•10:02 AM
Do you ever host dinner parties?
Everyone invites friends over to share a pizza and then play cards or watch "the game"; but I am referring to a (traditional) dinner party. You know, where you cook your fanciest food in the hopes of making an impression and then you and your friends sit around the table for hours talking and eating and drinking wine (or whatever drink you enjoy).
I think I was seventeen years old when I hosted my very first dinner party. It was part of a Grade Twelve Home Economics assignment, and I cooked a lasagna dinner with homemade bread and salad for a group of my girlfriends. No wine, though. I set the table with my Mom's "good" dishes and laboured all day to make the perfect lasagna. I had actually been making lasagna for four or five years by that point, so it was not a challenging dish to create ... I must have gone for the sure thing instead of experimenting. Which is definitely not like me in the kitchen.
And, if you must know, I received the Home Ec Award that year for the highest grade in the class. I wanted to die a thousand deaths ... my friends received the Math Award and the English Award. Not me ... I was awarded as a home maker. Ugh.
But I do LOVE dinner parties ... always have. I chose to linger around the table with the adults after Thanksgiving dinner or at Christmas time, instead of playing "run-around-the-house" with the other kids. I enjoy the conversation of a dinner party and I appreciate the food. And I appreciate the tradition. It seems to me that dinner parties were fashionable long before my time ... the dinner parties of the elite in the '30s and '40s or the fondue parties of the '60s. I am told that my grandparents threw wonderful dinner parties ... of course, my Grama was a party girl and my Grampa was in the entertainment business (as a young man), so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that they could throw one heck of a dinner party!
I have heard that some couples like to gather for a dinner party a few times each year, using the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine as inspiration. That would be a fun idea ...
Recently I hosted a dinner party. Actually it was a tapas party, which is a great way to spend a night around the table eating and perhaps, having a drink or two.
What is a tapas party, you ask? Maybe the best way to describe what tapas is, is to tell you what it is not.
Tapas is not a particular type of food. Although it originated in Spain, tapas has more to do with the size of the portion and manner in which it is served.
Tapas is not an appetizer. If you begin your evening eating tapas, you eat tapas until you are full. The end.
Tapas is not a collection of different dishes brought out to a table for consumption as a main course meal. This would be a buffet ... and tapas is NOT a buffet.
I guess, tapas is a very small plate of food served with your drink. In Spain, tapas may be taken as a lunch; or, more commonly, tapas are enjoyed after work with friends at the local eatery/bar. Tapas are enjoyed by the young and the old and if you really know what you are doing, you will hop from one bar to the next enjoying a tapas and a drink at each one. Someone may order olives as their tapas ... because they really love olives. Or maybe it goes great with their martini. Someone else may order Gazpacho. Then, while you enjoy your olives and I enjoy my Gazpacho, we both enjoy our cocktails and our conversation. Then, when we finish, we move on to the next establishment. As much as tapas is about the food and the drinks, it is also about the socializing.
Yes, I think I could easily live in Spain.
My Mom celebrated her 60-something birthday earlier this month, and I hosted a tapas party for her. I made six courses of Spanish food ... and it was delicious, if I do say so myself. Plus, it was super fun!
Here is something I bet you did not know ... Pina Colada's originated in Spain. Ha! I had no idea; I always thought they were from the Tropics! So, we started out party with Pina Coladas made from fresh, frozen pineapple and banana mixed with pineapple juice and coconut milk ... virgin for the kids, alcoholic for the adults.
The first course consisted of one half of a tomato (salted, then refrigerated for a couple of hours), seranno ham, and grilled bread. Spanish tapas consists of simple, high-quality food.
Next, it was romaine salad with Blue Cheese dressing. Just quarter romaine hearts and drizzle with Blue Cheese dressing ... it doesn't get any easier than that! Plus, I totally cheated and used dressing from a jar ... you're suppose to use real blue cheese.
For the third course, I served a plate with sausage, Monchego cheese, gerkin pickles, sardines and more bread plus red wine. Then I allowed everyone to choose what they wanted. This goes against the rules of tapas parties, however I am dealing with young children and women who don't particularly enjoy stinky fish. But the Spanish people do, so I included it and allowed everyone to make their own decisions. Caiden loves sardines, by the way ... he will eat a whole tin for lunch!!!
Imagine a photo of a glass plate, cleverly styled to display (stinky) tiny fishes, gerkin pickles, thin slices of Manchego, and sausage circles along side a bottle of Spanish red wine ... guess I had too much Pina Colada 'cause I forgot to take a photo!!
Next ,was a roasted beet salad with fennel slaw ... I could eat beets a thousand different ways and never get sick of them!
Finally, I made paella. Again, I veered from the traditional and served it from a large platter on the table because everyone was getting very full. It seemed appropriate for everyone to help themselves, instead of me trying to guage how hungry each person was. However, had I served it traditional tapas-style, I would have offered each person one drumstick and a very large scoop of rice.
And finally, for dessert, I made a Rice Pudding Creme Brulee ... which I have nicknamed "A Small Piece of Creamy Heaven." It is slightly lemony and creamy and oh sooooo good. Plus, the pudding warmed slightly from torching the sugar.
All my tapas recipe ideas came from a book I bought a couple of years ago when I (first) hosted a tapas party for some friends. It is called cesar, Recipes from a Tapas Bar. The beginning of the book details the authors' trials and tribulations of constructing their tapas bar in Berkeley, California followed by a lengthy section on cocktails, and finally the recipes they use at their restaurant. This is a wonderful book with great photos and some fabulous ideas for entertaining. You could host a tapas party and ask each guest to bring a tapas dish to share, along with a cocktail to compliment the dish. When I hosted my tapas party, I included a note explaining what "tapas" is and suggested websites for ideas.
Because I am such a good friend, I am going to take my chances and hope that the owner of cesar doesn't mind that I share their recipe for Rice Pudding Creme Brulee ... but I warn you, use it with caution. Once you make it, you will just want more ...
Rice Pudding
(taken from cesar: Recipes from a Tapas Bar, 2003)
1 3/4 cups whole milk
1 cinnamon stick
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup short-grain rice (I used arborio rice)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons anise liqueur, such as Pernod (I left this out because I didn't have any)
In a large saucepan, heat the milk, cinnamon stick, and zest over low heat. When hot, add the rice and cook over low heat for 40 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Turn up the heat to medium and simmer until all the rice has puffed up and the milk has thickened, about 10 minutes more. Keep a close watch at this stage, and stir often. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and the butter and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the liqueur, stir to incorporate, and divide among six 6-ounce ramekins. Let cool, cover and refrigerate until well chilled, or for up to 24-hours.
Just before serving, sprinkle the tops evenly with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Slip under a preheated broiler until the sugar caramelizes into a nice even golden brown; or caramelize with a kitchen torch. Serve immediately.
(Note: I doubled the recipe and made 8 hefty portions ... which was perfect!)
Everyone invites friends over to share a pizza and then play cards or watch "the game"; but I am referring to a (traditional) dinner party. You know, where you cook your fanciest food in the hopes of making an impression and then you and your friends sit around the table for hours talking and eating and drinking wine (or whatever drink you enjoy).
I think I was seventeen years old when I hosted my very first dinner party. It was part of a Grade Twelve Home Economics assignment, and I cooked a lasagna dinner with homemade bread and salad for a group of my girlfriends. No wine, though. I set the table with my Mom's "good" dishes and laboured all day to make the perfect lasagna. I had actually been making lasagna for four or five years by that point, so it was not a challenging dish to create ... I must have gone for the sure thing instead of experimenting. Which is definitely not like me in the kitchen.
And, if you must know, I received the Home Ec Award that year for the highest grade in the class. I wanted to die a thousand deaths ... my friends received the Math Award and the English Award. Not me ... I was awarded as a home maker. Ugh.
But I do LOVE dinner parties ... always have. I chose to linger around the table with the adults after Thanksgiving dinner or at Christmas time, instead of playing "run-around-the-house" with the other kids. I enjoy the conversation of a dinner party and I appreciate the food. And I appreciate the tradition. It seems to me that dinner parties were fashionable long before my time ... the dinner parties of the elite in the '30s and '40s or the fondue parties of the '60s. I am told that my grandparents threw wonderful dinner parties ... of course, my Grama was a party girl and my Grampa was in the entertainment business (as a young man), so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that they could throw one heck of a dinner party!
I have heard that some couples like to gather for a dinner party a few times each year, using the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine as inspiration. That would be a fun idea ...
Recently I hosted a dinner party. Actually it was a tapas party, which is a great way to spend a night around the table eating and perhaps, having a drink or two.
What is a tapas party, you ask? Maybe the best way to describe what tapas is, is to tell you what it is not.
Tapas is not a particular type of food. Although it originated in Spain, tapas has more to do with the size of the portion and manner in which it is served.
Tapas is not an appetizer. If you begin your evening eating tapas, you eat tapas until you are full. The end.
Tapas is not a collection of different dishes brought out to a table for consumption as a main course meal. This would be a buffet ... and tapas is NOT a buffet.
I guess, tapas is a very small plate of food served with your drink. In Spain, tapas may be taken as a lunch; or, more commonly, tapas are enjoyed after work with friends at the local eatery/bar. Tapas are enjoyed by the young and the old and if you really know what you are doing, you will hop from one bar to the next enjoying a tapas and a drink at each one. Someone may order olives as their tapas ... because they really love olives. Or maybe it goes great with their martini. Someone else may order Gazpacho. Then, while you enjoy your olives and I enjoy my Gazpacho, we both enjoy our cocktails and our conversation. Then, when we finish, we move on to the next establishment. As much as tapas is about the food and the drinks, it is also about the socializing.
Yes, I think I could easily live in Spain.
My Mom celebrated her 60-something birthday earlier this month, and I hosted a tapas party for her. I made six courses of Spanish food ... and it was delicious, if I do say so myself. Plus, it was super fun!
Here is something I bet you did not know ... Pina Colada's originated in Spain. Ha! I had no idea; I always thought they were from the Tropics! So, we started out party with Pina Coladas made from fresh, frozen pineapple and banana mixed with pineapple juice and coconut milk ... virgin for the kids, alcoholic for the adults.
The first course consisted of one half of a tomato (salted, then refrigerated for a couple of hours), seranno ham, and grilled bread. Spanish tapas consists of simple, high-quality food.
Imagine a photo of a glass plate, cleverly styled to display (stinky) tiny fishes, gerkin pickles, thin slices of Manchego, and sausage circles along side a bottle of Spanish red wine ... guess I had too much Pina Colada 'cause I forgot to take a photo!!
Next ,was a roasted beet salad with fennel slaw ... I could eat beets a thousand different ways and never get sick of them!
Because I am such a good friend, I am going to take my chances and hope that the owner of cesar doesn't mind that I share their recipe for Rice Pudding Creme Brulee ... but I warn you, use it with caution. Once you make it, you will just want more ...
Rice Pudding
(taken from cesar: Recipes from a Tapas Bar, 2003)
1 3/4 cups whole milk
1 cinnamon stick
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup short-grain rice (I used arborio rice)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons anise liqueur, such as Pernod (I left this out because I didn't have any)
In a large saucepan, heat the milk, cinnamon stick, and zest over low heat. When hot, add the rice and cook over low heat for 40 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Turn up the heat to medium and simmer until all the rice has puffed up and the milk has thickened, about 10 minutes more. Keep a close watch at this stage, and stir often. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and the butter and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the liqueur, stir to incorporate, and divide among six 6-ounce ramekins. Let cool, cover and refrigerate until well chilled, or for up to 24-hours.
Just before serving, sprinkle the tops evenly with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Slip under a preheated broiler until the sugar caramelizes into a nice even golden brown; or caramelize with a kitchen torch. Serve immediately.
(Note: I doubled the recipe and made 8 hefty portions ... which was perfect!)
2 comments:
I'll try this again. I wrote a rather lengthy note regarding your 'Sneaky' blog, about my favourite fresh fruit and veggie markets etc. and either my computer or Facebook went on the fritz and I lost it! So I will be brief and say your tapas sound wonderful! I'd love it for my, I hate to say it, 60-something birthday too.
What a special treat for my 60-something birthday, Jill! Thanks again for a wonderful dinner with my dear family! Love you always!