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 August 27 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 August 27 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 August 27 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 August 27 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 August 28 by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

I’ve been a little disappointed with the results of my attempts at cooking a paella in preparation of our tapas nights. Specifically I have been unable to get a decent socorrat using either a 12” cast iron Lodge skillet or a 32 cm Le Creuset paella pan. 
The results of the actual paella have been good. Well cooked and great tasting, comparable in taste and texture to that found at our local tapas bar. However I am hampered by having to use an induction hob for the preparation, which I believe may be why, in conjunction with the thicker bases of my pans, I cannot achieve the desired socorrat.

As I will be cooking two different paellas on the night I thought I would invest in a second paella pan and have ordered a 38cm pan on offer here in the U.K. by Harts of Stur.
https://www.hartsofstur.com/vaello-induction-paella-pan-38cm-pha113.html

I’m not overly confident that this will provide a better final result but at least I can serve two paellas in two paella pans (of a sort).

 

If this fails I may have to look at a gas fired paella stand with traditional pans, though with summer drawing to a soggy close here in the U.K. that may go on the bucket list until next year.

 

Edited September 6 by Tempest63 (log)

[haresfur]

Any chance of doing it over a wood fire?

[AAQuesada]

You guys are lucky to have such great Spanish options in the UK! I have the Bar44 cookbook Tapas y Cocina and like it quite a bit. Ps for steak I don't think you need to go further than rubbing with a good fresh Olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt! And some Basque Cider if you can find it  

[AAQuesada]

So how did Tapas Night come off?! 

[Tempest63]

Tapas night came off very well. Unfortunately I overdid the tapas and nobody wanted the paellas. So Mrs T63 and me had paella during the week.

But whilst nobody had room for paella they all tucked into Mrs T63’s Burnt Basque Cheesecake, which she served with Malaga raisin and Pedro Ximenez ice cream.

 

[gfweb]

@Tempest63 what tapas did you serve?

 

[Tempest63]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

@Tempest63 what tapas did you serve?

 

Cold Tapas to start with, cream cheese stuffed red and green chilli peppers, mixed Spanish meats and cheeses, Spanish smoked almonds and Spanish olives. And bread, some toasted to rub garlic on and some just served sliced. Edit, I didn’t mention the marinated anchovies.

 

 

I didn’t get many photos of the hot tapas as I was run off my feet. But we served up, pig cheeks, Russian salad, cheese croquettes, smoked cod scotch eggs, morcilla scotch eggs, albondingas, scallops with corn, potato bravas, chorizo  cooked in cider, garlic shrimp and stuffed mushrooms. Edit, I didn’t mention the Padron Peppers

 

This was our working list. Only thing that didn’t hit the table, other than the paellas, was the Spanish omelette.

Edited October 13 by Tempest63 (log)

[AAQuesada]

Love your menu! That is VERY Spanish, you hardly ever see Russian Salad outside of spain 

[ElsieD]

Can you elaborate on how you cooked the pork cheeks?  I have some in the freezer waiting for me to do something with them.

[gfweb]

@AAQuesada Woof!  Looks great!

 

That's a lot of work.

[Tempest63]

13 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Can you elaborate on how you cooked the pork cheeks?  I have some in the freezer waiting for me to do something with them.

I used this recipe as the base. I’m sure I would have added a few of my own twists to it, I usually do.

https://www.venturists.net/braised-pork-cheeks-carrilladas/

 

I use cheeks for a pork Vindaloo as well if you like an Indian.

https://meerasodha.com/recipes/pig-cheek-vindaloo/

 

Another Indian dish where I use cheeks instead of belly pork is Vivek Singhs Coorgi Pork Stir fry. Worth the couple of days marinating before cooking and and allowing it to mature in the fridge before finishing the dish.

https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/coorg-pandhi-pork-stir-fry/

 

[Tempest63]

2 minutes ago, gfweb said:

@AAQuesada Woof!  Looks great!

 

That's a lot of work.

If I am having guests round for a food fest, I invariably book a couple of days annual leave leading up to it. So much can be pre-prepared and ready to finish on the night.