It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, I am still trying to catch up with real life after getting back home. Since I couldn’t ignore the food part of my food blog completely,  I desperately wanted to come out and post a food post. What better way to come out of the recipe hibernation than present you with an authentic Spanish recipe? Have you guys had enough of Spain talk already? Well, we were so smitten by Spanish food that within a couple of days after we got back, we made some Spanish food at home. What can I say, the food was that good in Spain! 

Spanish Tapas 016 

Tapas are quintessential Spanish food - these are small, bite-sized morsels of finger food. apassionfortapasTapas Tango or Tapas Crawl  -the art of moving from one tapas bar to another, munching, drinking and socializing along the way - is a favorite pastime of locals in Spain. Siv and I are big Tapas lovers, our favorite restaurant in Seattle is Spanish! Our love for the cuisine is one of the main reasons we picked Spain as our vacation destination this time.

Even though it is one of our favorite cuisines, somehow we never bought ourselves a Spanish cookbook. But a few weeks ago, before I even told anyone that we were going to Spain for vacation, my good friend Sheela of the delightful blog Delectable Victuals sent me a cookbook called A Passion for Tapas! Is that ESP or what! She remembered that I mentioned my love for Tapas in a post sometime, that was so thoughtful of her - Thank You Sheela!

Tapas are meant to be served for a large group of people. Since we didn’t want to make small quantities of a bunch of items for the two of us, we actually made a meal out of just two tapas. It kind of defeats the whole Tapas concept, but who cares, it was the most delicious meal. Siv made this Sauteed Chicken with Garlic, and I made some roasted potato wedges, I will post that recipe soon. Both the dishes are from this book, both turned out wonderful, I can’t wait to try out the other recipes in this book.

Sauteed Chicken with Crispy Garlic Slices

Recipe highly adapted from the book A Passion for Tapas

Spanish Tapas 005

Ingredients

Method

The book calls for boneless thighs with skin-on, but we removed the skin and left the bones in. If you are planning to serve with cocktail picks or toothpicks, use boneless thighs, but personally I love crunching the bones.

Cut the chicken thighs into bite sized pieces, and season with paprika.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and fry the garlic slices for about a minute. Remove the fried garlic pieces with a slotted spoon and keep aside on paper towels to drain the oil.

Add the chicken pieces to the same skillet and cook turning occasionally for about 10 minutes, when the chicken pieces are browned well on all the sides. Add the wine and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for another ten minutes or until most of the liquids are evaporated. Season with salt. Add the fried garlic pieces and mix well.

Transfer to a serving vessel and sprinkle the chopped parsley on top. Serve warm.

Verdict

For the minimal spices used, the chicken turned out very tasty. We had the second batch with some lemon juice squeezed on the chicken pieces, and that tasted like a garlic chicken preparation we had at a Brazilian restaurant.  Along with the garlic-rosemary potato wedges, this dish made a great Spanish meal.

We had this meal while reminiscing the vacation memories, from which I still owe you one more post about our culinary expedition. At this point writing that post really feels like work, I am still trying to catch up with life and my real job that I get paid for, so bear with me..



Comments

23 Responses to “Spanish Style Sauteed Chicken with Garlic”

  1. sunita on December 13th, 2007 2:12 am

    That looks lovely :drool: …I better search my pantry now

    :) That is the beauty of the dish, I’m sure everyone has all the ingredients handy in the pantry. I know you are not into very spicy food, so you will really like this one Sunita..

  2. Nags on December 13th, 2007 2:30 am

    good to have u back :) i know you have been busy, so its okay, there is always a next time to participate in my events :)

    the chicken looks yummy by the way, and crunchy garlics sounds just right to me! :D

    :) Thanks Nags… Yep, next time for sure…

  3. Padmaja on December 13th, 2007 2:39 am

    Hey Sig!! Waiting for spanish food after i saw those lovely pictures!!
    Thats one amazing sauteed chicken dear!!!

    Yep, that is going to be the next post :) … Patience my dear…

  4. Srivalli on December 13th, 2007 2:59 am

    wow..that looks really yum!…so you will be posting your dishes now!!..great.. :cool:

    bwt thanks for the tip on tables..didn’t’ strike me to ask you..hahahh… :grin:

    Yeah, I have one more trip post, and then I am back to posting recipes… :)… Good luck with figuring out the tables stuff, I’d love to see your weekly menu planning, sure I could use some tips in that area..

  5. Raaga on December 13th, 2007 3:16 am

    Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we have Sig the bone cruncher!!!

    Looks lovely :-)

    :D lol… I like blood too… :evil:

  6. Rajitha on December 13th, 2007 5:39 am

    ah! boy do i feel sorry for you :roll: ..he he..but seriously…those are really few spices but the chicken does look good..should try it on tofu…

    :) Might work on tofu, I can only guess… :)

  7. indosungod on December 13th, 2007 5:45 am

    Sig, looks delicious. Can’t wait for more :)

    Thanks Indo… Have a great vacation…

  8. Happy Cook on December 13th, 2007 6:07 am

    Wow it looks so delicious. I am going to try them too. Those garlice pieces looks so good too. Two years ago i bought smoked spanish paprika and used only once ( i did pay a lot for a small pot) and i threw it few weeks back as it was out of date. So will have to buy as i know this recipe

    Garlic pieces were a little bitter after frying, but was wonderful along with the chicken pieces. :) I didn’t even know paprika expires, I better check the dates on mine.. ;)

  9. rachel on December 13th, 2007 6:15 am

    I frequent the only tapas bar that we have have out here where I live! Become a regular there.. :smile:

    Lovely looking chicken :drool: with garlic there..great pic! :grin:

    :) How can anybody not love Tapas, huh? Glad you have a good one in your area…

  10. Rina on December 13th, 2007 8:51 am

    Looks perfect and simple cook too. :razz: Thnx fro sharing yaar.

    Yep, it is a very simple recipe… especially since Siv did all the work ;)

  11. shilpa on December 13th, 2007 9:18 am

    Ohhh..i am drooling…I want to eat that right now…. :oops:

    we will trade the left overs for your coorgie chicken curry ;)

  12. Mishmash! on December 13th, 2007 9:24 am

    As you said for the minimal spices you have used here, the dish looks nicely browned and flavourful!

    Yep, we really had to resist the temptation to add some chili powder while cooking, but we stuck to the recipe and it got paid off… :)

  13. richa on December 13th, 2007 12:07 pm

    hey, that looks real good!
    btw, how did u like veg food out there? if u ate any, that is :nerd:

    :oops: we didn’t have any veg food… except for this one dish I will blog about soon… But I read in my travel books that they have some great vegetarian restaurants in Spain…

  14. Roops on December 13th, 2007 12:51 pm

    Great color! Minimalist spice ingredients made me a bit skeptical. But when I read through, I take your words that it tastes great! :drool:
    I am almost green reading your vacation :mrgreen: I need one soon even though I got back from one recently.

    :) Yeah, vacations make you greedy, we just can’t be happy with one good vacation, always need more… Welcome back Roops..

  15. Meeta on December 13th, 2007 1:31 pm

    Yum Spanish food does that to you. But what you are doing to me with this chicken is indescribable!!! That does look reaallll good.

    Thanks Meeta… :) It tasted really good too, but it is such a quick and easy recipe, you can prepare it within minutes…

  16. sra on December 14th, 2007 12:16 am

    :drool:

    :)

  17. Laavanya on December 14th, 2007 9:07 am

    Looks good Sig. Waiting for more Spanish recipes.. I love the tapas that I’ve tried at restaurants and was surprised to see quite a few vegetarian entries.

    There are some vegetarian tapas, and lots of egg based tapas too…

  18. Shella on December 15th, 2007 1:04 am

    That looks awesome. Never tried anything spanish before. I wonder if I’ll even get Spanish Paprika anywhere here in Delhi?? Gosh, I am always so complaining about the ingredients……..but I love the way your dish looks, n I guess I’ll try it still min the paprika, or use simple paprika

    You can use regular Paprika, Shella.. try to find a smoked, hot variety… it doesn’t have to be Spanish… But if you can’t find smoked paparika, by all means use regular… :)

  19. sagari on December 15th, 2007 11:27 pm

    chicken looks delecioussss

    Thanks Sagari :)

  20. Amy on December 19th, 2007 11:58 pm

    My mouth is watering! I am definitely making this for dinner this week.

    Thanks Amy… Hope you like it..

  21. Paula from Only Cookware on December 21st, 2007 9:34 pm

    I’ve printed this one out to try. It looks absolutely delicious!

    Thanks Paula.. Hope you like it.. :)

  22. zenchef on December 30th, 2007 11:47 am

    Oh my god! This looks seriously delicious!
    I’m writing it down!
    :(Yes):

    Thanks Zenchef for dropping by… I just checked out your site, and I am in love with your writing… Will be back for more!

  23. The Quest for Pimientos de Padron : Live To Eat on August 2nd, 2008 5:05 pm

    […] all that loot, we had to make ourselves a Spanish Tapas dinner. Siv made his now-famous Spanish style sauteed chicken with garlic. This time he made it the real authentic way, with the Spanish olive oil and the […]

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