Penelope Casas, the foremost American authority on Spanish food and the author of the bestselling Tapas, presents more than 175 robustly flavored yet amazingly simple recipes representing the best of Spanish home cooking—the cooking handed down through generations of Spanish “mamás.”

Long overshadowed by France and Italy, Spain has finally taken its rightful place as one of Europe’s great culinary meccas. Consider the reborn cities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao; the new respect afforded Spanish wines; the popularity of tapas bars in the U.S.; and Spain’s widely influential Michelin three-star chefs, Ferran Adrià and Juan Mari Arzak. Despite the world-wide acclaim for these chefs, arguably the greatest Spanish food is found not in the nation’s restaurants, but in private homes off-limits to tourists, where women still cook the recipes their mothers and grandmothers cooked before them. Now, Penelope Casas takes us into those homes to uncover the secrets of this simple, easily reproduced, and altogether marvelous cuisine.

For La Cocina de Mamá, Penelope Casas has collected recipes from great chefs and traditional home cooks in every region of Spain, all of whom have shared with her the dishes they grew up loving and still cook for themselves today. There are recipes for tapas, like Clams in Garlic Sauce; elegant soups and hearty one-pot meals like Stewed Potatoes with Pork Ribs; many wonderful seafood dishes like Fish Steaks with Peas in Saffron Sauce; meat and poultry dishes, such as Pork Tenderloin in Orange Sauce, Rack of Lamb Stuffed with Mushrooms and Scallions, and Lemon Chicken with Ginger and Pine Nuts; paella and other rice dishes—and even a few pasta dishes; unusual vegetable preparations, including Sautéed Spinach with Quince and Toasted Sesame Seeds; and desserts like Basque Apple Custard Tart. Whether of Roman, Moorish, or peasant origin, all of the dishes appeal to today’s tastes and exemplify the virtues of the Mediterranean diet—lots of olive oil, lean meats and fish, and vegetables. Sidebars throughout discuss ingredients, areas of Spain unfamiliar to most Americans, travel vignettes, and more. At last, Americans can discover the unique and irresistible flavors of authentic Spanish home cooking in La Cocina de Mamá....

Penelope Casas, who introduced the classic little dishes of Spain to American cooks more than twenty years ago, now gives us a splendid updated edition of that seminal book—with fifty exciting new recipes and eight full pages of new color photographs showing tapas in all their glory.

Here are all the appetizer dishes that have long been a tradition in Spanish cuisine—mélanges of seafood in aromatic sauces; little ragouts of meat, sausages, beans; colorful salads and marinades; the omelets called tortillas that enclose a variety of tasty tidbits; banderillas, zesty combinations on skewers; and empanadas, savory delights encased in pastry. The new recipes Casas includes reflect the influence of the innovative cooking in Spain today—dishes seasoned with soy sauce or balsamic vinegar; ingredients wrapped in flaky phyllo pastry; accents of goat cheese and arugula; foie gras in elegant presentations.

With Spanish cooking at the forefront of today’s cuisine, this “exceptional book by the leading American authority on the foods of Spain” (as Craig Claiborne dubbed it in 1985) is a must for every adventurous cook in America today....

Spain's history and geography together create one of the world's most varied and rewarding cuisines. Well-known author Penelope Casas, widely considered the foremost American authority on Spanish food, expertly shows why Spanish cooking has always been the perfect fare for the ages: the freshest ingredients prepared simply - a perfect opportunity for one-pot cooking....

Revised and updated...