Product Description

Served in bars all over Spain, tapas are the ultimate in bar snacks. From a simple bowl of olives to a mouthwatering selection of seafood, there is always something for everyone. Fish and Seafood are an essential part of any tapas menu and include delicious morsels such as Gambas al Ajillo (garlic prawns) and Tigre Tapas (mussels in overcoats). No tapas selection is complete without traditional Meat and Poultry dishes, such as Cordero al Limon (lamb with lemon) and Chorizo al Vino (chorizo in red wine). Vegetables and Little Extras include classics such as Tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelette) and everyone's favourite vegetarian tapas dish, Patatas Bravas (potatoes in tomato sauce). There are also essential accompaniments like Alioli and Almendras Saladas (salted almonds).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8868 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 64 pages

Review
BBC Good Food, Sainsbury's Magazine, Waitrose Food Illustrated, Olive, Delicious, You Are What You Eat.

Customer Reviews

Lovely!!!!!!
This is a lovely little book, full of the most gorgeous recipies. The food is delicious and can be made as a full meal or snacks. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Small, but delicious
Ok -it's a tiny book, as as I'm only interested in the vegetarian part (as it's mediterranean cooking most of these are actually vegan too), that just leaves me with 14 out of 28. Even some of these have meaty bits to leave out. I decided to experiment with tapas, because I've cut down on what I eat, and tapas recipes do give you a small, satisfying, flavour-rich munch which is quickly prepared to lighten up the end of your day.

But! This book is is quite impressive for all that. There's no explanation of the ingredients, so you're on your own. The most fabulous discovery I made from this book was smoked paprika- it is a phenomenal tasting ingredient- coming in 3 types- sweet, bitter and hot, I managed to find some in a nice tin on the Sainsbury's Special Selection shelves- there is no worthwhile substitute.

For you're delight, I've road tested a handful of recipes.
Spanish omelette/tortilla- this had the best instructions for making a thick omelette I have ever come across. Make sure the small pan is very hot first, so you sear the bottom of the omelette to stop it sticking, and then turn down the heat to cook through the wodge of egg thoroughly. It turned out whole, and for once wasn't soggy the next day.

Patatas bravas- I wasn't so keen on this version. I thought the use of a sprinkling of orange zest was inventive if not to my taste. I couldn't see why they specified half a small tin of tomatoes- surely one tomato would be less wasteful and taste better. Other recipes also suggest using tinned beans- I'm not Delia Smith- I think tinned beans are slimy and bland. In fact, having had several disappointments, I only cook ORGANIC beans from fresh- in this case there really is an extreme improvement in taste. I felt that they could have at least worked out the alternative measurements.

Aubergine cheese fritters- a sandwich of aubergines and cheese held together with a cocktail stick and deep fried - just didn't work and was really hard to construct.

Marinated peppers- worked extremely well, pregrilled peppers dowsed in a heated herby vinaigrette with capers. Delicious both as an instant food and chilled overnight as per the recipe.

Pinchos- bottled white asparagus pate on toast- I have decided that white asparagus is not for me. Green Giant do some if you want to disprove me.

Fried Manchego cheese- mmmmmmmmmmm. Brilliant with membrillo (quince paste).

Salted almonds- which are "deep" fried in olive oil- I wasn't using top notch almonds and I didn't skin them myself so their flavour was a little bland- also at that time I hadn't sourced the smoked paprika so I used chilli flakes. Worth another go.

Based on my sample of recipes, this passed as a book to keep and reliable enough to always give you something to eat which was well thought out, and occasionally meals that are utterly stunning. I'm sure the meaties will find something good as well.

The Wee Tapas Book!
This book is crammed full of recipes that are easy to follow. It may take a while to get the basic ingredients in the cupboard, but once you get going the book has all the key/best tapas dishes.
I'm really pleased I chose this one over the others I saw on Amazon.