Tenerife’s Top Five Tapas

These days, it seems like there’s a tapas restaurant in every city in every country on earth—we even found one in Iceland a few years ago—but when I asked my fellow passengers on our way to Tenerife (in the Canary Islands) for recommendations for tapas restaurants, I got a resounding “Qué?”

This is because traditionally, tapas are not considered a Canarian dish, even thought the Canary Islands are technically part of Spain. Visitors travel to the Canary Islands in their droves, thanks to the abundant cheap flights to Tenerife and Lanzarote, and they have always been presented with plenty of delicious traditional local dishes such as fish casserole to enjoy along the beachfront.

But in recent years tapas have become more common here, as it is in mainland Spain. So with this in mind, here are my top 5 tapas dishes that have a Canarian twist…

1. Pimientos de Padrón

One of the most simple tapas dishes, pimientos de padrón is a special variety of pepper, cooked in oil and sprinkled with rock salt. However, beware the sting in the tail, as while most pimientos are very mild, you get the occasional surprise spicy one that will knock your socks off, so be careful!

2. Croquetas Caseras

(Photo: Pincas Photos)

(Photo: Pincas Photos)

Croquetas caseras are small fried balls of almost any filling, usually white fish or ham mixed with potato, but many fillings are possible. We found croquetas caseras that were filled with chicken, tuna and spinach as well, and not only are they delicious, they are also very filling.

3. Carne Fiesta

(Photo: Pamela Stocks)

(Photo: Pamela Stocks)

A dish that will tingle your tastebuds, carne fiesta is the name given to small cubes of pork that has been marinated in garlic, thyme, oregano, spicy peppers, salt, paprika, wine vinegar and white wine. The cubes are then fried to make deliciously tender and moreish meat treats.

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Polar Vortex Cooking: Pea Pot Pie

Not sure if any of you have noticed, but it is COLD outside. Cara Daffron of EdibleFeast.com joins us to share this slow cooker comfort food recipe. Her pea pot pie uses hardy and readily available winter vegetables and herbs like tarragon and thyme…plus it takes like three steps to make. Stay warm!

Serve this crust-less pot pie on its own or with biscuits. If you really want a traditional feel, you can bake the finished product in a pie tin with a simple pot-pie-style pastry top. To incorporate more protein into the dish and 2 cups of diced cooked chicken or turkey to the pot before cooking.

Pea Pot Pie

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A Little Orange with Your Spuds?

Mashed Orange Juice Sweet Potatoes

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, every marketer and their mother is trying to sneak their products onto your holiday table. One of the most interesting press releases I received this year was from the folks at Florida Orange Juice. Their suggestion for how to add orange to the turkey day table? Whip it up with your sweet potatoes.

Is this a thing? Has anyone tried it? I’m unsure whether to be intrigued or appalled…

Mashed Orange Juice Sweet Potatoes

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Bacon Lattice Pulled Pork Potato Pie

bacon pie

Advance apologies to anyone who has made any kind of New Year’s resolution, because this almost certainly breaks all of them. But it simply has to be shared. Attention must be paid.

My girlfriend recently proposed making Cowgirl’s Country Life’s bacon-topped pulled pork pie and I, well, just about proposed to her…Check out the link for the full recipe, but here’s the play-by-play:

1. Potatoes

potatoes

Sliced thinly and spread across a cast iron; topped with some mysteriously awesome pork spices we picked up in Denmark this summer

2. Pork

pork

This is a great way to use up the leftovers from slow cooker pulled pork. We also added some extra BBQ sauce.

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Grilled Rosemary Chicken and Potato Kabobs

Please tell me we all have these days.  When we look at the laundry to fold and the grass to mow…and end up on a raft in the pool drinking beers. Please tell me it’s okay to sometimes have a whole week like this.

Well, despite my incredible procrastination of monotonous house chores as of late, I have actually still been making food. Ok, I’ve been grilling food in between dips in the pool.  Whatever. This recipe is perfect for procrastinators and slackers alike. It is so easy, it’s embarrassing to call it a recipe. Well, clearly that’s not going to stop me from sharing it with you lovely people today.

Grilled Rosemary Chicken and Potato Skewers

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Food Porn Champion: Poutine Tater Tots

We love poutine. We love tater tots. We are SO EFFING MAD at ourselves for not thinking of poutine tater tots before someone else did.

Chef Kyle Bailey — yes, the same mad genius behind The New Luther — well be hawking this deep-fried stroke of genius around Washington D.C. all week. Only 20 orders of “Wonky Tots” will be available per lunch shift (11 AM to 2 PM), and those of you lucky enough to live there will have to follow @eatwonky and @churchkeydc to find out where his food truck will be.

Nachos Gone Wild!

With football season kicking into high gear, it’s about time for some serious snack talk. But you know us ES-ers aren’t gonna just crack open some Tostitos spicy cheese dip and call it a day. These 10 recipes are taking nachos to a whole new level.

1. Greek Nachos

Pita chips, ground lamb, and tzatziki stand in for the usual Mexican ingredients in this inventive Mediterranean take on Nachos.

Greek nachos recipe from elly says opa!

2. Chimichurri Nachos

It’s Argentina’s turn to get creative, topping their nachos with grilled steak and the country’s signature cilantro sauce.

Chimichurri nachos recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

3. Totchos

Yes, that’s tater tot nachos, and really, can anyone argue nachos wouldn’t be better when you replace the chips with crispy fried potatoes?

Tater tot nacho recipe from Riley J. Briggs.

4. Pasta Nachos

At San Francisco Italian restaurant Puccini and Pinetti, wonton wrappers serve as the base for Italian nachos topped with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil.

Recipe for pasta nachos.

5. Grilled Nachos

Once again proving that any food that tastes good tastes even better cooked over a grill.

Grilled nachos recipe from Jenn’s Food Journey.

Next: Potato chip nachos, dessert nachos and more

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