Paper Palate

This month it’s the Spanish issue, offering readers a ‘Taste of Spain.’ Even Fare Exchange (readers request restaurant recipes) has a Spanish flavour … so let’s start there.

Encasa, in Sydney, kicks things off with arroz negro, a sort of Spanish risotto, flavoured with squid ink and served with aioli. Heading into one of Australia’s emerging wine regions, Belgravia at Union Bank, Orange, supplies a recipe for a chunky chorizo, chicken and vegetable soup, which sounds perfect for northern hemisphere winter comfort food. And for something sweet, the spiced chocolate mousse from Bar Lourinha in Melbourne looks perfect, with or without the hazelnut praline topping.

Masterclass features a paella, which, while time consuming to prepare, was delicious and foolproof. While calasparra rice might not be easy to track down, the recipe worked well with arborio rice and produced a colourful and filling dish.

Perfect Match matches tempranillo with roast lamb shoulder with a chickpea and herb salad. You need to begin work a day ahead and the lamb is cooked for over three hours but the result looks stunning.

More Spain in the month’s Classic Dish: crema catalana - although the British and French will recognise the dish as burnt cream or crème brûlée.

Will Studd covers Spanish cheeses and the featured book review is the newly released 1080 Recipes, Spain’s best selling cookbook newly translated into English.

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of October’s recipes are also Spanish and cover favourites from Australian restaurants MoVida (in Melbourne) and Bodega (in Sydney), as well as seafood, saffron and sweets from the Iberian peninsula.

It’s no surprise that the travel section covers Spain too … Madrid, Andalucía and Barcelona. However, with this month’s AGT you won’t need to leave your kitchen to visit Spain - just be sure to stock up on the viño, queso and chorizo in advance!