Spanish Tapas and Zarzuela

The night began with cosmopolitans, and a collection of bottles of various liqueurs and spirits that promised a big night to come. We were spending the evening catching up with friends in Papamoa.
Clare has been clever enough to prepare the two desserts in advance and Jim had been hard at work creating a huge selection of tapas for the adults to eat while the little people ate their home made pizza.

Tapas is one of my favourite ways to eat. I love trying lots of different flavours and textures. Our selection included dishes of prawns, eggplant and zucchini, chilli marinated peppers, fried chorizo, spiced tomato salsa, marinated dried tomatoes, spiced almonds, panchetta and melon, marinated mushrooms and the most amazing goats cheese. Luckily we had no time restrictions (we were staying the night) and I managed to eat A LOT!

The children were coaxed to bed while Jim worked on the main meal 'Zarzuela', a seafood stew with a sauce with onion, garlic, tomatoes, brandy, paprika, chilli, saffron, white wine and fish stock. I was just in time to see Jim and John lighting rum over the base mixture ( a substitute for the brandy). The stew was fantastic with a real depth of flavour in the sauce. The recipe came from Keith Floyd's book - 'Floyd On Spain'.
After the tapas and the Zarzuela I'm sure everyone was full but we still managed to fit in desert - Chocolate Mouse and Keylime Pie - both fantastic accompanied by a far too large glass of dessert wine.

Great food and fantastic company. All worth the sore head I had the next day!

Now...to plan our reciprocal dinner.

Spanish Orange and Rosemary Chicken - Recipe

This recipe is a family favourite which I had not made for a while. It comes from Nici Wickes 'World Kitchen' which is one of my regular 'go to' recipe books - of predominantly chicken recipes.

The beauty of this dish for me is that the marinade can quickly be made the night before so it is ready to cook when I get home from work. It is ideal with a salad and cous cous (flavoured with chicken stock and orange juice)

Not the best presentation in the photo...but the taste makes up for it!

Spanish Orange and Rosemary Chicken

8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

1 tbspn olive oil

1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp brown sugar

1 clove crushed garlic (I just use a microplane for this)

1 tbspn finely chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cut slashes into the meat to allow marinade in and put all ingredients in a large shallow dish.

Cover and put in fridge for 30 mins (overnight is great).

Bake in ovenproof dish for 45 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Baste occasionally with marinade.

I served it with cauliflower mash...cooked cauliflower in chicken stock, blended with freshly ground pepper and grated cheese. Bella (3) tried it and loved it!