Tapas Time

Last Sunday as Kera, Gwen, and I browsed and ate our way through Costco, Kera came up with the brilliant idea to have a tapas party. I started to research vegan recipes, and oh my, everything I saw looked totally yummy. It turns out that tapas has morphed into a general term like sushi; it's more like the Middle Eastern version of dim sum. Lots of little appetizers with delicious ingredients like olives, artichokes, beans, potatoes, chick peas, vegetables, and cheeses. Great stuff to work with even if you're going vegan and leave out the proscuitto, chorizo, and seafood.

Did I mention that it all looked so good that I jus couldn't narrow down what I was going to make? I ended up with 9 or 10 recipes that really appealed to me. Add that to Kera's fantastic brazas potatoes, chick pea cutlets with mustard sauce (to die for), hummus, tabouli, assorted olives, cheese, and nuts, we had more than enough food.

Kera says we had too much food and I guess if I did it again, I wouldn't do the mushrooms cooked with garlic and white wine, the fried peppers with garlic, and the white bean with rosemary spread. I always make an appetizer with polenta, goat cheese, and roasted red peppers, and while I love it and it's delish, I think I wouldn't make it for the tapas party again simply because you have to make it at the last minute as people are walking in the door.

I thought the roasted artichokes and shallots were good, loved the spinach and chickpea salad, the grilled zucchini strips rolled with garlic, ricotta, sun dried tomatoes, and roasted red pepper and topped with a mojo cilantro sauce sitting atop a pita. Okay, they looked ugly but they were really tasty. Finally the empanadas with black beans and bananas sounded very strange but were really quite yummy. There was also a goat cheese with paprika cheese spread that was great. I would make all of those again.

Kera invited her friends, the Mehl's and we invited our neighbors to our little party. We fed 7 adults and 3 children, and truthfully could have fed another 10 people. Next time I post we'e having a tapas party, hop in there and just tell me you're coming because apparently we'll have enough food!