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The speed record for creating a tasty lunch of exceptional quality featuring tinned seafood? This serving suggestion. A two ingredient, two-step tapa of such exceptional quality, prepared with such ease, you'll be in awe of yourself for having the necessaries on hand so you can prepare it at any moment and solve the "What's for lunch?" question in an instant.
Total Time: 8 seconds. The all-time record.
Servings: 1 (though obviously you can repeat, as needed)
1. Pop the tin of clams and drain the brine.
2. Mix in the chili garlic sauce to taste. Everyone's got their own favored ratio of clams-to-chili-garlic-sauce, and that's great. Be you.
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Escalivada: fire-roasted eggplant, pimientos, and onion. Slow-cooked and smoky, and here accompanied by a Cantabrian anchovy fillet. Ready to eat, vegan (when not joined by an anchovy), delightfully flavorful.
This simple, traditional appetizer comes together in minutes.
Total Time: Depends on your toaster and desired level of toasting.
Servings: Based on available number of slices of bread. With one tray of escalivada and at least a half of a loaf, we'll say 4 to 6.
1. Slice a fresh loaf of bread in slices of not insignificant thickness, so suitable for absorbing olive oil and flavors of the escalivada, and toast those slices.
2. Dress toast with extra virgin olive oil, if you'd like. Not entirely necessary, but rarely is it wrong to add a touch of olive oil.
3. Layer with escalivada, making sure to mix on each slice a little of the eggplant, peppers, and onions. The ideal spread provides a a taste of each with every bite.
4. Top with a Cantabrian anchovy fillet or two and serve.
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Why waste time tinkering with a new recipe when one has already been perfected? Ina Garten's recipe for garlic roasted potatoes is the only recipe we or you or anyone needs for roasted potatoes. Did we maybe add a little saffron? Yes. Okay, so a little tinkering can't be avoided. But, the saffron was just there. It worked.
Total Time: 10 minutes preparation, about an hour waiting about, pour yourself a cocktail and wait for greatness.
1. Look at Ina's recipe for the specifics. Follow them. Add a little saffron, if you'd like.
2. Pull those gorgeous little roasted potatoes from the oven and drench them with the delectable salsa brava.
3. Have another cocktail.
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A superb little sardine appetizer with lots of little sardines (and piquillo peppers).
Total Time: The time it takes to toast the garlic toast, if you've already made the pickled onions, which you should have.
1. There are many suggested variations on how best to pickle red onions. What is one of them? This is! Mostly what we're talking about here is a mixture of thinly sliced red onions, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, warm water. Let it sit. Be patient. You can store them in the refrigerator for a few weeks, easy. Use them for all sorts of things. Tacos, perhaps.
2. Make garlic toast. You probably have a favorite way of doing this. No? Here's how Rachael Ray makes garlic bread.
3. Place the sardinillas and piquillo pepper slices on top of those pieces of garlic toast, the pickled onions on top of that, and over it all give a few turns of the black pepper grinder.
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More specifically, a white bean purée. For expediency, you can find such a creamy spread at your local market under the guise of a dip or white bean hummus. If time is on your side, you can create your own in about 30 minutes following these instructions from Leite's Culinaria. A simple montadito that can be made in moments (once you have the purée ready and waiting ahead of time).
Total Time: depends.
1. Put all the things above on top of each other, in the order pictured.
2. While sampling what you've made, perhaps you'll find yourself gazing out the window at the skyline of Chicago, softly lit in the late afternoon sun as clouds roll in off the lake. Offices in skyscrapers going dark as their dwellers depart for the night, apartments brightening as their inhabitants return home. The far too early frigid air snapping at it all, almost visible against the plumes of warm air emanating from chimneys from here to there. Something like this.
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Seasonally appropriate color coordination is often not considered to the extent it should be when it comes to pintxos. This post is meant to remedy that.
Below, you will find three conservas serving suggestions for your holiday party, all of which can be concocted together in under 30 minutes. Time is, as always, of the essence, and more of it should be spent enjoying the revelry of the season. Make these pintxos, hang the mistletoe, put on the Christmas playlist, and partake in all the good cheer.
A vegan cashew sauce from Bon Appétit takes just a few easy steps and a good blender. With Donostia Foods White Asparagus and Piment d'Espelette, it becomes an unstoppable force, satisfying all.
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Just pop open a tin of Donostia Foods Small Sardines with Piquillo Pepper and place on toast or another consumable conveyance of your choosing. Add some chives, if so desired. Want more piquillos? No problem.
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Pan con tomate is not just for mornings. It's for all times. Our tried and true recipe is here. For a burst of umami simply top with Donostia Foods Cantabrian Anchovies.
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The traditional Thanksgiving dishes we look forward to every year, turkey, that sweet potato thing with a pile of roasted marshmallows on top, anything not green beans, will always reign supreme. But, it's nice to mix things up a bit every year and introduce new dishes that broaden the holiday's dining options. Behold: three tapas that will assuredly delight most of the family (and get a small nod of acceptance from the rest).
1. Combine all of the above, as pictured. Have fun with it. Yes, we're saying this is a one step tapa, which is perhaps debatable, but this is all free-wheeling, so just go with it.
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Total Time: Let's say seven minutes. Makes an appropriate number of servings.
1. Chop a few of the ingredients above, mix them all up, put them on the tiny toasts.
2. Learn more about sauce vierge, impress friends with your refined sauce knowledge.
3. In that pan mentioned in step two, add the perfect al dente pasta and clams and heat until you think, yeah, yeah I want to have dinner now. Squeeze the juice of the lemon all about and garnish with parsley and guindilla peppers. Enjoy.
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Total Time: 10-15 minutes. Makes a serving or two, we'll say.
1. In a food processor or blender, combine piquillo peppers, sherry vinegar, and olive oil and blend until you've achieved the desired smoothness. Season as you wish.
2. Pan-fry the chipirones over medium heat in the oil from the tin itself until they become golden brown and undeniably appetizing.
3. The green bits of scallion and a squeeze of lemon will finish it off.
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photo by Andy Suarez
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A variety of squid and octopus appear in Spanish seafood conservas by different names; pulpo, calamares, chipirones. What are chipirones? The smallest of the squid. So there you have it. In this quick and delicious recipe chef Andy Suarez pan-fries them along with a romesco-esque sauce you can put together for a simple lunch or dinner or whatever meal the clock says is upcoming.
1. In a food processor or blender, combine piquillo peppers, sherry vinegar, and olive oil and blend until you've achieved the desired smoothness. Season as you wish.
2. Pan-fry the chipirones over medium heat in the oil from the tin itself until they become golden brown and undeniably appetizing.
3. The green bits of scallion and a squeeze of lemon will finish it off.
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recipe by chef Andy Suarez
A simple tapa that'll take just a few minutes to prepare. Heat up some olive oil and sliced garlic in a pan. When the aroma of the garlic hits add the clams and a splash of white wine. Cover, briefly, until the desired warmth has been achieved. Serve atop toasted crusty bread with parsley. Enjoy.
A variation on a recipe found on the My Family in Spain blog.
It’s an idyllic Saturday night and you’re inspired to gather friends and family for an impromptu party. Sharing laughs over good food and drink is always enjoyable. Long prep time and toiling in the kitchen is not. If the notion of too much time laboring over food preparation is preventing you from putting out word that the party is at your place, fear not. The ever present obstacles of time and labor can be overcome with pintxos.
Pintxos (peen-tchos) are the small plates you’ll find lining the bars throughout the Parte Vieja (Old Town) in Donostia-San Sebastian, the renowned culinary city in northern Spain. In Basque Country the term includes all tapas, while elsewhere in Spain pintxo more specifically means a tapa that is skewered on a toothpick. Montaditos, just to add a bit more confusion, are served atop a small slice of bread instead of skewered; think miniature, open-faced sandwiches.
Conservas, foods preserved in tins or jars, are the ingredients that make up many of these small plates and an age-old tradition in Spain. Using only top-quality ingredients, Spaniards have created delicacies unlike anything Americans have come to expect from typical canned foods found on grocery store shelves. Spanish canned seafood in particular is becoming more well-known for its exemplary quality, thanks to the likes of Anthony Bourdain and other chefs who have an affinity for Bonito del Norte tuna, Cantabrian anchovies, or octopus in olive oil. Other specialties like white asparagus, guindilla peppers, and piquillos are appearing on more menus across America as the notion of serving conservas, even straight from the tin, is becoming more popular.
Beyond the delectable quality of the ingredients, the appeal of conservas, to professional and home chefs alike, is the gourmet dishes that can be made with minimal preparation. You don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen to serve your guests authentic Spanish small-bites of the highest order. You don’t need to venture across the Atlantic to wander the cobbled streets of San Sebastian to enjoy the good food and conviviality that comes along with it (though such a trip is highly recommended). All you do need are a few jars and tins of conservas, some fresh bread, a few staples, and some friends.
Below are seven pintxos that together can be prepared in less than half an hour. With these simple delicacies you can make the most of any party and enjoy the flavors of Basque Country from the comforts of home.
The Gilda is the classic pintxo of San Sebastian, named for Rita Hayworth’s character in the eponymous film. Simply a Cantabrian anchovy fillet, guindilla pepper, and manzanilla olive skewered on a toothpick.
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Mussels in escabeche piled atop fresh ricotta cheese on slices of bread.
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Octopus in olive oil, marinated grilled artichokes, and piment d’Espelette.
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Sardines in olive oil, roasted cherry tomato, chives, and a drizzle of olive oil.
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Bonito del Norte tuna, piquillo pepper, mayonnaise or aioli, and an olive.
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Cantabrian anchovy, manchego cheese, and apricot jam.
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White asparagus, piquillo pepper, goat cheese, and mayonnaise or aioli.
