Spanish Night @ Home
Sabado Español | Spanish Saturday.
Veggie Paella with Shrimp
Buen Provecho (Enjoy Your Meal)!
We couldn’t have a Spanish night without Sangria, Paella, Rioja Wine and Churros. So half the menu was already decided, yay.
For the other half, I had to research more about Spanish cuisines. I was looking for Tapas, Mains and drinks ideas, here’s 3 things I learned:
Pinxtos: Tapas on toothpicks. In Spain, you keep the toothpicks and ‘pay per toothpick.’
Manchego is the nation’s cheese (brownie points for me because sheep cheese is the only cheese I can eat within my food intolerances)
Spanish Gin & Tonics are garnished with orange peel and juniper berries.
For my floral table arrangement, Pinterest showed a lot of hot pinks, oranges, reds and candles as a final touch.
This was a fun Nonna Lizzie dinner to put together and for once we did not overcook! Here’s a run down of the floral table arrangement and the menu.
Spanish Menu
Bright Fuchsia, Pinks and Orange Flowers
Spanish-Inspired Flowers
Every time we have a themed dinner, I search on Pinterest for floral ideas (here’s my board with all the pins saved so far).
I was inspired by weddings in old Spanish castles, so I decided to throw in some candles.
Greens as the base, bright accent flowers and fillers (thin branches with some flowers).
Making it up as I go along!
Use candle saucers so the table runner won’t burn.
Added some yellow fillers to the napkins.
Pintxos: Toothpick Tapas (ps. make a used toothpick bowl less gross by throwing in some flowers).
Tapas
This was by far the easiest prep out of all the dinners!
Most of the dishes are already pre-made and you just have to assemble or cook minimally.
I made 3 tapas dishes, the Spanish Bread being my favourite. About 7 years ago, I went to Barcelona and had this for the first time. I remember learning that you don’t eat the garlic -you rub it on the bread haha.
Pan Con Tomate (Spanish Bread)
Toasted Baguette with Tomato
Slice bread, drizzle olive oil, rub garlic onto the bread.
Cut tomatoes in half and carve out the juicy and seeds bits with a spoon.
Place tomato bits onto bread and bake for 5-10 mins.
Drizzle with olive oil and S&P when serving.
Pintxos
Chorizo, Truffle Manchego, Chilli Olives on toothpicks.
Chorizo Slices
Thinly sliced chorizo bought from Ryan’s Grocer.
As the starters were quite ‘meat’ heavy, I was excited to make main dishes that were more seafood and veggie focused.
Octopus with Chimichurri and Rainbow Tomato Salad
Mains
For mains, we had BBQ Octopus and Veggie Paella with Shrimps.
Octopus with Chimichurri and Rainbow Tomato Salad
I rarely cook octopus because I am scared to screw it up. Luckily we found it ready-to-eat at Meidi-ya, so all we needed to do was lightly grill it on the BBQ. We served it with extra olive oil, lemon and S&P. Here’s the condiments:
Chimichurri:
Blend a handful of parsley, coriander, 2 garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped chilli and olive oil.
Scoop it out onto a bowl, add more olive oil (about 2-3 more tablespoons) and S&P to taste.
Rainbow Tomato Salad:
I love rainbow tomatoes because visually they’re more appealing. This is a simple yet delish side to make for any seafood dish.
Halve the rainbow tomatoes (I used 1/2 the punnet) and place in a bowl.
Add in finely chopped up red onion and parsley.
Add in a teaspoon of white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and S&P to taste.
Like a proud school girl.
Veggie Paella with Shrimp Topping
Veggie Paella (w/ Shrimp Topping)
So… I learned that you can NOT just use any rice for paella. You HAVE to use Bomba rice.
In addition to this special rice, saffron is also a key ingredient. I was honestly quite overwhelmed, so I just bought this paella kit. Best Decision. Ever. It came with rice, Saffron seasoning and olive oil. I followed the recipe but added some Nonna Lizzie things:
Roasted carrots, zucchinis and eggplant with paprika for 25 mins.
Buttered peas and shrimp with garlic and onion in a pan.
I loved this paella but next time I’ll probably make it seafood-only.
Dessert
Gluten Free Vegan Churros
Note to self, cooking churros after a few drinks is not advised. It gets messy, there’s dough everywhere, you don’t cut them properly and it’s hard to get the timing of melting the chocolate in time.
But I would make this again! I got the churros recipe from One Green Planet and used Hersheys choc chips for the dipping sauce.
Sad little churros.
But delicious little churros.
I would definitely recommend doing a Spanish night at home. The starters are not too fiddly, Sangria always goes down well and there’s so many veggie and meat tapas or mains to experiment with. But I think I just got lucky because:
A) We found ready-to-eat octopus
B) We bought a paella kit.
If I did this a second time I would 100% do A & B again.
Hopefully this has given you some food for thought on your next dinner. Happy cooking!
Sabado Espanol!