For your cooking pleasure and to remind you of time you spent in Spain, planning to spend or just for daydreaming purposes, here are a list of ingredients that should be included:

Bread- This is the base of many Spanish tapas. Bread is necessary to round out the meal or rather small meal. Baguettes are the most popular types of bread for a Spanish style meal.

Tomatoes- Now we understand there are people out there who don’t eat tomatoes but for those that do, this is a must. Now during these winter months, tomatoes are out of season so the canned stuff will have to do.

Saffron- Imagine paella without saffron?? You’re doomed from the beginning. Now we are believers in there are multiple routes to one goal and in this case that would be to create the perfect paella…if you can do this without saffron, please school us.

Spanish wine- Wine is one our favorite tools in the kitchen. It adds an alternative to simmering, deglazing and bringing flavor to a dish. The Spanish have mastered this addition in many of the signature dishes such as Estofado (*Spanish beef and potato stew) and Paella Valenciana.

You could just take a cheap flight to Barcelona and try the real deal or for $20 bucks bring Spain to your kitchen. With our budget (*or until we come across a cheap ticket), we think we’ll go with the latter. Ole!