Elsewhere Kitchen challenge: ¡ya esta!

I really loved the idea of Melinda's Elsewhere Kitchen Challenge the second I read her blog, and the kids and I have been discussing where we'd 'go' ever since.

I nudged them, I have to admit, towards Spain - specifically Barcelona, which was possibly a bit unfair because I've had two of my favourite ever weekends away there. Without them. What the hell, they love tapas anyway.

And it was tapas I wanted to make - the patatas bravas and chorizo cooked in red wine that are non-negotiable components of any order. Plus some extras that sum up happy memories.

The pimientos de padron and spinach and chickpeas I fell in love with in Taller Tapas on my eighth wedding anniversary trip; the camembert pinchos we ordered on an incredibly beer-sodden 40th birthday weekend away with friends.

Also prawns in garlic butter, because Son No2 adores them and why not.

I planned carefully all week, queued for nearly HALF AN HOUR to get into Aldi this morning and got started predictably late, but armed with a list of timings.

Patatas bravas first; here I cheated and used tinned potatoes, patted dry, doused in oil and salt and shoved in a hot oven. Sauce with garlic and onion and passata, paprika and chilli went on the hob to simmer, along with a bit of balsamic vinegar because I like the tang.

Patatas bravas

Cheese next: a camembert stuffed with garlic slivers and fresh thyme from the garden, drizzled with honey, wrapped in foil and baked. This isn't, admittedly, super-Spanish sounding, but it was the nearest I could come to the squares of (probably deep-fried) camembert perched on French bread, fastened with skewers and drizzled with honey and thyme in a vair hipster Barcelona bar which Ben still gets misty-eyed about as the Best Thing He's Ever Eaten.

Inauthentic camembert

SIX cloves of garlic (wowzers) plus oil and onions started off the chickpeas dish, with cumin and paprika and then the spinach added to cook gently.

Chorizo and oh what a surprise more garlic, then red wine added in once the chunks had browned. Decanted into a dish to warm in the oven, then pan rinsed out hastily for you'll-never-guess-what, butter and prawns. Then a snippage of parsley over the top of the finished prawns because I have learned many things from Confined Kitchen and there being a point to parsley is one of them.

Chorizo and red wine

Prawns and pimientos

The oven being fully employed, I had to toast the bread and then rub garlic cloves over before drizzling with more oil.

And we were ready to eat.

At which point Son No1 wandered into the kitchen. "Are we having those nice blackened peppers?"

Chickpeas, spinach and LOTS of garlic

Ah shite. I KNEW I'd forgotten something. Luckily these are the simplest things in the whole world; tiny green peppers, dry-fried in a pan wiped down with oil for a few minutes until they blacken, and covered in salt.

And then we really were ready to eat.

I'd been anticipating days of leftover lunches, but reader, they scoffed the damn lot barring a couple of spoonfuls of chickpeas.

Was it like being in Barcelona? No, not really. But I loved the planning, and the cooking, and the remembering, and the time spent at the table.

Better days are coming, and until then there's always chickpeas. And garlic. Good thing we can't go out, really.