THE EVERYTHING TAPAS AND SMALL PLATES COOKBOOK
Hundreds of bite-sized recipes from around the world
Lynette Rohrer Shirk
Copyright 2007, F+W Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
An Everything Series Book. Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Publications, Inc.
Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A. www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN-10: 1-59869-467-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-59869-467-3 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60550-246-5 (EPUB)
Printed in the United States of America.
J I H G F E D C B A
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shirk, Lynette Rohrer.
The everything tapas and small plates cookbook / Lynette Rohrer Shirk.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59869-467-3 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60550-246-5 (EPUB)
ISBN-10: 1-59869-467-7 (pbk.)
1. Appetizers I. Title.
TX740.S463 2007
641.812 dc22 2007018985
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THE Tapas and Small Plates Cookbook
Dear Reader,
The first time I ate at a taps bar I was impressed. Olives, cheese, ham, shrimp, fried potatoes all served on little plates to share with everyone at my table. It was like a party, with a variety of tastes in small portions instead of the usual salad and entre I was familiar with in bars and restaurants. That was in 1986, and there was only one tapas bar in town. Since then tapas have become wildly popular, and you can find tapas selections on menus everywhere, regardless of whether or not the restaurant or bar is Spanish.
The variety is stunning. Similar to appetizers, tapas, or small plates, as they are often called, include soups, salads, vegetables, seafood, cured meats, omelets, and fried potatoes. Also included on tapas menus are snacks for nibbling, like marinated olives, nuts, cheese plates, and peppers. Bread is served by the basket, and extra-virgin olive oil is available for dipping.
Small plates have made their way from tapas bars and cafes to restaurants and clubs, which offer bar menus consisting of tapas, or sometimes a whole section of the menu will be dedicated to little jewels of appetizer-size portions in addition to the usual entre selection. Jazz clubs often serve tapas to accompany cocktails and live music, and tapas parties are increasing in popularity. Japanese sushi, Chinese dim sum, Middle Eastern meze, and Mexican antojitos are among the selections in many restaurants now, in addition to the authentic Spanish tapas. I hope you will enjoy this vast selection of tapas-inspired recipes, from the traditional to the eclectic.
Bon Appetit!
To Jeff and Zelda, my happy tapas tasters. I love you both.
Acknowledgments
As always, I would like to thank my husband, Jeff, and daughter, Zelda, for their patience, understanding, and appetites while I worked on this book. Thanks also to Barbara Speer, Dena Nichols, and everyone at Stringfellow School in Coppell, Texas. And to all the Stringfellow moms who watched over my daughter during this school year, especially Lisa Hollen, who also shared her recipes. Yoga Island, Top Hat Dance Centre, Adventure Kids, and Gym Kids also provided respite for me to write while teaching my daughter how to move her body, so maybe she can flamenco dance in Madrid some day! Thanks also to the Beanlands, Conants, Stone Creek Women's Club, and Top Hat moms for various things, and to Brielle K. Matson and June Clark for providing me the opportunity to write about tapas. Finally, I would like to thank Caf Madrid in Dallas for the fine tapas meals.
Introduction
THE WORD TAPAS USUALLY refers to a variety of appetizers or small plates that are served in Spain at tapas bars, cafes, and restaurants, or they can be in the style of Spain but served in any country. For the purposes of this book, however, tapas refers to many different styles of cuisine served in appetizer portions. In some cases there are family-style portions, served on one platter for individuals to help themselves. There are traditional Spanish tapas for the purist, and modern Spanish tapas where flavors from other cuisines are used to make traditional tapas, such as Welsh Rarebit Croquettes.
The portion sizes are smaller than ordinary recipes, since tapas are meant to be served with a lot of other tapas. So if a recipe serves 4, and there are a total of twelve finished hors d'oeuvres, that means you should make about five separate recipes that serve four people to mix and match if you intend to feed them satisfactorily. And portion sizes of recipes like paella, rice, or soup are smaller than they would be if you were to rely on the recipe as an entre. Basically, tapas in this book are designed to be part of a tasting menu of a variety of different recipes. Keep that in mind if you want to feed four people for dinner.
There are also recipes for drinks, including sangria, and for sweets that can be served at the end or combined to form a tapas dessert menu. So don't be surprised when you find a recipe for something that wouldn't be found in the realm of tapas in the traditional sense, such as muffins, because it can be part of your tapas repertoire if you choose.
1
Small Plates from Around the World
IN recent years, instead of using the designations appetizers, salads, and entrees, many American restaurateurs have chosen to break up their menus into small plates and large plates. These restaurants are providing a way to meet the varying needs of diners some who may not be interested in an entre but prefer a smaller portion, others who may have trouble deciding between several entre selections and wish to opt for a few small plates instead of a typical entre, and others still who may want a lot of one dish and a little of another. A do-it-yourself tasting menu is the result, and Spain is where the small plates originated in the form of tapas.
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