Last night we had a cocktail party here – it was mostly neighbors (Assana, Dan, Chris, Kathy, Justin, Linda, Lynn), and Jay came by too. I decided to make tapas using the entire menu from the latest issue of Fine Cooking. Normally I’m not that into following entire menus, but this one looked good and the timeline is really detailed and seemed like it would allow me to enjoy the party.
I spent three hours on Thursday evening completing all of the day-prior tasks from the checklist. It’s broken down into small steps and nothing is overly time-consuming. It helped that I bought shrimp from Trader Joe’s that was already cleaned. I picked up a bunch of the ingredients from The Spanish Table in Berkeley.
Today I cut up fruit for the sangria and pre-measured my brandy, Licor 43 and grape juice for the sangria. I also made sure I had my serving dishes ready and a couple of skillets out for the things I would be cooking during the party.
Two hours before the party, I started back on the timeline. I never felt rushed and was done early. I decided to start cooking the chorizo just before the guest arrived, and I started the potatoes a bit earlier than suggested. The timeline has a couple of errors, but they’re minor (it’s detailed enough that it should say when to cut up the potatoes, but it doesn’t, and it also says to toss the chorizo with thyme, but there’s no thyme in the chorizo recipe).
All of the hot dishes are really simple and quick to make and allowed me to spend time with our guests – I just had to pop in the kitchen every now and then.
We had ten people, and the menu looks like it’s supposed to serve eight. By the time I put out the mushrooms, it seemed clear that there was too much food. I never cooked the shrimp, and someone had brought a box of yummy chocolates so I didn’t make the chocolate bread, either. After the party, Larry said if I had made the last two dishes, they probably would have gotten eaten. We had leftovers, but not that many. The chorizo and the mushrooms were the most popular dishes.
The sangria was delicious as usual, as were all of the wines.
- Jamon Serrano
- Marcona Almonds
- Manchego with Membrillo
- Manchego Marinated in Olive Oil & Herbs (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 78)
- Olives & Peppers on a Pick with Scallion Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 78)
- Crispy Potatoes with Tangy Tomato Sauce (Patatas Bravas) (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 80)
- Sautéed Mushrooms with Garlic & Parsley (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 81)
- Sautéed Chorizo with Red Wine (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 82)
Wine:
– Cava Sangria
– Rafanelli 2003 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California)
– Ridge 2002 Stone Ranch Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California)
– Martin 2002 Three Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California)
