Seafood Salad Tapas – Extraordinarily Good!

Spain is breathtaking. The beauty of the landscape, the architecture, the sense of history combine with the current passions for art, music, and food, glorious food. Each visit to Spain leaves me longing to stay. If you go to Spain, don’t miss the Alhambra, Marbella, Ronda, Cuenca, Cordoba, Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid…and if I go temporarily missing, there’s a good chance I’ll be found wandering in Spain. Check out these photos from a recent sojourn.

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And now, for some Spanish repast. What are tapas? They are not a type of food. They are small edible servings, offered with a drink. Tapas are not appetizers or starters; they are the whole meal. Tapas may have been created simply to prevent drinking on an empty stomach. And according to health journalist Harriet Sugar Miller, drinking alcohol on an empty stomach is verboten. It affects your blood sugar in ways that are not good.

So, in keeping with tradition, raise a glass and make a toast, but first nibble on these tasty treats.

Shrimp Salad Tapas 

• 10 oz shrimp, cooked, chopped into cubes if large
• 1 T cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 – 1  t Tabasco
• 2 T lemon, freshly squeezed
• 2 T red onion, finely chopped
• 1 avocado, cubed
• spinach leaves for garnish

Place shrimp into a bowl, then toss with lemon, onion, cilantro, tabasco, sea salt and pepper. Gently fold in avocado. In a small dish, dole out 1/2 cup servings on a bed of spinach, serving with dressing on the side.

Salmon Salad Tapas 

• 1/2 – 1 lb salmon filet, roasted with Dijon mustard, maple syrup, sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 T chopped red onion,
• 2 T cilantro, chopped fine
• 1 grapefruit, segmented, with each segment cut in half
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• spinach leaves for garnish

Allow salmon to cool, then cut into bite sized chunks. Mix gently with onion, cilantro and grapefruit. Arrange 1/2 cup servings on a bed of spinach with, a scoop of dressing on the side. Garnish with cilantro and lemon.

Horseradish Dressing

• 1/4 c white horseradish (prepared type in the jar)
• 1/2 c plain yogurt
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix dressing ingredients and serve on the side. This recipe yields 8 small tapas dishes, that taste extraordinary to say the least. Very, very flavourful. Of course, they can be served in a bowl or on a platter family style as well.

Shrimp and Salmon Salad Tapas with Horseradish Dressing Print Ready Recipe

Final notes:

• Thank you to Susan Schwartz and Julia Richardson, for giving me the idea to use horseradish in a sauce. Thanks as well to my mom, who fed us avocado and crabmeat, topped with Russian dressing, a favorite meal. You all inspired this wonderful combinations of flavours.
• Thank you to my good friend, freshly minted grandma, Laura Winer, for tasting, liking and guiding me, several years back, in my first visit to Spain.
• Thank you to the www for all the nutrition information in the ingredient links. I like to eat foods that are chock full of important nutrients.
• Thank you to Huff Post for opening our eyes to eating with good conscience. Ask your fish monger where your shrimp come from, and avoid farmed shrimp. Read all about it in this Kennedy Warne interview.