Rachel Allen

Easy tasty tapas

It’s not difficult to see why the Spanish tradition of eating a few little dishes of food with a drink has spread into almost all four corners of the globe. It’s such a civilised way of eating — particularly for someone as indecisive as I am. With tapas, you get to munch on a variety of hot or cool snacks, washed down with some lovely wine, sherry or beer... what’s not to love?

The actual origins of tapas themselves are a bit vague. Some reckon that it was when, in the 13th Century, King Alfonso X of Castile was recuperating from an illness and had been ordered by his doctors to consume only small amounts of food and wine at any one time. He found the method so successful that he made laws stating that alcohol could only be served with food on the side.

Another theory argues that the word ‘tapas’ is derived from the verb tapar, which means ‘to cover’, and originally tapas consisted of a slice of bread to cover the top of your drink, preventing the flies from getting in. Then the publicans started to cover the bread with delicious things to eat, and hence tapas was born.

One of my all-time favourite tapas is gambas pil pil. Served particularly in southern Spain, this bubbling-hot concoction of prawns — gambas — cooked in garlic, olive oil, a little chilli and parsley, is always served with white crusty bread on the side to mop up those divine juices. In the photo, right, I have used spanking-fresh Dublin Bay prawns from Ballycotton, which are my favourite, but if all you can get are the frozen tiger prawns, I promise I won’t judge you. Salud!

“With tapas you get to munch on a variety of hot or cool snacks, washed down with lovely wine, sherry or beer”