In the Basque country, it’s common to go to a bar and have a zurito (a very small, cold beer) or a glass of wine and maybe a banderilla (see here), then go on somewhere else. Each bar will do something amazingly well: they might make ten or twenty things, but you go there for one speciality, like the fried stuffed eggs here. By the time you go home you’ll often find you’re not hungry any more … I love going out for pintxos (small snacks), but there’s no denying that it can be expensive. You might have a plate of artichokes for €7, when you could buy them for less than half that – and they are so easy to prepare (see here).

Frying is very common in Spain: it is an essential part of how we cook and eat. People can be apprehensive about frying at home, but the key word here is ‘shallow’. You don’t need to have a deep fat fryer, or 20 litres of oil, or to mess up your kitchen. My mum never had a fryer and always made croquetas, the pig’s cheek empanados (here), pencas (here) and stuffed eggs (here). You can use a regular saucepan if that’s what you have, and you don’t need more than 2cm of oil – in the restaurant, we call this amount ‘two fingers’. Just make sure your oil is hot, add whatever you’re frying gently (no splashing!), and turn it round after 2–3 minutes to cook both sides evenly – you don’t need to fully submerge it.

I use panko breadcrumbs because I like the texture, but my mum always made her own: she used to keep old bread in a basket and when she had four or five pieces she’d grate it and put it into a container in the dry store. It’s easy to do the same if you want: just leave your bread to get as hard as possible, then put it into a food processor if you don’t want to grate it. You can use different types of bread, such as rye, for more flavourful crumbs too. One of the reasons I love fried bites so much is that, although they can be a bit fiddly, the actual cooking is done in 5 minutes in just one pan. The hard work has an almost immediate reward – especially when you bite into them. I always season anything fried just before serving, as I like to feel the texture of the sea salt.

The way you eat pintxos or tapas is up to you. It’s about using your imagination and making the most of what you’ve got available. At home, I might make the goat’s cheese, sobrasada and honey on toast (see here) for a light lunch or dinner. It’s a good standby dish: honey is a cupboard staple, goat’s cheese is something you might occasionally have in your fridge, and sobrasada has a longer life than fresh meat, meaning you might have some left over. These recipes are all great for a quick bite, or to start a meal, but you could also have two or three dishes for lunch or dinner. They don’t have to be painstaking to prepare: nothing could be simpler than a plate of melon and jamón (see here). A table with a few dishes on it always looks happy and full of colour: you know you’re going to eat well and have fun.