Spanish tapas. Tapas - traditional Spanish snacks

14.08.2019 Fish dishes

Tapas-Spanish snacks

Tapasare Spanish light snacksthat can be made from just about anything. The assortment of tapas is very diverse: from cold meats and cheeses to hot seafood, meat and vegetables. They can be cold and hot, meat and vegetable, mushroom and fish, spicy and tender, light and satisfying.
Mini delicacies tapas appeared in Spain as snack to sherry. The cunning innkeepers covered the glasses with sherry with slices of ham or sausage so that the guests would not complain that the main course was not brought in for a long time. Almonds and olives can be wrapped in ham and salami, fried shrimps are often added. Peperoni pods are stuffed with a mass of curd cheese and fried on the grill, and carrots are stewed in a marinade of vegetable oil, sherry, balsamic vinegar and rosemary.

On this page you will find an overview of delicious tapas recipes... They are easy to make and will be a delicious surprise for your guests. Tapas - an excellent option for a buffet table and snacks at a Spanish-style party.

Tapas "Spicy shrimps and mango"

Ingredients: cooked shrimp, 1 mango, spicy cayenne pepper, 1 lemon, parsley, tabasco sauce, ground black pepper.

Squeeze the lemon juice into a container, add a pinch of cayenne pepper, tabasco sauce, black pepper, and finely chopped parsley. Mix everything well. Peel the shrimp and place in a container in the lemon juice and spice mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Peel the mango, cut into cubes.

Place a shrimp or two and a mango cube on a wooden skewer and serve with white wine.

Tapas "Cheese balls with ham"

Mix two types of cheese, make balls and leave in the freezer for an hour. Meanwhile, bake the ham (ham) in the oven until crisp, pass through a blender. Dip the cheese balls in crispy jamon chunks, stick a toothpick into each ball and refrigerate until serving.

Tapas "Stuffed olives with pickled anchovies"

This easy tapas recipe consists of pickled anchovies wrapped in strips and held together with a toothpick.

Tapas "Jamon with melon"

Jamon and melon are a classic sweet and savory combination.

Tapas "Salmon with cream cheese and anchovies"

This appetizer recipe consists of a slice of crispy bread with a slice of smoked salmon wrapped around a slice of cream cheese and garnished with an anchovy fillet roll. Fasten all ingredients with a toothpick.

Tapas "Red pepper with anchovies and garlic"

For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients: any canned peppers (store or), anchovy fillets in olive oil, thinly sliced \u200b\u200bgarlic, bread.
Optional: toothpicks.
The options are: You can substitute a piece of garlic, for example, with a small piece of onion or an olive.

Tapas "Salmon with egg and mayonnaise"

For this snack recipe you will need the following ingredients for 10 people: 10 slices of smoked salmon, thinly sliced, 2 hard-boiled eggs (grate the white of one egg), freshly ground black pepper, mayonnaise, fresh and crispy bread, lemon or lime juice. Optional: toothpicks.

Place a slice of salmon on a slice of bread. If you like, you can add a few drops of lemon juice or lime juice on top of the salmon. Using a teaspoon, place the grated egg white over a circle of hard-boiled egg and pepper to taste. Garnish with mayonnaise and hold together with a toothpick.

Tapas "Salmon with egg, shrimp and anchovy"

For this recipe you will need the following ingredients: smoked salmon, thinly sliced; shrimp, cooked, chilled and peeled; fillet of anchovies in olive oil; lemon or lime juice, hard-boiled egg, fresh bread.

This style tapas on bread is very common in tapas bars and restaurants in San Sebastian, Bilbao and other cities in the Basque Country.

Olives with garlic and chili

In Spain, this style tapaswhen you select a snack from a plate or bowl with your fingers or a toothpick called "Cosas de Picar" or "Things to Chop". With this recipe, you can turn a rather boring jar of salt water olives into a great a savory snack.

For this Spanish recipe snacks with olivesyou will need the following ingredients: jar olives; 1-3 garlic cloves, chopped; 1-3 garlic cloves, pressed or crushed; red chili, chopped, with seeds; olive oil; provencal herbs.

Drain the olives, put in a bowl, pour over with olive oil, add garlic, red chili, herbs and mix thoroughly. Store in refrigerator for at least a few hours to allow fragrances to mix. Serve these Cosas de Picar with toothpicks for everyone!

Tapas "Grapes with cheese"

Wash the grapes and bake in a preheated oven to 200 * C for 5 minutes or so.

Cover the slices of bread with the slices of cheese and place in the preheated oven for about 6 minutes until you see the cheese melt. Place a few grapes on each slice of cheese bread and serve ..... grapes with cheese taste like a kiss.

Apple chips and Roquefort cheese

Ingredients for 6 people: 2 red apples, 1/3 cup icing sugar, 1/3 cup wheat flour, corn oil for frying, 100 g blue Roquefort cheese, nuts to taste.

Cut the apples into thin slices (as much as possible). Mix flour with powdered sugar, breaded apple pieces in this mixture and fry until golden brown on both sides. Place them on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve with blue cheese on top and walnuts to taste.

Tapas "Dates stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in bacon"


For this easy recipe tapas You will need the following ingredients: dates, goat cheese, jamon (bacon, ham), olive oil for frying.

Tapas are a variety of hot and cold snacks. But for the Spaniards, it's not just food, it's a lifestyle. In Spanish, there is even a verb tapear - it translates as "going to bars, chatting with friends and acquaintances, drinking wine and eating tapas."
No one knows exactly when and how this tradition originated, but there are several versions. According to one of them, the king of Castile and León Alfonso X the Wise (1221-1284) issued a law according to which innkeepers were ordered to serve strong drinks only accompanied by snacks: visitors who were drunk on an empty stomach lost their decent appearance and posed a certain threat to themselves and those around them. ... Dishes with such snacks were brought directly onto mugs of beer or wine. This is where the name comes from: tapas means caps in Spanish. More recently, in Spanish bars, tapas was served for free with drinks, but now more and more often they have to be ordered separately.
Any cuts will act as tapas, the classic version is jamon or chorizo, pickled or grilled vegetables, fried or pickled mushrooms, potato or rice balls, fried calamari or mussels. And, of course, an endless string of tartlets and mini-sandwiches with sauces, pâtés, tuna and egg, grated pepper and tomato with onions and garlic, grated cheeses with mayonnaise, fried eggs on a large round piece of tomato, sardines and anchovies with celery and lettuce , pieces of chicken or meat in wine sauce, all kinds of salads, seafood in various sauces, small potatoes in aromatic herbs.
I offer you two snacks: Coca - traditional caramelized crispbreads, and Empanadillas - fried cakes. The basis of these snacks is the same - the dough.


Preparation:
By and large, any dough can be used: puff, "filo", yeast, with the addition of pork fat ...
I suggest wine dough with olive oil.
Mix the sifted flour with baking powder and salt. Add wine and olive oil gradually.
Knead the dough quickly and set aside for an hour.

In the meantime, prepare butter for Coca - mix chopped garlic, parsley and paprika with olive oil. Let it brew for 30 minutes.

For the filling of the empanadillas, finely chop the onion and garlic. Saute in olive oil until transparent.

Add diced pepper and tomato. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add tuna and diced egg. Stir, add parsley. Remove from heat, cool.

The dough was infused, became soft and elastic.
Roll out the dough 6-7 mm thick. Cut out the circles, brush them with olive oil.
Lay them out on a sheet of parchment.

Cut the tomatoes into slices at least 5mm thick and cover the dough with them. Sprinkle with salt and sugar.
Brush with spicy oil.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 * C for 30 minutes.

Cool the finished coca and arrange it to your liking. Fillers - anchovies, cheese, sausage, eggs, tuna ...

Coca comes in many shapes and sizes. The Spaniards call these pies the sister of pizza ...

For empanadillas, roll out the dough into a layer, cut out circles 10-12 cm in diameter.
Put a spoonful of the filling in the center, mold the edges and press them with a fork.
Fry the empanadillas in heated vegetable oil (this is how they differ from the empanadas that are baked).

These pies are both warm and hot.

The dough resembles puff - crumbly and tasty.

Help yourself!
Buen provecho!

Kitchens. In fact, this is an appetizer that is prepared from a wide variety of ingredients. Moreover, it is customary to call any food that is suitable for a small buffet table or friendly gatherings. So, we bring to your attention several options for cooking such a dish as tapas (recipes with photos in abundance can be found on the pages of electronic culinary magazines). By offering your friends such an original dish as an appetizer - cold or hot - you will certainly earn sincere praise and gratitude from others. Said Spanish tapas are made with different ingredients so that everyone can choose what they like!

Cooking tapas: option number 1

Required Ingredients:

  • 2 cloves of garlic;
  • 5-6 dry sherry;
  • 0.5 kg of champignons;
  • freshly squeezed lemon juice;
  • 3 dessert spoons of pine nuts;
  • 6-7 teaspoons of olive oil
  • 4-5 sprigs of herbs (parsley, for example);
  • pepper, spices and salt to taste.

Cooking process

Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and cut them into large pieces. Then we wash the greens and tear off the leaves from it. You also need to peel and chop the garlic finely. Fry the garlic in a preheated pan with olive oil for about 3 minutes. Then add nuts with chopped mushrooms to it and fill the mixture with sherry. You need to cook this dish until the liquid evaporates. Then add salt, spices, lemon juice and pepper to your liking. It is best to spread the appetizer on pre-fried toast, decorating with green leaves. This tapas is a great option

Ingredients for the second tapas variation:

  • 9-11 small dried chili peppers
  • 500 grams of peanuts;
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic;
  • 2 dessert spoons of olive oil;
  • a spoonful of salt.

Cooking process

Put the chili peppers in the mortar and crush them. Then peel the garlic and chop finely. It is best to use a garlic. Then put the crushed peppers in a pan, add the garlic, fry in olive oil for about two minutes. After that, peanuts are added to the products and fried until golden brown. Then, after frying, this mixture is laid out on plates and sprinkled with salt. This tapas is a great option for beer.

Tapas is that easy! Recipe number 3

Required Ingredients:

  • 250-300 grams of sheep cheese;
  • 0.5 kilograms of ham;
  • 3 hard boiled eggs;
  • 50-70 grams of walnuts.

Cooking process

Grate on a coarse grater, chop the nuts finely, and chop the boiled eggs. Then stir the resulting mixture. Then take the ham and cut into thin slices. Spread each piece with the resulting mixture. Roll up into a mini roll and pierce with a skewer. This tapas is a great option for any buffet table!

It should be noted that there are a lot of options for traditional Spanish snacks. You can use almost any food you will find in your refrigerator. Place a variety of snacks on each plate, add matching drinks and have a sunny country party. Because all Spanish dishes, directly or indirectly related to appetizers, can be called tapas. And this name, in turn, symbolizes Spain.

Before the arrival of guests, any hostess thinks what can be served for an appetizer, before the main meal for a glass of wine? Tapas is the perfect solution! Probably, many people hear this word, but perhaps not everyone knows what it is.

On the one hand, the word "Tapas" means a way of serving small pieces of baguette, vegetables, meat or seafood with a filling, and on the other hand, this same combination of filling and bread is called tapas.

The tradition of serving small cold snacks before meals, which include meat, vegetables, fish, and so on, came to us from Spain. Now these snacks are popular not only in Spain, but also in the countries of the Balkan Peninsula and in countries located on the Mediterranean coast.

Typically, tapas are served on small plates, but the variety of toppings can truly surprise any gourmet. Each national cuisine undoubtedly has its own traditions of table setting and combinations of various ingredients, but you can still highlight the basic principles of composing tapas fillings. For example, mushrooms are stuffed with meat, cheese and herbs. Seafood is usually served with pies or grilled or pickled vegetables. Well, and of course, such a snack is served with bread, which is baked in each country according to its own technology.

In the modern world, there is often a mixture of different cuisines from different countries, and this affects tapas too. Asian cuisine has recently become popular in Europe, so you can find elements of Japanese sushi in tapas.

Tapas in Spain

In Spain, tapas is considered to be more than a simple food, tapas is a part of Spanish culture. The word itself comes from the Spanish word for "cover" or "cover". One of the opinions is that initially tapas consisted of cuts of meat, vegetables and bread, which were covered with a glass of wine so that insects did not get there. According to another version, the king of Castile and Leon, Alfonso X the Wise, introduced a law according to which it was impossible to serve alcoholic drinks without snacks in refectories and taverns, so that visitors would not drink on an empty stomach and behave appropriately.

In Spain, there is a whole tradition of how to eat tapas: it is customary to eat it while standing, with wine or sangria, in a large company and during easy communication during a siesta. There is even a so-called "tapas marathon" - tapes: after 09 pm Spaniards gather in companies and wander from bar to bar, in each of which they eat a few tapas, washed down with wine and make new, pleasant acquaintances.

In Spain, making tapas is an art. There are even special competitions where the ability to prepare them, the variety of fillings and the method of serving are assessed. The main venue is the city of Valladoline.

Below we provide a list of tapas toppings that you can find in any small cafe in Spain, and of course, repeat yourself:

  • serano ham
  • olives and cheese (manchego)
  • meatballs (albondigas)
  • pickled or deep-fried anchovies
  • chorizo \u200b\u200bsausage
  • salted cod (bakalau)
  • fried squid rings (squid)
  • crispy salted potatoes (papas arrugadas)
  • sun-dried tomatoes
  • garlic sauce (alioli) with bread and potatoes
  • omelet

Each country has its own preferences for what to make tapas.

In Portugal, tapas are even called in another way - "petiskos". They can include deep-fried fish, meatballs, octopus salad, olives and the national dish of Portugal - salted dried cod - "bacalau". It's hard to resist such a variety and not try.

In Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey, these snacks are called ouzo, raki or meze. They are prepared from vegetables, fish and seafood. Well, in every region, of course, you can find something typical or unusual. For example, the famous tzatziki - grape leaves stuffed with a mixture of rice, yogurt, cucumber and garlic. Or a seafood salad with baked vegetables and sheep's cheese.

Tapas in Italy

In Italy, tapas are referred to as antipasti. Here are the popular fillings in this country:

  • parma ham
  • mozzarella
  • grilled bread with a slice of tomato and a couple of drops of olive oil (bruschetta)
  • very thin slices of beef with parmesan cheese, olive oil and balsamic sauce (carpaccio)
  • grilled or deep-fried vegetables (eggplant, bell peppers, zucchini)
  • veal with tuna sauce (vitello tonato)
  • pickled sardines
  • baked shellfish

In Italy, small snacks (called antipasti) are usually served in a transparent glass container. This way of serving dishes is very convenient, because the guests can immediately see what is lying and where.

Despite. that the tradition of making tapas is different in each country, but in any case it is a very tasty, unusual and quick snack. You can turn on all your imagination, use all the ingredients in the refrigerator - and the result will be amazing anyway. You will be able to surprise and feed all the guests. By the way, tapas can be prepared as a meal for a buffet table, picnic, or taken to work.

Tapas have become a symbol of Spanish gastronomy. The most famous chefs are fighting to come up with the most exquisite and original appetizer. Tourists from all over the world visiting Spain do not deny the opportunity to indulge in these varied dishes.

The Spanish call tapas "the real queen of Spanish cuisine." But how did they come about and what path they took to become what they are now.

No one will tell you the date or the exact place where tapas first appeared.

Literally translated from Spanish, the word "tapa" means "cover".

The Spaniards love to tell different legends about how these snacks came to be. Among the multitude of these stories, the main motives can be distinguished.
The most popular version tells how King Alfonso XIII was served a glass of wine in one tavern, and to prevent dust and small insects from getting into the drink, the waiter covered the glass with a thin slice of ham. The king liked this way of serving napik + appetizer very much and he introduced this custom among his subjects.

Another story is related to King Alfonso X the Wise. Doctors ordered him to drink a glass of wine several times a day to keep his head clear, the king drank wine accompanied by small portions of food. Subsequently, according to his decree, wine and small snacks were served in taverns and bars, this was done to reduce the number of drunken visitors.

A similar story is associated with the era of the Catholic Kings, when a law was passed obliging innkeepers to include a small snack in the price of a drink so that visitors would not get drunk and rowdy.

Other theories say tapas originate from peasants who drank a glass of wine with a little food (usually cheese or corned beef) to maintain their strength while working.

There is also a story about an enterprising tavern owner who got a bad batch of wine and, to mask the taste, he began to serve it with small slices of cheese and pieces of sausage.

Be that as it may, in the Spanish language there was a new meaning of the word "Tapas" - "a light snack served with beer or wine", and a new expression "ir a tapear", which can be translated as "to walk to eat tapas." This has become one of the most beloved pastimes of the Spaniards: go to a bar with a group of friends or relatives, or even whole families, order drinks and branded tapas, small portions are easy to share with each other. The atmosphere of the tapas bar is conducive to a cheerful friendly conversation and relaxation after a hard day. Usually, visiting only one institution is not limited to business and visitors move from bar to bar, trying a variety of snacks, because each bar has its own specialization.

Spaniards love lively, noisy bars and they prefer to eat tapas right behind a branded counter without further ado, the very essence of ir de tapas is to relax, unwind, enjoy the conversation and atmosphere.

Types of tapas

There are a lot of them, the main requirement is that the portion should be small.

There are several main types of Spanish tapas:


Typically, these bars work on the principle of "self-service": you go to the bar, pick up the pintxos you like, note that toothpicks can be of different sizes, the cost will depend on it. To pay for the order, you go to the checkout and count on the number of zubrchists remaining on your plate.

Best tapas bar in Barcelona

They are located at some distance from the usual tourist routes, but if you want to find them will not be a big problem.

A distinctive feature of their modest interior, the menu only in Spanish / Catalan, a huge number of visitors.

Quimet & Quimet

Address: Carrer del Poeta Cabanyes, 25, 08004 Barcelona

One of the oldest bars in Barcelona, \u200b\u200ba very tiny institution, it also combines a wine cellar. Besides the traditional freshest tapas, there is also an excellent selection of wines.

Cal Pep

Address: Plaça de les Olles, 8, 08003 Barcelona

One of the best establishments in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bthe place is so popular with the local population that in order to get there, you have to stand in line. Famous for its seafood tapas. Name dish tartare. The service is beyond praise. There is no menu, all dishes are ordered exclusively on the recommendation of the staff.

Los toreros

Address: Calle de Xuclà, 5

This modest, at first glance, bar-restaurant offers an amazing selection of a variety of tapas at very affordable prices.

100 montaditos

A chain of establishments where you can enjoy classic Spanish montaditos at a very reasonable price, and on Wednesdays and Sundays there is a promotion when any sandwich or snack costs only € 1.

Addresses of 100 montaditos in Barcelona

  • Av. del Paraŀlel, 69
  • Rambla del Raval, 41
  • Carrer de Pau Claris, 68
  • Calle de Sants, 32
  • Carrer d'Aribau, 242

It is not necessary to look for special bars, you will be offered almost all the snacks in any bar. Prices and quality can vary considerably.