Chefs José Andrés Recipes By Food & Wine Editors Updated on May 8, 2017 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos The Spanish American chef shares some of his finest dishes, from open-faced crab empanadas to cauliflower fritters. 01 of 11 Duck Confit Tacos "If Mexico hadn't shared its chiles with China, would we have spicy Chinese food?" asks chef José Andrés. His Vegas spot, China Poblano, with dishes like these Asian duck tacos, shows how more and more chefs are combining seemingly unrelated cuisines. Store-bought confit duck legs make these tacos really easy. Another shortcut: crisping the skin in a microwave. Get the Recipe 02 of 11 Smoky Paella with Shrimp and Squid © Quentin Bacon At Jaleo, the delightful Spanish restaurant in Washington, D.C., José Andrés prepares this satisfying rice dish with lots of seafood, including hard-to-find cuttlefish, and a house-made fish stock. Use squid in place of the cuttlefish, and skip the fish stock in favor of bottled clam broth from the supermarket. Get the Recipe 03 of 11 Mashed Potatoes with Manchego and Olive Oil © Lucy Schaeffer Instead of using butter, chef José Andrés prefers to add richness with olive oil and Manchego cheese. His tip: "Add the olive oil slowly to the potatoes because if you dump it in all at once, you'll get streaks of oil." Get the Recipe 04 of 11 Open-Faced Crab Empanadas © Akiko Ida & Pierre Javelle José Andrés says: "I love America! Without a doubt, one of my favorite American ingredients is blue crabs, a true delicacy! And a great value, I think." This recipe is his twist on the traditional Basque txangurro (crab simmered with tomato), crossed with a Galician empanada (a savory pie). Get the Recipe 05 of 11 Salt Air Margarita © Tina Rupp Chef José Andrés uses Sucro, a powdered emulsifier beloved by avant-garde chefs, to make the salty foam topping at Minibar in Washington, D.C. It's available at tienda.com. Get the Recipe 06 of 11 Pork Roast with Sausage, Fruit and Nut Stuffing © AKIKO IDA & PIERRE JAVELLE Pork and fruit is a classic pairing around the world, but this dish gets a particularly Catalan flavor from the combination of dried fruit and butifarra (a Catalan cured pork sausage) in the stuffing. The stuffing cooks inside the roast, which gives it a deep, marvelously porky flavor. Get the Recipe 07 of 11 Cauliflower Fritters To create these wonderful tapas, José Andrés makes a batter with crunchy nubs of chopped cauliflower florets, fries spoonfuls in a skillet and then tops the fritters with yogurt sauce and a dollop of caviar. Get the Recipe 08 of 11 Lobster with Fideos Rossejat de fideos, a traditional seafood dish of Spain's Catalonia region, resembles paella but instead of rice, it calls for fideos, fine vermicelli-like pasta. Here, the pasta browns in hot oil until toasty, then cooks slowly in a deliciously rich stock, made with the lobster shells, soaking up all the flavor. Get the Recipe 09 of 11 Cava and Pomegranate Cocktails © Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle Removing seeds from a pomegranate can seem tricky. "Don't worry, it is easy!" José Andrés says. His method: Cut the pomegranate in half across the middle, not through the stem; then wrap each half in cheesecloth and, holding it over a large bowl, hit it hard with a spoon or rolling pin. "Just hit it! Really hit it!" Andrés urges. Then open up the bundle and pick out the seeds, which should practically pop out. Get the Recipe 10 of 11 Leeks Two Ways with Wild Mushrooms © Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle The leek, like its relatives onion and garlic, is generally used to flavor other foods. José Andrés feels this is a mistake. "Listen to me: Leek is a vegetable," he says. "It can be the center of a dish." Here, he cooks leeks until tender, then pairs them with trumpet mushrooms for a sensational side dish. Get the Recipe 11 of 11 Olives Stuffed with Almonds, Anchovies and Peppers © Akiko Ida & Pierre Javelle "For me there is no better tapa than a really good stuffed olive," José Andrés says. He strongly recommends homemade stuffed olives over the store-bought kind, which he proclaims are "usually terrible." Plus, if you stuff them yourself, you've got a million options: "If you love almonds, use good marcona almonds. If you love anchovy, use good Spanish anchovies. If you love peppers, use peppers; I like the wood-roasted piquillo peppers from Navarra. Or if you are like me, you use all three." Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit