5. PA AMB TOMAQUET

‘Bread with tomato’ is a permanent fixture in my mental list of favourite Spanish dishes, though to call it a dish might be stretching a point. In its homeland, Catalunya, it is brought to the table in place of bread, or eaten for breakfast with coffee. In my household, it often forms the basis of a homely winter supper of cheese and sliced sausages with olives and pickles.

Bread or toast rubbed with ripe tomato, scattered with salt and drizzled with olive oil: what could be simpler? So you might think. But controversy rages over the details: should the bread be toasted on both sides? Should it be rubbed with garlic? At the very least, the tomato should be ripe and juicy and in season, the oil a fruity extra virgin. (For further information, consult Leopoldo Pomés’ breviary on the subject, Theory and Practice of Pa Amb Tomaquet.) Whatever the finer points, this is one snack that never fails to satisfy.

6. MENESTRA

The name leads you to expect a kind of soup, like the Italian minestra or minestrone. In fact the menestra, which has its HQ in the northern Spanish communities of Navarra and the Basque country, is a kind of vegetable stew, made only in springtime with the year’s first tender peas, broad beans, French beans, artichokes, carrots, leeks, onions, and potatoes.

The authentic recipe calls for the ingredients to be sautéed separately before being briefly simmered together, the vegetable juices combing to form a delicious sauce. Menestra is one of those dishes that are much more than the sum of their parts. In my book, there is no greater celebration of the glory of vegetables.

7. PINTXOS

Anyone who has ever spent time in Bilbao or San Sebastian will have encountered the civilised custom of snacking in bars. The pintxo is essentially a variant of tapas, the idea being that alcohol stimulates the appetite and food stops you getting drunk so quickly.

What began as a slice of bread topped with a prawn and a spoonful of mayonnaise, or an olive and a gherkin on a stick, has become an art-form in its own right – witness the bar-tops of San Sebastián’s old town, which groan with trays laden with puff-pastry tartlets, stuffed croissants, mini-brochettes, and fried morsels of everything under the sun. Grab what you fancy and pay at the end. If a more fun way of eating was ever devised, I have yet to discover it.

Read about Taras Grescoe's pinxtos crawl of San Sebastian

8. CHURROS CON CHOCOLATE

Deep-fried batter dipped in chocolate: abandon diet, all ye who enter here. There are two perfect moments for this classic Spanish combination. One is the post-nightclub walk home, when you crave a hit of grease and sugar to see you home and into bed. The other is late on a Sunday morning, when you might stop by the churreria on your way back from buying the papers. The churros – lengths of batter dropped into boiling oil - must be piping hot. The hot chocolate, as thick as school custard, is for dunking, not for drinking. You might regret it afterwards, but so what? It’s heaven at the time.

9. COCIDO MADRILEÑO

The signature dish of Madrid is a compendium of good things. The base is chickpeas, simmered for hours (most authentically, in a terracotta pot over a wood fire) along with various cuts of meat and sausages, and a panoply of vegetables including cabbage, turnip, carrot, and onion. Here is the perfect antidote to the foams and sprays that have turned Spanish food into a magnet for culinary modernists the world over.

First comes the soup, in which are served threads of pasta called fideos. Filling enough in itself, this is followed by the chickpeas and vegetables, and then the meat: a heaped platter of boiled beef, chicken, salt pork, chorizo, morcilla, and as often as not a meatball with bacon, breadcrumbs, garlic, egg, and parsley. Properly made, there is nothing more satisfying than an old-fashioned cocido with all the trimmings – and nothing more guaranteed to send you tottering into the street, eyes glazed from the brutal onslaught on your digestive system. This is food for a cold winter day when you have nothing to do in the afternoon.

10. LA SIESTA

The post-prandial nap exists in all Mediterranean cultures, but nowhere is it such an institution as in Spain. Though clearly on the decline, it’s a custom that Spaniards have come to regard as a luxury. And with good reason: a snooze after lunch not only aids digestion and cuts down stress, it and means you can stay up even later in the evening.

The interesting thing about the siesta is the variety of forms it can take. For some people it’s a ten-minute shut-eye in a chair. Others, like me, actually get into bed, under the covers, and go into REM sleep for as long as the body requires. For me, after nearly two decades in Spain, the siesta is no longer a luxury: it’s a necessity.

* Paul Richardson’s new book ‘A Late Dinner: discovering the food of Spain’ is published by Bloomsbury at £16.99. To buy it for the reduced price of £15.29, with free p&p in the UK, call The Sunday Times BooksFirst on 0870 165 8585.

For more of Paul's work, go to www.paulrichardson.es

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