Taking the Lid off Tapas
April 3rd 2009 03:16
Stuffed Mushrooms
I lived in a small 'poblado' (community of units) on the edge of Torrejon de Ardoz, east of Madrid. In the mornings I would travel to Alcala de Henares, a gorgeous little university town, where I studied Spanish and Spanish culture, then travel home in the afternoons and either work in the office of the missionary organisation or go and teach English to teenagers after school or IBM employees.
It would have been more idyllic if I'd had more money but, hey, it was a great challenge when shopping for food or going out with friends. Often we couldn't afford more than a cup of coffee (cafe con leche en vaso) or a glass of wine with a plate of tapas.
Now tapas to me are the cleverest dishes ever created. I will even go so far as to say that the invention of tapas is the reason why you don't see much drunkenness on the streets of Spain, despite a healthy diet of red wine, sherry and Spanish beer.
The story goes that tapas evolved as a way of keeping flies out of your wine. Tapa in Spanish means lid, and a slice of bread may have been the first tapa. After you finished your wine you ate the bread.
Another version is that innkeepers served tapas up as a dish with wine to keep coach drivers sober. Hence, my previous statement. A slice of ham was a good tapa as it was salty and caused people to drink more.
Either way, there is a huge range of tapas served in Spanish restaurants today and can be a meal in themselves. They are the yum cha of the Latino world. Below is a recipe of one of my favourite dishes. Hope you enjoy!
Champinones Rellenos (Stuffed Mushrooms)*
Ingredients
8 medium mushrooms, 2 Tb milk
2 Tb breadcrums, 2Tb finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, crushed, 1 Tb freshly chopped parsley
2 Tb minced pork , 1 Tb chopped jamon serrano (prosciutto will do)
olive oil, 1 Tb chopped pimiento (capsicum)
1 Tb lemon juice
Method
1.Clean mushrooms and remove stems.
2.Finely chop 2 of the stems and put them in a bowl. Add milk and breadcrumbs and soak for 10 mins.
3. Add the onion, garlic, parsley, pork and ham. Mix well, cover with cling film and marinate in fridge overnight.
4. When ready to cook put a heaped tsp of mixture in each of the mushroom caps.
5. Pour over a little olive oil and cook in a preheated oven at 180deg celsius for 15 mins.
6. Remove from oven, sprinkle pimiento over each mushroom and a little lemon juice.
*Easy Tapas by Julz Beresford
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