The Gift of Tapas

Every year for my mom’s birthday, my brother and I plan a dinner complex enough to require hours in the kitchen, giving my mom a chance to sit with a glass of wine, catch up with us and enjoy some time together. With a birthday a week from Christmas, the dinner usually falls on the first or second night my brother and I arrive in town, and last year it was Dec. 23.

Mom’s Annual Birthday Feast – Spanish Tapas
December 23, 2008

Menu:
• Green olives in spicy garlic, orange zest and paprika paste
• Jamon, spicy hard sausage and hard cheese
• Pimento with goat cheese
• Chorizo-stuffed mushrooms
• Jamon-wrapped prawns
• Spanish potato tortilla with pimento
• Cabrales and cinnamon poached pear on baguette

Wine:
• Txacoli
• Tempranillo
• Sherry

We planned the meal to be served in waves so we could spend some time at the dinner table with our parents, yet get in some quality time with the state-of-the-art kitchen my parents recently built (and which we both long for in our own lives!) Tapas-themed, we began with hard and spicy Spanish sausage cut into rounds with 2 kinds of hard Spanish cheese, almonds and fig paste. The best part of the appetizers was a concoction Chris whipped up with paprika, orange zest, olive oil and brined green olives. All served with a Spanish white, Txacoli.

The next course involved slippery pimento slathered in goat cheese and chorizo stuffed mushrooms. The stuffing was simply chorizo, bread crumb and parmesan cheese. These we served with a rich Tempranillo.

The final course consisted of a potato tortilla and 8 giant prawns wrapped in Iberico jamon (pretty sure it was prosciutto). The tortilla was an adventure; thinly sliced, peeled potatoes were sprinkled with salt, then fried in olive oil. Most of the oil drained away, a mix of eggs and milk was poured over the hot potatoes to create a frittata. As we flipped the tortilla over, we noticed the lack of color and threw in some red and yellow pimento to brighten it. The simplicity of potato and egg, spiced by salt and pepper made for a delicious final savory tapa.

To complete the meal, we poached pears in spicy cinnamon and red wine. The sliced pears covered baguette and Cabrales cheese. These, unfortunately, did not turn out to have the most flavor, I think we’ll add more sugar to the pears and try a different blue cheese if attempting again.