From Spain with Love: With Annie Sibonney - 1 ª Season

In the first episode of From Spain With Love, host Annie Sibonney visits the Basque Country, a fiercely independent region with more cooks per capita than anywhere else in the world.

There's no dish more symbolic of Spain than paella, a saffron-flavored rice dish with meat or seafood. In this episode, Annie explores all aspects of this Sunday lunch dish that is cooked and served in one pan and is traditionally made by the man of the house. Annie travels to Valencia, Alicante and Barcelona to eat every type of paella she can get her hands on, including rabbit, pasta and seafood varieties; visits La Mancha to pick saffron; visits the "Queen of Saffron," chef Maria José San Román, at her restaurant in Alicante; meets Don Rafael, the "Paella King," in Valencia; and ends her journey in the style-driven city of Barcelona, where everything - including paella - is done with a twist. Locations: Valencia, Barcelona, La Mancha

In this episode, Annie and her friends savor Madrid's nightlife as they drink, dance and dine until dawn. Annie starts her evening "food hop" with drinks and tapas at the historic Mercado San Miguel in the heart of downtown Madrid; enjoys the local "street meat" of Madrid: fried calamari sandwiches; and savors a fantastic multi-course dinner at El Fogon de Trifon, where the doors don't even open until midnight. Finally, no evening in Madrid is complete without an early morning treat of hot chocolate and churros, the traditional Spanish fried donut. Location: Madrid

In Spain, the preservation of food - through canning, salt curing, drying and smoking - is practically a national obsession. In this episode, Annie feasts on the finest range of locally sourced conservas (canned food) to be found in Spain at the pint-sized taberna Quimet y Quimet in Barcelona; prepares traditional dried salted cod (bacalao) with legendary aficionado Don Emilio Alberdi in Bilbao; explores a range of salmon smoking techniques at a renowned smoking facility in Catalonia; and prepares chicken and vegetables in the traditional vinegar-preserved escabeche style. Locations: Quimet y Quimet, Barcelona; Bacalao Boutique, Bilbao, Restaurante Alberdi, Bilbao; Carpier Ahumodos; Olivensa, Extremadura

If you don't love seafood, you're simply not Spanish. This episode brings audiences closer to the seafood of Spain than they've ever been before as Annie helps the female clam diggers of Galicia gather all they can before the tides come in; risks dangerous surf and treacherous rocks off of Spain's aptly-named "coast of death" in search of percebes (goose barnacles), a Spanish delicacy; enjoys a Galician-style octopus party on the beach; and works alongside innovative chef Marcelo Tejedor to cook up local seafood in his restaurant kitchen in Santiago de Compostela, including seaweed risotto and lobster cappuccino. Location: Galicia.