Tapas Night - Part 3

How can you go wrong with these two dishes? They are SO easy and SO delicious. I used jumbo shrimp which made for a very creamy and luscious treat. They were cooked to perfection. For the caramelized onion, I drizzled some very good balsamic that I picked up in Rome which added another great depth of flavor. I ended up marinating the steak in diet coke and lime juice. It was a perfect combination.

Garlic Shrimp
12 jumbo shrimp (medium are fine)
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon red chili flakes

Peel and devain shrimp. Sauté shrimp on medium high heat in butter and garlic. Add red chili flakes and cook for 3 minutes turning shrimp on either side while basting it with butter and garlic mixture. Serve immediately.

Marinated Skirt Steak and Caramelized Onions with Balsamic
1 can of Coke
1/2 lime
1 red onion
2 tablespoons balsamic
1 tablespoon butter
1 skirt steak
2 teaspoon sugar

Pour coke and lime juice into bag and add steak. Marinate for 5 hours. Cut onion in half. Cut halves into small strips. Add to sauté pan on low heat with butter. Add sugar. Sauté over low heat stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Add balsamic and serve warm. Can be made ahead and reheated.

Grill steak (I used my indoor grill pan) until medium rare on high heat, about 3 minutes per side. Cut into strips and serve with onions. Season with salt and pepper.

Tapas Night - Part 3

Tapas Night - Part 2

My boyfriend loooooves mussels so I wanted to make sure we recreated this dish on tapas night. I have wanted to cook mussels in a curry sauce so we decided to add curry powder to the homemade marinara that we made (see previous post for recipe). Got rave reviews and very easy and quick to make.

For the chorizo, I actually went to Cafe Iberico's market and bought it. I would check specialty markets or ask your butcher where you can get your hands on some. It is so good and has a perfect amount of kick. Just sauté them on the stove top for about 8 minutes.

Steamed Mussels in Curry Marinara Sauce
1 pound of mussels
1 teaspoon of curry
1/2 fish stock (I used chicken cause that's all I had and it worked fine)

Add marinara to dutch oven over medium high heat. Stir in curry and stock. Add mussels. Genteelly stir and cook until mussels open up, about 4 minutes. Serve immediately with fresh parsley.

Tapas Night - Part 2

Tapas Night- Part One

Last night we had friends over for my first tapas party. We ate 7 dishes over three hours and my best friend made killer sangria. We created everything from scratch which required a lot of time with the food processor but it was so worth it. We decided to make the tapas that we usually order at Cafe Iberico. Everything came out delicious and we had a blast.

Prosciutto and Manchego on Tomato Bread
This is so simple and yummy. Make sure to use fresh bread and straining the tomatoes is key so the bread doesn't get soggy.

1 baguette
2 roma tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
olive oil
6 thin prosciutto slices
6 manchego cheese

Slice baguette into 3/4 inch slices. Add roma tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves and a tiny bit of olive juice to the food processor. Puree for 10 seconds. Immediately stain juices so it leaves the fresh minced garlic and tomatoes. Spread tomato on top of baguette. Next to slices of bread, stack manchego and prosciutto on top of each other. Serve.

Baked Goat Cheese in Marinara and Pesto Crustinis
10 ounces goat cheese
1 16 oz can of whole pealed tomatoes
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 of chicken stock
2 teaspoons thyme
3 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 cup of pine nuts
1 cup of basil leaves
Olive oil
1/8 parmesan cheese
1 baguette

Slice goat cheese in half and place in pan (see picture). In a dutch oven on medium heat sauté onions and garlic until translucent about 7 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir for about 1 minute. Add can of tomatoes, stock, basil, sugar and time. Simmer for about 40 minutes. Puree in batches. Spoon sauce around goat cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Add basil, pine nuts, garlic and parmesan cheese to food processor. Puree while gradually adding olive oil until it gets to desired consistency. Slice baguette in 3/4 inch slices. Spread pesto on baguette slices and toast. Serve with baked goat cheese.

*For potatoes, see recipe in archive for Alioli potatoes

Tapas Night- Part One

Avec

After a little holiday shopping on Michigan Ave last night, my boyfriend and I decided to hop a cab to the West Loop to (finally) hit up Avec. This turned out to be a genius idea...

Avec opened in 2003 next door to Blackbird on the Randolph restaurant strip and has been busy ever since. They don't take reservations, serve a menu of small plates and seat strangers elbow-to-elbow on picnic table like furniture. They have an obscure wine list of over 120 wines; all of them very moderately priced and tasty. The music here rocks. If you like rock & roll and soul this is your kind of spot. This place is low key, no fuss with a splash of hipster. Anthony Bourdain, as well as many other highly acclaimed chefs, rave about Avec. We now know why.

Drew and I ordered a cheese plate and an order of prosciutto served with blood orange, pistachios and arugula. This was a wonderful way to stat the meal even though some may argue starting with the cheese plate is working backwards. Next, we ordered the chicken thigh with poached quince, apple and frisee with a mustard cream dressing. The chicken was cooked to perfection. The meat was tender and juicy and the skin was very crispy. We also ordered their signature plate; dates stuffed with chorizo wrapped in bacon. I ask you: how could you possible go wrong with that combination??? Needless to say, we inhaled that too.

There is no doubt that we will be returning to Avec and very soon at that. If you live in Chicago or are planning a visit, make sure to make a pit stop at this gem.

Avec

Iberico Cafe Insulada Rusa

Why didn't I think of this? Last weekend, I stopped by the Iberico Cafe & Bar at 737 N. LaSalle Drive in Chicago for a glass of Fino Sherry and a couple Tapas washed down with Sangria for dinner. One of the Tapas I selected was "Insulada Rusa" which was a potato salad with tuna fish, carrots, peas, and mayonnaise. I may be a picky eater, but I certainly finished this dish.

Tonight, I made a "quick" version for dinner using only canned ingredients, and it was a pretty accurate mild rendition of the original.

Potato Salad with Tuna and Mayonnaise (Makes two generous servings)

15 Ounces Canned Potatoes
4 Ounces Canned Carrots and Peas
4 Ounces Canned Albacore Tuna
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
Salt
Pepper

Drain the canned ingredients. Chop the canned potatoes to a fine dice in a bowl so that no piece is greater in size than a quarter inch cube. Next, shred the Tuna fish with a fork and add to the potatoes. Mix in the mayonnaise and blend the potatoes, tuna and mayonnaise. Make sure to leave the mixture slightly lumpy so that several cubes of potatoes remain in the mixture. The tuna should be completely shredded and blended into the mixture. Add the carrots and peas and gently blend or fold them into the mixture so they are not broken. Add salt and cracked pepper to taste and cool in the refrigerator until served.

I filled a fresh avocado half garnished with Italian parsley leaves with the potato salad, and it was terrific. Quick and easy Iberico Cafe Insulada Rusa at home!

Iberico Cafe Insulada Rusa