Spanish Tapas

In 2018, mom, MyLisa and I went to Barcelona, Spain for a long weekend. It’s a beautiful city that we immediately fell in love with. The food was amazing, some of our favorite places to visit were the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Picaso museum, and meandering the streets of the old city. We took a cooking class, visited the Mercato to shop, and watched a butcher slice wafer thin pieces of iberico jamon.

On our first night we meandered the streets of our neighborhood, Gràcia, looking for a local restaurant our Airbnb host recommended called Gasterea. At first glance it looked really small, long and thin, and we were lucky to get bar seats. When we left, the place was packed and we could hardly get out. It served Basque tapas and pintxos caliente (served on a baguette slice). OMG – everything we ate was delicious. So this meal, or mixture of small plates, was inspired by our trip.

We decided on the following plates and cheeses:

Gambas al Ajillo (Shrimp with garlic)
Albondigas (Spanish meatballs)
Pan con tomate (Bread with tomato)
Manchego and Iberico jamon

I made the meatballs and sauce ahead of time, and prepared the tomate. This is the second time in a few weeks I grated a tomato. It’s an unusual experience, but I’m finding it in more recipes. When I went to the store to buy the ground beef, I accidentally bought a meatloaf mixture. The good news is some recipes called for a pork and beef blend so I’m just calling that a lucky accident. But don’t tell mom that I ate and enjoyed meatloaf on the weekend. (I told her, and she said god was punishing me because I disparage meatloaf). I even made my own bread crumbs from bread I made. They were tasty, but not as flavorful as we expected. If done again, I’d use another recipe and canned tomatoes.

Mom made the shrimp with garlic, and it took her like five minutes to make. The dish was easy, pretty (paprika gave it a red color) and delicious. She modified the recipe slightly, used Sherry, smoked paprika, and could not help herself from adding butter. The recipe didn’t require it, but being obsessed with butter, she couldn’t leave it out. You can’t go wrong with shrimp and garlic. We both would make that again.

The pan con tomate only has 4 ingredients. I added some basil and smoked garlic. It was yummy and honors the beauty of the tomato. For the iberico and manchego, we presented it on a board, choosing not to mess with the natural deliciousness.