Bring on the fizz.
This light, drinkable cocktail goes down easy with large meals. One of the most popular drinks in Latin culture, it’s actually known as a digestive.
Party tip: Round out your cocktail offering with beer and wine options. We love Spanish cider and medium-bodied reds and whites to help cleanse the palate between bites. A traditional pairing at tapas bars in the Basque country, Spanish cider is poured from a height into a lowered glass to aerate the liquid. Talk about drama–just one mouthful is poured at a time, since the cider tastes best with the light bubbles it gains from the aeration. Plan for 1.5 drinks per person per hour.
Dream up your pintxos.
A pintxos and tapas party is your chance to get creative. Start with our pintxos recipe ideas, then put on your chef’s toque and create your own. What’s in season? What Spanish ingredients do you love? Can they be skewered? Sounds like a winner. (Pictured: Saffron Poached Prawns)
Party Tip: Rather than using dining tables, place serving dishes on a bar or high credenza to literally “elevate” service for ease of grazing. Serve drinks alongside pintxos to blur the line between dining and drinking.
Arrange, present, post.
A great charcuterie board can add a lot of presence to your menu with very little effort.
Tip: When you’re choosing ingredients at your local market, chat up the people at the deli and cheese counter. What’s fresh, new, seasonal, fun? Ask them to help you put together a selection that will both satisfy and surprise your guests’ tastebuds.
Chef’s Tip: Take the idea of pintxos and translate it into a menu served course by course at a seated dinner. You can individually plate the food for your guests or use large platters to pass around family-style.
Bonus Tip: Don’t feel like you need to buy large amounts of everything. Fewer star ingredients can be made to look abundant by spreading them around the board and organizing them in pairs with less expensive accoutrement.
Meets and Cheeses
Allow meats and cheeses to sit at room temperature for at least two hours before guests arrive to bring out their full flavors. Suggested meat and cheese board ingredients: Chorizo, Prosciutto, Serrano ham sliced, Sherry Caramel Cabrales, Manchego, Dried apricots, Grapes, Manzanilla olives, Marcona almonds with fried rosemary, Assorted crackers or sliced bread, Plan 4-6 ounces of meat and cheese per person.
Finish it off with flan.
Luscious and dense, traditional flan–with a duo of unexpected spice combinations–brings this menu to a smooth close with soothing bay leaf and pops of pink peppercorn. Find more CrateParty menus in the entertaining section of our blog, plus find everything you need to host on crateandbarrel.com.
Fernet-Branca and Cola Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ounce Fernet-Branca
- 2 ounces cola
- Lemon twist to garnish
Directions
- Fill glass with ice, add Fernet-Branca, top with cola and garnish with lemon twist.
Tortilla Española Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 eggs whisked
- 4 ounces chorizo cooked
- 1 small red pepper diced
- 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 medium russet potatoes thinly sliced
- Smoked paprika to serve
- 1 cup Parsley Leaves to serve
- Potato chips to serve
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, whisk together eggs, chorizo, red pepper and garlic; season with salt and pepper.
- In 10-inch cast iron skillet, evenly layer sliced potatoes and cover with egg mixture. Cover skillet with foil and bake until potatoes are cooked through, 15–20 minutes. Remove foil and cook until top is golden brown.
- Turn out tortilla onto cutting board and cut into squares. Dust with paprika and serve with parsley leaves and potato chips.
Saffron Poached Prawns Recipe
Ingredients
- For the shrimp:
- 24 bamboo skewers
- 24 shrimp cleaned and deveined
- For the marinade:
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon saffron
- 3 garlic cloves sliced
- 1 lemon juiced and zested
- salt and pepper to taste
- For poaching:
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- For serving:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch parsley roughly chopped
- 1 12-inch baguette sliced into rounds and toasted
- 2 lemons cut into wedges
Directions
- Skewer each shrimp from head to tail, so they do not curl during poaching. Put skewered shrimp in baking dish or airtight container.
- In small bowl, whisk together white wine, olive oil, saffron, garlic and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the shrimp. Cover and refrigerate shrimp overnight.
- In large saucepan, bring vegetable stock to boil, add vinegar and poach shrimp in batches, until tender and cooked through, 3–4 minutes.
- Remove skewers and toss shrimp with olive oil and chopped parsley. Serve with lemon wedges and toasted bread for dipping.
- Note: Refrigeration Time 8 hours minimum
Patatas Bravas and Piquillo Pepper Aioli Recipe
Ingredients
- For the potatoes:
- 6 russet potatoes
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil for frying
- sea salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- For the aioli:
- 8 ounces piquillo peppers drained
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 limes juiced
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Garnishes:
- Rosemary leaves
- Thyme leaves
- Smoked paprika
Directions
- In large saucepan, add potatoes and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender. Drain and cool potatoes, then break into chunks.
- In large saucepan, heat vegetable oil over high heat until it reaches 375 degrees F. Fry potatoes in batches, drain on paper towels, and season with salt and pepper.
- In blender, combine peppers, yolks, garlic, lime juice, paprika and olive oil; blend until smooth and emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve fried potatoes alongside aioli, sprinkled with rosemary, thyme and paprika.
Ham and Boquerones Skewers Recipe
Ingredients
- For the ham skewers:
- 12-16 skewers or toothpicks
- ham sliced
- Manchego cheese cubed
- Manzanilla olives or any pitted green
- For the boquerone skewers:
- 1 12-inch baguette cubed
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
- 12-16 skewers or toothpicks
- Boquerones (type of anchovy)
- Parsley
- Rosemary fried
- orange peel blanched
- Pimento powder
Directions
- Skewer sliced ham, cheese cubes and olives. Arrange skewers on serving platter and set aside.
- In small fry pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat and toast bread cubes until golden. Lightly season with salt.
- Wrap boquerones around toasted bread. Secure each with skewer and garnish with parsley, fried rosemary, blanched orange peel and pimento powder. Arrange with ham skewers on serving platter.
Sherry Caramel Cabrales Recipe
Ingredients
- For the caramel:
- 1 cup sugar
- 10 ounces oloroso sherry
- For the almonds:
- 1/2 cup Marcona almonds
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sprig Rosemary
- salt to taste
- For serving:
- Cabrales (type of Spanish blue cheese) large wedge
Directions
- In deep saucepan, stir sugar and nearly all of the sherry over medium heat until sugar dissolves, 1–2 minutes. Increase heat to high and cook without stirring until medium-dark caramel forms or mixture reaches 370 degrees F on a sugar thermometer, 12–15 minutes. Carefully add remaining sherry and return to boil. Remove caramel from heat and whisk thoroughly. Allow to cool completely.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On baking sheet, toss almonds with olive oil and rosemary leaves, lightly season with salt, and toast until golden, 10–12 minutes.
- Place Cabrales on cheese plate, drizzle with caramel, top with toasted almonds and serve.
- Note: When glazing your cheese with caramel, make sure to use a rack so the excess caramel doesn’t pool below the cheese. This allows for a clean, more professional presentation.
Flan with Fresh Bay Leaf and Pink Peppercorn Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Milk
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup condensed milk
- 4 fresh bay leaves bruised
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 5 eggs
- 6 teaspoons pink peppercorns crushed
Directions
- In small saucepan, combine milk, cream, condensed milk and bay leaves, and warm over medium heat. Cool and refrigerate overnight to infuse flavor.
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In non-stick skillet, cook sugar over high heat until dark caramel forms, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization, 7–9 minutes. Working quickly, divide caramel into six 3 1/2-inch ramekins. Allow to cool and set, 15–20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk eggs into milk mixture and divide into ramekins. Place ramekins in deep roasting pan and fill pan with hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until flan is set (they should have a slight wobble), 30–35 minutes. Refrigerate until completely set, 3 hours minimum.
- Run knife around the inside of each ramekin and turn out flan onto serving plates. If available at your market, garnish with pink peppercorn sprigs or sprinkle with crushed pink peppercorns.
- Note: Refrigeration Time 8 hours minimum