Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain » (Revised Edition)

Penelope Casas is the author of La Cocina de Mamá, Paella!, ¡Delicioso!, Discovering Spain, and The Foods and Wines of Spain. She has written about Spanish food and travel for The New York Times, Gourmet, Saveur, and Bon Appétit. She lives in New York and regularly hosts culinary tours of Spain.

Penelope Casas, who introduced the classic little dishes of Spain to American cooks more than twenty years ago, now gives us a splendid updated edition of that seminal book—with fifty exciting new recipes and eight full pages of new color photographs showing tapas in all their glory.

Here are all the appetizer dishes that have long been a tradition in Spanish cuisine—mélanges of seafood in aromatic sauces; little ragouts of meat, sausages, beans; colorful salads and marinades; the omelets called tortillas that enclose a variety of tasty tidbits; banderillas, zesty combinations on skewers; and empanadas, savory delights encased in pastry. The new recipes Casas includes reflect the influence of the innovative cooking in Spain today—dishes seasoned with soy sauce or balsamic vinegar; ingredients wrapped in flaky phyllo pastry; accents of goat cheese and arugula; foie gras in elegant presentations.

With Spanish cooking at the forefront of today’s cuisine, this “exceptional book by the leading American authority on the foods of Spain” (as Craig Claiborne dubbed it in 1985) is a must for every adventurous cook in America today.

Publishers Weekly

Tapas are to Spain as pasta is to Italya fundamental culinary form of unending variety. And with Tapas, Casas (The Foods and Wines of Spain) continues to do for Spanish cooking what Marcella Hazan has done for Italian. Tapas are appetizers of every descriptionfinger food and salads, marinades and pates, tarts and toasts, beans, sauced dishes, even some soups. The author provides recipes for a tempting selection of dishes that conveys Spain's love for all types of seafood and sausage, potatoes and peppers, saffron, garlic, paprika and green sauce. Since tapas are, by definition, little dishes, quite a few recipes require a disproportionate amount of work per ounce, and one should get used to lists calling for -cup strong chicken broth or two tablespoons peas. Suggestions for tapas menus are listed, as are leading tapas bars in Spain. BOMC Cooking & Crafts Club and QPBC alternate. October 22