Tapas--"Caliente Baby"

food-dictionary.com tells us that tapas were originally "a slice of ham or chorizo sausage placed over the mouth of a wine glass, from tapa 'to cover', some say to keep out flies and others say to increase thirst.  Now consists of small portions of any kind of made-up dish or small snack served with wine in Spanish bars (although not exclusively Spanish in nature)."

I followed my Spanish theme this weekend and cooked a meal of tapas (although tapas in Spain are never meant to be the main course).  All the dishes looked so good that I couldn't keep myself to just one.  The first wonderful discovery for me was that these mediterranean dishes were all fabulously flavorful with a scant 4-5 ingredients.  The main staples (all my favorites) olive oil, garlic, salt (sea salt of course), pepper, lemon or lime juice and chopped parsley.

The best of the five tapas dishes that I tried was (blue ribbon winner by far) the "Lime-Drizzled Shrimp."  From the cookbook "Tapas" by Susanna Tee.

4 limes, 12 raw jumbo shrimp, 3 tbs spanish olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, splash of white wine, salt and pepper and 4 tbsp chopped cilantro (the recipe called for fino sherry which I didn't have and instead of chopped cilantro, it was flat leaf parsley, but I thought that the cilantro would pair nicely with the lime and I was correct).

grate the rind and squeeze the juice from 2 limes....cut the remaining 2 limes and use later.  Remove the shells from the shrimp (leaving the tail intact).  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Add shrimp and cook 3 minutes (until pink).  Mix in lime rind, juice, and a splash of white wine then stir well together.  Transfer shrimp to a serving dish and season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with cilantro.  Serve piping hot and accompanied by lime wedges for squeezing over shrimp.  Include crusty french bread for dipping in sauce and ENJOY!!!

My other dishes....

Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms, Crusty French Bread and Olive Tapenade, and Green Beans with Pine Nuts

Cool Idea

I hope that you find this an interesting twist for a food blog.  Really, my blog is just anything that I have an idea/opinion/care/concern about.....well you know what I mean.  Food tends to be central because really good home-cooked, borderline gourmet is one of my passions.  My other passion is reading finely written literature and trying to copy the masters and write a book of my own.  While I am slow at finishing my first book (just getting to chapter 3 and I haven't let anyone take a peek yet), I read other's works voraciously.  I thought that I would combine my two passions and follow a recipe that relates to my recent read.  I just finished "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.....oh my goodness, what a treat.  This book follows along the gothic lines and is a throw back to some of the great gothic novels of our time (do you really know Mary Shelley's Frankenstein....really???  It is not the hollywood version....read the original sometime).

Back to Zafon's novel.  Pick it up at Barnes and Nobles or order off of Amazon.  I promise that you will not be disappointed.  Zafon was born in Barcelona (that is Spain for all of you other geographically challenged folks out there).  "The Shadow of the Wind" is the most successful novel in Spanish publishing history AFTER "Don Quixote"....pretty good company, I'd say.  It is a gloomy mystery that combines a lost book, two previous lives, romance, lost love, death, and all other good, scary thoughts.

To follow along with my theme of combining my love of a good book with my love of a good bite of food.  I have a simple Spanish bread recipe (Pa Amb Tomaquet) that apparently is something that Spaniards "never leave home without"....

Toast hearty french bread slice and rub with a clove of garlic.  Then cut a very ripe tomato in half and squeeze the contents over the toasted, garlicky bread.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt and have fun!!!  Because I never cook a recipe exactly as I read it (this one is courtesy of recipezaar.com), I also chopped up some black and calamata olives and spread on the top with a very thin slice of wonderful vine-ripe tomato (even extra yummy).  Pair with my "wine of the week"......

Enjoy!!!!

No Cool

Time's short and apparently life as we know it on the Gulf Coast might be even shorter....balls of tar are arriving on the AL coastline thanks to BP.  Take a look at our beautiful beach while it still exists....