Made in Spain

No Spanish wine is more famous than Rioja, and José starts with a quick tapa of apples in a red wine syrup. He takes us to a great Rioja winemaker before cooking his own version of the region’s classic dish of potato and chorizo sausage. Back in Spain, he shows us Rioja’s superb vegetable market and eats at a special restaurant run by a mother and son who cook their own recipes.

Using a Catalan olive oil, José prepares two tapas: marinated olives and toast with cheese and anchovy. He takes us to his beloved market in Barcelona, and gets inspired to cook a creamy rice dish of mushrooms, artichokes and cuttlefish. Back in Spain he shows us two great Catalan artists: Salvador Dali and his own culinary mentor, Ferran Adrià, hailed by critics as the world’s most creative chef.

José cooks a quick tapa of fried eggs and Spanish chorizo sausage before showing us the artistic and food culture of the Spanish capital. He eats a fried squid sandwich on the streets, and sips an elegant cup of consommé in a historic restaurant. He prepares a refreshing salad of clementines, anchovy and olives, and returns to Spain for a huge meal of Madrid stew.

Asturias means family for José, and he prepares a simple apple and cheese salad with his mother’s favorite blue cheese, Cabrales. José shows us the region’s traditional hard cider, and returns home to add cider vinegar to some caramelized onions that he serves with light and fluffy corn cakes. Back in Asturias, he joins his family for a hearty bean stew with sausages.

José prepares scallops in their shells with Albariño white wine, and visits the dramatic seafood farms of this northwestern region. Back home, he steams mussels with bay leaf and serves them with potatoes and Spanish smoked paprika. He returns to Galicia to watch the magical cooking of the legendary Spanish potato tortilla, or omelet.

José uses Manchego cheese to prepare a salad of cheese, tomato, thyme and walnuts. He shows us the food eaten by Cervantes’ Don Quixote. And he is witness to the wonder of saffron, when the remarkable crocus emerges from the earth and is turned into the world’s most expensive spice. José cooks a traditional dish of rabbit with saffron rice before returning to Spain to eat a marzipan dessert.

José cooks a cold soup of Basque cheese bought in Manhattan before going to the rustic farms where the cheese-makers live. He introduces us to the great red and white wines of the Basque Country, then returns home to cook a traditional dish of baby squid with caramelized onions. He finishes by eating an extraordinary meal cooked entirely on a charcoal grill.

José turns Spain’s sparkling wine, cava, into a light dressing for oysters and a refreshing mimosa cocktail. He goes mushroom hunting in the Catalan mountains, before cooking a crumbled pork sausage with wild mushrooms. Back in Spain, he fishes for shrimp and eats Catalan seafood in traditional and modern ways.

There’s tuna and there’s Spanish tuna. José prepares a classic tuna salad before joining the extraordinary tuna catch off the southern coast of Spain. He returns home to cook seared tuna with sesame seeds and sweet piquillo peppers. He explains the great sherry culture of Andalucía, and goes bar-hopping to eat the region’s great tapas food.

José stuffs some piquillos with cheese, then takes us to Navarra to show how they painstakingly roast and peel the peppers. He returns to his home kitchen to prepare a cheese and white asparagus salad. He ends with a trip to Pamplona, where the young men run with the bulls – while older men try to improve their cooking in culinary societies.

José explains the sweet Spanish tooth, cooking pancakes with chocolate before showing us the wonderfully thick hot chocolate of Spain. Just outside the capital, he takes us to a strawberry farm and returns home to prepare strawberries in a wine syrup. He ends at a traditional bull fight in Madrid, finishing off the evening with a traditional stew of bull’s meat.

José explores the food of Galicia where pilgrims have traveled for centuries. He cooks a simple tapa of green Padrón peppers stuffed with cheese, as well as the traditional pilgrim’s meal of a chicken empanada, or turnover. He fishes for octopus off the region’s rocky coast, eats a traditional Galician dish of boiled octopus with Spanish paprika, and drinks a glass of the pilgrims’ flambéed punch.