It smells so good, I mean I'm using lots and lots of pimenton

and thinking back to Extremadura,

going through those fields of red peppers, a sort of flame red,

and climbing up into the loft where they're smoking them,

and it's the same smell I'm getting now, it's just wonderful.

I've skinned and chopped up some tomatoes and put those in.

Look how that pimenton has changed the colour.

Now I pour in a generous glass of white wine for some acidity.

I do the same for a bolognaise sauce at home too.

Season well with salt and pepper, and strain off those lentils.

I've had various versions of this dish in Greece, France and Italy,

and it never fails, but I think the addition of pimenton

really transforms it into something memorable and very Spanish.

I've kept some of the juice from the lentils as it's a little bit dry,

so I'll just add a bit more of that.

I love this dish, it's so typical of Spanish cooking

because you're using really cheap and earthy ingredients

like lentils and carrots,

but you're using also just a small amount of things with lots of flavour

like the Serrano ham and the pimenton.

So a dish of humble lentils becomes something really quite special.

Trujillo is one of the most fabulous places I've visited on my travels.

This is my idea of Spain, this is what I had in mind

when I set out on that ferry all those weeks ago.

A town that hasn't been touched by the excesses of tourism,

a town happy with its place in history.

Many of the Conquistadors came from here in Extremadura.

They say it was because life was so hard,

they wanted to risk all and become adventurers,

Cortez, Balboa and Pizarro being the most prominent.

Pizarro came from this town and made it rich.

He really plundered South America.

For a while he was in Panama planning expeditions to South America,

he wanted to conquer Peru.

And there was him and a guy called Almagro and a priest,

and they called them in Panama, "the company of lunatics"

because they're mad, they're going to try and take over this whole Inca Empire, no way.

Two abortive attempts, then he came back to Spain and somehow

managed to convince the King, Charles I, to give him the money, to give him the backing.

So he finally set off to capture Atahualpa and the Incas

with 180 men.

But fortunately Atahualpa was in civil war with his brother

and they were killing each other in shed loads,

and he managed to get in, capture Atahualpa.

Then Atahualpa said, "I will buy my freedom,"

and offered him a room full of gold. And Pizarro said,

"Fine, fine, fine," took the gold and garrotted Atahualpa.

He was an absolute bugger.

What I really like about making these programmes is,

obviously we have a bit of a schedule

and places to go,

but what I really like is just finding people by chance,

just as I did down in the square in Trujillo just now -

a New Zealand couple called Chris and Lindy who said,

"You've got to film this guy Victor. He makes really good migas,

"but he's got this really old allotment

"just under the castle walls."

And said, "There's none left like them."

I've just come up here and it's just wonderful

because he actually...

He's almost self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables,

and I sort of walked through into this sort of Aladdin's cave, really.

I mean, it's like the ultimate shed,

and he's now cooking these migas for me.

Migas are legendary in Spain, anyway.

After frying garlic and peppers,

Victor puts in strips of cured belly pork,

and through an interpreter, I asked him about his love of cooking,

where did it come from?

Amazingly, he said that he was left alone

when he was only a little boy of seven-years-old,

because his parents had to move cattle

to the cooler lands further north.

They went away for weeks at a time, he had to look after himself,

and it became necessary to cook things,

like migas and patatas bravas and other simple dishes.

He also puts in chorizo,

and soon, these strips of belly pork are cooked.

Now, the main point of this dish, the breadcrumbs.

He splashed them with water

and they go into the oil which has been flavoured by all that garlic,

peppers, chorizo -

all the strong flavours of Spain.

What I like is the fact that he's got,

in addition to those peppers, and of course, they're local pimenton peppers,

lots of garlic, you never would have put as much in, lots of olive oil,

and then, really fat belly pork and lots of spicy chorizo.

It's that combination, I wouldn't have got it.

Also, I got the breadcrumbs too small, they are quite chunky.

They're not really breadcrumbs, they're just bits of cut-up bread.

I can't wait to try it.

This is the food of the poor,

and like many dishes, it originated with the shepherds ages ago.

Even Cervantes wrote about the joys of migas,

or "mijas" for the aficionados.

It's probably the oldest dish in the whole of Spain.

This is Chris and Lindy who I met down in the square

and put me on to this. I must say, I'm very pleased, it looks great.

It's a shame that most of us has lost the use of bread, isn't it?

It's sort of, always regarded as a sort of, a bit of an ancillary,

whereas to the Spanish,

it's absolutely the centre of their cooking.

I was really surprised to see you down there,

because, you know, it seems so, sort of, remote here.

I mean, erm... What brings you so far away

from the normal tourist track, then?

For most people who live in other countries,

they think of Spain as being a bit like a polo mint.

-There's lots around the costa...

-That's very good, I must say.

-..but there's nothing in the middle.

-A polo mint with...

There is... There is lots in the middle.

There's lots and lots of history,

Roman history, wonderful architecture,

wonderful people, and especially wonderful food.

Natural food.

I think that's one of the things, one of the many things...

I mean, the food here is wonderful.

Each week, we always go to the local market,

where the food comes from the surrounding area,

it's not brought in frozen, erm,

and then displayed. It's all fresh, most of it's been picked that day.

HE SPEAKS SPANISH

'Victor told us what he used to eat

'when he was growing up round here, years ago.'

He was saying, when he was young, life was very hard,

they had food of the season,

but they would depend, really, on things like bread,

lentejas, which are lentils,

beans, tomatoes...

..verdura, which is things like pimientos,

and meat would be something that was very much a luxury.

-For meat, they would depend usually on hunting frogs.

-Frogs?

Frogs - ranas, ranas,

-and also, at that time...

-Lizards.

..lizards, which are lagartos, which are now a protected species.

I heard him say lagarto. I thought it sounded like, "Must be legumes."

-Yeah, so...

-No, no, no, lizards.

Lizards and it would be, er, something very special,

if they had meat that had been hunted.

So, life, as I said, was extremely hard

and obviously, bread was a staple,

and that's where the idea of eating migas would have come from.

So, if you find yourself as a tourist in this delightful town,

and you can smell hot oil and garlic on the breeze,

it's well worth a look over the castle walls

to see if Victor's cooking migas.

Slightly at the other end of the social spectrum,

this is the Marques de Valdueza and his family.

But, like Victor, he grows his own wine,

makes his own olive oil and is basically self-sufficient.

His real passion, though, is his hunting estates,

what the Spanish call the dehesa.

This is erm, your hunting estate?

This is my hunting estate but I also have a lot of cattle.

-I have, er, cows.

-Yeah.

Special native, autonomous breed

which is called Avilena-Negra Iberica.

We'll see them later on.

The pig is very important,

the swine, because we have the cerdo Iberico, the Iberian pig,

which is the one that produces the fantastic jamon Iberico,

and all the meat and things that are coming from these animals.

We have sausages and... We have all this type of things.

-The cork trees, the ones you see now with the orange colour...

-Yeah.

Because we harvest the cork last June,

and then, they remain for some time,

orange and then, they become dark again.

Alonso's family have been in this area for nearly 400 years.

He insisted I take a look across the valley

to a place they once called home.

That belonged to my great-grandfather,

and when he died, he split the estate,

and this part of the estate and the castle,

went to the eldest son.

But I am very happy that I can see it without owning it.

-What, because of the upkeep?

-Yes, it's very difficult to keep it.

-It's better to look at than own, isn't it?

-Yes.

Just as a matter of interest,

cos I really like the food in Extremadura, but what...

You've been to Britain a lot of times -

-what do you think of our food?

-I like it.

-You like it?

-I like it.

-Oh, my gosh, relief.

I like it very much. I think, er, it's probably...

I don't know why the British food

has not a good image in general, in Europe.

But for me, I mean, this in the many places I've been,

I can say it's excellent.

I think it's not always known,

if you heard the average Spanish,

that went on holidays to London, they think it's horrible,

but it's not true, I like it very much.

-Well, I'm very...

-I always remember this small, er, small fish,

-called whitebaits.

-Whitebait.

-I love them.

-I love whitebait, too.

-I love them.

And many other things, of course.

His black cattle are reared here in the cool months,

before the temperature goes through the roof.

Then, they're moved to cooler pastures, hundreds of miles north,

in a real-life cattle drive with cowboys, horses, chuck wagons,

the whole caboodle.

Because remember, the very first of the Wild West cowboys

came from here.

The Marquesa, his wife Isabel, was preparing lunch -

the famous Ajoblanco.

So, this is a typical summer soup?

It's a typical summer soup. Never eat it in the winter.

Cos what I like about it, is it's very, very easy to make,

and virtually, just come in and make it almost for...

And another thing, you would never eat it in the north of Spain.

-It's something that's very typical of Extremadura and Andalusia.

-Yeah.

-All this part.

-Because you've got the almonds, you've got the...

Yes, because you have the ingredients, and also because

the heat is always very superior to the one in the north of Spain.

I love the chickens outside the window.

It's very erm, rural.

-Yes, this kitchen is very rural.

-Isn't it lovely?

Isabel uses bread soaked in water,

garlic, hence the name ajo,

ground almonds, olive oil, salt and vinegar,

and she has to make a couple of batches.

-This is also our own.

-It's also your own vinegar?

-We did it at home.

-Very good vinegar.

The key here is to make sure that it's silky smooth,

and that there are no lumps.

It's something so typical in all the Spanish kitchens in the summer.

When the tomatoes begin, or when the heat begins,

you have to cool yourself with some nice, juicy, cold soup.

So, you tend to do this and...

Where are...? Here.

And the almonds are something that is very popular in Spain

as you know, as in the Arab countries, also.

Isabel said that this was another dish

that came from the shepherds, centuries ago.

They had bread, oil, garlic, vinegar and loads of almonds,

but no fridge.

It's very nice, and it's very nice. It's got a lot of vinegar in it,

but it's balanced by the salt.

I love the grain of the erm, almonds in there,

-and the bread gives it a sort of silkiness.

-That's right.

But it does need to be really cold, cos I can just see,

the colder it gets, the more satisfying it gets.

-It gets all the better if it's cold.

-Yeah.

She puts in sweet grapes and then cools it in the fridge.

We've never really got used to cold soups at home.

OK, I know when it's really hot, we might make a stab at gazpacho,

but why not consider this silky, cold garlic soup on a really hot day,

with a chilled rose?

It makes such a refreshing and elegant change.

Virtually everything at the table including the wine is erm, is yours.

THEY LAUGH

-And the water, of course.

-Of course.

-Even this has been done by me.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh, my gosh.

I just wanted to ask you,

I mean, one of the reasons we're here in Spain filming,

is because there's been such a...

An upsurge in interest in Spanish cooking

with all those Michelin-starred restaurants.

What do you think... Why do you think it's happened?

What's suddenly spurred it all on?

I think the reason is that first, we have...

Because they are different...

The Constitution of Spain as a country,

we have very many different climates and weather,

so, I mean, many different foods to eat all over the country,

that we know, that was very good since many years ago.

But this was not known as, probably, the wine was not also known before.

Now, because...

I think first, we have very, very top quality chefs.

They are showing the rest of the world

that the Spanish food is very, very good food.

But for me, you don't need to go to these top, top quality chefs.

You can go in many restaurants all around Spain

and have a very, very common but very good quality food, too.

Well, I'd just like to thank you very much.

It's been a wonderful morning and wonderful lunch and erm,

here's to great Spanish produce,

which you seem to produce the whole lot!

-So, congratulations to...

-Thank you.

Salut!

Do you do the glasses, too?

THEY LAUGH

This is going to be the next.

I could easily get used to life in Extremadura.

I imagine it was like Provence before Peter Mayle wrote his famous book.

And like Provence, Extremadura was heavily garrisoned by the Romans.

For all I know, this aqueduct was originally built by them.

Interestingly, the gladiator Maximus,

portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film,

came from this region.

But these are what makes Extremadura really special.

Very amiable creatures, piggies.

Was reminded of a quote from Winston Churchill who loved his pigs.

He said, er...

"Cat's look down on you, dogs look up at you,

"but pigs treat human beings as equals."

And that's what I think.

They're going about their business being pigs.

Actually, these black pigs used to be really rare

because the white, northern, European pig took over,

cos they grow much quicker and get much fatter,

but these have the flavour.

Once you've tasted it, you'll never forget it.

It's up there with sort of caviar,

and other sort of world-class flavours,

and it's taking off.

I mean, people all over the world

are beginning to understand and crave Iberico ham,

and it's so good for this area. I mean, to tell you the truth,

I'd hardly heard of Extremadura before I started eating Iberico ham,

and then, when I started, I thought,

"This is special, I want to go to the place where it's produced,"

and here I am.

And it's just lovely because they are free to range

and they do eat the acorns.

They start eating acorns now,

and by January, they'll have put on about 100-150 kilos.

That's how much they love their acorns.

There's a famous artisan ham factory called Maldonado's at Albuquerque,

that my friend and top Spanish chef Jose Pizarro said I'd have to see.

-Good Lord.

-Look at that.

It's a place very close to heaven.

It's like a... It's like a cathedral of hams.

It's not a cathedral. This is the Vatican of ham.

Fair enough. Unbelievable!

-This is, 40,000 pieces of ham.

-40,000?

What would that be worth, then? I mean, in terms of euros.

-Around, I will say, 8 million euros.

-8 million euros.

-Yes, it's a lot of money.

-It's a lot of money.

But it's worth it.

Jose, how would you describe the taste of Iberico ham?

I will say, that is a very difficult question.

It's something between saltiness, sweetness,

and then, the flavour from the nut, from the acorns, come into your mouth.

When you put the fat there, it just melts.

Which do you prefer - the fat or the lean?

I will say - a ham without fat is not ham.

You need the fat there. You know, it's the point.

When I saw people taking the fat out of the ham, it made me mad.

It's not right.

But these hams are... Not this one.

This one now, is almost one year cured.

-Right.

-But when they sell, it's four years.

-They have been hanging here for four years.

-Four years?

And this ham, when it's Iberico,

you can go until some of them, not all, until seven years.

But those are something unbelievable.

So, what... The most expensive...

Cos some are more expensive than others, then.

What would be the most expensive in euros?

These sell for £3,000 in London, one piece of ham.

£3,000!

But, I promise you, the value is right.

You are going to taste now, and you are going to be in heaven.

You see, the way he is cutting the ham right now,

and in the moment, he was beginning to cut,

and everybody was in silence, staring at him while doing that.

It seems to me like in the moment when you are in the church

waiting for the Body of Christ being consecrated,

-and everybody waiting for eating them.

-I knew you were right.

-I told you - the Vatican!

-Cathedrals, Vatican...

-It is a moment of great...

-It's a ritual.

-Great significance.

-Yeah.

-Rightly so.

-It is really worth it, look at that.

I think you should have a try.

Do you like to put the bits in your tongue?

You will see how the fat just completely melts and disappears.

-Good.

-Are you ready?

-Oh, do you mind?

Sorry, I'm...

CHORAL MUSIC

-It is communion, it's taking the...

-Yeah, yeah.

It's melted away on my tongue.

We are in the Vatican now.

It's so good. I mean, there's nothing like it.

When you taste it, you think you are in heaven.

It's like a religious experience, I hate to say it.

We went from the Vaticano to heaven.

And, talking of heavenly things, this, after Santiago de Compostela,

is one of the most holy places in the whole of Spain.

Well, this is the monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe

and it's rather important.

In fact, very important, gastronomically.

And the reason it's so important is because Queen Isabella,

who actually gave Christopher Columbus the money

to set off in three ships and discover the Americas,

had a palace next door.

And when he came back... Well, first of all,

he gave thanks to Santa Maria

for saving him on a very, very rough voyage back from the Americas,

but then he presented to Queen Isabella and Ferdinand,

a lot of the things that he'd found on his voyage.

I mean, it must have been absolutely fabulous.

Really, the thought of him turning up with all these exotic fruit and vegetables

that nobody had ever seen before -

tomatoes, peppers, potatoes,

and indeed, he brought some Native Indians

into the court, as well.

Really, you know, if you can conjure up that sort of image in your mind

it would have been a really significant point in history.

It's interesting to me that it's always shepherds

who find miraculous things.

In other words, the meek and humble.

For example, they found St James' bones

in a field now called Santiago de Compostela.

And here, also in a field, they found not bones,

but an incredibly old wooden Madonna,

which is the very core of the monastery at Guadalupe.

And thousands of worshipers every year come to pay homage to her,

not just from Spain, but from the world over.

Sometimes, I wish such miracles had the same resonance today,

but we live in cynical times.

I think it was most fitting

to have that ham on my last day in Extremadura.

Now, I'm moving south to the largest region in Spain,

and probably the most famous, certainly the sunniest.

A place associated with passion, flamenco, sherry and Carmen -

the city of Seville.

MUSIC: Prelude from Carmen by Georges Bizet

If I had to choose any city in the whole of Spain,

then it would be this one.

I think it's the most sensuous and seductive of anywhere I've been.

Maybe it's the intensity of the orange blossom.

Lord Byron said it was a city full of beautiful women,

as well as the sweetest oranges.

As a great fan of Bizet's opera Carmen,

it's come as a really pleasant surprise

to come here to the tobacco factory where she worked

and see how grand it is.

There's these friezes over there of natives smoking tobacco,

and the ships bringing the tobacco over from the Americas to Spain.

Of course, Carmen to me, is the sort of, I suppose,

every man should know a Carmen,

or have known a Carmen somewhere in their life.

Cos to me, she embodies that sort of like

dangerous female sexuality and it's so intertwined with Seville, really.

I mean, if you think of the flamenco and the heat,

and the bull-fighting and the toreadors and the...

All that sort of really serious romance, it's...

To me, Seville really is what Spain is all about.

I read that Lord Byron had the time of his life here,

mostly escaping from the amorous advances of his landlady,

which is where he got the inspiration to write his version

of the Don Juan legend, set here in Seville.

But this time, Don Juan isn't the great lover and pursuer of women,

but a man easily seduced.

And while we're on the subject of romance,

it's never too far away in Seville.

I expect it's in the guide books, but just walking across this bridge,

across the Guadalquivir River and just saw all these padlocks here.

I was thinking, "Oh, maybe it's to tie up bicycles," but erm...

Then I started looking at them and they've all got names on them

like Claudio and Sara,

and Christian and Angela,

and I'm thinking, "No, no, it's like a love tryst."

I mean, this is an incredibly famous spot here.

You've got a lovely view of the cathedral,

the famous river, the Triana, which is the flamenco quarter.

So, I think it's people, like, locking their love together in somewhere really special.

There's nowhere much more special than this in the whole of Spain

because this is where Columbus arrived with his three boats

and unloaded all those things that we now take for granted,

like peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and loads of gold and silver.

I suppose you could say this is where the wealth of Spain

in the 15th and 16th century - this is where it all came from.

Shortly after Columbus came back from the Americas,

little cafe's called antigua abaceria's

opened here in Seville, and they still exist.

They sold dishes made from the newfangled vegetables

discovered in the New World.

This one is run by a very hard-working chap called Ramon.

I'm here with a friend of mine, Frank Camorra,

a famous chef in Australia, but he also happens to be Spanish.

I've just been watching Ramon here.

He just like... He's doing everything.

I mean, he's taking orders, he's taking dishes out to the customers,

he's doing a bit of plate washing and he's cooking all the food.

I mean, I cannot believe what he's turning out

on just two little hot tops like that.

I mean, when you think about it, do we need all the chefs?

I mean, my mind's going over like a calculator.

I'm thinking, "I don't know, maybe we got it wrong."

See? See what I mean? He's taking that stuff out, as well.

I didn't see a menu.

Frank and I just asked Ramon to bring on the food.

It was softened sweet peppers adorned with crumbled egg,

onions and a dressing of vinegar and good olive oil.

Then potatoes, which had been gently cooked in oil.

Remember, this would have been a mind-blowing dish 400 years ago -

the first potatoes in Europe.

Now, Ramon puts in some clams and a handful of parsley,

then on goes the lid, so the clams will open more quickly

and share their lovely salty juice over the potatoes.

I can't believe it when I'm looking around and thinking,

"This was here in the 17th, 16th century."

Mind you, it does look old enough.

I mean, look at... Peppers. I mean, fab, don't you think?

It's amazing to think that, you know, all this,

all these ingredients that we just take for granted

didn't exist before then.

So, I mean, how did people cook food?

How would you go without a tomato, a red pepper and a potato?

You know, what do we do as cooks?

I mean, what did we cook? I mean, it's unbelievable.

-Well, all this, the potatoes particularly, and this...

-Yeah.

It just seems to... I mean, it's lovely food,

and it's what you expect in Spain.

It's sort of really rugged, there's no, like, finesse about it,

but it's all about the quality of the ingredients.

It is. To me, I mean, that's what Spanish food's about.

It's about, you know, the ingredient being centre stage,

you know, the food is pretty straightforward.

It's all about, you've got this fantastic ingredient,

don't get in the way of it, don't let the customer not enjoy it.

As chefs, we've got to sometimes pull back.

-I love the way that Ramon just plonks the stuff down on the table.

-Yeah.

That's it. None of this sort of like,

fiddling around with gels and foams and all that.

I mean, what do you think about people like Ferran Adria

and Arzak and all the rest of them?

I mean, they've got all these stars but...

Erm, look, I think that they can be married together with...

When it's done really well.

I think ingredients are always first place.

I think even if you ask chefs that are really into that style of cooking that,

even for them, the ingredient is a centrepiece.

But sometimes, I'd much rather chew a red pepper than smell one,

or, erm, drink one through a straw, you know what I mean?

Like, to me, the act of eating and chewing - it's basic.

So, I'd rather eat the real thing than a deconstructed version.

It's so sort of, argh!

It's so sort of powerful and sort of macho and...

Gutsy food, full of flavour, and best when it's eaten hot.

All right, let's get on with it.

I'm very keen on these clams, actually.

Potatoes and clams, a simple little dish for lunch.

It really worked and no doubt has done for years.

Well, apparently, the first potatoes ever sold in Europe

were sold on the cathedral steps here in Seville.

The cathedral's built on the site of the old mosque

and the only thing that's left is the minaret - the Giralda,

which they now use as a bell tower.

Nice sort of mixing of Catholic and Moorish.

But when they built this,

this is the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world,

and at the time, they said,

"Let us build a building such as posterity will think we were mad."

Second after cathedrals for me are markets.

This one in Seville is particularly special.

You'll find out why in a minute,

but in Spain, no matter how far away from the sea you find yourself,

the fish is always spanking fresh, always.

I think, actually, when I'm looking at a fish counter like this

or a seafood counter, it's like, as the Cornish say,

"I belong to be here,"

you know, because it just makes me so happy.

I know I'm a bit pathetic. There's always something new and interesting.

You know, you start by looking at some squid like that

and I can tell you, they are so fresh they're almost alive.

I was just looking at this bag here, and saying, "Well, what are those?"

I was asking Antonio, who owns this stall,

and he said, "They're anemones," and you just fry them in a pan.

Apparently, they're really good when they're crisp like that.

And sea snails - I can't remember what these are called,

but he was telling me that you pick one out with the spike of the other.

Lovely stuff.

What's really good is Antonio's got this restaurant

just across the alley here,

and I suppose, if you run out of something,

he comes and gets some more, but as a customer,

you come along here and you look at all this lovely fish,

and there's his restaurant - well, you've got to go in there and eat it.

MUSIC: Toreador from Carmen by Georges Bizet

These dark morsels are the sea anemones I saw earlier.

They're simply tossed in this flour, which is very grainy,

almost like semolina.

Then, they're quickly cooked in less than a minute,

and straight out to the customer.

They have a sweet iodine-y taste, a taste of the sea.

But have a look at these beauties - wow!

These are called carabineros.

They look as if they've been cooked already.

They go straight onto the plancha with sea salt,

and then, the chef adorns them with a ladle of fish stock

to keep them nice and moist, while the temperature increases.

They're turned, and in another minute,

they are cooked to the point of perfection.

Thank you!

That's it, a real taste of the Med,

and out they go to an extremely lucky diner - me.

It's a fabulous prawn, this.

It has a sort of intensity of flavour.

I was just talking to some people about these prawns,

and they were saying like, 15, 20 years ago,

nobody wanted to touch them.

They were used as bait for fishing, and you just think, "Well, why?"

I mean, this is like, the most intense flavour

and they're more intensely, sweetly flavoured than lobster themselves.

You think, "How could that be?" I don't know.

But for me, it's a totally, totally wonderful new seafood sensation.

With memories of that market in mind,

I'm cooking a dish, common all along the Andalucian coast.

You need two or three varieties of fish for this,

chosen for their colour and absolute freshness,

as well as some squid and some prawns.

I'm filleting red mullet -

perfect because it has lots of flavour and is dead easy to fillet.

Well, this is crisp, fried fish, Malaga style,

and when I first had it, the fish were quite small,

and I just thought, "I can't be frying tiny fish like that."

I'm not even sure if it is illegal

to catch tiny red mullet or hake out of the Mediterranean.

It's probably not, but it upsets people.

So, what I thought was, take some small-ish fish,

and cut them up into either little steaks or little fillets.

Well, the object of this dish is to present a plate

of crisply fried fillets,

but in bite-size pieces with just a slice of lemon.

I'm using hake, Spain's favourite fish,

and squid cut into rings, which will look very Spanish.

I hate it these days when a lot of fish shops,

you just buy squid pouches, is what they call it.

They just seem never to use the tentacles

and I just love the tentacles.

They've got great texture, lovely flavour.

It's a bit like serving up scallops without the roe.

I floured everything in one of these natty little sliding boxes,

which I think are so clever.

Then, in seriously hot olive oil, I'll fry them for less then a minute,

moving them around in the oil to keep them separate.

Interestingly, if you listen closely enough,

you can hear the change of sound as they crisp up.

You'll probably have noticed I've actually put the fish in two stages,

and the reason for that is,

if you put too much fish into the fryer in one go,

it just drops the temperature of the oil

so you don't get really crisp fish.

So, just imagine, you're on holiday by the sea

and anticipating supper,

which won't be ready for an hour or so.

Well, it is Spain.

Pour a glass of ice cold Manzanilla,

sit back and admire the sunset with this,

a real bite of the sea.

It's Saturday night. It's Seville.

Although there are a lot of people, it's unthreatening.

Being Seville,

I had to go to the most authentic flamenco bar I could find.

Not one where all the tourists turn up in buses,

but one tucked away where the true aficionados of flamenco go.

My God, it's cramped.

FLAMENCO MUSIC

'I haven't a clue, not the slightest, of what is being sung.

'It could be about a lost love or a lost cat.

'But I do know that flamenco is purely about melancholy,

'tragedy mixed with fury and passion.'

HE SINGS IN SPANISH

The singer and dancer both take risks

that expose their true, inner-most feelings,

and when that happens, the audience shout, "Ole,"

to show they've been touched by duende.

Seville is a city of the night.

They don't eat dinner till way after ten,

and any good evening here, starts with the all-important tapas.

Well, there's no doubt that tapas came from this part of Spain,

and actually, this is the oldest tapas bar in Spain,

founded in 1670.

It's probably worth mentioning how tapas came...

The word where it came from.

And you can imagine, this is...

In Seville, is really dusty and hot in the summer,

and they just used to serve, obviously glasses of sherry and wine,

with a little cover which might be a bit of bread.

And it was like the top, a tapas, and it grew from that.

To start with, just to cover it, then you'd start eating it,

then you'd get a bit on top of the bread,

and so, it became the tapas that we know and love today.

I've come to meet Roger Davies,

a Welshman who fell in love with Andalucia and its food,

and now lives here full-time.

By far the most popular drink in pretty much all the tapas bars here is fino -

a refreshingly cold, dry sherry.

-Here you go.

-Cheers, Roger.

-Perfect drink in a tapas bar.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Lovely tapas bar.

-Fantastic place.

-Is this your favourite?

It's definitely... I'd say one of my favourites.

I mean, it's fantastic. I mean, look at these hams here.

-I know.

-You know, they've been buying...

The grandfather of the people who run it now,

started buying these hams from the grandfather

of the owner of the ham factory in 1933.

So, they've been buying that for nearly 80 years,

they've been working with the same producer.

That's incredible.

What really makes Seville for you, then?

What is so special about it?

-Well, it's... I mean, look at the atmosphere here. People are...

-Is this like a normal...?

Every Friday, Saturday night, it's like this.

Like, people like to be out. People like to enjoy themselves.

I mean, here, you can be at home,

a couple of friends call you

and in half an hour, you've got a party organised.

And you'd be like, how many...

Like, tonight, if you were with friends, how many tapas bars?

We'd probably go to four or five bars.

We'd come here, we'd have a drink, a few tapas,

and depending on what we'd want to eat, we'd go from one place to another.

-That's what doesn't work about tapas bars elsewhere...

-You don't have enough.

-You need lots of them.

-You have to be able to walk from one...

I mean, Seville has got more then 3,000 tapas bars.

Says it all, really, doesn't it?

If you want to eat cheese, you go to one bar,

if you want to have seafood, you go to another place.

This one's ham, presumably?

Yeah, here for ham, for a lot of traditional tapas.

Things like, er, spinach and chickpeas,

cheeks from the Iberian pig,

cod and tomato, they have superb cheese here.

I mean, absolutely brilliant.

Roger, I've just been to this flamenco bar,

-and I mean, it was absolutely very moving.

-Yeah.

It was almost as if us and the singers were sort of like...

-Yeah, yeah.

-And I've heard this word duende.

-Yeah.

-What does it mean?

Duende is all about when the singer suddenly gets taken over

by some kind of spirit, some kind of passion,

and it's as if they...

They're sort of singing, but they've really...

Almost in a trance.

Also, when I was in that flamenco,

I just sort of felt that almost the audience were part of the show.

The audience get drawn in.

When there's duende, passion,

the audience get drawn into everything, they start clapping,

they start saying, "Ole".

It's like you become the dance yourself - you are part of it.

-Exactly. You're drawn right in.

-That is really rare.

-It's like really good theatre.

-Yeah, it's... Absolutely.

-It's almost you are part of the whole thing.

-Exactly.

-Fab.

-Exactly.

-Very moving, actually.

I know, you're quite right,

what you felt there, was exactly as local people would say.

Let's have the ham.

I really like this place, and feel so lucky to have found it.

Amongst all the tapas bars in the world,

I had to walk into this one.

I love the way they keep tabs on what you've had

by writing it down on the bar.

This is living history.

This is the best ham that you can find anywhere in the world.

I totally agree with you.

-I like this sherry.

-Fino, Manzanilla are just the perfect match.

they cut through the oiliness which comes form the acorns the pig eats.

That cuts through it completely, like no other wine.

This makes the ham taste better and the ham makes the drink taste better.

Exactly, exactly.

You've hit the nail on the head, it's just superb.

That was a fantastic evening,

and the next morning after a pretty long drive,

I found myself in the Alpujarras mountains south of Granada.

The crew wouldn't let me drive campy up here.

They had reservations concerning my driving skills, I cannot see why.

This place was immortalised by an English writer called Gerald Brenan,

who came here having lived through the horrors of the First World War.

He wrote a book called South From Granada

which turned out to be the inspiration

for the couple I'm going to see, Chris and Anna Stuart.

Chris was the first drummer in Genesis,

but more important than that,

he wrote an international best-seller

called Driving over Lemons, which I love,

about living up here and being self-sufficient.

I thought that was someone about to take a pot shot at me,

it's so far off the beaten track.

-Cheers.

-You're welcome.

-Hello, you must be Chris.

-And you must be Rick.

-Hi, I'm Anna.

-It's a big moment this.

-Really?

It's a bigger moment for us than it is for you, really.

-I brought you some gifts from La Mancha.

-Oh, goody.

Well, people gave us loads of garlic, I mean loads of garlic.

-I'm sure you've got lots of garlic.

-Not this year, no.

-Really?

-Yeah, we've had a bad year.

That'll keep us going for a couple of weeks.

I hear you're going to do a sort of wild boar stew?

Yes, we are, Is that a nice, robust red wine?

Just the right thing for a wild boar stew.

I didn't realise it was going to be so far away.

I've read your book, and I loved it.

-Well, that's very nice.

-See you later.

-It is really remote.

Come on up, Rick.

-Wow, wonderful.

-Welcome.

-Is it still an idyll?

Well, it's sort of a flawed idyll.

We still love it, we love it more and more.

We have no regrets about coming to live here, but it's hard.

-I don't know if you saw the valley and the damage the river did.

-Yes!

The river came raging out of that gorge in December,

took away all the vegetation, took away our bridge.

We were five months without a bridge.

But, it sounds a bit silly, we sort of like it that way.

It's nice to live next door to an untamed element.

Whereas most of our lives are circumscribed by security and comfort,

here things are a little bit different and we feed off that and really enjoy it.

Yet there's other things like the wild boar,

one of whom we're going to be eating for lunch.

The wild boar have destroyed the vegetable patch over and over again this year.

The foxes have killed our chickens so they're the flaws in our idyll,

but they're the sort of flaws that you can come to terms with

because there's something sort of raunchy and natural about it.

We like it that way.

Chris's lunch is going to start with a tabouleh made with bulgur wheat.

They call it "taboolay" down in Australia.

But today we'll have tabouleh I think.

What you do is you get the lemon, cut it in half,

and you squeeze it through your hand like this -

lemon squeezers are for wooses.

Nice you're using lemons because after all,

-I wouldn't want to see you cooking with anything but.

-Absolutely not.

Lemons are a big part of our lives.

So where did you get the inspiration for Driving Over Lemons?

-It's a good title, isn't it?

-Really good.

The book sellers say the important thing about a book

is the title and the cover.

The content is neither here nor there.

But it came because when you drove in through the village,

there's a lot of lemon trees overhanging the road,

and after a wind, when the lemons are ripe,

hundreds of them fall on the road,

it's like driving over a mat of lemons.

When I first came here I couldn't bring myself to drive over them,

because a lemon in a British supermarket

cost you about four bob, back in those days.

And so I would stop and go round each lemon

until somebody said, "Drive over lemons."

-Now I drive over lemons because there are just so many about.

-Great title.

-You did crack it.

-Yeah, I think it was a good title.

Chris was worried about stealing my limelight as a TV cook,

but I was overjoyed to watch somebody else do it.

He seasons the wheat with salt and black pepper,

and then chopped onion from their garden.

And now tomatoes.

He swears by these local tinned ones

because the wild boar can't get at these

and the fresh ones aren't in their prime yet.

So that's the tabouleh as she stands at the moment,

and we just let her sit around

and the bulgur wheat will absorb the juice from the tomatoes,

the onion and the lemon juice.

And then at the last minute before you serve it,

you chop up your mint and your parsley,

and then you drizzle oil all over the top of it.

If you're really lucky, you sprinkle it with pomegranates.

-Have we got some?

-We can do that.

We live in pomegranate country.

Not only pomegranates but their own almonds, lightly toasted

and sprinkled with Pimenton, and then the peppers,

deep fried in olive oil and served with sea salt.

Here's a lovely salad with pine nuts, poppy seeds and edible flowers.

This is the life that his book describes

and I'm beginning to feel I'm part of it,

but first we start with a tabouleh with mint and parsley,

and those pomegranate seeds that shine like rubies.

You want a bit more?

-That's enough, that's fine.

-Nice salad.

Chris, don't think I'm asking you a leading question,

but if you compare Spanish food with French food,

how would you describe Spanish food?

Much earthier, Spain is much earthier than France.

Everything about it is earthier.

And I think it's one of the best places in Europe to eat nowadays.

Rick, this is a bit different.

There's a lot of greenery on the top, pomegranates and peeled grapes.

We're trying to do you right.

What's underneath it is a wild boar.

We're getting our own back. These boars have been ravaging our vegetables

and our farm for the last six months,

and finally we managed to get one and put it in a pot and here it is.

And it serves it right.

It's very sort of "taginey".

It's fruit in there, grapes, or something cooked in there,

lots of spice, very dark.

That's the great thing with pig meat.

It sometimes looks a bit bland, but this doesn't.

Far from it, it's got some moscatel grapes in there.

and some black, black chocolate.

You can't do it without chocolate, really.

I've used it myself. It's Mexican.

-You've been to Mexico, haven't you?

-I have. It works a treat.

So, just tell me this, thinking about Spanish friends and all that,

if you were told you had to leave Spain like tomorrow,

what would you most miss about living here and the whole life?

I'd miss the outdoor life, I just love it.

Because of the weather, everyone out on the streets,

everyone's so warm and welcoming, like London when the sun shines,

but here the sun shines a lot more.

And what about you?

Well, I feel the same as Annie in a lot of ways, she's right.

We've developed all this stuff together.

But to me I think the thing I'd most of all miss is orange trees,

to have your own oranges.

In 23 years, that's the most fundamental thing I've found

and there's lots of other things

that I love about the people here, about the cities,

about the architecture, the way of life and everything.

But if you want to pin me to the ground,

and say one thing, it's the orange trees.

-I'll drink to that.

-Me too.

-To the orange.

-Yeah.

-To the orange.

So then, while I'm at it,

I'd like to make a few toasts of my own to end this journey round Spain.

So I say cheers to Don Quixote and his faithful companion Sancho Panza.

Cheers to Valencian paella, cooked over orange wood.

Cheers to the magnificent cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

And salut to the famous garlic soup of La Mancha.

Oh, and cheers to the wonderful black pigs

and thanks for the brilliant ham.

Cheers to Spain's fat, plump olives, bursting with oil,

and cheers to Ernest Hemmingway for capturing the passion of the country.

And here's to the wine which I love, and the famous Manchego cheese

and the wonderful springy bread that's served everywhere.

Here's to the people for their love of pageant and history,

and finally here's to the magic of duende.

Viva Espana.

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