Tapas Recipes Meat .

Jamón Serrano/Iberico tapas

Jamón Serrano with Almonds

Jamón, tomate y ajo con pan (ham, tomato and garlic bruschetta)

Jamón y queso tostadas (grilled serrano ham and manchego cheese bruschetta)

Albóndigas (Meatballs in spicy tomato sauce)

Croquetas de Jamón (Serrano ham croquettes)

Empanadas de Cerdo (pies of pork!)

Garbanzos y chorizo (Chickpeas and chorizo)

Jamón Serrano/Iberico

The original tapas recipe, and still hard to beat. Slice your ham into wafer-thin small pieces and serve on a plate. Some warm, toasted bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil is all you’ll need to make this an unforgettable experience.

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Jamón Serrano with Almonds

Another very simple tapas recipe which can be prepared in an instant. First you heat a frying pan with a little olive oil in, then throw in a couple of handfuls of whole almonds. Give the pan a shake to evenly toast the nuts then sprinkle in some sea salt. You then place some slices of ham on a plate and top it all off with the still-warm almonds - seriously good!

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Jamón, tomate y ajo con pan (ham, tomato and garlic bruschetta)

slices of bread (baguette or similar, cut on the diagonal)
1 clove garlic, cut in half
1 very ripe tomato
slices of jamon serrano
extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the grill. Toast the bread and, while still warm, rub with the halved garlic to flavour them. Then rub the bread with the halved tomato to squeeze in as much of the flesh as you can. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and some freshly-ground pepper, drizzle with some extra-virgin olive oil and top it off with the ham.

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Jamón y queso tostadas (grilled serrano ham and manchego cheese bruschetta)

slices of bread (baguette or similar, cut on the diagonal)
slices of jamon serrano
slices of manchego cheese
extra-virgin olive oil
whole-grain mustard (optional)

Preheat the grill. Toast each slice of bread on one side only until lightly golden brown, then turn over and drizzle with the olive oil. Place the cheese slices on the bread, top each slice of cheese with a slice of ham and grill until the cheese begins to melt. Serve with the mustard separately or you can spread it on the cheese before it goes under the grill.

A variation on this is to lightly toast both sides of the bread first and rub one side with half a clove of garlic before you drizzle the oil and place the cheese and ham. Just make sure the whole slice is covered or you could end up with the toast edges burnt to a crisp!

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Albóndigas (Meatballs in spicy tomato sauce)

Another of the staple tapas recipes which you will find everywhere. This is a dish which originated with the Moors so you will usually find some exotic spices in most recipes, especially those from the Andalucian region where the Moors had the most influence.
Serves 6.
For the meatballs:

150g (6oz) minced pork
150g (6oz) minced veal (or beef)
3 cloves garlic
50g (2oz) breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon
salt and pepper
olive oil, for frying

In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients (not the olive oil) until you have a nice stiff consistency. Cover and leave in the fridge for about half an hour. When ready, make your meatballs, taking about a tablespoon of mixture for each one. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and fry the meatballs in batches on a med-high heat. You want them nicely browned. Add more oil if necessary for each batch. Drain on some kitchen roll and keep warm.

For the sauce:

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 400g (16oz) can chopped tomatoes
3 to 4 teaspoons tomato puree
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
125ml (4 fl oz) dry white wine
125ml (4 fl oz) chicken stock
100g (4oz) frozen peas (or fresh peas)
freshly-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Use the same frying pan (but tip out any excess fat) to make use of the lovely meat juices that should have caramelised on the bottom. Add the oil if necessary and cook the onion until soft and translucent, then add the garlic, a few grinds of black pepper and cook for another minute or so. Make sure you don’t burn the garlic as it will taste bitter. Add the wine and increase the heat to high, let the wine boil for a minute or so to intensify the flavour. Add the can of tomatoes, the puree and the stock. Bring back to the boil then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the peas, stir in the cayenne pepper and the meatballs and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.

Serve it up, piping hot, straight from the pan with plenty of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

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Croquetas de Jamón (Serrano ham croquettes)

These melt-in-the-mouth little croquettes are very popular tapas with the Spanish. You will, again, find them just about everywhere. You can use any number of different fillings but, for me, you just can’t beat jamón. Try it with prawns, hard-boiled egg, salmon, cheese or vegetables.

Serves 6.

100g (4oz) jamón serrano, finely chopped
1 onion, finely-chopped
100g (4oz) unsalted butter
150g (6oz) plain flour (100g for cooking, 50g for coating)
150ml (5 fl oz) whole milk
150ml (5 fl oz) chicken stock
salt and pepper
1 pinch of nutmeg (if desired)
2 eggs, beaten
50g (2oz) breadcrumbs
olive oil, for frying

In a saucepan, heat the butter over a low to med heat, then add the onion and a couple of grinds of black pepper, cook until the onions are soft (do not brown). Stir in 100g of the flour and cook until the mixture is almost dry and starts to change colour. Remove from the heat and add the milk very gradually, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. When you’ve got a smooth mixture you can add the chicken stock, put back on the heat and let it boil to thicken it up.

Keep that stirring going and remember what I said about exact quantities. It’s better to hold back a little while adding the liquids and judge the correct thickness. You can always add more if it’s too thick but you’ve got an awful lot of boiling to do if it’s too thin!

Once you’ve got a nice thick mixture, add the ham and taste for seasoning. Add a little salt if necessary but don’t overdo it, the ham will give it a salty bite. For an optional flavouring, you could also add a pinch of nutmeg at this stage. You can now leave this for a couple of hours in the refrigerator to help it set. If you wish, you can leave them overnight.

Prepare the coatings by putting the extra 50g of flour, the 50g of breadcrumbs and the beaten egg into three separate bowls. Take about a tablespoon of the cold mixture and roll it into a croquette shape. Dip it first into the flour, then into the egg, then into the breadcrumbs.

When you’ve prepared all the croquettes you need to put them back in the fridge for half an hour. When you’re ready to cook, fill the oil to about 5cm (2in) in a good saucepan and heat to about smoking point. It needs to be good and hot. You can then start frying them in batches. They’ll only take 2 to 3 minutes a batch until nicely crisp and golden. Remove, drain and place on kitchen roll in a warm oven until they’re all done.

Serve hot while they’re still crunchy on the outside and meltingly smooth on the inside. One of those recipes which makes tapas so special!

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Empanadas de Cerdo (pies of pork!)

Empanadas are basically pies. You can make a whole one in a pie dish and cut it into segments, or make them into little pasties or parcels. I prefer the little individual ones, it seems to fit in with the idea of tapas better.

This tapas recipe is for minced pork and roasted peppers but you can make them with minced beef or lamb, fish and seafood or vegetables. Or a combination of whatever takes your fancy!

You need to make about 500g (1lb) of pastry. I will assume you know how to do this. If not, any good cookbook will show you how. Bear in mind that you want a light, crumbly mixture so just cut the liquid in and don't knead it.

Makes about 20.

500g (1lb) of pastry
250g (1/2lb) of pork loin, minced
1 tsp. paprika
olive oil for roasting and frying
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 onions, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 tsp. tomato puree
small handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper
2 or 3 large red peppers, roasted and chopped
1 egg, beaten

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F, gas 4). Cut the peppers into quarters lengthways, remove the seeds and the membranes. Place in a roasting pan and drizzle liberally with some olive oil. Roast for about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of your peppers.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Raise the heat and add the minced pork to brown it through.

Then add the paprika, oregano, tomatoes, puree, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Stir it all together and cook for a further 5-10 minutes to get all those flavours going. At the last minute, add the chopped roasted pepper and combine.

Increase the heat of the oven to 190°C (375°F, gas 5) then roll out half the pastry very thinly so that you can cut about 20 rounds of 10cm (4in) diameter. Repeat with the other half.

Fill each round with a heaped tablespoon of the mixture and fold over into a pasty, brushing the edges with water and pinching them to seal them.

Place them on a lightly-oiled baking tray, brush them with the egg mixture and bake for about 30 mins. or until golden. Serve hot or cold.

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Chickpeas and chorizo (Garbanzos y chorizo)

This hearty dish is again inspired by the Moors who introduced the chickpea or garbanzo. This is a very common tapas dish now found throughout Spain.

It is best cooked using the ‘picante’ (hot) style of sausage to give it a fiery little Moroccan kick.

Serves 6

175g (6oz) dried chickpeas
350g (12oz) chorizo, diced into cubes about the same size as the chickpeas
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped or crushed
2 tbs olive oil
750ml (1.3 pints) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 pinch dried thyme
3 or 4 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tbs flat-leaf parsley

Cover the chickpeas with water in a bowl and leave to soak for 12 hours or so. Drain and place in a large saucepan with the bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon stick. Add the stock and enough water to cover the peas completely. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the peas are tender. This should take about an hour but keep an eye on them, you don’t want them to go mushy and you don’t want them to boil dry. Add more water if necessary during this period. Drain and remove the herbs and spices.

Meanwhile medium heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chopped onion and cook gently until translucent. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for about a minute then turn up the heat a bit and add the chorizo. Cook for about three minutes then add the chickpeas and mix it all up thoroughly. Cook for just long enough to heat it all through. The oil from the sausage will turn it all a lovely red colour. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.

This is one of those tapas recipes that needs very little, if any, seasoning but if you feel you must, you can add salt and/or pepper after you’ve tested and tasted it. I prefer it hot but you can enjoy it just as well cold.

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