Tapas Dinner Party

[NathansMummy0203]

I am having friends over for a Spanish/Tapas themed evening this Saturday. This is the first time i have ever done anything like this. Does anyone who has thrown this kind of thing before or attended one have any advice or tips for me on how the evening should go or if there are any 'must haves'? There will be 8 people in total. Help!

You could do:

• padron peppers (just fry til a bit blackened and add sea salt)
• croquettes with chopped ham - make a really thick bechamel with ham mixed itn, spread it out on a tray to cool and roll into little croquettes, dip in egg and breadcrumbs and fry.
• chorizo baked with a bit of honey
• sliced manchego with membrillo and ham

Hmm I'm sure there are plenty of other things too...

Selection of different olives
Olive bread, Asda is yum
Big bowl of chicken paella
Potatoe bravas
Mini cooked chorizo
Sangria, Spanish beer, fizzy water with lemon slices

Thanks so much, that sounds like a really good start. How would you serve the stuff, I have a few bits to start off like bread & olives, cured meats etc but after those would you just serve all the tapas at once or would you do a few rounds? Can tell I'm new to this lol

Throw in some patas bravas for carbs to fill folks up, prawns in garlicky oil would also be nice.

Spanish olives and Iberico ham with little cocktail sticks.

If you can get hold of cooking chorizo, cut it in half, grill it, pop on to up a nice slice of crusty bread which has been lightly toasted and rubbed with oil, along with grilled red pepper and rocket (canned roasted peppers would work for ease, to make something like this photo)

Again, for carbs to fill people up you could make some Pan con tomate.

Pinchitos - marinated pork on skewers. Gigantes (ie butter beans) in tomato sauce. I do tapas meals for family gatherings - good for kids too. I put it all out at once as a buffet. For pudding, I make a platter of prepared fruit - mango, pineapple, melon, strawberries dipped in chocolate. Plus some mini puds from Marks.

And now I'm hungry!

Personally I'd start with cold cuts like your meats and olives whilst people arrive, settle and have drinks, then do a few rounds of warm dishes, but try to get as much prep done before hand so your still able to mingle. Then desert can be something simple like mini custard based pots. Cannot for the life of me remember the Spanish name, but they would be great with a little Spanish sherry at the end, and you can get them prepped way ahead of time.

Thanks so much guys, this is really helpful. I am writing all of these down! My next question was about pudding but that has been answered already :-) and I am now also hungry..... will make as much as I can on the Thursday & Friday and make a list of what needs done and when on the sat so I'm not faffing around when my guests are here. Thank you, wish me luck!

Cold Spanish omelette is nice and a ready made large custard tart for pudding. Waitrose and Asda do a good range, I don't know what Lidl offers are this week.

Chori in red wine, fry chunks in its own fat then add wine and simmer until you have a sticky sauce.

Bruschetta OK it's italian but still works.

I'd probably serve cold tapas but then bring out hot tapas at intervals of 15 - 20 mins.