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Spain... On The Road Again | 
 enlarge | Director: Charles Pinsky
Actors: Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, Claudia Bassols
Studio: DOCURAMA
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $35.99
You Save: $3.96 (10%)
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 8916
Format: Box Set, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Number Of Discs: 4
Running Time: 690 Minutes
UPC: 767685147429
EAN: 0767685147429
ASIN: B001HBVE8S
Release Date: January 20, 2009 (In 50 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Get ready for the road trip of a lifetime
From the seaside cliffs of Mallorca to the bustling tapas bars and majestic museums of Barcelona, this is the ultimate road trip across Spain. Academy Award -winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, celebrity chef Mario Batali, celebrated author Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything), and Spanish actress Claudia Bassols embark on a ten-week tour of a country at the forefront of the culinary and cultural worlds. Each episode finds the four in a new locale, from learning how Cava is made in Catalunya to meeting the famed pigs of Salamanca, as they steadily reveal the undiscovered delights of a country brimming with gastronomic and aesthetic treasures.
DVD Features: Deleted Scenes; Filmmaker Audio Commentary; Behind the Scenes
Stills from Spain?on the Road Again (Click for larger image)
Map of Spain?on the Road Again
(courtesy of Quentin Bacon)
Exclusive Recipe from Spain?on the Road Again (courtesy of www.spainontheroadagain.com)
Gypsy Potage (Serves 6)
- Two 14-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/2 large Spanish onion, cut into small dice
- Scant 1 cup tomato puree
- 2 tablespoons sweet pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika)
- Pinch of saffron threads
- 1 pound baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 pounds skin-on, boneless bacalao (salt cod), soaked in water for 3 days (change the water twice a day)
- 5 cups water
Put the chickpeas into a large heavy pot, add 2 cups cold water, and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook until they are just beginning to color. Add 1 garlic clove to the chickpeas, and reserve the other. Add the onions to the skillet and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato puree and pimentón and cook for about 5 minutes, until the tomato puree is slightly reduced. Add the onion mixture to the chickpeas (add a bit of the chickpea liquid to the skillet to help get all the onion and tomato mixture?don't waste a bit!), then add the saffron. Add the spinach, stirring until it wilts. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the reserved garlic clove, the parsley, and cumin to a paste. Add the paste to the soup, along with the bacalao, breaking it into large pieces. Add the remaining 3 cups water, bring to a rolling boil and cook for 10 minutes. Taste for salt and add it if necessary, then turn off the heat, cover, and let stand for about 10 minutes before serving.
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| Customer Reviews:
Don't listen to the one star guy..... November 29, 2008
Stefano (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This series is a travelouge not a documentry. It's primary aim is to entertain and explore, albeit on a cursory level, some of the fine cuisine Spain has to offer. I think the guy who gave this series one star should tune into National Geographic. There he can get just the facts.
I suggest purchasing this series if you enjoy a more casual, entertaining and relaxed way of learning a few things Spain.
 Absolutely the best! November 27, 2008
Lawrence R. Fisher (San Diego, CA United States)
First of all, I feel sorry for "Bill from NYC". He obviously missed the total joy and levity in traveling with friends through the phenomenal country of Spain.
Second, I have lived in Spain and this show took me back every single week. The foods they experienced were perfectly authentic and the scenery was phenomenal. This show is for anyone who truly has a passion for the food and culture of Spain as well as for those who have a curiousity as to why Spain is the center of the global food phenomenon.
This show is truly addictive. I have watched every episode (all available for downloand now on iTunes) multiple times and can't wait to watch them again. I have also watched them with the companion cookbook. You will love this series!!! Enjoy and buen provecho!
Spain: Not Just Tapas, People! November 23, 2008
Bodhisatva Baby (Sparks, NV United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm nearly going blind watching this show as our antenna does not pick up PBS very well, but I am still addicted! Don't be fooled by the title "Spain". Yes, this takes place in Spain, but it is very much in the format of Mark Bittman's culinary explorations around the world, also aired on PBS. Bittman is a brilliant, self-abasing, mildly abusive food critic for the New York Times, & he is one of the four travelers on this sorta wacky foodie expedition across Spain. No, it's not an insider's Spanish travel guide (though a Spanish actress does join them & offer some bizarre dieting advice), but you're never meant to think it is. They do take some side trips away from food & mussels eaten straight out of the ocean (& wine, so much wine) to do interesting things one can only do in Spain. But mostly it's about eating in Spain & talking about eating in Spain. It might remind you of a college road trip, only with far more fascinating people & a better car (a convertible Mercedes, whereas mine was a Ford Tempo constantly on the verge of dying). Also the food is much better than your college road trips, but the conversation just as meandering & nonsensical & fun. I cannot wait until this comes out on DVD so I can actually see the food & the countryside! Pathetic, yes, I know. I didn't even like Gwyneth Paltrow before I saw this show, & now I think she's just charming & would love to scarf down a paella pan & a plate of french fries with her. We would also need some of that fantastic Spanish wine they keep raving about, & Mark Bittman to make dry assertions, Mario to wax poetic about EVERYTHING, & Claudia to tell us that olive oil cannot possibly make us fat.
 Give This DVD as a Gift for Someone You Do Not Like November 19, 2008
W. Bert (New York City)
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
This DVD show is from the PBS series which I have watched and is really not about Spain. Most of the Spain you will see will be zipping by as a background in a moving car. This series is about the fours hosts and their egos. I found most hours of this show the hosts are talking about themselves and their discussion have nothing to do about Spain.
Case in point
Mark Bittman and Gwyneth Paltrow are in the Alhambra. Do they walk around the Alhambra to take in the magic of this place? No and spend a 10 seconds talking about the interior details of the palace. They find a window with a view and then spend most of their time talking about if Gwyneth would in the future write a cook book with Bittman's help. Does anyone really care if Gwyneth writes a cookbook? Does writing a cookbook have anything to do about Spain? Bittman and Paltrow seem not to care how lucky they are to have visited the Alhambra.
Then they go to the gardens and pilfer some persimmons. This is Gwyneth after taking a bite:
"Oh my God, God, God, God, God."
That's pretty much the kind of stuff she says when she tastes something because she does not have a movie script to explain the how good "oh my god" tastes.
This show is about four people that spend hours talking about themselves and you soon realized five minutes into their discussions it has nothing to do about Spain. Most of what you see is host talking about themselves with little about Spain and in the background..
They are good point of the show but is would fit into less than hour.
Sheer Perfection October 29, 2008
Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I am not sure if it is the players, the setting, the food (or all three) but this series resonated deeply. It is, without a doubt, one of the best documentaries ever filmed, a masterwork of editing. First and foremost is Mario - chef, critic, story teller, flirt and gadabout. Gwyneth ("GP") offers insight and humor as well as a good appetite. Mark, the reporter, is the perfect foil to Batali and Claudia is the gorgeous dressing on the salad.
Two distinctive elements stand out: First, they do more than run around gobbling food. They visit sites, investigate history and lore, talk culture and politics and religion AND - the perfect touch - family and kids. Second, the fantastic meals are not at five star restaurants but in mountain shacks, on the beach, in a smoky underground cooker, over an open fire in a vineyard. We are introduced to the cuisine of Spain in a unique and mouthwatering way.
The humor is infectious, like when the gals go to the spa and the guys insist they are going to "work out at the gym". Gwyneth thinks the idea is hilariously preposterous and swears she will run through the vineyard naked if they are exercising. The camera switches from the girls to scenes of Mark and Mario eating, laughing, drinking at one establishment after another. Both offer running commmentary on the food and the trip as the girls undergo beauty treatments. Hilarious!
My grade: A+
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