Spanish Made Easy – Omar Allibhoy

Last Updated on February 2, 2026

Simple, modern recipes for every day from Omar Allibhoy

With the fabulous summer weather we’ve been enjoying lately in the UK, it’s tempting to imagine we’re living in southern Europe. When Omar Allibhoy’s newly published Spanish Made Easy (Quadrille) arrived for review, I was sizzling in my kitchen and wasted no time making some of the summertime dishes. While there are plenty of colder-weather meals to prepare later in the year – I’m earmarking duck with prunes, chestnuts, and Pedro Ximénez sherry for Christmas – this new cookbook will see you through the summer. There are several dishes for the BBQ that will please your guests, including recipes for quail, chicken, and lamb.

Allibhoy hails from Madrid and has a deep love for Spanish cuisine. His mission is to encourage readers to incorporate Spanish dishes into their weekly repertoire. In Spanish Made Easy, he presents his favourite dishes, the ones he prepares for his family and enjoyed growing up. He includes shortcuts he uses at home, since time is of the essence in Casa Allibhoy as it is in the kitchens of his readers.

I began with gazpacho de sandía  – chilled watermelon soup – as I was having friends for lunch during the second heatwave this summer. Or was it the third heatwave? I have lost count. A cold soup was a great starter as I could make it in advance, and no one wants to eat hot food when it is over 30 degrees in the shade.

The addition of watermelon is what caught my attention, as they are in prime season at the moment. Aside from chopping them up as a dessert offering or pairing with feta cheese in a salad, I have never used watermelon in my cooking. I have enjoyed pickled watermelon rind on my travels in Asia, and since it is very easy to do, you may want to save your rinds and get pickling after you have finished making gazpacho. In Sicily, I discovered wonderful watermelon jelly and jam, so I have a lot to learn about the versatility of this fruit.

A little light chopping is required, and the food processor does the rest. Before you know it, you have a rather fabulous starter which sits happily overnight in the fridge. It is suitable for vegetarians and vegans alike. Next day, when you are ready to serve, take out some attractive glassware, pour in your gazpacho, some ice cubes, and a glug of your best quality EVOO, and take all the credit. Thanks, Omar.

Having bought rather too much watermelon, I had quite a lot over and paged through Spanish Made Easy for inspiration. In the salad chapter, I came across a deliciously juicy salad which I put together in a matter of minutes. Ensalada de sandía, tomates y queso is a watermelon, tomato, coriander, and goat’s cheese salad. I love it when I just happen to have all the ingredients sitting in my fridge when I come across an enticing recipe. The salad sat beautifully alongside a rice, chickpea, and aubergine dish I had made, not quite a paella, but I think Allibhoy would approve.

He is indeed the king of paella – I reviewed Allibhoy’s previous cookbook, Paella, a few years ago – you can learn everything you need to know about making this dish from him. I have had the good fortune to eat the dish straight from Allibhoy’s capacious paella pan at events he has hosted. Spanish Made Easy has a chapter devoted to making paella, another fabulous dish to make for summer if you are entertaining.

On hot evenings when I cannot face the kitchen, I often have eggs for dinner. You may know how to boil an egg, but how is your omelette technique? I assumed that the egg chapter of Spanish Made Easy might include a recipe for a Spanish omelette, so I was surprised to find one for a French version. I first learned how to make an omelette the French way by watching a video of the great Julia Childs, but since Allibhoy learned his version from his time working with the genius, Ferran Adrià, I had a go.

The recipe for tortilla Francesa certainly introduced me to something new – a puffy, layered omelette which has a different texture to the one I have always called a French omelette. I enjoyed it and will certainly be making more of these. The technique involves a bit of pan-tilting so the egg runs one way and then back again in the pan, forming layers. It reminded me of the Japanese technique for making omelettes.

Spanish Made Easy has chapters on nibbles, meat and game, fish and seafood, eggs and poultry, veg, salads, soups, pulses and stew, paella and rice, and desserts and sweet treats. Anyone who has travelled in Spain will recognise many of these dishes, and now you can make them in your own kitchen.

You can buy Spanish Made Easy from Amazon (currently £16.65) and other good book sellers