One of my favourite things is planning a dinner party or special meal. As soon as I know there is something in the calendar that gives me an excuse to have a cook, my mind is off and racing with so many questions, thoughts and ideas. What’s the occasion? How many people? Time of day? Casual or more fancy? Finger food, sit-down meal or something in between? Theme – yes or no? Gosh the list is endless! And I love the process! So when we booked in dinner with the neighbours recently I had some fun going through options but ultimately settled on a Spanish Feast.
So what made me settle on a Spanish Feast? There were quite a few things once I started pondering.
A key thing for the evening was having starters that we could enjoy outside while the four kids roared around the yard. Something we could graze on for an hour was going to be perfect. Lots of different options came to mind but the flavours and simplicity of a grazing tapas board kept coming back to me as being a winner.
Thinking of the main course, I love the grazing style of eating that is Spanish food. When I’m in the mood for a cook, being able to create lots of different dishes to go together as a meal is so appealing. Spanish is perfect for this – to be able to put half a dozen dishes on the table to create a feast is part of what they are known for.
I had also been having a hankering to cook up a batch of my Spanish meatballs again. They are a favourite and it had been a while since I’d made a batch. Just knowing they were going to be part of the menu was almost enough to lock in the Spanish theme right then and there!
And I love that Spanish flavours are simple but packed full of deliciousness. All that smoky paprika, tomato, lemon and garlic. And loads of olive oil…yum! When you boil down the cuisine, the roots are in these few simple ingredients. But boy can they pack a punch flavour wise. It’s rustic food at its best – simple ingredients and amazing flavours used together to create a fabulous meal.
Then there was dessert. I’m not a huge dessert eater nor impressive dessert cook, but I did want to try the olive oil chocolate mousse recipe I had seen. Chocolate and orange are two classic Spanish dessert flavours so it seemed that all roads were leading to a Spanish Feast.
And ultimately who doesn’t love Spanish food? The flavours are comforting and generally all round delicious. So Spanish it was going to be.
Next was finalising the menu. That was surprisingly simple as most of what I wanted to cook had come out in the decision making process. My challenge in these situations is to not cook too much – something I am guilty of way too often. Everyone knows that if they are eating in Annabel’s Kitchen that they will not go home hungry! I must confess that I did end up dropping a couple of things off the planned menu on the night when I realised I just didn’t need it – there were only four of us after all!!
So what was on the final menu? Here it is:
- Grazing Tapas Board
- Empanadas
- Tortilla
- Spanish Meatballs
- Garlic Lemon Prawns on Cannellini Bean Smash
- Wilted Spinach with Olives & Pine Nuts
- Choc Orange Olive Oil Mousse