Lianne – 18.10.21
As Lianne was pondering which Country Cuisine to choose for her upcoming S dinner, she remembered that the dinners she’d always enjoyed most were those long, slow, informal affairs, with large tables of friends laughing and chatting, passing around plate-loads of Tapas and bottles of Rioja, all wrapped in a cloud of saffron and seafood…
It’s true. You really can’t beat the Spanish for easy-going, buzzing dinner parties.
So Lianne had us join them, instead. Well, imitate them; but you know what I mean.
Lianne suggested we all wear red or yellow to honour the Spanish flag. Now, please bear in mind that this dinner was only a couple of weeks before Halloween, and I was under that influence… because I may have gotten a little over excited:
At least I wasn’t completely alone in this. I think we made quite an impression on Lianne’s unsuspecting friend, Clare.
As Bernhard and I walked in, armed with the mandatory bottle of Vino Tinto, we were drawn to a table laden with many small, lovely dishes: Shiny garlic olives, home-made bread with oil & balsamic vinegar, roasted peppers with pomegranate seeds, butter-beans in spicy tomato sauce, and Tortilla de papas:
From the kitchen came the promising sounds of Croquetas de Queso (deep-fried, breaded, cheese dumplings) merrily sizzling in their frying pan:
As we were making short work of these delicious tapas, we were hit with the unmistakable heady aroma of a beautiful chicken & prawn Paella:
And just in case that wasn’t quite sea-foody enough, it was soon joined by a potful of briny mussels:
For dessert Lianne treated us to light, citrussy Spanish Cream (which apparently refused to set despite being sternly rebuked by Lianne, so it had to be fortified with cornflour. It was still velvety and yummy) :
What can I say? the food was fabulous, and the wine and conversation flowed. What could be better?
Next time it’s T – and Bernhard , god bless his tender heart, is bringing home Texas! Yeehaaw!
