Time for Tapas

Getting started

This is not something that orginated with me. While on a recent visit to my third son who lives in Madrid, Spain, he came up with the idea that his Madre needed to do something creative through a blog. Because he thinks I am a great cook, frankly, I just cook, I don't think I am that great, but that is neither here nor there, he thought I should post something on a blog with a video. So, what I am doing right now, January 25th, 2010, at 5h57 p.m. is entering my first blog. As for the rest, " a ver", which means, "we'll see" in Spanish.

Let me just give a short background on what "tapas" are. The word “tapas” is derived from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover”. According to The Joy of Cooking, the original tapas were the slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in Andalusian taverns used to cover their glasses between sips. This was a practical measure meant to prevent fruit flies from hovering over the sweet sherry. The meat used to cover the sherry was normally ham or chorizo, which are both very salty and activate thirst. Because of this, bartenders and restaurant owners began creating a variety of snacks to serve with sherry, thus increasing their alcohol sales. The tapas eventually became as important as the sherry.

Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as puntillitas, which are battered, fried baby squid).

The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them. Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas.

Americans have progressively abandoned their kitchens in recent years to eat in mostly mediocre restaurants paying for food, that is expensive and tip giving has sky rocketed to the point where you are laying down almost as much as you paid for the menu. What happened to the days of having "people over for a meal"? Okay, it does take time and effort, so why not take less effort but more time with your friends? Tapas are not expensive, for the most part, and you can make a fairly easy meal out of 3 or 4 tapas, where for many you can prepare in advance or partically prepare in advance. You can stand around and talk as you do the finished touches. You don't even need to set a fancy table. In fact, if you have a coffee table you can use that to set your little dishes on. For the most part you only need small plates, napkins, a good bottle of wine or Sangria and many of the tapas can be eaten with the fingers or one untensil, a fork.

My first demonstration of tapas is going to be "patatas bravas". Patatas Bravas get their name from their area of origin: the Brava coast of Catalonia. The most typical example of Spanish tapa, they can be found in pretty much any tapas bar worth its salt in the nation. This is one of my favorites and I think, the first one I made when I lived in Madrid. There are several recipes but I will show you how I make mine and how I invented my own tomato sauce to put on top.