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.

AVOCADO DREAMIN'

A dream come true—avocados in my garden! That’s after five years of wondering why my little avocado tree never made fruit. The tree appeared to thrive, but year after year it flowered and produced lots of avocado nubbins that all fell off. I worried that perhaps it needed a mate—cross pollination? I think it just needed more and deeper watering.

As I watched my fruit mature, I was gifted with a whole bag full of avocados from a friend’s orchard! I have been in seventh heaven.

I adore avocados sprinkled with a little salt and lemon juice and scooped right from the shell. I slice them lavishly into salads. I make plenty guacamole (I planted coriander seeds to have a source of cilantro). But with such abundance, now it’s time to dream up other ways with avocados.

Mine are the Haas variety. The marvel of this variety is that the fruit won’t soften and fall off the trees, meaning I can pick it over the next couple of months. After picking, they need anywhere from a couple days to up to a week to soften. I can never seem to predict when they’ll be ready to eat! 

ABOUT AVOCADOS
Spain is far and away Europe’s largest producer of avocados. Although the commercialization of Spanish-grown avocados is new, their cultivation is not. Spain has been growing avocados since they were “discovered” in Mexico by Spanish conquistadores around 1520. The Spanish name, aguacate, comes from the word the Aztecs of Mexico called the fruit, from the Nahuatl name, ahuacatl, meaning “testicle tree,” for the way some varieties of the tree bear their heavy fruit in pairs. Admired for the beauty of its evergreen foliage and deep-green pear-shaped fruit, the avocado was early grown decoratively in Spanish monasteries and palace gardens. But, unlike tomatoes and potatoes, other foods from the New World, avocados never really caught on in Spain.

The first avocado plantations were established in the subtropical areas around Almuñecar on Granada’s coast in the early 1960s. Since then cultivation has extended to protected valleys with mild microclimates in Málaga province. I look down on a large avocado plantation in the valley below my house.

The avocado, although a fruit, is not especially sweet. It contains a little protein and carbohydrate as well as oil, a mono-unsaturated fat, which, like olive oil, is the healthiest kind. It is rich in potassium, vitamins A, B complex, C and E. Half a small avocado contains about 125 calories. A spoonful contains fewer calories than an equivalent amount of butter or mayonnaise, making it a fine substitute for those spreads. Ripe avocado whipped with a little sugar and a bit of lemon juice makes a superb alternative to whipped cream, served with fruit or as a topping for a tart.

Select avocados that are firm and under-ripe, with stems attached, and mature them at room temperature wrapped loosely in paper. (If stems have broken off, seal the ends with a piece of tape to prevent the flesh from darkening.) To test for ripeness, squeeze very gently in the palm of the hand--the flesh should give slightly. Once ripened, store avocados in a cool place. Although the refrigerator crisper-drawer is not ideal (too humid), it is usually the only alternative.

Cut and prepare avocados shortly before serving, as exposure to light and air causes the flesh to darken. Cut them from stem to stern, lengthwise, then twist gently to separate the halves from the center pit. Whack a sharp knife directly into the seed and twist it to lift out. To peel, place the avocado cut-side down and strip or pare off the skin. Or, use a large-size spoon to scoop the flesh from the skin in one piece. Sprinkle cut fruit with lemon juice to prevent discoloring. Leaving the pit embedded in the avocado doesn’t help to avoid darkening, except where it prevents exposure to the air and light.

I loath avocado-shrimp cocktail with pink mayonnaise (in Spanish, salsa rosa) that is served in so many Spanish restaurants. Gloppy sauce overwhelms the sweetness of shrimp, the butteryness of avocado. I order it sin salsa, with a wedge of lemon on the side. Avocado combines admirably with fish and shellfish, and is even better with the tart zing of citrus dressings; big spices; salty foods such as bacon, ham, capers, olives; and, surprisingly, with sweet fruits, where the buttery smoothness of the avocado makes a lovely contrast.

SALAD WITH AVOCADO, GRAPEFRUIT AND FENNEL

 Improvising in the kitchen, I combined pink grapefruit, crunchy sliced raw fennel and chunks of avocado, with extra virgin olive oil. Great texture contrasts! Great flavor. Next time, I’ll add some crisp bacon as a finishing touch.

Here is a recipe for salpicón, a favorite salad in tapa bars in Spain. This version is embellished with chunks of avocado. (The photo appears at the top of the page.)

Salpicón de Mariscos con Aguacate
Shellfish Cocktail with Avocado

Use any combination of cooked shellfish—shrimp, mussels, octopus—for this salad.

Serves 8 as a tapa; 4 as a starter.

2 cups cooked shrimp   
1 ½ cups diced fresh tomatoes
½ cup chopped green pepper
½ cup chopped green onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 firm-ripe avocado, cut in cubes

Combine the shrimp in a bowl with the tomatoes, pepper, onion, garlic, parsley, salt, oil and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Add the avocado immediately before serving.