We immediately created a shared Pinterest board and started putting together some ideas. We agreed that it would be best to create some of our own recipes to share on the blog, as well as make some of the recipes we found online. The three recipes we came up with ourselves are what I'm sharing with you today. I will also be giving you an assortment of olive recipes, since olives are such a huge part of the Spanish dinner table. I am really packing a lot into this post and basically giving you an entire party at your fingertips! It's your lucky day!
Aside from how excited I was to serve and eat these recipes, I was really pumped about the idea of a tapas dinner party. Tapas are so easy to eat and share, they are perfect to serve when you want to host a friendly get-together or cocktail hour. Throw some sangria into the mix, and you have a ready-made party! With Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly approaching, I wanted to suggest this party style as a fresh entertaining idea. Holiday parties all tend to be fairly similar: the punch bowls, the finger foods, the sugar cookies. I think a tapas holiday party is a fun alternative to the standard sit-down dinner or potluck. It would be something different that your guests will still be talking about come Monday morning - in a good way! ;-) I hope you take these recipes and throw a tapas party this holiday season!
A little more about how this post is laid out: First up, I'm going to take you through some of the olive pintxos we put together. Two we came up with and one we found on Pinterest. The recipes are very simple but the end results are delicious! Next, I have laid out the three recipes Erica, Kelly, and I created through inspiration from their travels as well as our love for Spanish tapas in general. The mushrooms and the squid were both dishes that Erica and Kelly had in Spain, and the patatas bravas is a staple in every trip I make to my favorite restaurant, Jaleo. We really made that one our own!
OK, let's get cooking! Vámonos!
Marinated Olive Salad
Ingredients:
Small bowl full of assorted olives - black and green, cornichons, and caper berries
Juice of 1/4 tangelo
Rind of 1/4 tangleo, cut into strips
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 fresh bay leaves
1 sprig rosemary
This is the perfect holiday tapas recipe! The rosemary and the tangelo create a very Christmas-y flavor, evoking the holiday spirit! I picked up the olive assortment from my local grocery's olive bar, but you could use jarred olives if you don't have access to an olive bar.
Start by adding the olive assortment to a small serving bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl.
Place plastic wrap tightly over the top of the bowl.
Remove the bowl from the fridge, take off the plastic wrap, and set on your serving table. (You might want to consider setting aside a small ramiken next to these so that people can throw away the pits.)They should be good to go for your guests to enjoy for the rest of the night!
The Deconstructed Olive
Ingredients:
Bowl of garlic stuffed olives (you can find these at an olive bar, or you can make them yourself by buying pitted green olives and stuffing each with a single garlic clove)
Jar of roasted red peppers
1/8 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
The idea of this came from, as the title says, deconstructing the olive. Usually you find olives with the pimento stuffed inside, but that doesn't give you very much flavor. I wanted to kick it up a few notches by adding the garlic clove, more 'pimento' flavor by using roasted red pepper, and then bathing them in spice infused olive oil. They turned out to be really tasty!
Start by infusing the oil.
Set a small pot on the stove over medium heat. Add the olive oil and the crushed red pepper flakes.
Let that cook until the oil comes to a slight simmer. Remove the pan from the stove and set aside.
Meanwhile, you can be making up the olives.
Wrap each olive in a slice of roasted red pepper.
Stick a toothpick into one side of the pepper, through the olive, out the opposite side, and into the other end of the pepper. Repeat this for each olive.
Set them all in your serving bowl.
Set the dish on your serving table and they are ready for your guests!
Shot & Chaser
Ingredients:
Bowl of large, pitted green olives
Equal number of sport peppers
1 small can of anchovies
Vodka - enough for however many shots you want to set up
Every holiday gathering needs a mood setter, a party starter. This recipe will definitely infuse some energy into your get-together!
Start by assembling the chasers. Add a sport pepper to the hole of each olive - the fat end in and the pointy end sticking out.
Then place a strip of anchovy around the outside of the olive and secure in place with a toothpick. (Stick the toothpick in one end of the anchovy and through the center of the olive, poking the other end of the anchovy on the other side.)
You can pile them into a serving dish so that people can eat them throughout the party, as I did here:
Pour the vodka slightly shy of the rim of each glass.
Place an olive/pepper on top of the shot glass so that the toothpick is preventing it from falling into the vodka.
To take the shot, remove the olive from the top, drink the vodka, then pick the olive & pepper off the toothpick with your teeth and eat it. Salute!
Now on to the tapas!
While I am suggesting you use these recipes for your holiday party this year, each of these dishes would be great as a side dish for dinner. Let's get started!
Blue Cheese Stuffed Marinated Mushrooms
Serves: a party of about 12 people
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients:
4 packages of white, cremini, or baby bella mushrooms (or mix), whole
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Bragg's liquid aminos, soy sauce, or tamari
1 large clove garlic
Splash of Spanish red wine - think Rioja or Tempranillo
1 medium block queso de cabrales (Roquefort or Blue Cheese)
Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Start by cleaning your mushrooms. I like to wash each with a wet paper towel.
Next, pluck the stem off of each and throw away or save to use for making some yummy mushroom stock on another night.
Assemble the mushrooms, top down, hole up in a large baking dish with high sides.
Drizzle the dressing over the top of the mushrooms.
Next, pour some red wine over the mushrooms.
When they have finished cooking, remove the baking dish from the oven and place it on a flat surface.
Use a spatula to flip over each mushroom so that the hole where the stem used to be is facing up.
After you have done this to each and every mushroom, place the baking dish back into the oven for five minutes so that the cheese can melt. Keep an eye on them at this point and remove them prior to the five minute mark if you notice the cheese starting to brown.
Once the cheese has melted, remove the baking dish from the oven and set it aside to cool.
Let the dish cool for about 10 minutes. Then throw down a hot pad and place the baking dish on top of it so you can serve the mushrooms straight out of that.
Set a serving spoon or fork next to the dish so that people can use it to scoop out their mushrooms.
Patatas Bravas
Serves: Party of 12 or so
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
Bag of small white potatoes
1/4 cup no salt added butter
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Enough fresh bay leaves for as many potatoes you have
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Kelly's Aioli:
1 small red bell pepper
1/4 small purple onion
2 tablespoons cilantro
1 tablespoon of sliced pickled Jalepenos
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup grape seed oil vegenaise (or mayo of choice)
Juice of 1/4 lime
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
A couple dashes of Chalula hot sauce (depending on how spicy you like it)
1/8 tsp cumin powder
1/8 tsp chili powder
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
Immediately place your red bell pepper in the oven once it is up to temperature. Let the pepper roast until it blisters - should take about twenty minutes, then remove from the oven. Set aside to cool until you are ready to make the aioli.
Start by washing and drying off all of the potatoes.
Set the potatoes on a cutting board, and slice into each of them, side to side, making about one centimeter slices. Do not cut all the way through. The idea is the let the slices fan out while still being connected at the bottom.
Once all of the potatoes are sliced, set them on a nonstick cookie sheet.
Place a medium sized pot on the stove over medium-low heat.
Add the butter and olive oil to the pot.
Drizzle the butter/olive oil mixture over the tops of the potatoes, making sure it gets into the crevices. This will help to make the slices crispy when they cook.
Next, sprinkle the tops of the potatoes with the kosher salt. Then stick one bay leaf into the center slice of each potato.
While the potatoes are cooking, make the aioli.
Slice up the roasted red bell pepper to cut away the stem, saving the red, charred flesh. That is what you will use for the sauce.
Add all of the ingredients to a blender or food processor.
Turn the blender on puree and allow all of the ingredients to combine until you have a thick sauce.
Use a spatula to scoop each potato from the cookie sheet and place it onto your serving platter.
Remove the aioli from the fridge and use a spoon to liberally drizzle the sauce over the potatoes.
*Make sure to remind everyone that the bay leaves are not for eating!* They should be removed from the potatoes once on everyone's dinner plates.
This is sure to be a crowd pleaser and the sauce is to die for! Speaking of the sauce - you are going to inevitably have some left over. It will keep in the fridge for about a week. Add it to a fish dish, pasta salad, or basically anything else you can think of because it's amazing and will improve any recipe!
Calamari with Garbanzos
Servies: 5
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon peppercorns
1 can garbanzo beans
1/2 pound squid tubes
1/8 cup olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
Start by roasting your peppercorns. Place them on a cookie sheet and stick it in the oven for five minutes.
Remove from the oven after five minutes and place the peppercorns in your serving dish, along with the garbanzo beans. Set aside.
Place a medium pot filled 3/4 full with water on the stove over high heat.
While the water is coming to a boil, take the opportunity to do some prep work:
1. Set up a medium sized bowl with ice cold water next to the stove.
2. Thoroughly rinse the squid with fresh water.
3. Pre-heat your grill / grill pan to medium-high heat.
When the water has come to a boil, you are ready to flash cook the squid.
Make sure you can see a clock from where you are standing at the stove. When the clock changes to the next minute, drop your squid into the boiling water. Let it cook for one minute - do not overcook! - before removing it with a slotted spoon and dousing it in the ice water.
You are literally just dunking the squid in the ice bath - do not let it sit in there. Remove the squid immediately and place it on your cutting board.
Cut the squid into slices, like so:
By this time, your grill / grill pan should be up to temperature. Make sure to coat the pan with some cooking spray right before you add the squid. This will prevent the calamari from sticking while it's cooking.
Place the squid on the grill / grill pan. Use a spatula to stir it around on occasionally, cooking it for about one minute on each side. Remove it from the heat.
Drizzle the lemon juice over the dish and sprinkle it with the smoked paprika & chopped parsley. Toss.
Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy.
A special note of thanks
to Erica & Kelly
for sharing their recipes with us today!
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