Starter Recipes
Mediterranean Tapas Platter
If you are looking for inspiration for quick and easy starter recipes, what about making a Mediterranean tapas platter? Tapas are great to nibble on and make a colourful and attractive starter recipe. For the best tapas recipe, choose a couple of different contrasting cheeses, some chorizo or salami, cherry tomatoes and olives. This mixture ensure you get plenty of colour and diverse textures and flavours. Choose any kind of olives you like - black olives, green ones and stuffed ones are all good. Anchovies make nice tapas too, as do pickled onions, nuts, chopped ham and anything else that people can nibble at while enjoying a drink. If you are having a cocktail party and only serving starters instead of a main meal, Spanish style tapas are perfect because they are not too filling and you can offer a variety of different flavours without spending a long time in the kitchen.
You can make a tapas platter if you are catering for a buffet or if you are having a dinner party. Simply lay the tapas platter in the middle of the table for people to help themselves or pass individual bowls around. You can also offer slices of bread and butter or, to keep it authentic, garlic mayonnaise or extra virgin olive oil for dipping the bread.
Another great thing about serving tapas as a starter is that if the supply is dwindling and people still seem hungry, you can easily rustle up more in the kitchen in less than five minutes. Tapas are very popular all over the world although they originated in Spain. If you want to combine an international eating experience with delicious ingredients and a short preparation time, tapas are fantastic.
One of the Most Easy Spanish Starter Recipes
Ingredients -
2 punnets cherry tomatoes
1 jar green olives
300g salami
300g Swiss cheese
300 g feta cheese
Roughly chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
Preparation:
Cube the Swiss cheese and feta cheese. Drain the olives and chop the salami. Wash and dry the cherry tomatoes. Serve everything in separate bowls or altogether on a big serving platter, garnished with fresh parsley. For ease of eating, stick a few cocktail sticks into some of the tapas so people don't have to use their fingers.
(Serves 6)
Photo Description:
This colourful selection of tapas makes a wonderful starter recipe because it takes just a few minutes to prepare. You can be creative when serving tapas - mix and match different flavours, textures and colours and you can't go wrong. Radishes, matchstick-cut carrots, pineapple chunks, chorizo, cured ham and pickled onions are also nice to add to your tapas platter and people can use cocktail sticks to help themselves to these delicious morsels. Tapas can be left around the room at a cocktail party or buffet and they also make a nice starter before any kind of main course.
