G3
STORIES
ABOUT
PEOPLE
February 15, 2013
Sweet Tooth?
Desserts to satisfy your
deepest sweetest
cravings.
¡Tapas!
Four quick and easy
recipes you won’t be able to
resist sharing with a friend.
Design by: Conner Gordon
Story by: Kitty Crider
September 23, 1998
H
Little Spanish dishes can make a big splash in the American south.
ave you tried the Parmesan fried green olives? You won’t be able
to stop munching them. Of course, you must sample the traditional Spanish tortilla, too. And then there’s the artichoke dip, which
people are ordering like crazy.
These are all tapas, and they are the talk at the tapas bars in town.
Say it distinctly: It’s tapas, not topless. And this Spanish specialty, which gained greater international exposure with the 1992 Olympics in
Barcelona, more recently has begun popping up in large and midsize U.S.
cities where diners embrace ethnic foods and where grazing fits lifestyles.
Tapas are Spanish happy hour foods -- the munchies that
accompany a drink and precede a dinner. Or, perhaps, replace it.
At Malaga, a new tapas bar in Austin’s Warehouse District,
many people who come to sample the small delicacies end up eating
a half-dozen tapas and skip dinner. Increasingly, they also are turning
after-work office parties into tapas buffets.
But that’s the personality of tapas, which promote a party atmosphere and sharing with friends, says Malaga chef Ricardo Luna.
Like dim sum, tapas are good group grub. The more people, the more
items that can be ordered and passed, sampled and savored.
In Austin, tapas may be traditional Spanish style like those at Malaga or
multicultural like the menus at Louie’s 106 or Rhythm House. And the
choices are many. At Louie’s 106, the menu offers 16 hot tapas and 10
cold ones. Beef, shrimp, tuna, salmon, asparagus, ravioli empanadas,
spiced nuts and prosciutto-wrapped melon -- everything but chicken.
However, it’s the fried calamari that gets the most orders. ``We
go through 300 pounds of that a week,’’ says chef Joe Buley. The most
popular cold tapa is the carpaccio, thinly shaved raw beef, with fire-roasted naan bread, or the crostini topped with goat cheese.
Stephanie Ware, co-owner of Rhythm House, notes that because Spanish food is not as spicy as many locals prefer, they’ve added
Tex-Mex touches -- pico de gallo, jalapenos and poblanos -- to their tapas.
An open-faced chicken sandwich with poblano cream sauce is among
their hot tapas.
The tortilla, found at Rhythm House and Malaga, is one of the most tradi-
Photos by: Sung Park
T
exas
apas
tional Spanish tapas. But unlike a Mexican tortilla, it is an egg dish. Often
with potatoes or other vegetables in it, this tortilla resembles an omelet or
frittata. It is served cut into wedges, frequently with a romesco sauce of
roasted tomatoes, almonds and sherry, or with a red aioli.
In Spain today, many people turn to tapas before dinner. But
there’s good reason. In Spain, dinner usually is not until 9 or 10 in the evening. Thus, whether before dinner or Spain’s typically late 3-ish lunches,
tapas bars stave off starvation. And it’s not unusual for tapas bars to offer
as many as 50 selections, albeit numerous simple dishes such as pickled
or marinated vegetables, seafood, sausages and potatoes.
In Austin, tapas tend to be categorized as hot or cold. However,
in ``The Heritage of Spanish Cooking,’’ Alicia Rios and Lourdes March
classify tapas into three main types, according to how easy to eat:
* Cosas de picar: meaning things to nibble with your fingers, such as olives.
* Pinchos: tapas requiring an implement even if it is only a toothpick for a
pickle or bite of sausage.
* Cazuelas: little dishes of
saucy foods that require a
fork, such as meatballs or
fried shrimp. (Such tapas
are often served with bread
for sopping up sauce.)
In short, tapas
can be small portions of almost anything, from gazpacho to paella. Notice
the word ``small.’’ Penelope Casas, in her book, ``Tapas,’’ refers to these
appetizers as the ``little dishes of Spain.’’
But for diners in the Lone Star State, the Land of the Large Plate, acclimating to mini dishes may take some mental adjustment. Portions can
look puny by Texas standards. But that gives diners license to order more
or practice prudence.
Not the exclusive province of bars, tapas translate well to home
entertaining. Casual and varied, they suit many tastes and lifestyles. Often
they can be prepared ahAead, and they can be as simple as spiced nuts,
assortments of olives, marinated mushrooms or artichoke hearts, sausages, fresh figs or melon slices wrapped with prosciutto, cubes of Spanish
cheese, pickled beets, roasted peppers, baguette rounds spread with goat
cheese, a Spanish tortilla, fried green olives, grilled cubes of beef tenderloin or spicy shrimp.
What about that Cen-Tex favorite: fried cheese-stuffed jalapenos?
Why not?
Just put it on a colorful little plate and call it a Texas tapa.
“In short, tapas can be small portions of almost anything,
from gazpacho to paella.”
Tortilla de Patata (Potato and Onion Omlet)
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
3 large potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch-thick
rounds
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
4 eggs
In a heavy 10- to 12-inch skillet, heat 1 cup of olive oil over high heat until
hot but not smoking. Add the potatoes, sprinkle them with 1 teaspoon
of salt and turn them in the pan until they are well coated with the oil.
Reduce the heat to moderate and cook the potatoes for 8 to 10 minutes,
turning them over occasionally; then stir in the onions. Continue cooking
over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then until
the potatoes are tender and golden brown. Transfer contents of the skillet
to a large sieve or colander and drain the potatoes and onions of all their
excess oil.
With a whisk or a rotary or electric beater, beat the eggs and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt until frothy. Gently stir in the potatoes and onions.
Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy 8-inch skillet until a
light haze forms above it. Pour in the omelet mixture, spread it out with a
spatula and cook over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Shake the pan periodically to keep the eggs from sticking. When the omelet is firm but not dry,
cover the skillet with a flat plate and, grasping the plate and skillet firmly
together, invert them and turn the omelet out in the plate. Then carefully
slide the omelet back into the pan. Cook for 3 minutes longer to brown the
underside, and serve at once. Serves 4-6.
NOTE: If you like, you may add previously fried chopped chorizo or other
sausage to the omelet along with the potatoes.
Garlic Mushrooms
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic (3 sliced lengthwise and 1 finely chopped)
1 small piece chile pepper
2 pounds button mushrooms, wiped clean, sliced and sprinkled with the
juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
Heat the oil in a heatproof casserole and fry the sliced garlic and chile
pepper.
When they start to brown, add the mushrooms, season with salt and
pepper and cook over high heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Before removing from the heat, add the chopped garlic and parsley. Serve
immediately in individual earthenware dishes.
Serves 4-6.
Want to learn about more how
to make great tapas?
From Left to
Tapas in Town
Right:
Chipotle
Beef Tapa
from Louie’s,
BBQ Slamon
Ribbon from
Malaga, and
Moroccan
BQ Shrimp
from Rhythm
House.
Louie’s 106 Tapas Bar & Grill
106 E. Sixth St.
Tapas include: Fried calamari, ravioli
empanadas, BBQ salmon ribbons
Malaga
208 W. Fourth St.
Tapas include: Tortilla Espanola
(classic potato omelet), baked artichoke spread, marinated squid with
peppers
Rhythm House
624 W. 34th St.
Tapas include: Classic tortilla Espanola (potato omelet), spinach and
garlic pie, chicken in poblano sauce
The History of The Tapa
Clams in White Wine Sauce
2 pounds small clams
Salt
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons breadcrumbs
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
Soak the clams in salted water to release any sand, shaking them around
occasionally.
Heat the oil in a heatproof casserole and brown the garlic. Add the clams
and saute on low heat until they open. Mix the breadcrumbs with the water
and add to the casserole along with the white wine.
Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, gently moving the casserole back and
forth to thicken the sauce. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve very hot.
The history of the tapa, which means ``lid’’ or
``cover’’ in Spanish, goes back generations to tavern
owners and innkeepers who put slices of ham, sausage
or bread over the glasses or jugs of wine, supposedly
to keep the flies out. The patrons, having drunk the
contents of the glass or jug, often ended up eating
the lid or tapa, obviously unconcerned about the flies.
Whatever, it’s a practice that caught on and exploded.
Parmesan Fried Green Olives, served with
a glass of red wine, are among the tapas offerings at
Louie’s 106. Tapas are Spanish happy hour munchies
that help stave off hunger before dinner .
Tapas generally are priced like appetizers.
The offerings at Louie’s 106, pictured here, range from
$2.50 to $6., Carpaccio, thinly shaved raw beef, with
fire-roasted naan bread is a popular cold tapa served at
Louie’s 106. The restaurant offers 16 hot tapas and 10
cold ones on the menu.
Serves 4.
Scan this QR code with your smartphone for dozens of quick
and easy recipes and more great content from G3 Magazine!
For the first page of the spread (and for the whole spread) I wanted to keep with the color scheme from my cover. I
chose to stick with Helvetica for the Title, subhead, and body as well. I used the capital T, with some formatting, to
act as the T in tapas and Texas. It is a visually appealing title, and it rolls off the tongue. The white pops off the page
in contrast to the dark green, and it is placed below the tapa dish so the reader first sees how delicious the dish looks.
Because this article has very little text, I filled up nearly the entire first page with the picture of the tapa on the chair.
My subhead keeps the theme from the cover with the tapa colored text box coming out from the side of the page and
the drop cap matching the same orange color. Because the images available were not enough to fill the white space
due to lack of text, I edited out each individual tapa and arranged them as if the magazine page were a table. My pull
quote is in the same orange tab as the page prior and the cover.
The final two pages are meant to resemble a recipe book. This strategy was put in place in order to take up more
white space because of the lack of text. Although the tapa pictures do not match the recipe, the box on the final ptage
acts as the caption for each one, explaining that they are from local restaurants. The blue 60% opacity framed QR
code and text are to inform the reader of multimedia capabilities of the magazine.
Overall, I believe that there is enough white space to not feel cluttered, yet enough color and text to feel busy.