Tapas Night, with recipes!

As the sun began to wane, we realized that we’d better get back home to do some serious cooking.

Steve, Manny and had I decided to surprise Joyce and create a tapas night, an evening reminiscent of their trip to Spain.

The Menu

1. Spanish chorizo
2. Roasted peppers with sliced Mahon cheese
3. Olive tapenade with crostini
4. Sopa de ajo
5. Mediterranean mixed olives
6. Pam amb Tomaquet with jamon serrano
7. Tortilla Española
8. Shrimp sautéed in garlic
9. Green salad with fresh figs
10. Quince and apple tarte

If you like to cook, part of the fun of traveling is to visit the local shops. Wheaton certainly has a terrific variety of fresh local products as well as a broad range of ethnic specialties. I’d venture to say that you could decide to make most any dish and you would be able to find the ingredients easily in this neighborhood.

The 2 Chefs Steve & Manny

Three cooks in a kitchen, two who don’t know where any of the utensils, pots and pans are located? You are probably thinking impossible. But we worked like a well-oiled machine, each of us concentrating on our respective dishes, telling Steve what we needed to make them work. We were almost ready by the time Joyce arrived at the train station, home from a long day of work in Chicago.

We began the evening with the first three tapas on the menu and a chilled bottle of white wine served in Serena, our new motor home. What a great way to christen her, the four of us toasting our new friendship in the comfort of our cozy dining room.

We moved inside the house for the other plates, munching on the Pam amb Tomaquets and olives as I put together my tasty garlic soup. We followed that with the Spanish tortilla which had turned out perfectly, the difficult part of flipping it in the pan performed easily by “accomplished” chef Manuel. A side salad cleansed the palate making room for Steve’s exquisite authentic Basque Quince and Apple Tarte. Everything flowed so smoothly, it wasn’t until the end of the meal that we realized that we never made the Shrimp! I guess all that talking, laughing, eating and —oh yes— drinking good wine can make you forgetful! The next time… Yes, there will definitely be a next time!

Manny and Steve, having totally bonded as they cooked together in their Basque aprons, retired to the outdoors to enjoy an after dinner cigar and some man talk, while Joyce and I enjoyed the last of the wine and our time together.

And now the recipes…

Spanish Chorizo

Ingredients:

Palacios brand chorizo, available in specialty shops. It comes in two varieties: Hot (Chorizo Picante Español) or Regular (Chorizo Español)

• Sliced into thin coins, served raw
• or lightly fry thin coins in a saucepan till crisp

Crostini

While making the other dishes, prepare the crostini, thin toasts, which will be used for a number of the dishes.

Ingredients:  1 firm baguette

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Cut baguette into 1/2 slices on a slight diagonal to maximize size of slices

3. Place on a baking dish

4. Heat for about 15 minutes, turning once, until golden

Red Peppers and Mahon Cheese

Ingredients:

Trader Joe’s or other prepared Fire Roasted Red Peppers

Mahon Cheese or Manchego cheese

1. Slice pimentos and cheese into strips

2. Place alternately on a plate in spoke fashion

Tapenade

Ingredients:  Trader Joe’s or any commercial tapenade.

1. Serve with crostini or crackers

Pam Amb Tomaquet

A Spanish dish of Catalán (Catalonian) origin, this is usually served as bar food without the ham since that would make it really expensive bar food!

Ingredients:

• Crostini, about 3 per person
• Serrano ham or Prosciutto, its Italian cousin
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tomato

1. Rub crostini on one side with garlic -this can be done ahead
2. Rub garlicked crostini with cut tomato
3. Place thin slice of ham on top

Mediterranean Olive Mix

Ingredients:  Mediterranean olive mix available at most food stores

Sopa de Ajo

A very traditional Spanish soup, my garlic soup won the heart of my Basque father-in-law, Gerardo, many years ago when Manny and I were first married.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 30 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in medium pot and sauté garlic until soft and golden- about 8 minutes
2. Remove garlic and place in a blender with water. Blend until smooth
3. Return garlic purée to pot. Add chicken stock and stir well
4. Simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally
5. Salt to taste (it usually needs quite a bit of salt to bring out flavor) A little pepper
6. When ready to serve, beat egg in small dish
7. Bring soup to rolling boil and stir in egg which should thread itself throughout the soup
8. place one crostini in bottom of soup bowl and ladle in soup

(I placed two crostini and it tended to absorb too much soup)

Tortilla Española

A Spanish version of a frittata, this is a tapa served in every tapas bar in Spain.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 6 medium red potatoes cubed with skin on
• 2 small white onions (or 1/2 large white onion) chopped
• 8 eggs and 1 for good measure, beaten well
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse cubed potatoes twice to remove starch
2. Place rinsed potatoes in salted water for about 5 minutes
3. Remove potatoes from salted water and dry in a dish towel
4. Heat oil and add potatoes, sautéing until they begin to get golden
5. Add onions. Sauté until onions are transparent. Be careful not to overcook the potatoes. They should be just slightly firm when you add eggs
6. Add eggs, salt and pepper
7. Let egg mixture begin to set (become firm)
8. As egg mixture sets, pull egg away from the sides gently with a spatula and tilt pan so liquid egg from the top fills the edges
9. When almost completely set, with very little wet egg on top, place a flat plate, larger than the sauce pan, on the pan. Over a clean sink (in case of an accident), quickly flip pan over and place tortilla on dish
10. Slide tortilla back into frying pan, cook for a few more minutes
11. Flip finished tortilla onto a clean plate and slice like a pie

Gambas al Ajillo (Shrimp in Garlic)

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 large cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 – 1 tsp red pepper flakes (depends on heat tolerance of guests)
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Crusty bread to sop up oil from pan

1. Over medium heat, warm oil in a saucepan
2. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 minute
3. Raise heat to high and add shrimp, lemon juice, sherry and paprika
4. Stir well then sauté stirring briskly until shrimp turn pink and curl slightly and are no longer transparent, about 3-5 minutes
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste

Green Salad

Although not a typical tapa, a green salad is a nice addition to freshen the palate. The fresh figs give it a lovely Mediterranean flair.

Ingredients

• Mixed greens of your choice
• Vinagrette dressing
• Fresh figs

Basque Quince and Apple Tarte