Tapas with Tim and Joy

As defined in Wikipedia (I am going to get lazy here), Tapas are wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, as well as some parts of North America and the United Kingdom, tapas has evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine.

I like tapas because it is a way to not commit to a single dish (to prepare, serve or eat). They are definitely more work to put together and, to do it right, there is a lot of logistics involved to make sure everything looks good and so guests are not waiting for too long between courses. Often the leftovers lasts for days. SInce you are going to spend the time cooking so many dishes, you may as well spend a little more time and make larger quantities to eat at a different time.

Last night we had Tim and Joy over for tapas. They are always fun to hang around because, as we do, they like food and they like to try new things and new places. Tapas seemed like the perfect meal for foodies like them.

Below is a picture of the dishes we served. I will follow with descriptions.

1) Smoked trout over avocado cream

2) Poached shrimp with spicy mayo and garlic breadcrumbs. This is definitely one of my favorites. To eat it, you take a piece of shrimp, dip it in the mayo and roll it over the breadcrumbs.

3) Iberico cheese (sheep) with an olive tapenade from Naples

4) Chèvre stuffed jalapeños and roasted bell pepper

5) Potato crisps

6) Spanish hot chorizo over asiago crackers

7) Trio of soups: roasted beet, velvet corn and minted pea

8) Lamb chops with garlic and rosemary with cremini mushrooms in sherry wine

9) Moroccan surf & turf, made with harissa shrimp and a piece of pork tenderloin with paprika, fennel seed, cumin and coriander seed

10) Saffron turkey meatballs and a saffron tomato sauce. As I told Tim, if you could marry a meatball, this should be the one.

11) Grilled orange and shrimp pizzeta with goat cheese and orange cream

12) Ice cream with sherry (pouring the sherry over the ice cream

gives the dish a burnt sugar-like taste reminiscent of a crème brûlée)

13) Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry gastrique served with a 2004 Olivares Jumilla, a rare Spanish dessert wine that brings the best in chocolate and berries

14) To finish, a glass of 20 yr. Graham Tawny port (I prefer 20 yr. Sandeman, but it is very difficult to find)

15) Our guests, Tim and Joy

16) The hosts, Sharon and Diego

Not pictured was olive bread served with the now staple goat butter with kalamata olives and Himalayan salt. During dinner I was taking pictures to be able to publish this on this blog while Joy was beating me to the punch by taking pictures with her iPhone and posting them on her Facebook page. Turns out, Joy takes pictures of just about anything interesting she eats. Here is a picture of Joy proudly showing some fabulous dish she had somewhere.