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Planning the Spanish side of the menu was easy, as Josh and I both love Spanish food and he had done a semester in Barcelona during college. For the Dutch side of the menu, I ended up doing a few google searches, and although we couldn’t exactly pronounce the names of any dishes, we got some good recipes of stuff to make.
While Josh and I both like to entertain, we don’t exactly know how to do it without going overboard. We both love to cook and to share our cooking with other people, so when we have parties, we tend to make a million things. Most of the time we end up missing out on most of the party because we’re in the kitchen still cooking. We didn’t want to miss the soccer game though, since this was the whole point of our party, so we made sure to plan dishes that can be cooked ahead of time and easily reheated.
We had our planning done ahead of time, complete with detailed shopping lists and who would make what, but I think we were a bit overly ambitious and wound up pulling an all nighter – cooking, that is. We did all of our shopping on Saturday morning/afternoon in NJ, got back to the city around 7 pm, and promptly started prepping and cooking. 11 hours later, at 6 am, after the sun had set and risen, we finally went to bed. We got up three hours later and finished cooking, then set everything up for our party, which started at 1:30. It was a hectic and tiring process, but we did get everything done, we didn’t miss the game (hooray for Spain!), and everything turned out better than we hoped.
Since the theme of the party was the World Cup final, we kind of planned our menu to pair Spanish and Dutch dishes head to head. First up was our cheese board, which featured Spanish manchego cheese versus Dutch gouda. We paired the gouda with apple slices, and the manchego with membrillo, which is quince paste. The gouda was declared the winner, though the membrillo turned out to be a surprise hit. Silva and Felipe also brought a different kind of Spanish cheese that was milder than the manchego but still quite tasty.
Next was the battle of the breads. On the Dutch side, we made Boerenkaas Puffs, which were cheese puffs made with gouda. The recipe we followed came from here. They were pretty similar to gougeres, very easy to make, and really delicious. On the Spanish side, we made pan con tomate, which is simply tomato bread. All you need to do is take a baguette, slice it in half length-wise, rub a clove of garlic on each side, and sprinkle each side with some salt and olive oil. Then you take some ripe tomatoes, cut them in half, and rub the juicy pulp all over the bread. Easy and really tasty. Both breads were a hit, so I think this may have been a toss up.
For the potato dishes, we had tortilla espanola on the Spanish side. The tortilla is basically a giant frittata with layers of potato, onion, and egg. To make the tortilla, we gently roasted potatoes and onions in the oven, layered it in deep dutch oven, and covered the layers with lots of scrambled eggs. We baked the tortilla in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until it was cooked through and had set. For the Dutch potato dish, we made Boerenkool Stamppot, which is a hodgepodge with mashed potatoes, onions, kale, and smoked sausage. This was the recipe we followed. The potato/kale mixture turned out to be a surprise hit, helped mostly by the smoked sausage we spread around it.
For the main courses, this was where we showed our true colors. Since we were rooting for Spain, we made two Spanish entrees and only one Dutch entree. In actuality, we couldn’t decide on which Spanish dish to make so we made both. First was pollo ajillo, or chicken in garlic sauce. To make the chicken, we first brined it in salt water for a few hours. In the meantime, we gently cooked a whole head of minced garlic in olive oil to make a super flavorful garlic oil. Then we seared the chicken (we used bone-in thighs) in that garlic oil and placed them into a dutch oven with minced onions that had been carmelized in garlic oil. We deglazed the pan with white wine, poured that off into the dutch oven, and tossed in the garlic from the garlic oil into the mixture as well. To add even more garlic punch, we added slivers of garlic from an entire additional head of garlic. Then we added the zest of three lemons and enough chicken stock to cover the chicken. We cooked the chicken in the dutch oven, in the oven, at 350 degrees for several hours. Right before serving, we added the juice of the three lemons to brighten up the flavor. By the time we served the chicken, it was super tender and falling off the bone.
Our other spanish entree was albondigas, or meatballs. To make the meatballs, we mixed together ground beef, a puree of onions and garlic, and fresh pieces of diced onion. We used salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika to season the meat. We rolled and shaped the mixture into bite sized meatballs, then seared them off in a large pan. In a large pot, we sauteed some onions in garlic oil and added a big can of crushed tomatoes. When the meatballs were all seared, we added them to the pot of sauce and gently simmered them for a few hours. They were also super tender by the time we served them, and the flavor of the spices really shined through.
Our Dutch entree was Gestoofde runderlappen (try pronouncing THAT!), or braised steak. It was essentially a beef stew cooked entirely in beer. Simple, yet deeply flavorful. The recipe we followed came from here. The beef fell apart with a touch of a fork, and the carrots and onions added a nice heartiness to the dish.
We didn’t forget about dessert! For the Dutch side, we tried to be a bit playful and decided to make herb brownies. The herb? Mint, of course. Josh and I had an argument about the brownies because I just wanted to use ones from a box, but he insisted on making them from scratch. He won out in the end by convincing me that it would be embarrassing to say on the blog that we made brownies from mix. It was kind of a victory for both of us, as he ended up being the one to make them at 5 am while I sulked on the couch nursing my aching knife arm. He used the cocoa brownie recipe from Alton Brown’s Good Eats: The Early Years, which is similar to the recipe posted here. The mint was our own addition (add a handful of fresh leaves to the butter as it’s melting, then strain). The brownies were intensely chocolatey, had a fudgey texture, and just a hint of mint in the background. They were super rich but I thought they were really good, so kudos to Josh.
The Spanish dessert was all Josh as well (he’s the real baker in the family). Using another Alton Brown recipe, but substituting real vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract, the flan was a risky endeavor but a huge success. He also made his own caramel sauce, courtesy of Mr. Brown as well. The flan had the perfect texture, creamy and smooth, and the caramel sauce was thick and rich.
So the verdict? I think based on the entrees, Spain had the narrow victory. And not because we’re biased or anything. But the Dutch food was surprisingly really good, and I’m eager to try it for real next year when we head to Amsterdam in honor of Josh’s 30th birthday. Aside from the food, the game was really exciting as well. La Furia Roja eeked out the win in extra time, and we’re glad it didn’t end up going to penalty kicks. All in all it was a successful day, and totally worth the lack of sleep we endured. Plus we have oodles of leftovers to feast on for the rest of the week!
]]>They brought us a basket of nicely warmed up baguettes while we went through the menu. The bread was basic but had a nice crispy crust and fluffy innards.
Although the restaurant does offer many full size dishes, we were here for the tapas, and the list is pretty long and extensive (no pimientos de padron though!). In addition to the regular tapas menu, they had another sheet that listed the specials of the day. So many things looked appealing to us that we ended up over ordering but at least we got to try a wide variety of the tapas offered.
Of course we couldn’t eat tapas without ordering a pitcher of sangria. The sangria is not to sweet and has lots of big chunks of fruit in it, which I like.
To start off the meal, they served us some soup made with collard greens, potatoes, and sausage. The broth was light but flavorful, with a hint of smokiness from the sausage. They give the soup to everyone, kind of like an extremely large amuse bouche, and it’s pretty tasty.
The first dish that we ordered was jamon serrano with manchego cheese. Serrano ham is kind of like prosciutto, and we ate a lot of it while we were in Spain (Museo de Jamon anyone?). Unfortunately, the slices we received here were awful. They were stale, lacking in flavor, and totally dried out, making them hard and tough to chew. The slices of manchego were decent at least, but even they couldn’t salvage the terrible jamon.
Fortunately the next dish was much better. It was from the specials menu and was baby squid served in its own ink. The squid bodies were tender, not chewy, and covered in the rich, delicious black ink. I think some people might get a little squeamish from squid ink, but please don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! I can’t really explain it, but the flavor is just so deep and tastes like the sea. I really loved this dish and it was one of my favorites of the evening.
They brought out the rest of our tapas on two tall towers so there was a lot of food all at once. I still made sure to take pictures of each dish though before everyone dug in. The beef empanadas were pretty solid. They were freshly fried with a nice flaky crust and the filling was well seasoned.
The lightly fried bacalao fritters were recommended by our waiter. The chunks of salted cod were lightly battered and deep fried. They were served with a tasty tartar sauce.
Less successful were the chicharones de pollo, chunks of fried bone-in chicken. The chicken was also lightly battered but they didn’t have enough meat so what was there was really dried out and tough.
The empanadillas de atun were miniature empanadas filled with kind of a tuna puree. Sounds kind of gross but it didn’t taste fishy at all, and the crusts were light and crispy.
The patatas bravas, deep fried potatoes covered in a spicy sauce, were very poorly made. The potatoes were soggy and mushy, and the sauce didn’t have a good kick to it. It’s such a simple dish to make that it’s kind of disappointing that they screwed it up so badly.
The shrimp in garlic sauce were served with a lot of deliciously garlicky oil/broth, which we sopped up with pieces of baguette. It’s a standard tapas dish that we always order whenever we’re in a Spanish restaurant.
We also got side dishes of tostones and maduros. The tostones were sliced thinner than at most other places, so they were light and crispy, not too heavy or starchy. And they came with a delicious garlic dipping sauce.
The maduros were soft and sweet and not too oily. We loved plantains in all forms so we polished off these plates pretty easily.
We were stuffed after all the food but we still had some room for dessert. We shared a flan, which was a bit tougher than I normally prefer and not quite silky enough. The caramel sauce was good though, and not too sweet.
In general, I thought the food at Tapas de España was pretty decent. There were some misses though that highlighted the inconsistency from the kitchen. I don’t think anything was ill-conceived, as what we ordered were all pretty standard tapas dishes. The patatas bravas, for example, were just poorly prepared. Service was ok. They delivered our food kind of all in one shot, and then everyone disappeared for a while. But we were still able to flag someone down when we needed more water or another pitcher of sangria. As I said earlier, the restaurant does get pretty crowded on weekends, and there seemed to be a lot of big parties the night we were there, so reservations are recommended. The tapas might not be the most authentic but the atmosphere of the restaurant is fun and festive, and we had a good evening overall.
Tapas de España (multiple locations)
47 North Dean St.
Englewood, NJ
Pimientos de padron are small green peppers about the same size as a jalapeno, but they are softer and more wrinkly in texture. Padron peppers are really hard to find around here so many times people substitute shishito peppers instead. The cool thing about eating pimientos de padron, however, is that it’s like playing Russian roulette with your mouth. As the saying goes, some are hot and some are not. Although different sources vary on the percentage of spicy peppers, we heard that one out of every 10 are hot.
So we were in Spain for about 8 days, and day after day we ate pimientos de padron, hoping for a spicy one. My mom, who loves spicy foods, was especially eager to taste just how spicy these peppers could be. Day after day, none of us struck gold with a spicy pepper. Then on our last day in Spain, Josh and I had gone off on our own to watch a Barcelona soccer game at Camp Nou. Before the game, we stopped in a crowded restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat. And of course we ordered pimientos de padron.
At this point I had stopped believing that padron peppers could be spicy. All of a sudden, on my very last pepper, my mouth exploded in fiery pain. The spiciness actually wasn’t terrible, it was just the surprise of it that startled me. Josh had a little nibble and confirmed that this was indeed a spicy one. So out of the almost 100 padron peppers we ate collectively, only one was spicy. And sadly, my mom wasn’t there to experience it.
Josh and I have often lamented our lack of access to padron peppers here in NYC so when our friends Felipe and Silva went to Spain to visit Felipe’s family, they brought us back a packet of padron pepper seeds. Not being the best gardener, I gave the seeds to my mom, who has the greenest thumb. From one little packet of seeds, she managed to sprout several pepper plants, and she called us home to NJ when the first crop of peppers was ready to harvest.
Although there were several peppers sprouting, only five were ripe for plucking. We cut those off and prepared them how they’re done in Spain, fried in oil and sprinkled with coarse salt.
The three of us each took a pepper, clinked them together in a toast, and all took a bite at the same time.
Both my mom and I yelped in shock, our mouths on fire, while Josh just calmly chewed on his. The ones we had were SPICY, much spicier than the spicy one I had in Spain. My mouth was numb and tingling afterward. But the flavor of the pepper was exactly as I remembered, a little sweet, a little bitter, and a bit smoky. I nibbled on Josh’s and confirmed that his was most definitely not spicy.
We saved the last two peppers for Josh’s parents, but I don’t know if they ended up eating them and whether or not they were spicy. Even if they weren’t, 2 out of 5 spicy peppers was a huge difference from the 1 out of 100 we had in Spain. It was just such a fun time for us to be able to play the pepper roulette game again, and brought back great memories of our trip. So thanks very much to Felipe and Silva for bringing home a little bit of Spain for us, and we can’t wait until the next batch is ready to harvest!
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