tapas heaven

After one meal at Toro Bravo (Portland, OR) I was ready to pack my bags and book a flight to Spain. Unfortunately, with my big cross-country move looming in the near future, I won’t be brushing up on my Spanish anytime soon, but I do think that Spain may have overtaken Italy at the top of my must-visit list. In the meantime I am going to concentrate my energy on trying to re-create the dishes I shared at Toro Bravo, or as I termed it on my twitter post: tapas heaven.

I feel comfortable claiming Toro Bravo as tapas heaven because I am pretty sure I have been to tapas hell, which goes a little something like this: You hear about a new small plates restaurant and you gather a group of friends to go check it out. Usually it is a lounge-style setting, with seats that are low to the ground and some sort of techno/club music playing in the background. The cocktail list is full of mojitos and all sorts of ‘tinis.’ You order off a short menu that is uninspired and overpriced. The plates come out spontaneously or erratically (and some are forgotten). The bill is dropped, your eyes widen, and you walk out disgruntled and hungry.

Walking out of Toro Bravo this past weekend, I was anything but hungry. As a group of four we ordered about ten dishes, some small and others more substantial. We started with dates stuffed with almonds and wrapped in bacon, delicious little nibbles that were the perfect opening act. From there the dishes came out timely and methodically, with gorgeous, fresh salads mixed in with savory, fried croquettes. The culmination of the meal was sizzling skillets of paella and fideo. We washed all of this down with a local red wine from one of my favorite Oregon winemakers and finished the meal off with top notch coffee and some serious sweets. Perfection.

Before I get into recreating the croquettes, paella, and fideo, I need to do some research and recipe testing. But I am looking forward to sharing my results on Feelgood Eats - so stay tuned! Luckily, these dates wrapped in bacon required little research or testing. All I had to do was gather the ingredients, wrap, roll, and bake. It doesn’t get any easier than that! I am looking forward to sharing these with my family during the winter holidays (and giving the boot to those nasty little pigs in a blanket!), but I also made them as a little breakfast treat and they were a great compliment to scrambled eggs.

In this recipe I substituted Manchego cheese in for the almonds. The cheese adds a gooey creaminess and next time I’d like to try blue cheese. If you have any ideas for fun fillings drop a line in the comment section, and feel free to share some thoughts on tapas/small plates restaurants or anything else that catches your fancy.

stuffed dates wrapped in bacon
(serves 4-6 as appetizer)

• 3 bacon slices
• ¼ pound piece of Manchego cheese
• 12 pitted, dried dates

Place the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 450°F.

Slice the bacon into quarters (in half lengthwise and widthwise). Cut the Manchego into thin matchsticks, about ¼ of the width of the date, and then cut the matchsticks into the length of the date (you want the Manchego strips to fit perfectly in the center of the date).

Using a small paring knife, slice a lengthwise slit into the dates, being careful to leave one side of the date attached so it has a hinge. Stuff the dates with sliced Manchego and press to close. Wrap the date with a bacon slice and secure with a toothpick.

Arrange the assembled dates on a baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, until the bacon is crispy. Serve immediately.

The stuffed and wrapped dates can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead of time and refrigerated. Bring them up to room temperature before baking.

Need more dates?

101 Cookbooks: Dates filled with chocolate cream

David Lebovitz: Baked apples with fresh ginger, dates, almonds, and rum

Elana’s Pantry: Dates stuffed with Pistachios

Tagged as: parties, small bites