Monday, February 8, 2016

The Tapas of Seville – Erich

A delightful comic opera about tangled love between various foodstuffs of Seville and those who would eat them.

The Spanish are famous for tapas. At around 19:00 which is 7 PM, they eat small plates of food to tide them over until their suppers at 22:00 (10 PM) or thereabouts. And Seville is famous for its tapas. There may be no city with more variety and acclaim when it comes to tapas than Seville.

Good news is you don't have to wait for 7 PM to get tapas. You can get them most any time of the day. And while we were in Seville, we took advantage of this. And while we were at it, we tried a few amazing pastries and desserts too. Because, you know, why not?

So here are some of the foods we enjoyed in Seville. First the tapas. These were hard to get pictures of with the plate still full. People were a bit too eager to eat them.
Solomillo al Whiskey
Solomillo al Whiskey: This is sliced pork and sliced potatoes. And then they are cooked in a sauce that includes some sort of whiskey. I don't know which kind of whiskey (it probably varies by which chef is making it) nor do I know what the other ingredients are. But it is good and still has some of the flavor of the whiskey about it.
Arroz Negro con Calamar
Arroz Negro con Calamar: That literally means black rice with squid. There are small pieces of the calamari in there. But what is even more interesting is that it is the squid ink which is used (and apparently is edible) to make the white rice into black rice. Quite good. Alrica had me get a second batch of this she liked it so much. I think it was her favorite.
Queso Caliente
Queso Caliente: This mean hot cheese and that's what it is. It is a dish of melted cheeses with hard crouton like bread on which one eats it. Carver was a big fan of that.
Espinacas con Garbanzos
Espinacas con Garbanzos: Yes, this is spinach with garbanzos. Now, I am normally not a big fan of cooked spinach. I love raw spinach, but not usually cooked. Yet, this was my favorite. First, while it is one of the few “vegetarian” tapas it tastes like you are eating meat. I don't know what it is cooked in, but I suspect some semblance of meat is present. And the spices that are used, they are incredible. We got this plate at two different restaurants, and it was my favorite both times.

Now the pastries. Here I did some pictures of them uneaten, but only because we required everyone to eat up the tapas before the desserts. I don't know their names, but I can describe them.
It may look like a doughnut, but...
This first one is a pastry with a berry topping. It looks like a doughnut. But the inside is much flakier, more like a sweet croissant. Good, but not as good as the following.
Layers of goodness
This one has a pastry shell and then that is filled with some sort of unbelievably delicious cream, and then topped with a piece of caramel flan. The cream was already enough for me to declare it the best, and then add flan, genius!
Things that make you go, "Hmm."
Finally, one food we didn't eat, but caught Syarra's eye. You might recognize this restaurant as one we have in America. Or is it? Hmm, looks similar, but Dunkin Coffee? That isn't the name I remember. Well, maybe I have just been traveling for too long to retain this in my memory.

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