Spanish Cooking: Tapas Edition

12 February 2012

For Christmas, I gave one of my roommates a tapas (Spanish appetizers) cookbook. We've been waiting for a weekend in which we weren't crazy busy in order to try out some of the recipes.

Today we made two different tapas: croquetas de jamón (ham croquets) and delicias de Elx.

First, we made croquetas de jamón. Our first step was to make the pasta that goes into the croquetas. This is made over the stove using butter, flour, and milk until a nice mass is formed. Then, you add the ham! 

 Next, the pasta has to be put in the fridge to cool for several hours. While we waited, my roommate and I started making the breadcrumbs for the second part of the recipe. We took fresh bread that we bought at the supermarket and broke it into small pieces.

It was time to fry the croquetas! First, you make a small ball of pasta, roll it in the breadcrumbs, dip it in the whisked egg, and roll it in the breadcrumbs again. Then, you put the croqueta into olive oil to fry! Wait until the croqueta is nice and crispy and brown, and it's ready to serve!

The second recipe we made was a variation on a tapas specialty in Alicante (province) called delicias de Elx. Elx is the Valencian name for the city of Elche--located near Alicante. 

Delicias de Elx are traditionally composed of just dates wrapped with bacon--which creates a nice sweet/salty combination. However, our recipe also called for the dates and bacon to be wrapped in dough. 

 

 

 Here is the delicious final product!

 Some time soon, my roommate and I hope to make other tapas recipes--such as albóndigas (meatballs), and empanadas.