Finally, after long last, and a bit of post-party recovery, here is what we served for our Tapas meal. We had it on the 5thinstead of for New Years because of the planning involved. So far, I haven’t posted the recipes for each item, but that may come. We did another shopping challenge for this menu. Check it out! Heck’s Kitchen Tapas Menu First Service First Plate Heavy Aioli (4 servings) Iron Skillet Scallops (4 servings) Truffle-Seared Tomatoes (4 servings) Second Plate Black Greek olives Brown Spanish olives Hemp Pesto Sauce Second Service First Plate Scallops Ceveche Garlic Fried Mushrooms Quick Swedish Meatballs Second Plate Green Skewered Shrimp Grilled Maple-Pepper Pineapple Beverages Sangria, with alcohol for the adults, and using red dealcoholized wine for the kids.

You can compare this, what we actually pulled off, with the original, insanely ambitious menu below:

New Years Eve Menu

SPANISH TAPAS:

Tortillitas de camarones – Battered-prawn.

Alioli – A strong garlic paste served on or with bread, fish, meat, or grilled vegetables.

Chorizo al vino – Non-Pork Sausage slowly cooked in wine.

Albóndigas – Small, flavourful meatballs.

Veal Rajo – Veal seasoned with garlic and parsley.

ITALIAN APPETIZERS:

Bruschetta: Bread with garlic and olive oil, topped with many thing such as tomatoes, meat or cheese.

Tartine: A cracker or bread that can be topped or dipped in almost anything. The possible workhouse of the dinner.

JEWISH CUISINE:

Lox and Bagels: Pieces of smoked salmon on top of a Montreal style bagel (happy dad?).

Falafel Balls: A balled patty made from chick-peas.

OTHER:

Spankopitas: A small pastry puff filled with spinach and cheese.

Cheese platter: A platter of Assorted cheeses occasionally serves with grapes.

Dumplings: A ball of dough or noodle surrounding a central food such as a meat or hot vegetable.

Breaded Chicken Wings: A breaded wing or piece of a chicken fried in an oil of sorts.

Chef Randy’s Comments

Before

Nice job, Joseph. I think the cheese platter and chicken wings may be a bit outside the theme. What might work, if we’re going for multi-cultural, is some Dim Sum – how about Har Gow? This menu is going to take a lot of time to put together, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to pull it off in six hours. Guess where I’m leaning for today?

After

Thanks to the whole crew for getting this done. This menu was a real stretch for us all. It took about 4 hours end to end, including preparation. After that, we were so stuffed that dessert was not an option. This could easily scaled to serve 20 with the same effort. A real winner for dinner parties and gatherings.

Menu Tips

The olives tend to overpower most of the other dishes. Serve them separately or between services.