Bienvenido a mi casa - Tapas Night

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? Ahora hay tapas. Bienvenido a mi casa. Espero yo tengo algo para todos. Bueno, aquí tengo un pequeño selección de tapas de mi mesa ...

... y un poco mas ...

¡Que aproveche!

Nun, ich denke, ich sollte die Sprache wechseln, das wird mir sonst zu viel und ich brauche ewig mit dem Schreiben.

Oops, maybe that was the wrong one, too. I better switch to what I can write best. Anyway, by now you have noticed what this is all about ... Spanish tapas.

After all, that still is the theme for this month's Bloggers Around the World.

We better do this properly now. Turn up the sound system for the Gypsy Kings ... "Bamboleo ..." or something like that. Maybe we can get into the spirit a glass of Sherry first ...

I imagine it would be great fun to do this with some of my favourite bloggers, but ... anyway, it was fun the way it was.

What lovely kind of tapas do I have for you tonight?

Cheese Empanadas:

Have about 200 g puff pastry ready. Mix some 100 g of cheddar cheese or manchego to be more Spanish with a few anchovies, 80 g dried tomatoes, 50 g green olives and 50 g pesto rosso.

Roll out you puff pastry, cut out circles of all the pastry. Divide the filling among all those pastry rounds and try to seal them by putting a bit of water on the edges and folding over. If you have rolled out your pastry too thin or get your empanadas too close to the heat in the oven, what you can see on the photo might happen.

Brush your empanadas with egg wash before you transfer them for 13 minutes to the oven at 225 °C. Just make sure, you place the tray in the middle of the oven.

Roasted Peppers with Chilli Cheese:

You just need to get some cheese with enough fuego for this, a lovely cheese with enough heat in the form of chilli. If you have the right shop around you might get some Spanish cheese for this, but then a simple cheese with chilli will do. As you see, you cut it into nice cubes.

The peppers are a different story. Get them under the grill to char the skin of the peppers. Then toss them in a bowl and cover with cling film to cool down. Then try to remove the skin of the peppers ... if you can ... and cut the peppers into small pieces. Serve them together with the cheese and a dressing of honey and sherry vinegar.

Steak with Cheese and Salad:

Well, get some steak, season it with salt and pepper and let it lick the heat in your pan, one and half minute on both sides and do it twice. Then let the meat rest for 15 minutes.

Cut the steak into stripes and place them alternating with some lovely cheese on a large plate. In the centre of the plate place some green salad. Toss over some capers and green olives and ... if you are a tiny bit naughty like me ... some innocent looking, but fiery peppers. Additionally sprinkle over some black pepper and sea salt. Squeeze a lemon to leave its juice on top and add some good extra virgin olive oil. There you go!

That's just a small selection. You can add also some olives with different fillings, some chorizo, serrano ham and more cheese to the table. Maybe you also want to offer some tortas de aceite as well. You can buy them in some shops or do your own.

Jamie Oliver has a lovely recipe for this in his book Jamie Does.

For sure you don't want to forget to serve some olive oil roasted padrón peppers sprinkled with some sea salt and more extra virgin olive oil.

Oui, c'est fini! Oh, wrong language again. After all, that was a Spanish tapas night. Maybe we can do something French another time, another challenge. Maybe, if I get someone to join me for a theme of French Chocolate ... something.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed our little tapas night and I look forward to some further suggestions from you or any entries for the Spanish Tapas Bloggers Around the World challenge.

Nos vemos la próxima vez ...