Tapas night.

[Tempest63]

We have six friends coming around for a Tapas evening late September meaning we will be over our U.K. summer and will likely be dining indoors. I am trying to find a number of Tapas dishes with something a little unique about them.

 

I have already discussed scotch eggs made with morcilla and quail eggs, but we have a pescatarian coming who eats no meat or fowl so an alternative recipe with the egg encased in smoke cod looks to be a possibility.

 

Two variants of croquettes, one with porcini, the other with traditional ham and cheese can be made in advance and fried at the last minute.

 

I made pork cheeks in red wine this evening to freeze and heat through on the day. All a bit of  a rush as my eldest daughter was hospitalised today and I had 8 hours with her in A&E before coming home. 
 

One thing I have found is a couple of unusual Sangria recipes, both from a very select chain of Tapas Bars here in England called Tapas Revolution run by a great chef in the person of Omar Allibhoy. 

 

Sangria with Spanish Sparkling Wine

https://tapasrevolution.com/sangria-spanish-sparkling-wine-cava-recipe-spanish-restaurant-tapas-bar/

 

Tapas Revolution Special Sangria

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/special-sangria/

 

Edited Tuesday at 02:29 PM by Tempest63
Moderator request to conform to site requirements (log)

[Tempest63]

The reason I say unique in my previous post is because it seems so many tapas recipes and beyond include Paprika, to the point where I’m beginning to find it a little ubiquitous. 
Looking for a twist on a good steak rub I found several, but all had large quantities of paprika included.

My pork cheeks have a teaspoon of sweet paprika so my fried chorizo recipe will likely be dropped from the menu.
 

[weinoo]

Are you not planning on including any vegetable tapas; artichoke hearts/baby artichokes are great stewed in some stock/sherry/etc.  And there are always some sort of mushroom dish in tapas bars.

[gfweb]

Jamon iberico, pan tomate...

[Tropicalsenior]

Some of my favorites are Gambas al ajillo, calamari and albondigas. I also like patatas bravas but they rely heavily on smoked paprika so maybe you might not be interested in that.

This site has some interesting ideas. And another good one would be the Spanish tortilla because it's something that you can make ahead of time and serve room temperature.

[haresfur]

Give your pescatarian friend a tin of sardines and call it good /joke.

 

White anchovies are nice. Also a place I used to go to did dates stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts. Another place I used to go to had a really nice ginger sangria made with white wine.

[Tempest63]

10 hours ago, weinoo said:

Are you not planning on including any vegetable tapas; artichoke hearts/baby artichokes are great stewed in some stock/sherry/etc.  And there are always some sort of mushroom dish in tapas bars.

As our Pescatarian guest is near vegetarian there will be plenty of veg dishes. The Brindisa Russian salad as well as stuffed mushrooms, Mediterranean veg and likely one or two others. 
We will finish with a couple of paellas, one meat based and one heavily veg and fish based. I’m still doing my research on the paellas.

Edited Tuesday at 07:36 AM by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

9 hours ago, haresfur said:

Give your pescatarian friend a tin of sardines and call it good /joke.

 

White anchovies are nice. Also a place I used to go to did dates stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts. Another place I used to go to had a really nice ginger sangria made with white wine.

Marinated anchovies is a definite. It is a favourite of both mine and Mrs T63.

Edited Tuesday at 08:24 AM by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

19 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Some of my favorites are Gambas al ajillo, calamari and albondigas. I also like patatas bravas but they rely heavily on smoked paprika so maybe you might not be interested in that.

This site has some interesting ideas. And another good one would be the Spanish tortilla because it's something that you can make ahead of time and serve room temperature.

Thanks for the link, there are some dishes I am considering and there will be some with paprika. I am looking at these albondigas.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/apr/08/lamb-albondigas-recipe-oloroso-piquillo-peppers-jose-pizarro

 

I will likely reduce the amount of paprika but I do like the addition of the lemon, sherry and sherry vinegar, plus the peppers (if I can source them). That should give a different twist to the dish.

 

Edited Tuesday at 05:49 PM by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

I went to our local Tapas for dinner tonight and got a bit of a lesson in making the quails eggs in Morcilla. I’ve offered my services free to help out in the kitchen if they need a hand with the washing up if I can be shown how to make the eggs, the croquettes etc. Mark the chef didn’t take me up on the offer.

I told him that I went to a Spanish grocers at Borough Market, London Bridge today and was shocked at the prices they are charging now. £10 for a vacuum pack of 20 white marinated anchovy fillets. Mark took pity and sold me a 1 kilo pack of what they sell in the restaurant for, in comparison, a measly £11. Best before March 2025, they will be fine for our tapas night.

 

As an aside me and a tapas loving colleague went to a tapas bar in the very centre of London’s square mile today to look at potentially booking it for lunch one day. The restaurant is run by one of the leading U.K. based Spanish chefs,  but the menu was very very uninspiring. It was all very seasonal salad orientated with extremely limited fish, meat or fowl. Disappointing to the extreme.

I think the reason I went to our local tapas bar tonight with Mrs T63, was to make sure it was still there and we had access to a good menu.

 

This is our local drum. https://www.elpulpo.co.uk

 

For those with an interest in History (sorry to move away from the food) the restaurant is housed in what is left of a 15th century open hall  house. 
https://www.withamtowntrail.com/33-newland-st

Edited Wednesday at 08:10 PM by Tempest63 (log)