Well, a trip to the local supermarket soon showed us just what you guys are up against when it comes to quick tapas fixes over here in the UK. ‘Microwave Chorizo Balls’? They didn’t look too appealing. Over three pounds sterling for a few stuffed olives? Well, at least they threw in a tiny earthenware dish for free.
Unperturbed we decided to buy a fish, sea bass, to recreate Marina’s recent podcast for my family. Trying to explain how to open it out, so that we could cook it on its back, drew a look of baffled bewilderment from the lady at the fish counter. ‘Just gut it’, we said. Then she lopped off the head, sacrilege in a Spanish supermarket, but understandable in squeamish Britain I suppose.
Still, for an ex-pat back home for a few days, there are wonderous things to be found in the local Waitrose. Thai green curry, Indian korma, good old British sausages. The Spanish selection may not have been up to much, but you can’t beat a British supermarket when it comes to oven-ready world cuisine.
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 