While in Bilbao, Spain, we hired a car and driver to take us on a tour of the Basque region, planning to be in San Sebastian in time for an early dinner. On the way, we made two stops, the first in Guernica to see the capital building and magnificent glass ceiling with its historic sculpture of the tree of life.
Our second stop was at a Tapas bar for a snack and a bit of rest from the monotony of the winding coast road. Turns out the bar in the picturesque sea port village of Lequetto was owned by the driver’s sister and her husband. The glass case was crowded with Tapas made for the local people. It contained bits of anchovies with garlic flavored oil and pimentos, steams mussels served color with sprinkles of parslay, ground clams draped over shrimp and the star of the show, which the sister brought out from her kitchen, lobster roll tapas.
Washed down with a cold beer from an ice filled cooler and our appetite was well taken care of for the rest of the drive. All the tapas so satisfied our appetites so when we drove into San Sebastian we canceled our reservation we had made months ago at the world famous Arzak Restaurant, settling for a late afternoon salads at a seafront café.
On our last night in Bilbao, we treated ourselves to dinner at famed Café Iruna established in 1903. It turned out to be overcrowded and overflowing with waiters seemingly carrying their trays on skates, slipping smoothly past one another without a spill. They satisfied our dinner needs not only with food and drink, but entertainment as well. I still have their Café’s menu featuring their triple decker tapas. I remember that the bar seemed to be a never-stopping flow of humanity.
These were the most innovative Tapas we tapped into in Spain, other than those above:
Chopped red onion piled high on boiled diced potatoes with piquillo peppers, chunks of tuna, coated in olive oil with sherry vinegar.
Manchego cheese cubed and marinated in olive oil with thyme and rosemary .
Salmon cooked with diced apples and cornichons (Gerkin Pickles) that was later wrapped with Smoked salmon slices, served on endive spears.
Dates stuffed with almonds, cheese and chorizo wrapped in bacon.
Another date tapas without the chorizo that was baked crisp.
Steamed asparagus stalks, wrapped in serrano ham and grilled. Served with a sprinkling of piquillo pepper.
Chilled green grapes coated with goat cheese and chopped, toasted almonds.
Marinated Figs, grilled with port wine, then wrapped in serrano ham and rubbed in grated goat Cheese.
And, of course with each dish a glass of an excellent dry Spanish Red. If we could have afforded it, it would have been L'Ermita, ($500 a bottle, or at about the same price) a great white like Albariño. We settled for Sangria.
ABOUT TAPAS
As noted, Tapas can be simple as a plate of olives or as complicated as anchovies with fried almonds with chorizo and cheese. Or just chorizo and cheese. Or they can be parts that add up to a full meal with fried, grilled or baked dishes including toasted crunchy Spanish bread or rolls and an interesting salad.
The credit for creating Tapas goes to Spanish King Alfonso who ruled that tabernas serve foodif they serve wine. The word Tapas comes from the verb tapar which means to cover. So a tapa can be as simple as jamon or cheese on a slice of toast to a full meal of small dishes along with wine.
A typical Spanish night out is when a group of friends stroll arm-in-arm from tapas bar to tapas bar. At each they nibble from small plates and sip wine. In every taberna the bar is lined with tapas offerings a feast with a bar tender ready to deliver any wine you order.
That was in Spain. For our backyard, we make Easy Tapas:
Shrimp – top raw Shrimp with tomato sauce and feta. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Serve with toothpicks.
Vegetable – while toasting 2 slices of bread per guest, peel and remove seed from an avocado. Layer the avocado with a tomato on toast.
Salsa Crackers – Top crackers with teaspoons of salsa-coated cottage cheese.
Crumbled Blue Cheese – cut 1 package of refrigerated biscuits into quarters. Mix 1/3 cube of butter with 3 tbs. of crumbled blue cheese. Microwave until melted.
Tomato Feta – top 3 sliced med. Tomatoes with pitted olives and feta cheese.
Grilled Flat Bread With Thyme – mix 3 tbs. olive oil, 2 tbs. fresh Thyme leaves and ¼ tsp. each kosher salt and black pepper. Coat pizza dough with 1 tsp. of olive oil and grill over medium heat for 2 minutes per side. Brush with the thyme mixture, and cut into bite size pieces.
Goat Cheese Empanadas –cut 16 circles from refrigerated rolled piecrusts with a 3” cookie cutter. Spread 4 oz, goat cheese over the circles. Wet dough edge with water. Fold the dough in half and use a fork to seal edges. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet at 375 degrees until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with store-bought corn salsa.
Stuffed Sweet Pepper – cut 2 oz. of mozzarella cheese into 12 pieces, stuff cheese into pickled sweet red cherry peppers. Coat with parsley.
Your local market or deli has any number of meat and cheeses to serve, with and without embellishments. Grilling can add taste interest and the chance to use your backyard BBQ.
As to drinks, just open a good Spanish wine. Or on a hot summer’s afternoon, serve a tasty, tangy Sangria, made by adding oranges lemons or limes to red wine poured from an iced pitcher. To fancy it up, freeze fruit juices in an ice cube tray. In a tall glass with a straw, pour the wine over the cubes and top with club soda. Or just mix red wine with Orange Soda. Make your tapas dishes and your beverages as simple or as complicated as you wish. Use your imagination.
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