We happily catered for a Spanish evening for about 50 people recently so thought we would share with you some of the favourite dishes. The menu was based around tapas and included a Spanish meat platter, variety of olives and:
- morcilla – a Spanish black pudding – which was declared tasty but with a stronger flavour of onion than traditional British, or for that matter Scottish, black pudding which required quickly pan frying for 2 minutes each side
- sol o’ millo – a beautifully sliced and lightly cooked piece of steak served on a french stick with a few flakes of sea salt
- tortilla – the traditional potato omelette
- gazpacho – a refreshing blend of tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, sherry vinegar and olive oil, served chilled in small glasses
- patatas bravas – a spicy, tomato sauce based potato dish
- goats cheese stuffed mini (piquillo) peppers
The two favourite dishes we shall explain in more detail and consisted of ‘Chorizo and White Bean Stew’ and ‘Prawns wrapped in Bacon’. A number of people asked how the chorizo and bean stew was made and there were many requests for more prawns to be cooked. For 50 people we had prepared about 180 prawns in advance and they were all eaten!
Gambas envueltas en tocino
Prawns, raw with no shells, defrosted if frozen
Streaky bacon or serrano ham
Lemons
Parsley, finely chopped
Olive Oil
Wrap the bacon around the prawns and secure with a cocktail stick across the prawn. Finely chop the parsley and halve the lemons. In a large frying or sauté pan heat some olive oil until it is very hot and place as many prawns as you can fit in one layer in the pan. Sauté for about a minute (which in reality will mean that the first ones will be almost ready by the time you put the last ones in the pan so try and be systematic in placing them so you know where you started). Turn every prawn over and sauté for 1-2 minutes on the other side. Take the prawns out and place on your serving dish, scatter with parsley and squeeze lemon juice over the top. Eat straight away.
The Chorizo and White bean stew is a classic Spanish dish and relies on the quality of the chorizo and paprika to really bring it into the realms of deliciousness. In this recipe the first quantities will serve 50 to 60 as a tapas style portion and the figures in brackets will serve 4 – 6 as a main course.
chorizo y guiso de frijoles blancos
1kg (250g) Chorizo for cooking, either picanté (hot, which is the one we had) or dulce (sweet)
1kg (250g) dried white beans, we used haricot
10 (2) onions, diced
5 (1) red pepper. diced
10 (2) cloves of garlic, diced
1½ litres (400g) passata
2tsp (½ tsp) sweet paprika (pimento do la Vera agridulce)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil
The day before soak the beans in a large bowl of water for at least 6 hours. Drain and rinse then put the beans in a large pan and add fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Simmer for the amount of time recommended on the packet (the haricot beans took about 45 minutes from boiling). Drain.
Dice the onion and pepper and fry in a little olive oil till softening.
Slice the chorizo and dice the garlic and add to the pan. Cook until the chorizo releases its lovely juice.
Add the beans and stir through till they are all coated with the chorizo oil then add the paprika and passata.
Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Good served with crusty bread to mop up the sauce.