HOW TO PLAN A HOLIDAY PARTY—WITH TAPAS

Ready for a party! (Photo © Michelle Chaplow)

Let the festive season begin! Time for glittering parties and cozy fireside dinners with friends. Here’s how to plan all your party menus, around Spanish tapas. 

Tapas, almost by definition, are bar food. Nevertheless, many of them translate very nicely to home entertaining. A spread of salads and cold dishes is very nice for a buffet dinner. Trays of finger foods--bites on bread or speared on toothpicks, fritters and croquettes—can be passed as hors d’ouevres at a drinks party. Many tapas can become starters, side dishes or main dishes, making them adaptable to any dinner party or even Christmas dinner. You only need to add dessert to complete the menu plan.

My cookbook, TAPAS—A BITE OF SPAIN, with photographs by Michelle Chaplow, has a whole chapter on how to plan a tapas party, including tips and complete menus for several kinds of parties, and all the recipes you need to execute the plan.

A really simple party plan for a big party is to choose one tapa from each chapter of the  book—“La Tabla / Sausage, Ham and Cheese”; “Montaditos y Tostadas / Bites on Bread” (see recipe below for Ham and Eggs on Toasts); Pintxos / Bites on a Pick”; “Platos Fríos / Salads and Cold Dishes (see recipe below for Shellfish Cocktail); “La Tortilla y Más / Potato Tortilla and More Egg Dishes”; “A la Plancha / Foods on the Grill”; “Cazuelitas / Saucy Dishes” (see recipe below for Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Prawns); “Fritos / Out of the Frying Pan”; “Salsas y Aliños / Sauces, Dressings, Dips and Spreads,” and “Y Para Beber / What to Drink with Tapas”.

How many bites? For a drinks party (not dinner), figure on at least four different tapas to serve six to eight people. Each person will eat three or four of each one. Plan six to eight tapas for eight to 12 people. A guest will eat two or three of each. For big parties, more than 12 people, serve as many as 12 different tapas and expect each person to eat two or three.

Serving tips. Don´t put out all the tapas at once. Serve them two-by-two. Provide a clean ramekin, small dish or even paper plate for each tapa so that your guests don’t have to pile them on a plate together.

In Spain, you can buy inexpensive little cazuelitas, pottery dishes, for individual tapas, or use any ramekins, small bowls or, now that no one smokes anymore, recycled ceramic ashtrays for tapa dishes. If you don’t have enough individual small dishes to go around, plan tapas that can be picked up from a tray and don’t require dishes. Do provide napkins, as even finger foods and pintxos (bites on a pick) can be messy.

Here’s a sample menu taken from the Tapas book. All the recipes appear in the book.

Buffet dinner for a celebration.
This is perfect for a New Year’s Day open house or any grand celebration. You can adapt the menu to serve from 15 to 40. Choose a main dish to center the buffet, such as pre-cooked ham, turkey, roast pork or whole salmon, and add tapas to accompany it. Some can be passed as hors d’oeuvres. Most will be served as side dishes on the buffet table. Provide dinner plates, with knives and forks, as needed.

Cava cocktail                                 Lollipops of Quail in Escabeche
Sliced Serrano or Ibérico Ham   Shellfish Cocktail (recipe below)
Quince Paste with Cheese           Málaga Salad with Oranges and Olives
Partridge Pâté                                Cauliflower Salad
Fried Empanadillas with Tuna      Potato Casserole

Fry the tuna empanadillas before party time. Reheat them in the oven shortly before serving. The potato casserole, a wonderful side dish, can be prepared in advance and reheated in the oven before serving.

Shellfish cocktail. (Photo © Michelle Chaplow)

Salpicón de Mariscos
Shellfish Cocktail

This makes a lovely starter for a dinner party. Turn it into a luxury version by substituting chunks of cooked lobster for the prawns and mussels.

Makes 12 tapas or 6 starters.

½ kilo / 1 lb mussels, scrubbed and steamed open
250 g / ½ lb peeled prawns (shrimp)
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
½ onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs, yolks separated from whites
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
Lettuce leaves, to garnish
Sliced avocado, to garnish

Remove mussels from shells, discarding any that have not opened. Save a few on the half-shell for garnish. Cook the peeled prawns in boiling salted water for 1 minute and drain.

In a bowl combine the chopped tomatoes, onion, green pepper and chopped egg whites.

In a small bowl mash the egg yolks with the crushed garlic. Whisk in the oil, vinegar, parsley and salt.

Add the prawns and mussels to the tomato mixture. Stir in the dressing and chill, covered, until serving time. Serve on a platter garnished with lettuce, avocado and reserved mussels on the half-shell.

Fried quail egg on toasts. (Photo © Michelle Chaplow )

Cojonudo

Ham and Eggs on Toasts

How did this tapa get the name cojonudo? Well, those teensy quail eggs are just so ballsy. To crack the small eggs, give them a sharp tap with the blade of a knife, then break onto a saucer. Slip the egg from the saucer into hot oil in the frying pan. Fry four or five at a time. They cook in jiffy, so have the toasts and ham waiting when you start the eggs.

Makes 10.

10 slices baguette, brushed with olive oil and toasted in the oven
2 tablespoons olive oil
100 g / 3 ½ oz thinly sliced serrano ham
10 quail eggs
2 piquillo peppers (from a tin)
Coarse salt
Hot pimentón (paprika) or cayenne

Place the toasts on a serving dish. Brush a frying pan with a little oil and heat it. Lay the slices of ham in the pan, turn them quickly and remove. Divide the ham between the toasts.

Add remaining oil to the pan on medium heat. Break eggs, one at a time, into a saucer and slide them into the pan. Cook until whites are set but yolks still liquid, about 40 seconds. Lift the eggs out of the pan and place one on top of each toast.

Cut peppers into strips and lay one strip alongside each egg. Sprinkle with salt and pimentón. Serve immediately.

Stuffed piquillo peppers. (Photo © Michelle Chaplow )

Pimientos de Piquillo Rellenos con Gambas
Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Prawns

Piquillo peppers are small, triangular-shaped red peppers. They are famous in Navarre, where they are roasted, skinned and tinned. Sweet and slightly piquant piquillos are lovely stuffed with seafood. The classic stuffing is bacalao, salt cod. In this version, which you might find in the taverns of San Sebastian, the filling is prawns in a creamy béchamel sauce.

The traditional way to prepare the peppers calls for an extra step—before baking with sauce, the peppers are coated in egg and quickly fried, giving them a sort of outer skin that holds peppers and stuffing together. 

Makes 6 tapas or 4 starters.

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon dry Sherry
230 ml / 8 fl oz / 1 cup less 1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon salt
150 g / 5 ¼ oz uncooked, small, peeled prawns (shrimp)
2 (185-g / 6 ½ -oz) tins piquillo peppers (16 to 20 peppers), drained
4 tablespoons white wine
Flour for dredging peppers
1 egg, beaten
Olive oil to fry the peppers
50 g / 1 ¾ oz grated cheese

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Sauté the onion and 1 clove of the garlic, 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the Sherry, milk and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened, 5 minutes. Stir in the prawns and cook 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Select 12 of the drained peppers. Carefully spread them open and spoon prawn filling into them. Place them in a single layer on a shallow pan or tray. When all are filled, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the mixture to thicken.

While the prawn mixture is chilling, prepare the sauce. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons oil, 1 clove of garlic, white wine and remaining piquillo peppers in a blender and blend until smooth.

Preheat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF.

Place flour and beaten egg in two shallow bowls. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Dip the open end of the stuffed peppers into flour, then dredge the peppers in flour. Roll in beaten egg and fry until lightly golden. Remove the peppers from the frying pan and place them in a baking dish or individual cazuelitas. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and top with grated cheese.

Bake the peppers until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly, 15 minutes. Serve hot or room temperature.

Recipes and text © Janet Mendel
Photos © Michelle Chaplow

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Tapas—A Bite of Spain shows you how to translate Spanish tapas from tasca to your own table. The book includes guides to Spanish ham, cheeses, olives, olive oil and wines; a handy Spanish-English glossary, and 140 recipes for favorite tapa dishes. Full-color photos are by Michelle Chaplow, professional hotel and travel photographer (http://www.michellechaplow.com/published-works/tapas-book.htm). Design is by Cheryl Gatward.

Measurements for ingredients are given in three standards, metric, British and American, so the recipes are usable on any continent.

WHAT'S ON THE MENU FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE?

Deeply flavorful quail broth with wild mushrooms and sautéed quail breast.

In Spain, New Year’s Eve is an occasion for la cena de noche vieja, a late supper with the whole family. After the midnight bells, when it’s customary to swallow 12 grapes to assure good fortune in the new year, the younger ones go out to party until the wee hours.

The festive menu might include a platter of mariscos, shellfish such as shrimp, crayfish, crabs, clams; a special soup, such as a consommé or a crema, cream soup; a meat dish such as pork tenderloin; a tart or parfait for dessert, and, of course, more turrón, almond nougat and marzipan, accompanied by cava, Spanish bubbly.

This deeply flavorful quail and mushroom consommé just might fit the bill for your party menu. I have served it as a welcoming libation for a holiday buffet party on a blustery winter day. In lieu of canapés, I passed the soup in demitasse cups with the sautéed breast meat and mushrooms speared on toothpicks. I’ve also served the soup as a starter for a smaller dinner party. It’s satisfying without being filling and you can vary the garnishes.

Serve consommé in cups as an apperitif.

Begin preparations for the consommé at least one day and up to 3 days before serving. Any wild or cultivated mushroom can be used—cêpes are divine, oyster mushrooms are fine. “Clarifying stock” maybe sounds like a cheffy thing to do, but it’s pretty simple and the results are really satisfying. A short-cut, if you don’t want to bother, is to bring the carcasses to a boil, drain them and rinse in running water to remove impurities that will cloud the broth, before putting them to cook.

Boning out the quail breasts is fast and easy. Use a small sharp knife to slit down along the ridge of the breastbone. Cut through the skin at the neck and release the half-breast where the wing is attached. Cut away the other half-breast in the same manner. Leave the skin attached to the breasts.

Brandy de Jerez (brandy aged in Sherry casks in Jerez de la Frontera where Sherry is made) lends a deep, mellow flavor to the soup. Dry fino or amontillado Sherry could be used instead. Sherry is the perfect wine to accompany the consommé.

Vary the garnishes--here with a poached quail's egg.

Consommé of Quail and Wild Mushrooms
Caldillo de Codorniz y Setas

Serves 12-16 as an appertif or 6-8 as a soup course.

Quail--easy to remove breasts.

6-8 quail (2 ¼-2 ½ pounds), breasts removed
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ yellow onion, unpeeled
12 ounces wild or cultivated mushrooms
12 cups chicken stock
1 sliced leek
2 sliced carrots
1 stalk celery
½ cup chopped tomato
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Sprig of thyme or ½ teaspoon dry thyme
2 bay leaves
Sprigs or stems of parsley
2 egg whites and crushed egg shells to clarify the broth
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup Brandy de Jerez
1 ½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Optional garnishes
1 cup shredded baby spinach leaves
Poached or hard-cooked quail eggs
Chopped scallions


Preheat oven to 400º.

Wrap the boned quail breasts in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until shortly before serving. Spread the remaining quail carcasses in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Place the unskinned onion in the pan with the quail and roast, turning quail occasionally, until well browned, about 45 minutes.

Transfer quail and onion to a large soup pot. Add ¼ cup water to the roasting pan and scrape up all the drippings. Add them to the soup pot.

Set aside 2 ounces (about 1/3 cup) of mushroom caps or slices to finish the soup. Chop the remainder and add them to the soup pot with the chicken stock, leek, carrots, celery, tomato, salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaves, and parsley. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Cover and simmer the broth 1 ½ hours. Remove and cool slightly.

Strain the broth in a colander, pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids. (You may want to separate the legs and serve them with vinaigrette.) Cool the broth, then refrigerate, covered, at least 12 hours or up to 2 days.

Skim off and discard the fat from the top of the broth. Strain the broth into a clean soup pot and add the egg whites and crushed eggshells.  Place on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the broth begins to simmer. Lower heat so it barely simmers for 15 minutes, without stirring, rotating the pot a quarter of a turn at intervals. Keep a close watch so the broth never boils. As the egg white cooks and floats to the top it will carry along solids that cloud the broth. Remove from heat and allow to stand 10 minutes.

Line a colander with 4 thicknesses of damp cheesecloth and place it over a clean pot. Gently push the egg-white froth to one side and carefully ladle the broth into the colander. Discard the foam.

Shortly before serving, place the pot of clarified broth on a medium heat and add the brandy. Bring to a simmer.

Sprinkle the quail breasts with salt and pepper. Heat the virgin olive oil in a skillet and sauté the breasts, skin side down, on a medium heat until browned, about 1 minute. Turn and sauté 1 minute on the other side. Breasts will be pink in the center. Remove and keep them warm.

Sauté the reserved mushroom caps or slices in the same oil, about 1 minute on each side.

When the broth begins to boil, lower heat so that it simmers and add the shredded spinach. Cook 2 minutes until spinach is wilted.

Serve the consommé in small (½-cup) cups with the breast and mushroom cap speared on a toothpick or in shallow soup bowls with the sliced breast and mushroom placed in the bowls. Add poached or hard-cooked and peeled quail eggs, if desired.

PARTY TIME!

Look what I’ve got! An ibérico ham. Time to invite some friends over to share this deliciousness.

 Using the lavishly illustrated book, Slicing Spanish Ham by Pilar Esteban, as reference, my son, Benjamin Searl, broaches the ham, a pure ibérico de bellota (acorn-fed) from Los Pedroches (Córdoba) with more than 36 months curing time.

The ham is sweet and nutty; the fat is soft and melting.

For my Sunday afternoon Open-House-with-Ham party I made a pot of black-eyed peas to get a jump on good luck for the New Year. That recipe is in my January 1 blog last year. And, hot from the oven, a cazuela of patatas a lo pobre, potatoes cooked with onions, peppers and tomatoes in wine (recipe).

Also on the buffet table, a bright winter salad of cauliflower with capers instead of the olives shown in the photo (recipe),

I also made olivada, a garlicky olive paste, good with quail eggs or bread sticks for dipping. I bought a heap of empanadillas de batata, little fried pies filled with sweetened sweet potato paste, and made a batch of carrot-raisin-apricot-fig cupcakes to serve with mandarins from my trees.

How many guys to turn a ham?

With good ham, I love fino Sherry. I also served red and white wine and beer. Most guests seemed to favor beer for an afternoon gathering. The sun was shining and we all sat on the terrace until sunset. Glorious winter day.

Olivada is a garlicky olive dip.

Olivada
Olive Spread

My home-cured and pitted manzanilla olives lost their crisp texture, so I turned them into this tasty spread. Serve it as a dip, sandwich spread or sauce to accompany hard-cooked eggs, roast lamb, fried fish or sliced tomatoes.

Makes  ¾ cup.

1 cup drained and pitted olives, black or green
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry Sherry
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smoothly pureed. Serve cold or room temperature.

New Year's luck--black-eyed peas.

¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!    HAPPY NEW YEAR!