How to throw a tapas party

I love entertaining and usually cater events I host myself, often with the help of a few keen volunteer kitchen hand guests. A long, relaxed event serving continuous finger food from start to finish is my preferred menu and it means I can usually cater for a wide range of palettes. I aim to prepare most of the food in advance and it takes away the pressure of needing to have everything ready at once. Even better is avoiding the inevitable mountain of dishes that comes after a dinner party, as most courses can be served on paper napkins and without cutlery.

Tapas are great for parties and they come in many forms. We learnt How to throw a tapas party at the Ruth Pretty cooking school yesterday. My interest was already piqued during last year's winter tapas demonstration. This weekend's class turned into an all day affair with a wonderful demonstration of how to create eleven different tapas dishes. We then got to enjoy them all before taking home the recipes to try for ourselves. Just look at the beautiful table setting!

The table is set

Every course was served on delicate crockery and accompanied with wine and coffee. It was hard to choose a favourite dish with so much on offer but I'm keen to try making the lamb cutlets, garlic prawns and chicken croquettes at home. Maybe it's a good excuse to throw another party sometime soon?

I'll let the photos do the talking.

Chicken croquettes with aioli

Coca with rainbow chard, garlic and almonds

Garlic prawns with chorizo

Lamb cutlets with orange and almond salad

Quesadillas with mushroom, rainbow chard stalks and cheese

Chocolate dipped brandy prunes with brandy crème anglaise