Marinated Mushrooms with Garlic, Lemon and Herbs, and other Summer Grilled / Marinated Vegetables

Delicious appetiser / antipasti, side dishes, or even starters. Makes for great vegetarian mezze / tapas dishes to share.

I really love mushrooms, and remember making Mushrooms a la Grecque many, many years ago. I thought I'd add my own spin to it, by charring the mushrooms a little first, as a nod to the char-grilled marinated artichokes we enjoy, and a few of my favourite flavours.

             

Scroll down for a couple of other recipes / suggestions for side dishes to go alongside the mushrooms (as pictured). 

These dishes will collectively serve 4-6 people as sides for lunch, and keep well in the fridge for a few days (see notes).

Calories per serving for those counting: Mushrooms - 70, Asparagus - 50, Peppers and Tomatoes - 61. Total calories for all three dishes as sides - 181.

If you're not counting calories, feel free to slug in extra oil and serve with Parmesan shavings, torn mozzarella, goats' cheese, feta cheese, pine nuts, and / or whatever else you fancy scattered on top or along side!

Spinach and Feta Filo Pie - Spanakotiropita / Spanakopita (includes Thermomix method)

A traditional Greek pie cooked in filo pastry, packed full of flavour.

The beauty of spanakotiropita (aka spanakopita) lies within the lightness of the filo pastry, and the depth of flavour from the feta cheese and herbs within the spinach filling. A very tasty pie whether you're vegetarian or not!

Delicious as a main course, maybe served with my Greek village salad, or cut into smaller squares and served as part of a mezze.

Serves four as a main course (from 302 calories), or can be served cut into 16 pieces to serve as part of a mezze.

Pinchitos Morunos - Pork Kebabs (with Green Peppers)

Tasty pork kebabs, flavoured with Moorish spices - popular in many Tapas bars.

With warm and heady spices, these are beautiful grilled (USA broiled), and perfect for cooking over a barbecue - you could even griddle them if you want to catch the smoky, slightly charred flavour. Delicious served over rice (or cauliflower rice) with my Artichoke, Asparagus and Fennel salad.

Makes four main portions, or serves six to twelve as tapas. 228 calories per serving (three skewers), 76 calories per skewer.The little green Padron peppers take on a smoky flavour when cooked under a home grill (broiler) on the pork kebabs. If you can’t get hold of Padron peppers (or other small cooking peppers, I picked up the Padron peppers on a whim as the shop just so happened to be selling them as peppers suitable for Spanish tapas dishes that day), then just cut up regular peppers into large dice and thread onto the kebabs.

Albondigas (Spanish Meatballs) Two Ways - With Tomato Sauce or Almond Sauce (including Thermomix method)

It's everyone's favourite tapas dish, with a healthier twist!

Serves five as a main course from only 271 calories per serving, or ten to twelve as a tapas dish (113 to 136 calories per portion).

          

Albondigas is a very popular dish in Spain, found in many tapas bars. It is usually made of a mix of meats (commonly pork and veal originally, to stretch the veal further), but you can choose whether you mix your meats or just use solely pork or beef. I prefer to use both for the flavour.

Salt Cod Stew, with Chickpeas, Spinach and White Beans

So, having put up my Salted Chillies recipe, I was reminded of my Salt Cod Stew recipe which we had last night, re-heated from the freezer (which it does rather well!).

The best thing about this dish, is that you don't have to buy salt cod and soak it overnight - you can make this with fresh cod, using my easy method of salting and cooking it, which takes just over an hour and gives you tender, moist, subtly salty cod flakes!

It also makes enough for six to eight people (or many more if serving as a selection of tapa), stretching an expensive fish a long way, and... freezes well!

So, why not have a go?

Potaje de Garbanzos, Judías Blancas, Bacalao y Espinacas
(Chickpea, White Bean, Salt Cod and Spinach Stew)

Serves six as a hearty meal, eight as a lighter meal, and probably a good dozen as tapas! Freezes well, so you can portion it up for future meals in small bags.  347 calories per serving between six (261 calories between eight, 174 between twelve).

Don’t be put off by the idea of salt cod – it’s really easy to make the equivalent to de-salted salt cod (Bacalao), with just an hour’s salting, and 30 minutes soaking and it’s delicious! Use any combination of chick peas, butter beans and white beans you fancy, as long as they add up to around 850g cooked weight.

Zarangollo - Courgettes (Zucchini) slowly cooked with Onions and Oregano, and optional Eggs

Immensely popular in Spain, you'll find it served at many a tapas bar as an appetiser. It's delightful with eggs stirred in at the end, to lightly scramble them and make it into a dish in itself, or without the eggs as a side dish to accompany other dishes, or as part of a selection of tapa (with or without eggs).

Zarangollo

Serves two as tapas (or a light accompaniment to a fish dish without the eggs), or one as something light to eat. Easily doubled.

With eggs (recommended): 168 calories per serving between two as a tapas dish (335 calories as a light dish for one).

Without eggs (more of a side dish than a meal): 80 calories per serving between two (159 calories as a very light dish for one).

Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts

Another popular Spanish side dish...

And a great quick dish to rustle up from the freezer and storecupboard, if you haven't got fresh spinach to had, lovely with fish dishes (such as my cod with romesco sauce, or sea bass with cider and tomato sauce), or as a selection of mixed or vegetarian tapa. I've included a microwave cheat for when you need to throw something together last minute to impress - slug in extra oil for authenticity if you're feeling extravagant, and double up the ingredients if you want a good portion for yourself - don't be shy now!

Espinacas con Pasas y Piñones
(Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts)

Serves two as a side dish or tapa, easily doubled. 87 calories per serving if made with frozen spinach, 100 calories per serving if made with fresh spinach.

Roasted Vegetables with an Oregano, Sherry Vinegar and Olive Oil Dressing

Just a quickie...

A very simple side dish which is delicious alongside fish or poultry, or as one of a number of tapa. I've used onions, peppers and courgettes here, you could put in whichever are your favourite vegetables, such as mushrooms, fennel wedges, aubergine etc. and add whole garlic cloves if you like, squeezing out the soft, caramelised insides after they're roasted. You could even chop them up smaller, then stir through some cous cous soaked in vegetable stock with chopped olives, and crumble some feta cheese over it to make it into a meal...
                  

Mediterranean vegetables roasted in a sherry vinegar, olive oil and oregano dressing. Great as a side dish with fish, chicken or pork, or as part of a selection of tapas dishes. 

Serves two as a side dish or tapa, easily doubled. 73 calories per serving. A lovely accompinament to my cod with Romesco sauce, or sea bass with a Spanish cider and tomato sauce.
[Calories in square brackets next to ingredients]
 

Stuffed Aubergines (Eggplants) with Moorish Spices and Manchego Cheese

This is actually a form of distraction from chocolate...

Not this dish, per se, but posting it here. Which is passing some of the time before I can rescue my box of Troffel Chocolates from their hiding place after the children have gone to bed. More on that later, as you want to know how to cook delicious stuffed aubergines, not how to eat chocolate truffles!

Aubergines get a bad press sometimes, because they are guilty of being the type of vegetable which can soak up a lot of oil if you let them. Not that all oils are bad, but certain things are best in moderation.

That's not a problem with this Spanish dish, because the aubergines are partially steamed first, to tenderise them before finishing off the cooking process.

Steaming aubergines can give meltingly tender results, when you cook them all the way through, and I have a couple in the fridge waiting to be experimented upon to see whether I can do this to make 'fish fragrant' aubergines, a popular Sichuan dish. But I digress, you're after these juicy-looking cheese topped aubergines, so here is my stuffed aubergines recipe...

Berenjenas Rellenas de Carne (Aubergines stuffed with meat)

Serves four as a main meal with side dishes (or use really small aubergines to serve this dish as tapas), 244 calories per serving as a main.

Aubergines are popular in the Balearic Islands, and in this dish they are steamed in a pan with a little water before being stuffed, which means that unlike in many aubergine dishes, they do not soak up oil like sponges, and the flesh and the skin come out meltingly tender. However eating stuffed aubergines with cheese on the top feels incredibly decadent, and you’d never believe they were under 250 calories, when you taste them!