The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tapas

The book was VERY reasonably priced. I've made the Deviled Eggs and the Honey Chorizo spread, so far. Both different than the usual and both popular with a wide audience. Looking forward to making more items.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to: TAPAS Over 100 Delicious Little Dishes to Savor and Share By Jeanette Hurt A review by Marty Martindale Jeanette Hurt has lived in Spain. During this time some great cooks there shared some secrets of tapas with her, and it's our good fortune to have access to her book. Tapas have a curious history in Spain. It seems Spain's King Alfonso X, known as Alfonso the Wise, in the thirteenth century, needed to eat small meals as he recovered from a surgery. This caused his subjects to adopt his eating habits, and the custom caught on. A more practical story about the origins of tapas began as bartenders covered glasses of wine with pieces of bread to serve as a lid and keep the unwanted objects out. Gradually, bits of tasty foods appeared on the bread. This was the advent of free appetizers, no doubt. It also fostered more sociability in bars, and each region of Spain established its favorites. Hurt shows you in the center of her book some colored pictures to give you ideas as to tapas presentation. Before she launches into recipes, Hurt presents a chapter, "Stocking your Spanish Pantry," which lines out the best ingredients delicious tapas. She goes into details as to hams, saffron, paprika, garlic, olive oils, cheeses and sausages. Then Jeanette offered some personal comments on her Honey Chorizo Spread. In Toledo, Spain she learned to value this spread. "Simple, but also sublime," she states. She prefers it on French Bread or crackers and feels it demonstrates how a very simple tapas can be packed with flavor. Basically it is blending cooked chorizo with honey, chilling it for at least an hour, then serving it. She further commented on the book's Ensalada Rusa made with Marinated Tomatoes, from Emilio's Restaurant, Hillside, Illinois. The recipe calls for you to combine tomatoes, sherry wine vinegar, olive oil, potatoes, carrot, Spanish tuna, green peas, bell appper, hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise. Hurts hastens to add, "The secret isn't in the potato salad, itself, it's in the tomatoes that are marinated in sherry wine vinegar and olive oil. It's an absolutely divine dish." Let's look at summaries of some more of her tapas: OLIVE TAPENADE Includes kalamata or black olives, olive oil, wine vinegar and capers CURRIED CARROT DIP Calls for a recipe of marinated carrots in the book, plus olive oil, lemon juice, curry powder and paprika CHICKEN LIVER PATE Uses only white onions, butter, Madeira port, capers and anchovies TORTILLA ESPANOL Olive oil, onion, boiled potato, eggs and seasoning. Hurt learned to make it in Madrid. She has eaten it in many areas of Spain, but she likes her recipe in the book best. SPANISH SCRAMBLED EGGS OR REVUELTAS WITH CHORIZO AND BACON Eggs, cream, bacon, onion, garlic, chorizo, tomato sauce, paprika and Manchego cheese BAKED TUNA EMPANADAS Olives, raisins, egg, tomato sauce, sherry wine, oregano, paprika and puff pastry FINGERLING POTATOES WRAPPED IN SERRANO HAM All

For those who aren't aware of tapas, it is a centuries-old type of Spanish small dish served at restaurants. Popular myth says they were first created to place on the top of wine glasses to keep the flies out. However they started, serving small starter dishes for sharing has become popular to call tapas, even at non-Spanish restaurants. Hurt has collected more than 100 easy to follow, tasty and healthy recipes; and while not always authentically Spanish, they'll pass the popularity test with tasters. And as not usual with many of the Idiot's Guides, there is a color insert of some of the dishes. There is a good introduction to Spanish foods, and chapter sections include: Hot and Cold Tapas (Meat and Seafood, Potato and Egg Dishes, Vegetable Tapas), Salads, International Tapas and Desserts. Sure it isn't a fancy cookbook, but tapas aren't meant to be fancy. They are meant to be enjoyed with a nice glass of wine or Sangria (recipes also included) and not fussed over. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tapas fulfills that perfectly.