> Soups & Salads

Ensalada de Naranja y Aguacate - Spanish Orange and Avocado Salad
This salad is easy to prepare, colorful and delicious. Brightly-colored sweet oranges, creamy green avocados, red onions and black olives make a fiesta on your plate. Because of the citric acid in the oranges, it is a good palate cleanser, too. So, you instead of serving it before the main course, you might try serving it at the end of a dinner, as dessert or just before dessert.

Ensalada de Endibias con Frutas - Endive Salad with Fruit
This salad utilizes ingredients that are all in season during the winter in Spain. Belgian endives are a winter vegetable that make a great winter salad, combined with a light yogurt-based salad dressing. Top the leaves with oranges, dates and pomegranate seeds and you'll be looking for a second helping.

Ensalada de Endibia con Vinagreta - Endives in Tomato Vinaigrette
Belgian endives with a tomato vinaigrette makes a lovely start to a meal. Endives are a winter vegetable with a delicate, but slightly bitter taste. Adding a light vinaigrette makes a colorful and fresh salad.

Sopa de Pollo con Fideos - Spanish Chicken Noodle Soup
This soup is a typical first course in Spanish households, regardless of the region. Spanish love soups and seem to eat them whether it is winter or summer. This soup is perfect for those cold winter evenings when you need something to warm you from the inside out. Luckily, it is an easy soup to make.

Shrimp-Pomegranate-Avocado Salad
This salad is not only eye-catching, but is great-tasting. The ruby red pomegranate seeds combine with the green lettuce and the yellow and green avocado, not to mention the pink shrimp. All the ingredients are grown in the Mediterranean and are in season in the Fall, making it a great choice for holiday dining.

Cucumber-Pomegranate Salad
Pomegranates or “granadas” in Spanish are an ancient fruit, used before the Roman times. In fact, the city of "Granada" is named after the pomegrate! This salad contains typical Mediterranean ingredients, including basil, garbanzo beans and cucumbers. It is a colorful, festive salad that is great for any Fall celebration, including Thanksgiving.

Menestra de Verdura - Vegetable Soup
“Menestra de verduras” is a wonderful dish, full of fresh vegetables and a bit of Serrano ham. The great thing about this dish is that you can use whatever vegetables are in season at the time. So, you might substitute spinach, swiss chard, asparagus, leek or faba beans.

Ensaladilla Rusa - Spanish Potato Salad
Spanish potato salad is very different than the typical American version, including its name - "ensaladilla rusa" or Russian Salad. It's a great variation to try the next time you have a BBQ.

Mixed Green Salad - Ensalada Mixta
This mixed salad is usually includes a mix of ingredients that Americans find surprising, such as olives, tuna and white asparagus, as well as tomatoes and onions. Easy to prepare, it is as tasty as it is attractive. Try it at your next dinner gathering!

Ensalada Verde - Green Salad
Simple and refreshing, a basic green salad dressed with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar is all you need to complete most Spanish meals.

Gazpacho – Andalusian Cold Tomato Soup
Gazpacho is a wonderful way to cool off and to start a meal on a hot summer day. Although we translate the word gazpacho into English as “tomato soup,” it is nothing like hot tomato soup. It is very refreshing, flavorful, stimulates the palette AND very easy to prepare. You need only a knife to chop and a blender to mix!

Sopa Fría de Tomate, Naranja y Frambuesa – Cold Tomato-Orange-Raspberry Soup
Summer is a great time to try new drinks and cold soups and salads. This recipe is a modern twist on "gazpacho," the traditional cold soup from Andalusia, where it gets plenty hot! Serve as a soup or a cold drink to start the meal.

Sopa de Pescado y Marisco – Fish and Shellfish Soup
Spanish love fish and seafood and no wonder - Spain is surrounded by water on three sides! This soup combines fish, clams and shrimp with rice for a rich and flavorful dish.

Ensalada de Pepino - Cucumber Salad
Spanish style Cucumber Salad is a perfect dish for a warm day. It is light, tasty and refreshing. If you need to prepare something at the last minute, this salad is great, since it is easy to prepare!

Espárragos Blancos en Aceite y Vinagre - White Asparagus in Oil and Vinegar
White asparagus is very delicate in texture and flavor. Try this easy recipe and find out why Spaniards cannot resist this delicacy!

Ensalada Tropical – Spanish Tropical Salad
Ensalada tropical is a refreshing and flavorful alternative to green salads in the summer. The mix of tropical fruit, soft cheese and fish is unusual and gives a unique flavor to the dish.

Sopa de Ajo – Castilian Garlic Soup
Typical of the province of Castilla, this soup is a wonderful meal in itself! It is quick, easy to make and will warm you up right away. Like most Spanish recipes, you probably have the in ingredients in your kitchen and can prepare this when you have last-minute guests.

Potaje de Garbanzos y Espinacas - Garbanzo and Spinach Soup
This soup from New Castilla/Madrid region is full of flavor and like our American “chile,” it seems to get even better when eaten the following day! It is a hearty soup that is wonderful in winter. If you are planning a "tapa" party, it also works well served in small bowls as one of the main "tapas" of the evening.

Sopa de Pastor Manchego - Manchego Shepherd Soup
This soup from the region of La Mancha is a good starter for a dinner or a main course for a light meal. It is a variation of "sopa de ajo" or garlic soup. It includes bits of Spanish ham and cooked egg to give it flavor and substance.