🍳 Spanish & Latin Recipes

Air fryer crispy chicken is the home version of American fried chicken, achieved without gallons of oil. The thighs are coated in cornstarch, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne, then the air fryer does the work: skin that crackles at first bite, juicy meat inside, done in thirty-five minutes. Far less fat than the deep-fried original, and just as satisfying.

Oaxacan black mole is the darkest and most complex of the seven moles from Oaxaca. It combines mulato, pasilla, and chihuacle negro chiles with spices, nuts, and dark chocolate to create a truly unique sauce.

A classic Spanish lentil stew with pimentón-spiced chorizo, carrot, potato and a proper sofrito. Using pardina lentils means no soaking needed and they hold their shape perfectly. Comfort food at its most reliable.

Chilindrón is a red pepper and tomato sauce that in Aragon is paired with the finest cuts of meat. Suckling lamb melts in your mouth with this preparation, a culinary treasure of the region.

Pollo al ajillo is a timeless Spanish classic: chicken pieces browned in olive oil with plenty of unpeeled garlic cloves, bay leaves, and dry white wine. The garlic softens as it cooks and becomes mild enough to eat whole; the wine reduces into a dark, intensely flavored sauce that demands good bread for dipping. Simple, hearty, and hard to improve on.

Oxtail stew is the defining dish of Córdoba, closely tied to its bullfighting tradition. Pieces of oxtail are braised for three hours or more in red wine with onion, carrot, garlic and spices until the meat falls away from the bone and the sauce turns rich and glossy. One of those stews that tastes even better reheated the following day.

Galician broth with greens is the Atlantic winter stew: soaked white beans, smoked pork shoulder, and lard that simmer for hours until the broth turns thick and silky, with the grelos — Galicia's bitter, leafy green — added at the end to keep their bite. An unpretentious dish that genuinely fills you up and tastes even better reheated the next day.

The Madrid-style stew is served in three courses: first the soup with noodles, then the chickpeas with vegetables, and finally the meats. A gastronomic ritual that requires time but rewards abundantly.

Chinese-style beef and vegetable stir-fry comes together over maximum heat in under ten minutes: thin strips of beef seared with broccoli, carrot, pepper, and onion, sauced with oyster sauce, soy sauce, and Shaoxing rice wine, and finished with a drizzle of sesame oil. The key is not to crowd the wok and to keep the flame as high as possible to achieve wok hei — the smoky, charred aroma that defines Chinese stir-fry cooking.

Ensaladilla rusa is the most ubiquitous tapa in Spanish bars, despite its misleading name. The Spanish version combines boiled potato and carrot, peas, hard-boiled egg and tuna in oil, all bound with generous homemade mayonnaise. Served cold and garnished with olives and roasted pepper, it is the ultimate summer bar snack.

Carbonara is one of the most misunderstood dishes in Italian cuisine. The original Roman version contains no cream: the creaminess comes from egg and cheese emulsified with the starch from the pasta cooking water.