People like to bring home souvenirs from their holiday destinations, right?! Been there, done that. These days I am not looking anymore for t-shirts or other knick-knacks – we specialize in food now ;P Whether it’s actual food from a supermarket somewhere or simply ideas and recipes for specialties from the country and region we’ve been to. The title »Tapas Special« gives away already which country we like a lot and where we draw a lot of inspiration from when it comes to food and recipes ;)
Week two of the Spanish Special! Last week was all about tapas – this week will include some baking again – just not today :)
You might think “Oh that looks like french fries with ketchup and mayonnaise!” – well, it’s not! ;P The “patatas” may look like a rustic version of french fries, but the sauce definitely makes the difference here. No super-sweet ketchup. This tomato sauce packs a punch! Of course, only if you want to, but you should go all the way. It will taste much better when the sauce is hot ;)
Tortilla is something I only recently started to really like. I have made it several times already, but I was never really satisfied with the result. Taste was great, but the looks needed definitely some improvement! I had big problems with the coordination of my arms, eyes and the pan when it was time to turn the tortilla. It is almost as bad as making a big Rösti… ok that is actually much worse ;P
I guess you could say this is the equivalent of roasted peanuts in American Sports Bars: Easy Peasy Smoked Almonds (Almendras Fritas). Very popular in Spanish bars and restaurants ;) We love them so much here.
There are many versions of tapas. In Spain, these small dishes are usually served to accompany a glass of wine or beer in a bar or restaurant. If you order a drink, you normally get a small bite along with it. This can be a few chips or a mix of nuts and dried fruits. If you get something delicious like these Dates & Prunes wrapped in Bacon, this can be considered the »jackpot«… because it doesn’t happen that often ;P
I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;) 
