Spanish Tapas menu - help needed!

[Aimee]

I'm having two dinner parties this week and I'm a little overwhelmed. I have one menu planned but I'm a little stuck on the other one. I'm planning on making a spanish tapas dinner for 8. I'm settled on spanish cheese,ham and chorizo, crostini with romenescu (sp?) sauce, garlic shrimp, spinach and chick peas, and I don't know what else.

I don't know if I want to keep it all tapas/buffet style or serve some of the food sit-down. I was going to include gazpacho but I made some yesterday and didn't like it - I found it way too sweet.

Any opinions on the menu or recipe suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

[Rob64]

Very Easy...
olives
roasted peppers
bread w/ olive oil

Bit More Work...
torta espanola
pan con tomate
cod fritters w/ alioli

Wow them with a brazo gitano for dessert. Crema Catalana is also great and not that hard to make if you can get good cream.

[Hungry Celeste]

One of my favorite tapas served at a local restaurant: chorizo stuffed dates wrapped with bacon and broiled 'til crispy. Mmm-hmmm.

[bryan]

Also good with figs in place of the dates.

Quince paste goes well with some cheeses, especially manchego (sp.?).

And if your gazpacho was sweet, may i just say you're a lucky fella or lady- it means your tomatoes are good already. Search the board for gazpacho and you should get several hits.

[MMRuth]

I recently had a tapas party for four - did it in part b/c of the heat - I wanted to be able to prepare most things in advance. We sat in the living room the entire evening - I too wasn't sure about whether to split it up and move to the dining table, but this worked out well. I told our guests when we sat down what we would be having, but brought things out gradually. I included a chilled gazpacho - cilantro, cukes, green peppers, among other things, and served it in demi-tasse cups when the guests arrived - a nice respite to the heat. Here's a list of some of the other things I made, in case you want recipes:

Tortilla Espanola w/ mayonnaise
Canapes w/ avocado & marinated anchovies
Grilled squid salad

For the garlic shrimp, I cleaned/peeled the shrimp ahead of time, got the olive oil/garlic/dried pepper in my cazuelas ahead of time, so then it just took a couple of minutes to heat up, add the shrimp and serve piping hot. I cooked chorizo in sherry in advance - quite tasty.

Have fun ...

[MMRuth]

Forgot - I also made smallish lamb meatballs....

[Aimee]

That all sounds great! How did you cook the chorizo in sherry and I would love the recipe for the lamb meatballs.

Thanks

[MMRuth]

Chorizo:

1/2 lb chorizo, split lengthwise (I think I cut it in half horizontally too, to fit my pan)
Put in pan & cover w/ fino sherry
Bring to boil, then simmer on lower heat for 10 minutes.
Cut into smaller pieces, can serve w/ bread

Lamb meatballs:

Saute 1 large onion finely chopped in 1 T olive oil, (5 min), cover and continue cooking slowly until tender (10 min).

Combine this onion in a bowl with:

2 lbs ground lamb
1 lightly beaten egg
1 tsp finely chopped ginger (I omit if I don't have on hand)
2 T minced cilantro
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 T minced parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
Ground pepper to taste
1/4 tsp each dried thyme, marjoram, basil

Mix and form into small balls 1 1/2 - 2 inches & dust lightly with flour (I do that in my hands)
Heat 1 T olive oil in casserole & brown meatballs all over, add 3 T chopped onion & cook until onion is soft. Some times in the turning the meatballs, little chunks of them fall off - just makes for a tastier sauce!
Add 3/4 cup chicken broth & 1/2 cup water. Cover & simmer 40 minutes

In mortar or mini processor mash together 2 cloves garlic, /8 tsp salt, 1 T minced cilantro, few strands saffron & 8 blanched almonds.

Stir this mix into finished meatballs & sprinkle w/ 1T cilantro.

Some adjustments - I usually make half the recipe, but use more than half of the seasonings. I also like to add some sherry in place of some of the other liquid. You can make them that morning or the day before & then heat up. Really delicious.

And, I forgot - I also made marinated quail eggs, but peeling those darn things was a pain!

[Das Ubergeek]

Octopus in tomato sauce.
Olives (we like ulivi cunzati).
Tortilla espanola.

[AJ]

Just did an very easy lunch on Saturday.

1. Tortilla Española (a must for any tapas party and easy to prepare the morning of.)
2. Pan con tomate (a little work to do before your guest arrive but worth it.)
3. Place of spanish ham, chorizo and morcilla
4. Goat cheese with watermelon (cube a hard goats cheese with cubes of watermelon - sounds weird but we just picked up this idea in Ibiza last month and it really is delicious and refreshing.)
5. Cod stuffed piquillo peppers (make a thick roux paste with butter, flour, milk and white wine, add flaked cooked cod. Cool then stuff into the small whole peppers you buy in a jar.)

[Carb Lover]

You've gotten alot of good suggestions already, so to add:

I say try to rework the gazpacho w/ your recipe or find a different one more to your liking. If you added sugar, add less or none. Also add some acid (lime juice or vinegar) or heat (jalapeno or tabasco) to balance sweetness. Gazpacho is great in the summertime if you can get good tomatoes. Alternatively, you could make the cold avocado soup recently posted...not traditional Spanish but would work well w/ your menu.

Don't forget the sangria! I would make both red and white sangria right now. Along w/ the traditional fruits, I would add plums and dark cherries to the red sangria. And peaches, apricots, or Rainier cherries are great to use in the white. Have fun!

[Liz]

I and some friends recently had a tapas party for 12 adults and 6 children. It went very well. Our menu included:

Aceitunas Sevillanas (marinated olives)
Champiñones Adobados (cold marinated mushrooms)
Roasted red pepper salad
Manchego with quince paste and good bread
Gambas al ajillo (oven roasted shrimp with olive oil, garlic, red pepper flake)
Torta Espanola (frittata with potatoes and onions) with romesco sauce
Patatas al pimenton (roasted spanish spiced red potatoes with aioli)
Albondigas (meatballs)
Romesco sauce (sauce made with tomatoes, hot peppers, and almonds)
Aioli (sauce of garlic and olive oil)
Sangria

This was my first time making tapas, and I found that the food was quite easy to prepare and much could be done ahead of time. The only last-minute items were the torta espanol and the shrimp.

A good time was had by all.