Tapas

Geoff Jansz prepares delicious Spanish snacks known as tapas. In a way tapas is the Spanish equivalent of the Chinese yum cha, where you can choose individual serves from many different dishes. In Spain people gather together at Tapas Bars to have a quiet drink and feast on these fantastic little morsels of food. Geoff rates tapas as five star quality when it comes to genuine flavour, friendship and a good glass of beer or wine.

Spanish tomato toast

• sourdough
• olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 very ripe tomato
• salt

Chop sausage into bite size chunks. Put olive oil into a frypan and fry sausage on high heat, letting the fat from the sausage come out into the oil. Cut the green capsicum into bite size squares. Turn the sausage and add the capsicum to the pan. Add a splash of good vinegar and the parsley and then give everything a final toss. Skewer pieces of sausage and capsicum with toothpicks, put onto a warm plate and serve.

Spanish sausage and capsicum

• 1 Chorizo sausage
• olive oil
• 1 green capsicum
• sherry vinegar
• continental parsley, roughly chopped
  

Chop sausage into bite size chunks. Put olive oil into a frypan and fry sausage on high heat, letting the fat from the sausage come out into the oil. Cut the green capsicum into bite size squares. Turn the sausage and add the capsicum to the pan. Add a splash of good vinegar and the parsley and then give everything a final toss. Skewer pieces of sausage and capsicum with toothpicks, put onto a warm plate and serve.

Spanish sardines

• 2 small tins sardines in spring water
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1/2 green capsicum
• 1/2 red capsicum
• black pepper
• salt
• sherry vinegar or dry white wine
• olive oil
• sourdough, thinly sliced
• Spanish smoked paprika
  

Drain the sardines. Put chopped onion and capsicum into a glass bowl. Add black pepper, salt, sherry vinegar and olive oil. Stir. Lay drained sardines onto a plate and sprinkle over the marinade. Cover the plate with plastic and put in the fridge for about two hours to let the flavours meld. Grill slices of bread until crispy, then place the sardines with the marinade onto the bread. Drizzle leftover marinade on top. Sprinkle with paprika, add garnish and serve. (Note: the Spanish smoked paprika is very strong, so use a very light sprinkle - far less than you would salt.)

Further information

Chorizo sausage is available from continental delicatessens and some supermarkets.
Spanish Smoked Paprika is available from delicatessens for about $7 a tin.

Copyright CTC Productions 1999