Out of the Darkness - Bloggers Around the World Round-up: Spanish Tapas

Am I torturing myself? Why, the last few weeks I have been doing a lot of things I am not so comfortable with, like meeting new people or travelling long distances with the car into unknown territory. Besides that I have added some 'real life action' by having a lot to do. This way I have reduced the 'digital action' and the 'non action' as well.
I don't know whether this going to lead me anywhere, but I know where it took me the last few days.

Do you know, too? Well, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Bloggers Around the World theme we are talking about in a minute, but let me tell you something about it anyway.
Just a few days ago, I came home from the place where you can find the tower, but as I used as much time as possible together with my friends - or maybe even a bit more - it got quite late when I finally made my way home in my car. So I got into my car and tried to drive home back through unknown territory. Good, I managed to get back home safely. Yes, I know, that's always the trouble with all those stories told from the present into the past. The fact that the person telling you the story is still alive shows you he must have survived. Ah, so what's the point now to continue telling you something? Argh!
Fine I only had a voice from my smartphone telling me where to drive while there was just darkness around me for miles after miles. At times perhaps the only ones around me were deers and boars - so I'm lucky I didn't take anyone of those along (more luck than brain). 
Anyway, things could have been worse, there could have been pouring rain. So, no big deal. However, I made it safely out of the darkness so I am able to write the round-up for August's Bloggers Around the World - Spanish Tapas.

The month was very short, for time went by so quickly - the way it is when you are enjoying yourself. Accordingly we have to keep this round-up brief.

Right at the beginning I like to show you some of the delicacies I did in my kitchen.

Yes, you just read about them anyway as it was my last post. Let's focus then on someone else. After all this is not just about me here.

So, please tell me what I can do. Caroline from Caroline Makes ... entered first. What was it? A lovely Paella ...

Hm, yes, I know, but we keep it anyway ...

Who else got the chance to pause and stop by in this fast paced month? It was Jill from Lapin d'Or and More (I love that name ... eh ... judge for yourself which one I mean).

Jill made some wonderful tapas to share with us.

I especially liked the 'croute' of red peppers. You can see them in the top right part of the picture. It's a lovely combination of red peppers, cheese and almonds. What's not to love about that?

What do I love from the next dish, the pea and ham soup? For sure the green colour does a very good job.

At the end ... eh ... let me say thank you to all who had a share this month. As a token of my gratitude let me give you some flowers ...

I hope you all still like me tomorrow and beyond ...

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 ...

All the small things - Tapas for Bloggers Around the World

What? You think I have forgotten? How could you possibly think a thing like this? That is ... that is ... true, I almost forgot that it's time for another round of Bloggers Around the World.
So, let' be nice and start all over again ...

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

I really honestly hope you are all doing well, no matter who you are and where you are. Maybe you have a hot, burning summer right now, or maybe you have too much water coming from above. No matter what, I hope you like to join us once more as we make our way to Spain.

However, I don't want you to do any elaborate cooking this month for our challenge. This month we like to concentrate on the small things. Anyway, that is what you should concentrate a bit more in real life, too. A small nice gesture from a family member, a friend or even a stranger can bring you joy. Maybe it's just a smile, a kind word, or a cool drink on a hot day.
Did I say drink? Yes, I did. That brings us closer to what we want to do here: food. And this time it's small food, tapas to be precise.

If you haven't already understood, in order to join us this time for Bloggers Around the World, it's ...

SPANISH TAPAS

You should have a lot of variation here. Just feel free to try new things or share your favourite ones. Here are some of my favourites as I tend to do tapas more often ...

.. fried dates filled with chorizo and wrapped in bacon ...

 

... garlic prawns ...

... cheese with thyme and honey ...

Of course I also want to try something new. So, have a go and give at a shot. If you like you can also invite some friends and have a tapas party with you. So, once again, you can make others happy.

Anyway, it's very easy to make me happy. Simply join us for our big tapas party here and share your tapas posts. Simple use the comment section down here and leave a comment with a link to your post ...

... and keep also the following in mind ...

1. Link to Cooking Around the World and this very challenge in your post.
2. Use the "Bloggers Around the World" badge (you know).
3. Use either an old post or write up something completely new.
4. You can enter as many posts as you manage or of course you can have just one big tapas party.
5. Enjoy the challenge end your life of course...

Of course you have time to join until the end of this very month. So, when it turns September, you shouldn't post any more posts for this, but rather watch out for the round-up.

I wish I could delight you with some impressions from Spain, but I simply don't have any suitable photos ready somewhere around me, although I wish I could take some fresh ones soon ...

Will You Remember ... Forgotten, Not Forgiven

Do you still remember the last time I did a weird, strange, crazy, bonkers, whatever kind of post? Well, I could check, but that wouldn't mean I remember, rather the opposite.

I can still hear the voices in my head - no, not those voices - rather the singing kind of voices, music that is.

One such song is called 'Will You Remember?' from the album 'To the Faithful Departed' by The Cranberries. Well, I don't want to tell you right now what I think most of the time when that song is in my head, but you can be sure, I'm telling you in a minute, what I am thinking of right now.

However, there is another song, 'Forgiven, Not Forgotten' by The Corrs. Right away, I can tell you my thoughts are not tending towards the suicide part. I have a feeling I am stable at the moment. After all, there is no 'one eyed furry toy' on the bed ...

... right, it has two eyes and besides that, I have absolutely no idea of the 'bleeding heart torn apart, left on an icy grave'. As far as I know, stones don't bleed.

While we are at it, just a quick side fact, a concert of The Corrs was the only one I ever have been to in my life and I don't know, whether I will ever make it to another concert of someone else still.

Now, if you are not that woman from California, who is just called "AJ" in medical literature and who remembers every day of her life since age 11, you forget things and can't remember.

For sure I have some things in my life I don't want to remember, but on the other hand there are a lot more things I want to remember, like for example - and that's especially, if you are a food blogger - 'what was it I had been cooking there' or 'where did I got that idea from'. Yes, I will not forgive myself I have forgotten and ... I won't forgive myself a few other things.

Anyway, due to several reasons, there are some food photos piling up in my 'to blog' folder and I have no clue what to make of some. In order not to have them just for nothing, I present you now ...

THE FORGOTTEN

We can only call this 'Steamed Vegetables'. Right, some ingredients are obvious, but that's all ...

I'm sure it was tasty and filling, but, yes, really, indeed that's all.

Then I can offer you some pasta: 'Fussili Putanesca'. While the name should give us already some more hints on how to prepare this dish, I don't care t do some kind of research on what I might have done to it ...

Now you might say, why bother anyway, those dishes don't look too good either. Maybe I can improve things a tiny little bit with this board of tapas ...

Fine, just a tiny little bit ... maybe. When you look at it, the things on he board are no big deal to reproduce. It's cheese with thyme and honey, garlic prawns, a coleslaw with red bell peppers and chilli, just some simple black olives and a piece of baguette. Well, I can't remember, why I took this photo in the first place. For sure I was not planning to do any kind of post with it ... but I'm doing it now this way.

Like some dessert? Maybe some sort of brownies. Well, some sort of brownies you get ...

I don't have to remember how they tasted, for I am sure they where utterly yummy.

What else?

Burgers. Sure. Homemade chips. Sure. So what?

And yet, there is more pasta ...

This time it's orecchiette al forno. Of course, you can do it by mixing the almost cooked pasta with your favourite tomato sauce, toss over some mozzarella and basil, grate over some parmesan and make it al forno in your oven for about 30 minutes, I reckon.

On the other hand, you could always have some vegetables together with chorizo ...

... I guess I did it already before. So why this picture. Yes, 'why' always seems to be the hardest question.

Apart from this, forgetting can also pop up with a different face. I was reading 'a certain blog' with a post about making chocolate buttons. Well, a lovely idea. So I made some with dates and pistachios. No big deal. Melt chocolate, give it in round shapes onto baking parchment and drop a few pieces of dates and pistachios onto them ...

Those are a real treat ... oh, oh ... memories seem to come back. I think, I added a bit of vanilla extract to the melted chocolate, too. Once they have cooled down, you can wrap them up nicely and give them away as a foodie gift ...

... oopsy ... I must have forgotten. Some time later they were still standing in that shelf and I had no choice but to  eat them for myself. What a shame! 

I don't like to give myself credit for those date and pistachio chocolate buttons, but I simply forgot the blog I got the idea from. So, if you notice, give me a shout and we rectify this.

At this point I'd say we better stop. After all, we can't go on like this forever and ever. I even think, some of these photos could have given me an advantage in this month's Bloggers Around the World. Spontaneously, quickly and without much further hassle I could have produced an Italian or Spanish posts to link up on days Italy or Spain would be playing in the World Cup.

Fine, one more ...

I made some utterly scrumptious courgette fritters. Already on their own they where a hit, but I had something bigger in mind for them ... and I will still do it ... if I manage to get them like this again. Then I make sure not to forget, but to go for it.

In the meantime ...

I won't remember the food that I ate. 

I won't remember champagne (because I didn't have any). 

I won't remember the things that I cooked. 

I will just shoot it in vain. 

Will you remember? 

Will you recall? 

Will you remember?

Cooking with Friends a la España

For me, cooking is very nice and enjoyable, but it is even greater to cook together with friends. We used to do this more often, when I was still younger. I even went several kilometres by bike to cook together with friends. Nowadays, everyone seems to be more busy and such events have become seldom. Well, another thing might be, that I live in another area than back then and it now would take a several 100 km to travel to do the same with them.
Whatsoever, it is good to have friends and even more important is to have time for each other and do things together. Finally then, we managed again. OK, the idea was to cook and eat together. Last time we did it, we just mixed a few recipes together to have a small menu.
This time we (well, I had the idea) wanted to have it themed, like maybe French, Italian, Turkish, Thai, Spanish or something else. We settled for Spanish. After going shopping for a few things then, in the evening we were ready.

Here is the menu a la España:

Jamon serrano
Lomo
Olivas verde
Almedras al pimiento
Queso con miel y tomillo
Chorizo al ajo y miel
Champiñón al ajo
Aioli y pan
Dátil frito
Brochetas de pollo y tomate

Chuletas de cerdo al estilo de Aragón

Churros con chocolate con naranja

Well, it might be all Spanish to you, but the first section were tapas, then the main course and of course finally the dessert.
As to the tapas, a few things were very simple ... only putting things on plates like with the jamon Serrano and the Lomo or transferring the olives from the glass to a bowl.
The cheese with the honey and thyme was only a tiny bit more effort, but with great effect.

Originally we would have used manchego cheese here, but unfortunately the shop we selected was poorly stocked. Instead we decided for Gouda, in fact in this case a so-called May Gouda. We didn't pay any thought as to what that would mean. Anyway, we ended up with a very very strong smelling cheese. After touching it with your fingers, it would take several thorough washings of your hand to get rid of that smell again.
Whatsoever, the taste and especially in that combination was totally delicious and for a cheese lover such as me, it was addictive.
So far to the simple things. The paprika almonds called for blanched almonds, which we didn't get. Consequently we went for blanching them ourselves. Just put them for a minute or so in hot water and then you can remove the skin easily. Really!

This was the beginning. It didn't go so well as expected ...

... about one hour later. Hm, not exactly, but it took quite some time. After putting them again in hot water and ... here comes my brave friend, which we will call Mr S, into play. He took the almonds directly from the hot water and removed the skin ... ouch, but a lot quicker.
Before we went into the other tapas it was time to get the main course, the pork chops a la Aragón, ready for the oven.

Slices of potato in an oven proof dish. Maybe a few slices too many, but ... whatever!

The seasoned pork chops go on top after some white wine was poured over the potatoes.

After that a mixture with parsley, garlic and almonds on top and it's ready for the oven. 
That gives us the opportunity to go back to the tapas.

Here we have the garlic mushrooms. From this point on everything went in quick succession.
After the mushrooms had left the pan, the chorizo came in. Obviously I didn't bother to take a photo. The chorizo slices were fried with garlic and finished with honey and sherry vinegar.

Out of the pan into a bowl they went to make room for the dates filled with chorizo and wrapped in bacon to be fried. Strange, for that I have a picture again.
Once they were finished and the chicken tomato skewers as well, the main course went to the oven at 200°C to be left there for 45 minutes - at least.
After about two hours of preparation and cooking, it was time to eat. If you have a look again at the menu at the tapas section, you maybe can imagine what followed.
Well, somehow, we were already quite filled, once the pork chops came back from the oven.

That's what they looked like. Somehow the potatoes didn't soak up the white wine as promised in the recipe, but ... anyway. No one was willing anymore to have a proper main course.

So we did some 'fine dining' portions.
Strangely, though, there still was the call to have the dessert, which would take a while to prepare anyway. After that most probably there would be the slight possibility that more food will fit in. 
As to making churros. Making the dough is fairly easy. You have 500 ml of lightly salted boiling water and sift some 300 g of flour into it and then combine it with an electrical hand mixer. Leave it to rest for let's say ten minutes.
After that you have the churros dough or a self-made paste for wall papers as well. If you don't want to use it to hang wallpaper you put it into a piping bag and pipe it into screaming hot oil and fry it. What shall I say ... that stuff killed my piping bag. I need to get a better one.

Despite that they go well with melted chocolate and if you add some orange zest to the chocolate it tastes divine ... if you still can take it. The recipe book gave some extra information about churros. It's popular to have them with chocolate after you have danced through the whole night, which we didn't do, or you can have them for breakfast with coffee, which I did the next day.

At the end we had a wonderful evening and on top of that we have created a bit of leftovers ... I still have to deal with some potatoes and pork chops.
Why not come together with friends and have a great evening together with cookin. Do you like to do something like this as well? What have you done? Leave a comment and let us know ...

A table full of tapas

Care for a snack? Why not! Muy bien! Tapas son muy populares en España. Pero ... not everyone can be there or has a tapas bar nearby.
Anyway, as is the case with most things, you can manage at home. That is of course only, if you are willing to try. I was today! Nothing better to do. However, eating is a good reason to be active cooking and preparing food in the kitchen.

Now it happens to be that I have this cookbook about tapas from Parragon Books Ltd. Somehow I was in the mood today for some extensive testing. There are quite some tasty tapas recipes in this book to satisfy your desire for these little Spanish snacks.
So I flipped through the book, pondering on what to try today - of course limited to the resources available to me at home.
Starting with the cheating way, I opened a glass of olives stuffed with garlic. That would do for starters.

Of course, this has little to do with cooking. Well, then let's try something else, like roasted peppers with honey and almonds.

Put some red peppers in the oven and roast them until they blacken. Put them in a bowl and cover with cling film for several minutes so that you can remove the skin. Cut it into bit size pieces and put them in a bowl. 
In a pan heat up some olive oil and put in some slice garlic at low heat for 5 minutes. Then had some sliced almonds, honey, and sherry vinegar. Heat up and then put to the peppers and mix well.
Or what about some salted paprika almonds.

When thinking of Spain, what else comes to your mind? Jamon Serrano might be something foodwise. Have it with some dressed (orange, olive oil, salt, pepper) rocket leaves.

Something I enjoyed very much, apart from the just mentioned Jamon Serrano with rocket, is fried dates filled with chorizo and wrapped in bacon.

  

OK, they don't look all that impressive, but they taste sweet and delicious and ... you want more. It was only for safety reasons that I made just for.

So, get some dates. Put a bit of chorizo where the stone of the date used to be, wrap a piece of bacon around it. Have some flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs ready to coat the dates. Fry them with sufficient oil for about four minutes and enjoy them ... delish ... hot!

Good! The night isn't over yet. 

You can and should make use of chorizo also in other ways - fried with fresh herbs. The recipe didn't state, though what herbs. I used what I had: chives, oregano, thyme, and mint. Somehow in nearly all of the recipes olive oil and garlic was involved. There was still a recipe for having the chorizo with red wine. The downside was, leaving it 8 hours to work, obviously no time for that - have to postpone it to some other day in the future.

As stated in the tapas book, tomato bread is one of the favourites in Spain, especially in the Barcelona region (which is very nice actually as I experienced it myself). It reminds me a bit of the Italian bruschetta and somehow is prepared in a similar way. You can toast the bread and rub it with garlic, splash olive oil on it and then rub it with a tomato half. If you like you can put some Jamon Serrano and capers on it.

One of my favourites are also garlic prawns. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add some chopped garlic and one or two dried chillies. Then there come the prawns. Hopefully they are dry, so that you can fry them and you don't end up cooking them.
In the end I had about ten different tapas. You can enjoy a lot of different things without getting to much stuffed. There are still more delicious recipe to discover, when it comes to tapas.
They are also very good when you are together with a group at a table as you can go along and nibble here and there once in a while without having the "pressure" of finishing a whole big meal. It's to encourage conversation.
In some countries they have a lot of clever ideas on enjoying food. Spain is always a pleasant stop in that regard. If you like you can enjoy some wine or sherry along it.
What is your favourite tapa?
Muchas gracias por tu visita! Hasta la proxima vez!