Made in Spain

From his home region of Asturias in northern Spain, Andrés showcases its great cheeses, making a sweet and sour salad of cheese and tomatoes with a honey and vinegar dressing.

Andrés explores the food of the magical, mystical region of Galicia where pilgrims have traveled for centuries.

José explains the Spanish sweet 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.

Sweet, hand-roasted red piquillo peppers are now sold in jars across the United States. José stuffs some piquillos with cheese, then takes us to Navarra to show how they painstakingly roast and peel the peppers. Then he prepares a cheese and white asparagus salad. He ends in Pamplona, where the young men run with the bulls -- while older men try to improve their cooking in culinary societies.

There's tuna and there's Spanish tuna.

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.

José cooks a cold soup of Basque cheese bought in Manhattan before going to the rustic farms in Spain 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 uses widely-available Manchego cheese to prepare a salad of cheese, tomato, thyme and walnuts. He shows us the food eaten by the Man from La Mancha -- Cervantes’ Don Quixote. And witnesses the wonder of saffron, when the crocus 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 prepares scallops in their shells with Albariño white wine, and visits the 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.

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 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.

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

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.