Actually, I wasn't really double booked (but it felt like it but on a really tight schedule. I was hosting a lunch with 2/3 of my lunch/diner friends at 12 noon. I had to tell them to come 30 minutes later. Later that day, I was also to host dinner with our friends from NY, along with with Thane (yay!), Tatonka and another friend. The lunch theme was Spanish Tapas. My ,friends were unknowingly guineau pigs to my foray into Spanish appetizers. Here's that
Membrillo that I bought at Fresh and Easy last week. I served it with grapes, crackers and brie cheese. Yeah, I know that Brie isn't Spanish, but I thought I'd include it anyways.
The bottom tier had thinly sliced chorizo from Spain. Also procured at Fresh and Easy. Who would have thunk! Those slices were really tasty - very salty and with a bit of a kick.
One of my experiments, taken from a Tapas cookbook I bought one month ago. This was Chickpeas with chorizo. Instead of an actual sausage that I should have sliced more thickly, I used the pre-sliced sausage that you see in the photo above. I'll be posting the tapas recipes I used in my other blog, J'ai Faim.
Imported Jamon Serrano , bought from Fresh and Easy. There were only 6 slices in the package. This stuff was a bit pricey at roughly $6 a package - about $1.00 a slice. As a back up, I also bought Italian prosciutto (but that was for dinner).
Manchego cheese slices. I tried to imitate the way Costa Brava layered their Manchego cheese. This was relatively painless. Just slice the cheese and arrange. No cooking required. Same with the sliced meats.
Another first attempt - Spanish tortilla. I used my largest frying pan and Bert had to help me invert it onto a cookie sheet because it was too large to go on a plate or even a platter. I sliced it a big raggedly. Looks a bit browned on the top, but it tasted okay. Man, Spanish food is pretty damn oily. I used so much oil that day and some of it splattered on one of my favorite green shirts. The oil spots didn't come out in the wash either.
Early stage of Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic. I used white button and brown crimini. The end product will be seen by the end of this blog. Most of the stuff seen for lunch would be repeated for dinner with the other set of friends.
Another first attempt which came out all right. This is Sauteed Chicken Thighs (with skin on) in White wine with sliced garlic.
Patatas con alioli. Okay, I cheated. I didn't fry these potatoes. These are white potatoes with the skin on that I roasted. The alioli was actually reduced fat mayo with garlic that I smashed with my mortar and pestle along with sea salt.
My new favorite standby, Gambas al Ajillo.
So that was the gamut of my attempts at Spanish cuisine. Not pictured were the baguette slices that we used to eat the Manchego slices along with Serrano ham and the garlic mayo. Along with the usual dessert suspects: the Filipino stuff I had on an earlier post and my lemon cheesecake bars, I bought these dark chocolate molten lava cakes (from F & E) which were a big hit with my lunch guests.
Time lapse....Five hours later, I entertained another set of friends, N & L from NYC, Tatonka, Thane and another friend I'll call P. It was a race for time to clean up and get ready for dinner. I had chicken adobo that I made the other night which I put in my crock pot to warm. Here's a platter of Serrano Ham and another type of cured ham, artfully arranged by my husband.
See this? I also had this out for lunch, but this was a fresh set of tidbits - stuffed olives, marinated piquillo peppers and the sauteed mushrooms. This time, the mushrooms are prettified with my new friend, Italian flat leaf parsley.
A newcomer entree (not seen during today's lunch) was a baked salmon recipe that I learned from my sister in law (Bert's oldest bro's wife). This dish is so damn easy. Just get a fillet of salmon, put it on top of a thin layer of olive oil. Spread mayo (yeah, sounds gross, but it tastes good!) on top of onion soup mix. I happened to use Knorr because I couldn't find my Lipton packets. Nice fatty and salty and oily goodness. Trust me, it does taste good!
Here's my steamy chicken adobo with sliced potatoes. Adobo tastes so much better the next day. You can use any parts of the chicken that you wish so I chose my favorite, the wings and drummettes. To make it interesting, I added slices of ginger when I browned the chicken. I also added several frozen cubes of kalamansi and used less white vinegar.
I'll post the pics later, but N brought over a gift bag of assorted chocolates and goodies from
Jacques Torres . It was great seeing our friends again. We hadn't seen them since our summer visit and also since our 20year high school reunion. They were kind enough to play Connect Four, Sorry and Monopoly with TC. Our friends also ended up playing Mah Jong (using Mr. Saliva's un-numbered set) into the late night hours. It was fun catching up with P and chatting with Tatonka about his upcoming trip to the Philippines. Since we didn't have a huge holiday dinner party like we normally do, this was the closest we came to it this year.
The bottom tier had thinly sliced chorizo from Spain. Also procured at Fresh and Easy. Who would have thunk! Those slices were really tasty - very salty and with a bit of a kick.
One of my experiments, taken from a Tapas cookbook I bought one month ago. This was Chickpeas with chorizo. Instead of an actual sausage that I should have sliced more thickly, I used the pre-sliced sausage that you see in the photo above. I'll be posting the tapas recipes I used in my other blog, J'ai Faim.
Imported Jamon Serrano , bought from Fresh and Easy. There were only 6 slices in the package. This stuff was a bit pricey at roughly $6 a package - about $1.00 a slice. As a back up, I also bought Italian prosciutto (but that was for dinner).
Manchego cheese slices. I tried to imitate the way Costa Brava layered their Manchego cheese. This was relatively painless. Just slice the cheese and arrange. No cooking required. Same with the sliced meats.
Another first attempt - Spanish tortilla. I used my largest frying pan and Bert had to help me invert it onto a cookie sheet because it was too large to go on a plate or even a platter. I sliced it a big raggedly. Looks a bit browned on the top, but it tasted okay. Man, Spanish food is pretty damn oily. I used so much oil that day and some of it splattered on one of my favorite green shirts. The oil spots didn't come out in the wash either.
Early stage of Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic. I used white button and brown crimini. The end product will be seen by the end of this blog. Most of the stuff seen for lunch would be repeated for dinner with the other set of friends.
Patatas con alioli. Okay, I cheated. I didn't fry these potatoes. These are white potatoes with the skin on that I roasted. The alioli was actually reduced fat mayo with garlic that I smashed with my mortar and pestle along with sea salt. 
My new favorite standby, Gambas al Ajillo.
So that was the gamut of my attempts at Spanish cuisine. Not pictured were the baguette slices that we used to eat the Manchego slices along with Serrano ham and the garlic mayo. Along with the usual dessert suspects: the Filipino stuff I had on an earlier post and my lemon cheesecake bars, I bought these dark chocolate molten lava cakes (from F & E) which were a big hit with my lunch guests.
Time lapse....Five hours later, I entertained another set of friends, N & L from NYC, Tatonka, Thane and another friend I'll call P. It was a race for time to clean up and get ready for dinner. I had chicken adobo that I made the other night which I put in my crock pot to warm. Here's a platter of Serrano Ham and another type of cured ham, artfully arranged by my husband.
See this? I also had this out for lunch, but this was a fresh set of tidbits - stuffed olives, marinated piquillo peppers and the sauteed mushrooms. This time, the mushrooms are prettified with my new friend, Italian flat leaf parsley.
A newcomer entree (not seen during today's lunch) was a baked salmon recipe that I learned from my sister in law (Bert's oldest bro's wife). This dish is so damn easy. Just get a fillet of salmon, put it on top of a thin layer of olive oil. Spread mayo (yeah, sounds gross, but it tastes good!) on top of onion soup mix. I happened to use Knorr because I couldn't find my Lipton packets. Nice fatty and salty and oily goodness. Trust me, it does taste good!
Here's my steamy chicken adobo with sliced potatoes. Adobo tastes so much better the next day. You can use any parts of the chicken that you wish so I chose my favorite, the wings and drummettes. To make it interesting, I added slices of ginger when I browned the chicken. I also added several frozen cubes of kalamansi and used less white vinegar.
I'll post the pics later, but N brought over a gift bag of assorted chocolates and goodies from Jacques Torres . It was great seeing our friends again. We hadn't seen them since our summer visit and also since our 20year high school reunion. They were kind enough to play Connect Four, Sorry and Monopoly with TC. Our friends also ended up playing Mah Jong (using Mr. Saliva's un-numbered set) into the late night hours. It was fun catching up with P and chatting with Tatonka about his upcoming trip to the Philippines. Since we didn't have a huge holiday dinner party like we normally do, this was the closest we came to it this year. 
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