Spanish

Authentic-ish Spanish

Name: Authentic-ish Spanish: Home Classics, Lightened
Author: Danny Vale

Home Classics, Lightened

Everyone knows Spain uses olive oil. Nobody weighs it. A tortilla confits its potatoes in a panful before the eggs arrive, and 100g of olive oil is 884 kcal whether it is a good bottle or not. The fish chapter needed less work than any chapter in the series.

Not out yet. The swap kit from chapter 2 is free to read now, and it's the part of the book you'd use most.

What's in it

Recipes	Chapters	Average calorie saving	Dishes rejected
58	8	34%	2

Every dish, and what came off it

Each figure is per serving, computed from the ingredient list. The traditional column is the real dish, not a strawman: it's costed from its own ingredient list so the saving is a measurement rather than a claim.

Dish	Chapter	Traditional	This version	Saving	Protein
Patatas Bravas	tapas	601 kcal	220 kcal	63%	8.4g
Spanish Omelette	eggs	519 kcal	300 kcal	42%	13.9g
Seafood Paella	rice	689 kcal	564 kcal	18%	46.3g
Croquetas de Jamon	tapas	639 kcal	369 kcal	42%	20.4g
Padron Peppers	vegetables	136 kcal	44 kcal	68%	1g
Chicken and Rabbit Paella	rice	806 kcal	609 kcal	24%	46.1g
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce	meat	511 kcal	330 kcal	35%	32.4g
Garlic Prawns	tapas	339 kcal	146 kcal	57%	25.5g
Asturian Bean Stew	pulses	487 kcal	280 kcal	43%	26.4g
Hake in Green Sauce	fish	441 kcal	231 kcal	48%	36.9g
Gazpacho	vegetables	290 kcal	155 kcal	47%	8.5g
Churros	pudding	394 kcal	204 kcal	48%	12.4g
Lentils with Chorizo	pulses	615 kcal	441 kcal	28%	28.6g
Crema Catalana	pudding	276 kcal	219 kcal	21%	8.7g
Broken Eggs with Chorizo	eggs	600 kcal	432 kcal	28%	18.5g
Octopus with Paprika	fish	505 kcal	368 kcal	27%	36.9g
Escalivada	vegetables	246 kcal	158 kcal	36%	11g
Slow Cooked Oxtail	meat	662 kcal	624 kcal	6%	68.6g
Salt Cod Fritters	fish	575 kcal	449 kcal	22%	82.2g
Pisto	vegetables	196 kcal	174 kcal	11%	8.4g
Arroz Negro	rice	624 kcal	517 kcal	17%	34g
Basque Cheesecake	pudding	543 kcal	334 kcal	38%	14.6g
Chickpea and Spinach Stew	pulses	403 kcal	336 kcal	17%	17g
Pork Cheek Stew	meat	651 kcal	462 kcal	29%	41.6g
Sea Bass baked in salt	fish	426 kcal	338 kcal	21%	44.7g
Flamenco Eggs	eggs	446 kcal	260 kcal	42%	17.4g
Garlic Chicken	meat	710 kcal	320 kcal	55%	45g
Salmorejo	vegetables	490 kcal	447 kcal	9%	15.4g
Santiago Almond Cake	pudding	357 kcal	226 kcal	37%	9.9g
Chorizo in Wine	tapas	522 kcal	326 kcal	38%	16g
Pimientos de Padron	tapas	126 kcal	33 kcal	74%	0.9g
Boquerones en Vinagre	tapas	312 kcal	180 kcal	42%	20.4g
Tigres	tapas	734 kcal	323 kcal	56%	30.5g
Champiñones al Ajillo	tapas	318 kcal	128 kcal	60%	5.9g
Arroz a Banda	rice	626 kcal	488 kcal	22%	14.9g
Arroz al Horno	rice	685 kcal	537 kcal	22%	26.9g
Arroz Caldoso con Pollo	rice	817 kcal	619 kcal	24%	43.2g
Arroz con Costra	rice	706 kcal	478 kcal	32%	32.3g
Carrilladas de Cerdo	meat	831 kcal	523 kcal	37%	45.3g
Pollo al Chilindron	meat	661 kcal	394 kcal	40%	51.5g
Filete Empanado	meat	597 kcal	518 kcal	13%	55.3g
Rabo de Toro	meat	912 kcal	832 kcal	9%	82.2g
Suquet de Peix	fish	511 kcal	369 kcal	28%	37.3g
Marmitako	fish	453 kcal	345 kcal	24%	39.4g
Merluza a la Vasca	fish	398 kcal	313 kcal	21%	39.3g
Pescaito Frito	fish	711 kcal	425 kcal	40%	38.1g
Huevos Rotos	eggs	490 kcal	317 kcal	35%	17.7g
Revuelto de Setas	eggs	351 kcal	244 kcal	30%	15.5g
Huevos a la Flamenca	eggs	312 kcal	233 kcal	25%	18.4g
Fabada Asturiana	pulses	348 kcal	253 kcal	27%	25.4g
Lentejas con Chorizo	pulses	470 kcal	334 kcal	29%	18.5g
Garbanzos con Espinacas	pulses	567 kcal	453 kcal	20%	21.5g
Alubias de Tolosa	pulses	657 kcal	344 kcal	48%	19.6g
Berenjenas Fritas con Miel	vegetables	294 kcal	160 kcal	46%	4.6g
Pisto Manchego	vegetables	262 kcal	186 kcal	29%	12.7g
Ajoblanco	vegetables	427 kcal	136 kcal	68%	3.6g
Arroz con Leche	pudding	343 kcal	276 kcal	20%	8.3g
Leche Frita	pudding	613 kcal	294 kcal	52%	22.1g

The ones I wouldn't touch

Dishes drafted for this book that didn't survive. If every dish survived lightening, that chapter would be a marketing device and you should trust none of the rest.

Bacalao al Pil-Pil

Bacalao al pil-pil is an emulsion. You poach salt cod slowly in olive oil, then swirl the pan until the gelatine coming out of the fish binds with the oil into a thick yellow sauce. That sauce is the dish. Poach the cod in water instead and you have poached cod, which is a fine supper and is not this. The oil here is eaten rather than thrown away, so the figure is high and it is correct. If you want the flavour for fewer calories, grill the cod and put a spoonful of the garlic oil over it, and call it something else.

Tarta de Santiago

There's no permitted ingredient key for baking sweetener or artificial sweetener, which this version genuinely needs to replace some sugar. Without a sweetener, it's impossible to reduce the sugar and still have any cake at all - it just turns out like an almond omelette. Tarta de Santiago can't be properly lightened within these constraints.

Where the numbers come from

FoodData Central, SR Legacy Release (April 2018). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
McCance & Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID) 2021. Public Health England / Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Open Government Licence v3.0.
FoodData Central, Branded Foods (October 2024 release). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Public domain (U.S. Government work).

Retrieved 2026-08-21. Nothing in these books is dietary or medical advice. Danny Vale is a cook.