Feliz Cumplanos, Eamann!
Posted: 10 May '10 by Niall
Making Crema Catalana for Eamann's birthday
Kelly and I wanted to celebrate fellow Chilli and Chocolatier Eamann’s birthday in style this year, but couldn’t decide on which restaurant to book. It was then that inspiration struck – we’d throw a Spanish tapas party!
We both love the tapas bars in Barcelona (although the Catalans call tapas “pintxos”) – the dishes are small and easy to eat, just perfect for a party. With great timing we also noticed that we were being followed on Twitter by Orce Serrano Hams, a business run by ex-pats Iain and Gayle from their home in Andalucia where they source and export Spanish delicacies. After a few quick emails we had our centre-piece – a whole fore-leg of Serrano ham!
You can see the photos here:
After whetting our appetites with some salted almonds and chilled sherry earlier in the day, we all sat down and stuffed ourselves silly with the tapas dishes in very un-Spanish fashion. Kelly and I served:
- Wafer-thin slices of Serrano ham
- Salt cod croquettes
- Chorizo and manchego tortilla
- Spinach tortilla
- Meatballs in tomato sauce
- Morcilla and fried pepper on baguette
- Mushrooms and aioli on baguette
- Chilli and garlic prawns
- Chorizo braised in red wine
We finished the party with individual Crema Catalanas – very similar to Creme Brulee, but with a hint of orange in the custard. With a fire extinguisher to hand we all had a go with the blowtorch, searing the sugar-topped custard to produce a crunchy layer of toffee.
You can download the Chilli and Chocolate tapas recipes here.
Feliz Cumplanos, Eamann!
Other information
We bought our fore-leg of Serrano ham and a sweet Chorizo Redondo from Orce Serrano Hams. You can click here to visit the Orce Serrano Ham website.
I managed to find a chef’s blowtorch in The Cook Stop on Bruce Street in Belfast. You can click here to visit The Cook Stop website.
Tags: orce serrano hams, party food, recipe, spanish food
Categories: Recipes
Hi Kelly and Niall, glad the ham went down well ~ some expert carving going on there! The list of tapas is very authentic indeed, just what you’d get over here, liking the variation of tortilla as well. Did you know there is a Crema Catalana liquer?
We LOVE Crema Catalana.. I think that liquer would get a good home in our house :) I’ll have to see if I can source some.. Thanks Iain!