modern SPAIN : Forget about paella, gazpacho, even tapas. Contemporary cooking, or cocina de autor, is the rage in Spain.

Once we get past confusing Spanish with Mexican cuisine (they have about as much in common as French and Cajun cooking do), what most Americans know about Spanish food is usually gazpacho, paella and tapas.

But in Spain, even something like gazpacho can be deceiving. While it can be the familiar cold, tomato-heavy vegetable soup we know by that name, sometimes it’s frothy and smooth and drunk from a glass instead of eaten from a bowl. And in Malaga, gazpacho is “white,” made with garlic and green grapes; in Murcia, the term is used to describe a rich fish soup to which snails are sometimes added; gazpacho manchego , from La Mancha, isn’t a soup at all but rather a hearty stew of rabbit, hare, chicken and partridge. And a Barcelona chef, Jean Luc Figueres, even uses the term to describe an unusual and appetizing cold melon soup.

The original paella valenciana , meanwhile, as you will quickly discover if you happen to order the dish in or near Valencia itself, is primarily a dish of (short-grain) rice and is flavored with bits of chicken and rabbit, several kinds of beans and sometimes snails--with no seafood at all. And though there certainly are plenty of versions of paella that include seafood, there are also some made with vegetables only, or with assorted wild game.

As for tapas, their identity varies widely from city to city and even from tapas bar to tapas bar, but they’re never the elaborate California-eclectic “little bites” (the skewered-mushroom-sausage-and-Santa-Barbara-shrimp-with-mango- jalapeno -salsa sort of thing) that masquerade as tapas in so many American restaurants. At times, they may be as straightforward and unadorned as a saucer full of slices of great ham, cured pork loin or blood sausage, small cubes of cheese or of potato omelet (on toothpicks), rows of anchovies or herring or heaps of stewed garbanzo beans or lentils.

But wonderful though this traditional Spanish cooking may be, the real excitement in Spanish food is something entirely different. Dubbed cocina de autor at a culinary convention in the Basque city of Vitoria last year, the new Spanish cooking, found in the best contemporary restaurants, is not at all self-conscious nueva cocina or imitation French frou-frou. This creative contemporary cooking may be little-known outside of Spain, but it is one of the country’s greatest attractions.

Until recently, Spain was largely immune to the Americanization, Japanization and overall cross-cultural mixing that has changed the rest of the continent so dramatically since World War II (in food as in other things). Its own culinary traditions were never co-opted or obscured. It adopted and adapted outside influences but remained remarkably Spanish in the process.

One of the most memorable dishes I ate in any restaurant last year was a preparation of tiny frogs’ legs. They came in a light white wine sauce with paper-thin wisps of calf’s muzzle and threads of oven-dried carrots, celery and leeks.

The frogs’ legs were the real thing, out of local mountain streams, delicate in flavor, almost meltingly tender. The bits of calf’s muzzle suggested mild, faintly sweet ham or bacon. The dried vegetables added more sweetness, and an attractive, slightly chewy texture. The sauce was a perfect balance of salt and acidity that offset the other ingredients. It was one of those rare, deftly fashioned dishes that somehow managed to be light and hearty at the same time. Any three-star chef in France, I suspect, would have been proud to claim it as his own.

I had it in rural Spain, in the village of Sant Celoni, about 30 miles northeast of Barcelona--at a restaurant called El Raco de Can Fabes, a place few outside of Spain have heard of.

Here, in a room that resembles the dining room of a rustic farmhouse (one with fine crystal and bone china on the tables and a view of a state-of-the-art glassed-in kitchen), a handsome, bearded, largely self-taught 36-year-old chef named Santi Santamaria cooks up dishes that are based on local raw materials and on traditional Catalan culinary ideas but that are very much his own.

Among his recent innovations are halibut in vinegar sauce with wild turnips and caramelized garlic, boneless chicken thighs with raisins and pine nuts, mountain lamb cutlets in a zucchini crust with thyme-scented vegetables, a remarkable galeta of candied fruits flavored with star anise and, of course, the frog’s legs.

One salient characteristic of contemporary Spanish cooking is the way “high” and “low” ingredients and dishes mix on the same menu, and even sometimes on the same plate.

At the stunningly good Arzak in San Sebastian, for instance--it is one of two restaurants in Spain to be granted three stars by the Guide Michelin--the amiable, owner-chef, Juan Mari Arzak, might offer flawless versions of such classic Basque specialties as kokotxas de merluza (hake “cheeks,” meat from the fish’s jaw) in garlic and parsley sauce or red beans with chorizo and blood sausage--right alongside his salad of marinated langoustines with beet vinaigrette, his truffle stuffed with truffle mousse and encased in potato and his absolutely brilliant ragout of pheasant and its liver in puff pastry with a bitter chocolate and summer savory sauce.

Spain’s other Michelin three-star, the much more formal and elaborate Zalacain in Madrid is similarly democratic.

A single “tasting” meal might include a pre-appetizer of tiny shrimp fried in light batter (typical tapas fare, though better here than at most tapas bars), a plate of young fava beans sauteed with shreds of ham (traditional Spanish), pan-fried scallops with a light sauce of tomatoes and olive oil (almost Californian in its freshness and simplicity), sea bass with both red and white wine sauce and a scattering of fried spinach (contemporary French in feeling), boneless oxtail stewed with fresh thyme and wrapped in potato crepes (harder to define, but probably modern Spanish) and baked apples stuffed with cinnamon-flavored custard (back to tradition)--all these diverse styles blending superbly into one grand repast.

In Catalonia, the Hotel Ampurdan, located in Figueres, near the French border, is known as the birthplace of modern Catalan cooking--and indeed most of the best dishes here are adaptations or refinements of traditional regional preparations.

From the roasted Mediterranean vegetable platter known as escalivada , for instance, chef Josep Mercader (now deceased, and succeeded by his daughter and son-in-law) created a rich vegetable mousse.

From the ratatouille-like samfaina, he made a surprisingly delicate sauce for roast veal. Lightening the traditional Catalan dish of fava beans stewed with sausages, he devised a salad of favas with mint and bits of ham. He even turned the famous crema catalana (creme brulee) into ice cream--a widely copied trick all over Spain today. Even when the Ampurdan’s inspiration seems more French than Catalan, though, the results are clearly Spanish--as in the restaurant’s rough-hewn, minty rabbit terrine, or its tartare of tuna, made earthy by its accompaniment of pureed eggplant.

Eldorado Petit, originally in the Costa Brava town of Sant Feliu de Guixols and now in Barcelona, serves authentic dishes of the Costa Brava region, including wonderful black rice (darkened with cuttlefish ink) and fish roasted on a bed of thin-sliced potatoes, and does so without turning them cute--but it too reinvents traditional dishes (for instance, a lighter version of the traditional fish soup called suquet , this one without the usual ground-nut thickening), as well as concocting new ones.

The longtime chef at Eldorado Petit, the aforementioned Jean Luc Figueres (who was born in France of an Italian mother and a Catalan father--talk about covering all the bases), is now proprietor of Azulete, also in Barcelona, and is one of the rising stars of contemporary Catalan cooking.

A bit like Santi Santamaria in style, though with a culinary personality of his own, he might prepare a multi-course lunch of shrimp and sea snail salad in balsamic vinegar, “ravioli” stuffed with country-style sausage (translucent slices of potato taking the place of pasta dough) with white beans on the side, oven-roasted bream with a confit of tomatoes and garlic cloves, thin little goat cutlets with black (Catalan) truffles and a pear stuffed with ice cream made from the traditional soft Spanish nougat called turron . The French influence seems particularly strong here, but, still, none of what Figueres serves is quite French--nor is it traditionally Spanish (or Catalan).

In the Basque country, Hilario Arbelaitz of Zuberoa in Oyarzun (about half a dozen miles from San Sebastian), is considered one of the rising stars of the region. Nowhere near as delicate as Figueres’ food, Arbelaitz’s is nonetheless innovative and wonderfully flavorful. Typical dishes of his include foie gras in a soup of garbanzo beans, cabbage and fried bread; oysters in a soup of cauliflower; and an exceptional tartaleta de chipirones y su salsa negra-- a sort of warm vegetable timbale topped with cuttlefish, cloaked in a sauce based on their ink.

Other noteworthy new-style Spanish chefs include: Koldo Royo, Basque-born but long ensconced in Palma, on the island of Mallorca--a daring and witty chef, whose signature dishes, at the restaurant that bears his name, include a terrine of solidified lentil soup with vinaigrette, a ragout of lobster with ginger and boneless quail breasts stuffed with foie gras and rose petals; Inaki Izaguirre, the spectacularly moustachioed owner-chef of Jaun de Alzate in Madrid, where he amuses and delights diners with his hamburguesa of ground fish with vegetable sauce and his famous morcilla (blood sausage)-and-chorizo sausage “sushis”--which are in fact sushi-like rolls of spinach-wrapped sticky rice enclosing slices of the sausages (cooked, to be sure), and set atop a puree of red beans from the Basque town of Tolosa (which, incidentally look and taste disconcertingly, or perhaps reassuringly, like refried beans).

And Jean Pierre Vandelle of El Olivo, also in Madrid, who was born in Bordeaux but raised in Spain, and whose special loves are olive oil (he has a serving cart of at least 70 Spanish and other Mediterranean oils, brought to the table at the diners request) and sherry (his bar is a veritable museum of the stuff), and whose best dishes include foie gras salad in old sherry vinegar, monkfish with tomato compote and black olive sauce and young manchego cheese marinated in olive oil.

Gazpacho and paella it isn’t.

This dish was created by Jean Pierre Vandelle, the French-born but Spanish-raised chef/proprietor of the olive- and olive-oil-themed El Olivo in Madrid.

MONKFISH WITH TOMATO COMPOTE AND BLACK OLIVE SAUCE

6 to 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, about

3 green onions, finely chopped

3 onions, peeled and thinly sliced

2 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

Leaves of 1 large sprig thyme

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Dash saffron, optional

1 cup black olives, pitted

1 cup rich fish stock

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 pounds monkfish, cut into 16 medallions of equal size

4 to 6 sprigs parsley

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet. Add green onions and 2 onions and saute until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, garlic and thyme and continue cooking on very low heat, uncovered, until liquid has totally evaporated and thick puree is left. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add saffron. Transfer to bowl, cover and set aside.

Heat another 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute remaining onion until translucent. Add olives and continue cooking about 10 minutes. Add fish stock and whipping cream. Stir well and continue cooking on very low heat, uncovered, until sauce is reduced by about half.

Puree sauce in blender, then pass through chinoise or fine sieve to yield smooth sauce without olive skins or onions. Set aside, covered.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet over high heat. Add and saute monkfish medallions, layer at time, 5 minutes, or until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through. Repeat with remaining medallions, adding more oil as needed.

While cooking monkfish, reheat tomato compote and olive sauce separately over low heat. To serve, spoon compote onto middle of 4 or 6 plates, dividing evenly. Place 4 pieces monkfish on top of each portion of compote, then surround fish and compote with olive sauce. Garnish with parsley or thyme sprigs. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

592 calories; 360 mg sodium; 103 mg cholesterol; 36 grams fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 40 grams protein; 1.99 grams fiber.

This is a simplified version of a traditional Catalan dish as interpreted by contemporary-style chef Santi Santamaria at his El Raco de Can Fabes in Sant Celoni, in the foothills of Montseny about 30 miles north of Barcelona.

CHICKEN THIGHS AND WINGS WITH RAISINS AND PINE NUTS

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 chicken thighs

4 chicken wings

Salt

1 cup golden raisins, plumped in warm water, then drained

2 green onions, finely chopped

1 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 teaspoon honey

1 cup dry Sherry

1 cup rich chicken stock

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch blended with 1 tablespoon water

Heat olive oil in large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add and fry chicken thighs and wings until golden brown and cooked through. Season to taste with salt. Set aside.

Combine raisins, green onions, pine nuts, honey and Sherry in saucepan. Cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is reduced to about 1/2 cup liquid. Stir in chicken stock and cornstarch mixture and heat until thickened. Add chicken and heat through. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

692 calories; 354 mg sodium; 86 mg cholesterol; 37 grams fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 31 grams protein; 0.86 gram fiber.

Poached pears are typical of the Catalan Pyrenees, famous for the quality of its tree fruit. The most famous turron or nougat in Spain comes from the region of Jijona or Xixona, south of Valencia near Alicante. These two items are combined in this dessert served by chef Jean-Luc Figueres at Azulete in Barcelona.

PEARS STUFFED WITH TURRON ICE CREAM

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup milk

1 1/2 (7-ounce) packages Turron de Jijona (soft Spanish nougat), crumbled

8 egg yolks

2 cups sugar

8 large firm-ripe pears, peeled

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate

8 small sprigs mint

Combine cream, milk and turron in large saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Combine egg yolks and 1 cup sugar and beat well in mixer bowl. When turron mixture comes to boil, stir in egg yolk mixture thoroughly, then remove pan from heat. Let stand until room temperature, then process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Place pears in pot large enough to hold them in single layer. Add water to cover and remaining 1 cup sugar. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and poach, covered, about 10 minutes or until pears are cooked but still firm. Allow pears to cool to room temperature in liquid.

Remove pears from liquid and slice off bottom of each. Carefully carve out interiors with sharp, thin knife leaving stems and pear shape intact. (Discard pear meat or save for other use.) Fill pears with ice cream and set each upright on chilled dessert plate. Place plates in freezer while melting chocolate.

Quickly melt chocolate in 1 cup water and spoon onto plates. Place 1 mint sprig atop each pear next to stem. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

670 calories; 37 mg sodium; 295 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 100 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 2.60 grams fiber.

Note: Turron de Jijona or turron de almendra blando is available at La Espanola Meats market in Lomita and some Argentine and Cuban markets.

From Jean-Luc Figueres, Azulete, Barcelona.

GAZPACHO DE MELON

2 small, ripe cantaloupes, peeled and seeded

1/2 pound rindless watermelon, seeds removed

Scant 1/2 cup whipping cream

Scant 1/2 cup water

Salt

Finely ground white pepper

Chop cantaloupes and watermelon meat into 1-inch cubes and place in blender or food processor. Add whipping cream and water. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Blend or process until smooth, then pass through sieve or chinoise.

Chill in refrigerator 1 hour. Taste to adjust seasonings before serving. Makes 7 cups, or 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

114 calories; 74 mg sodium; 13 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.75 gram fiber.

And then there are the classic recipes, the egg-and-potato tortillas, the casseroles baked in clay cazuelas , the paellas. These recipes come from Juana Gimeno de Faraone (originally from Valencia, Spain), owner of La Espanola Meats (2020 Lomita Blvd., Buildings 6 and 7, Lomita, (310) 539-0455), where she and her staff make Spanish-style fresh and cured sausages.

Rice and potatoes? They love it in Spain. Surprisingly delicious, this casserole borrows its good rich flavor from the Spanish-style chorizo. De Faraone inherited the recipe from her mother and her children prefer it to paella. The broth should be really boiling when added to the rice for even cooking, she says.

DONA JUANA’S SPANISH RICE CASSEROLE

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 head garlic, washed but left unpeeled

2 medium potatoes, cut in 1/2-inch thick slices

2 cups uncooked rice

1 tablespoon Spanish paprika, hot or mild

1 pound Spanish chorizos, cut in 2-inch pieces

4 to 6 ounces morcilla (blood sausage), sliced in 1-inch pieces

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained

2 small tomatoes, sliced in thick wedges or rings

4 cups boiling chicken broth

Salt

Dash saffron threads

Heat olive oil in stove- and oven-proof shallow casserole over medium heat. Add and saute garlic head few minutes. Add potatoes and rice and cook about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in paprika and remove from heat.

Gently mix in chorizos, morcilla, garbanzo beans and tomatoes. Rearrange garlic head in middle, alternately surrounding with some tomato and potato slices. Add boiling chicken broth to casserole and lightly season to taste with salt and saffron. Cover and bake at 425 degrees 10 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer. Makes about 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

812 calories; 1,581 mg sodium; 68 mg cholesterol; 42 grams fat; 78 grams carbohydrates; 28 grams protein; 1.57 grams fiber.

Often seen in tapas bars, the traditional tortilla (Spanish omelet) is about an inch thick, made with eggs, potato and onion. There are many variations--cheese, mushrooms, green peas, etc.--in fact almost any savory ingredient the cook can find could be thrown in with the beaten eggs.

Faraone’s version uses slices of Spanish chorizo. She fries her potatoes and onions in a lot of olive oil before adding them to the beaten eggs. “It doesn’t come out the same if you don’t,” she says, “then I cook the tortilla in a skillet sprayed with non-stick olive oil, poking with a fork once it starts to set to let the raw egg flow into the bottom.”

Although some chefs flip their tortillas in the air, the Spanish woman plays it safe by inverting a large plate over the skillet to turn the omelet, then returns it to the hot skillet to finish cooking the underside. “It should not be too dry or too wet.” The tortilla may be served hot or cold. In tapas bar s , it is usually served cold, thinly sliced. “It’s actually better tomorrow than today. Cold is great!”

TORTILLA CON CHORIZO (Spanish Omelet With Sausage)

2 to 3 potatoes

2 cups olive oil

1 onion, chopped

6 eggs

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 Spanish chorizos, sliced 1/2-inch thick

Olive oil spray

Salt, pepper

Peel and cut potatoes into 1/4-inch cubes. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Fry potatoes and onion until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well. (Strain olive oil and reserve for other use).

Beat eggs well in bowl. Stir in potatoes, garlic, parsley and chorizos. Lightly season to taste with salt and pepper (allow for saltiness of chorizos).

Generously spray 10-inch non-stick skillet with non-stick olive oil spray. Place over medium heat. Add egg mixture, spreading to cover bottom of skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low. Let bottom set, about several seconds, then move set egg with fork to allow liquid egg to run to bottom of pan. Let set, then move with fork again to let more liquid egg run into bottom of pan.

Place slightly larger plate over skillet, turn over to flip tortilla, then return to skillet (sprayed with more olive oil spray if necessary) to cook moist side. Cook over low heat until golden crust is formed, or to desired doneness. Serve hot or cold. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

277 calories; 302 mg sodium; 226 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 0.38 gram fiber.

Have everything prepared before starting to cook the paella because it requires methodical and rapid assembly. Approximate cooking time for the rice is only 20 minutes, but make sure the broth is boiling before adding. The dish is cooked in a Spanish paellera, a large shallow iron pan with sloping sides and two side handles. The flame of the stove should cover the bottom of the pan for even cooking.

PAELLA MIXTA (Seafood and Chicken Paella)

1/2 pound green beans, ends trimmed

6 cups fish and/or chicken stock, about

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 head garlic, pressed

2 extra large onions, finely chopped

1 pound short-grain white rice, preferably Granza

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 pound boned and skinned chicken breasts, cut in chunks

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon saffron

1 pound Spanish chorizo, cut in 3 pieces

1 pound white fish (such as halibut or sea bass), cut into 2-inch chunks

1 dozen medium clams, scrubbed

1 pound mussels in shells, scrubbed and debearded

1 pound extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 (2-ounce) jar sweet red peppers, well-drained

Lemon wedges

Tie green beans together in 2 batches. Heat fish and chicken stock to boiling. Drop in green beans and blanch few minutes. Drain beans and set aside.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in 14-inch paella pan until sizzling hot. Add garlic and onions and saute until transparent. Add rice and saute to coat with oil. Season chicken to taste with salt and pepper, then add to rice. Cook few minutes. Stir in saffron.

Reboil stock and add about 2 cups boiling stock to rice mixture. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Add chorizo and fish. Stir gently and continue to ladle in 1 cup stock at first, then less each time as rice absorbs liquid.

After 5 to 10 minutes, bury clams and mussels (opening side down for juices to run into rice) into rice. Push in shrimp and untied green beans and cook until rice is al dente and seafood is done. Add more boiling stock, if necessary, if rice is not quite cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with red peppers and serve immediately with lemon wedges. Makes 8 to 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

768 calories; 1,074 mg sodium; 130 mg cholesterol; 34 grams fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 53 grams protein; 0.91 gram fiber.