rice pudding for six people

Serves four people as a tapa. If you have any of this left over it makes the perfect garnish for roasted chicken, a steak or even can lift a boring pasta dish.

Tapas is much easier than people think and these days you can find any Spanish ingredient in your local supermarket. Figs are at their peak right now; make sure you pick up some soft and sweet ones. This recipe is ideal as a tapa for 4 people.

With beer batter and saffron alioli. Serve in a tray or a glass with all the lollipops facing up and the aioli on a little ramekin for people to dip it themselves.

For this recipe you can use any greens you like. I cook this at home very often as I always have some Jamon Serrano and Manchego cheese, a must in any fridge. Ideal as a tapa for 4 people.

With honey mustard mayonnaise. Serve the skewers in a tray with the mayo on the side for people to dip as much or as little as they like.

Pomegranate and Spanish olives salad with chicory endive. Perfect as a tapa for 4 people. This is a traditional salad from Andalucia, the biggest producer of olives in the world, with the seasonal pomegranate that you can find in the supermarkets from September until February.

Pan-fried sea bass with Spanish olives, piquillo peppers and dry Sherry. Preparation time: 5 minutes, cooking time: 20 minutes.

Broad (fava) beans are widely consumed all over Spain. We love to eat them in many ways: in stews, soups, and paellas, or even raw and salted as a snack. The tender seeds within the pod are delicious. The younger they are, the better, but obviously the more expensive, too.

Traditionally this would be cooked in a flameproof terracotta dish, in which you then serve the prawns – if you don’t have one you can use an ordinary frying pan and leave the heads and shells on. I love these either way.

This delicate and flavoursome meal takes just 20 minutes to cook, making it a great midweek dinner. Enjoy with a slice or two of crusty bread.

Paella with angel hair pasta

Serves 4-5 as a tapa, preparation time: 20 minutes plus soaking, cooking time: 10 minutes

As you may well guess, I have cooked thousands of tortillas in my life. There are about 25 different ways to cook tortilla and I have cooked them all: onion first, onion after, caramelized or not, no onion, potato slow-cooked or fried... the mind boggles. But after all my research, I believe this is the best recipe.

In Spain, we love squid it in all its ways, not just in the ubiquitous deep-fried version. In this unusual salad you will find the saltiness of the pan-fried squid and chorizo combined with the bitterness of the chicory and the acidity of the sherry vinegar is a match made in heaven.

These pork skewers with Moorish spices are an extremely popular tapa, although you could make them with any other meat. Mojo picón is a pepper sauce from the Canary Islands and is a fantastic accompaniment to meat, fish or potatoes. Picón means spicy, and you’ll see why…

A Spanish cupboard is always full of conserves from fish and olives to beans and vegetables, which are perfect to mix together to create delicious, colourful salads - particularly in winter when it’s harder to find good fresh vegetables and fish.