6 Easy Spanish Tapas Recipes | Quick Spanish Appetizers

Bienvenidos. Welcome to Spain on a Fork. Today is April 6, 2020. Here in Spain we've been in lockdown for about 24 days and the rest of the world is looking pretty grim. You know I hope to watch this video at some point in the future and be like wow I cannot believe that we survived this horrible situation. But for now we're here and we have to make the best of it. So today I'm going to show you how to make six very simple Spanish tapas guys. All these dishes are made with very basic ingredients which is perfect for these hard times we're living in right now. And each one is so easy to make. You can nibble on these tapas with your favorite drink or make all of them together for an extraordinary dinner guys. We're talking an insane amount of Spanish flavor. Let's dive right in. All right let's get started. For our first simple Spanish tapas recipe we're making fried almonds with sea salt guys. This is Spain on a plate. You'll go to any tapas bar you'll see people eating fried almonds next to some olives with a cold beer or a glass of wine guys. Beautiful Spanish flavors. Very easy to make and comes together within minutes. I'm going to begin by grabbing a small fry pan. Heating it with a medium heat and adding in a generous quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil. Instantly after adding all the olive oil into the pan I'm going to add in two cups of blanched Marcona almonds. You can use whatever type of almonds you want here. And start mixing the almonds around with the extra virgin olive oil. Very important to mix this continuously. That way those almonds don't burn and they all fry evenly. And remember guys to mix this continuously. That way all these almonds fry evenly. About five to six minutes after adding the almonds into the pan they look like they are perfectly fried. You know if you undercook them they have a chewy texture to them. If you overcook them they have a bitter flavor to them. You can usually just look at them you see that beautiful light golden color and have an incredible aroma. These are perfectly fried. I'm going to remove them from the heat and transfer them to a dish with some paper towels. I'm going to season them generously with fine sea salt. And give the dish a quick shake. That way that sea salt is evenly divided. And I'm going to leave the almonds to sit at room temperature for about five minutes. This is going to allow them to cool off. That way they have that beautiful crunchy texture. After five to ten minutes the almonds are ready to be served. I'm going to add some to a plate for presentation or you can store these in an airtight container. They'll hold for up to seven days. Guys our first simple Spanish tapas dish is done seriously. Look at these fried almonds. They look so good. You guys saw so easy to make using very basic ingredients. This is one of the best things you will ever have. Again enjoy this with a cold beer or your favorite wine. Moving down the list to our second simple Spanish tapas dish. We're making garlic mushrooms with paprika. Again guys this is a dish that really speaks Spain on a plate. Made with very basic ingredients but the flavors will completely blow you away. The secret to this make sure you use a good quality sweet smoked Spanish paprika. I'm going to begin by cutting 12 button mushrooms into slices that are about a quarter inch thick. I've already washed these and patted them dry. And for the next and final ingredient to prepare I'm going to thinly slice four cloves of garlic. All right let's start cooking our tapas dish. I'm going to grab a large frying pan. Heat it with a medium high heat and add in a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil. One minute after adding the olive oil into the pan I'm going to add in the slices of garlic. And start mixing them around with the extra virgin olive oil. Very important to mix these continuously. That way those garlics don't burn. About 20 seconds after adding the garlics into the pan. You don't want to overcook them. They just want to be nice and aromatic. I'm going to add in the slices of mushroom in there. And start mixing everything together. Very important to mix this continuously. That way nothing burns and everything cooks evenly. And as you guys will notice the mushrooms have soaked up all the extra virgin olive oil. This is completely normal. It's what gives this dish that incredible Spanish flavor. About three minutes after adding the mushrooms into the pan. They should be perfectly cooked. You don't want to overcook them. I'm going to season them with half a teaspoon of sweet smoked Spanish paprika. A pinch of sea salt. And some freshly cracked black pepper. I'm going to give this a quick mix. That way all the seasonings are evenly divided. And transfer the garlic mushrooms with paprika into a serving dish guys. Our second simple Spanish tapas dish is done. Seriously look how insane these mushrooms look. And the flavors here will completely blow away. Like I told you guys earlier the secret here. Make sure you use a good quality sweet smoked Spanish paprika. That is the secret to this dish. Very easy to make. Made with the most basic ingredients. And came together within minutes. And for our third simple Spanish tapas dish. We're making a manchego cheese platter with roasted peppers, rosemary, and extra virgin olive oil. Again guys this is a dish that screams out Spain. Loaded with an insane amount of flavor. Made with just four simple ingredients. I'm going to begin by cutting a seven ounce block of queso manchego into slices that are a quarter inch thick. Now the queso manchego that I'm using is a semi curado. Which is a semi cured one. It's kind of mild but it still has a nice nutty flavor to it. You can use whatever type of queso manchego that you want to make this recipe. Once I have all my slices of cheese I'm going to add them into a serving dish. For the next step I'm going to grab a jar of roasted red bell peppers. And pat two of them down with some paper towels. I'm going to cut each of the roasted peppers into strips that are a quarter inch thick. And add two strips of the roasted peppers on top of each piece of queso manchego. We'll drizzle the dish with some extra virgin olive oil. And sprinkle it with some dried rosemary guys. Our third simple Spanish tapas dish is done. You guys saw how easy and effortless it was to put this together. But let me tell you when you combine that queso manchego with the roasted peppers, the extra virgin olive oil, and the rosemary. It's an absolute explosion of flavors. Enjoy this tapas dish next to a So easy to make. Came together within minutes. Moving down the list to our fourth simple Spanish tapas dish. We're making some roasted potatoes with a paprika aglio e olio. Out of all the simple tapas we're making today, this is the one that takes the longest amount of time. But hey we're talking Spain. We're talking tapas. You have to include at least one potato dish guys. Super easy to make and loaded with an insane amount of flavor. I'm going to begin by thinly slicing one large Yukon potato into rounds that are about a quarter inch thick. I've already washed and patted the potato dry. Once I have all the potatoes sliced up, I'm going to add them into a baking tray with some parchment paper. Brush each potato with a kiss of extra virgin olive oil and season them with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. And I'm going to add the potatoes into a preheated oven baking bowl option 250 degrees Celsius which is 475 degrees Fahrenheit. If your oven doesn't have the baking bowl option, no big deal. Just bake them for the exact same amount of time I'm baking these and then add them to the boiler between two to three minutes. While our potatoes are roasting in the oven, let's make our paprika aglio e olio. I'm going to add in a generous half cup of mayonnaise into a bowl. Shred in one large clove of garlic. Add in half a teaspoon of sweet smoked Spanish paprika, half a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice, and one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Lightly season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. And I'm going to whisk this all together until it's perfectly combined. Once your aglio e olio comes together and you end up with a beautiful creamy texture, I'm going to transfer it into a bowl and place it on a serving dish. All right, let's move back to our potatoes. They've been in the oven for exactly 20 minutes. They should be perfectly roasted. I'm going to take them out of the oven and transfer the roasted potatoes into the dish with the paprika aglio e olio, guys. Our fourth simple Spanish tapas dish is done. Look how beautiful this potato dish looks. Those potatoes have an incredible texture to them. Then you dip them into that paprika aglio e olio for a complete explosion of flavors, guys. Very basic ingredients done in 25 minutes. Moving on to our fifth simple Spanish tapas dish, we're making roasted asparagus with lemon, guys. This is such a delicious tapas appetizer made with the most basic ingredients, but the flavors are insanely delicious. This is a very popular tapas dish in the center of Spain, in the region of Castilla la Mancha, especially right now during spring season when asparagus are in abundance. Loaded with flavors, done in about 15 minutes. I'm going to begin by rinsing a bundle of fresh asparagus under some cold running water and then I'm going to pat the asparagus completely dry with some paper towels. Once the asparagus are well dried, I'm going to gently pack them with the spears in the bottom. That way when we cut them, they're all the same size. And cut off between two to three inches from the end. Then I'm going to transfer the asparagus into a baking tray with some parchment paper. Make sure all the asparagus are in a single layer. Brush the asparagus with a kiss of extra virgin olive oil and season them with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. And I'm going to add our asparagus into a preheated oven, bake and broil option, 250 degrees Celsius, which is 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Again, if your oven doesn't have the bake or broil option, no big deal. Just bake them for the same amount of time and then add them to the broiler between two to three minutes. Eight to nine minutes after adding the asparagus into the oven, they should be perfectly cooked. You don't want to overcook them. You kind of want them al dente. I'm going to take them out of the oven. Transfer them into a serving dish. Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice over the asparagus. And garnish the dish with a couple slices of lemon. Guys, our fifth simple Spanish tapas dish is done. Seriously, when I say simple, it does not get simpler than this. But the flavors are so good. You've got the asparagus, the lemon, the extra virgin olive oil and those seasonings. The secret here, make sure you don't over bake those asparagus. You want to have a nice texture to them. Kind of al dente, guys. Insanely delicious. Came together in about 15 minutes. Okay, guys, we've made it to our sixth and final simple Spanish tapas dish. We're going to end this with a banger. We're making some scrambled egg montaditos with queso manchego. Once again, this is Spain on a plate. Has such an insane amount of flavor and it's made with three very basic ingredients, guys. Very easy to make and comes together in 15 minutes. I'm going to begin by cutting one baguette into diagonal slices that are about one inch thick. For the next ingredient, I'm going to grab one seven ounce block of queso manchego and deline it. And then cut it into slices that are about one eighth of an inch thick. Again, the queso manchego that I'm using here is a semi curado, which is a semi cured one. This one's a little bit mild in flavor, but it still has a nuttiness to it. You can use whichever queso manchego you want to make these montaditos. Once you have about eight slices of the queso manchego cut, I'm going to cut each one in half. And for the last ingredient to prepare, I'm going to crack six organic eggs into a bowl and whisk them together until they're perfectly combined. All right, let's start cooking our scrambled eggs. I'm going to grab a large nonstick frying pan. Heat it with a low medium heat and add in a generous tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. One minute after adding the olive oil into the pan, I'm going to add the egg mixture in there. Now, unlike traditional scrambled eggs, you don't want to mix this continuously. We're looking to create big and fluffy scrambled eggs here. So we're only going to mix it once every minute. This allows for bigger pieces of scrambled egg. That way we can easily add them on top of the pieces of bread. About five minutes after adding the egg mixture to the pan, these scrambled eggs look perfectly cooked. And as you can see, we got big chunks. They're nice and fluffy. These are perfectly cooked. You don't want to overcook them. I'm going to turn off the heat. Season the eggs with a little sea salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. And give this a gentle mix. That way all the seasonings are evenly divided. Okay, let's start assembling our montaditos. I'm going to grab a piece of bread, add a slice of queso manchego on top, and some of the scrambled eggs. And as you finish each one, transfer it into a serving dish. And continue to do this until you have all your montaditos done. And that's it guys. Our sixth and final simple Spanish tapas dish is done. Look at these montaditos with scrambled eggs and queso manchego. This is insanely delicious. Three very basic ingredients, but when you combine them together, it's an explosion of flavors. You guys can serve these as a tapas dish or even for breakfast. Either way you go, insane amount of flavor. Only three ingredients done in about 15 minutes. That's it guys. All six of our simple Spanish tapas dishes are done. You guys saw each one's so easy to make. All of them made with very basic and minimal ingredients, but the flavors here will completely blow you away. This is what Spanish cuisine is all about. Really quick before I go, I'd like to give out a quick shout out to one of my patrons, Robert Jefferson, a.k.a. The Kamakura Gardener. Again, Robert, thank you so much for all your support. I truly appreciate you. It's thanks to people like you and the rest of my patrons, why Spain on a Fork continues to move forward. If you're not a patron, consider becoming one. Helped with ingredients and equipment to continue making videos like this. 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