Tapas

Tapas is what you give the generic term for all the lovely little dishes that you can get in a lot of the bars and restaurants in Spain. It started, according to legend that you would get a bit of stale bread to cover your drink to stop the fly going in it. The people began to eat the bread, put oil and garlic on it and it grew from there. Today you can get all sorts of things from meat to fish cheese to vegetables and much more . So if you were looking at a tapas bar what might you see.

For meat, you get a lot of the ham meatballs and sausage that Spain is famous for such as.

Jamón Serrano Iberico, wafer-thin small pieces of ham and serve on a plate. Some warm, toasted bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil .

Jamón Serrano with Almonds, almonds toasted and fried in olive oil , a little salt and severed warm with the ham

Jamón, tomate y ajo con pan, ham, tomato and garlic bruschetta, or Jamón y queso tostadas, grilled serrano ham and manchego cheese bruschetta . In fact any number of toasted bread snaks.

Albóndigas, Meatballs in spicy tomato sauce with peas , one of my personal favorest.

Croquetas and Croquetas de Jamón. The potato croquet with or with out ham coated in bread crumbs and fried.

Empanadas de Cerdo or pies of pork! Little pastry filled with a spicy pork mix , some are hot some are sweet.

Chorizo is used a lot , in red win or with squid and Chickpeas

Sae food is very big as well ,

Boquerones al vinagre, Anchovies in Vinegar does not do them justice as it has a lot of garlic and herbs with them as well

Boquerones fritos Fried anchovies, dusted with flour and bred crumbs or in a batter seasoned and ready in seconds

Calamares Fritos Fried Squid, done in a batter with lemon juice and served hot from the fryer .

Gambas al ajillo Garlic prawns, often in a rich tomato and pepper sauce or Gambas pil-pil Chilli & garlic prawns.

Ensalada de atun y huevos Tuna and egg salad with red and green peppers and black olives. And you have Pimiento asado y atun tuna and roasted red pepper or Atun y aceitunas con pan ,tuna and olive tapenade crostini

Buñuelos de bacalao salt cod fritters, slat cod fish cakes that are made fryed and served once more with lemon.

And do not miss Almejas con vino blanco Clams with white wine.I do not know if I like this better than the Albóndigas, have them both.

And do not forget the olives, with chilli , anchoves, herbs vinegar oil , infcat almost any kind you can think of.


Ensalada rusa the Russian salad, green beans, tuna and mayonnaise with boiled new potatoes .

Champiñones al ajillo ,garlic mushrooms and Champiñones al pimienta peppered mushrooms all in rich tomato garlic or olive oil sauces all depending on the recipe.

Almendras fried almonds and Roasted Spicy Almondsbetter thasn peanust.

Deep fried Aubergine with honey, I do not know the name but it is a real treat in a batter with honey drizzled all over them .

Manchego cheese, on its own or with olives, crusty bread and a dry sherry or a robust rioja just goes with the cheese .

Tortilla de Patatas Spanish Omelette , this must be the best know of them all hot or cold night or day a filling and tasty snack.

So if you have never had any tapas and have wanted to but did not know what it all was then I hope that this will have helped.