Gazpacho Couscous & more for September Tapas

I love hosting our Monthly Tapas night, not only do I get to socialize with some very interesting people, and bonus, get to meet new people every month, I get to make new recipes like these two Couscous recipes from Chica Andaluza's website.  

And the Gazpacho Couscous recipe was well received.   Not only did it look purty, it tasted great.   The Courgettes and Mushroom dish was also tasty, but I choose to warm it a little before serving.   Oh and by the way, Courgettes are Zucchini.  I had to look it up in Wikipedia, but I thought Courgettes sounded fancier than Zucchini.
I'll be posting the recipes for those in a couple of days.  





Here's a quick overview of the dishes that were brought and shared last night:

  Dessert first, this was wonderful, a baked apple dessert.

A really tasty cheese log and crackers.   Take a look at the serving dish, this is actually a fabric server, the corners tie together to make a square dish and it is ideal for serving either sliced bread or in this case a cheese log and crackers.
And next up, Roasted Pork Loin with dipping sauce.   I'll post the how to's later on, but the dipping sauce, was, WOW.  (even if I do say so myself.)

A selection of pickles.   That just sounds so ordinary.  They weren't, Harriet always comes up with some fun stuff, and these were fun.  From the left, pickled cauliflower, brussel's sprouts, beets and in the back, Zucchini.   I tried all of them, but the Brussels Sprouts, knocked my socks off.   I'm usually not a fan of them, but these were so good.

Some BBQ offerings, ribs are in the back, these were also very good.
The Courgette's and Mushrooms Couscous. They were OK, but I think I'm going to take the leftovers and add some Edamame to them, and they will be my dinner tonight.   I'll share the recipe later on in the week.

Cuban Chicken Pie.   Imagine if you will, the following ingredients put together.   Chicken, green olives, capers, tomatoes, corn, craisins   Sound a little weird?    This was so good.  I think I could have just made a meal of this alone.   I noticed that there wasn't much left when they went home.   And best of all Kathy is going to give me the recipe.  I'll share it here.
  I wish now I'd taken a picture of it after it had been cut into, but I was too busy socializing.  Hey, it's my party and I can have fun if I want to.  

Then there was this wonderful Salsa and Chips.   Gotta say there wasn't much left for my guest to take back home.

 In what had to be a first, we actually had two people bring Spanakoppita.   Luckily for us, they came at different times, so most of them got eaten.   One thing I've never tried to make, but I think I want to try my hand at them sometime.   I know I can eat a lot of them, well, a couple or three at a time.   And they're good for you as well. 

Then there was this, Tunata with grilled Tuscan bread.   Dare I admit it, I went back for seconds, or was that thirds?    All I know is, this was so good.   OMG good.  Sorry, I tend to get excited about food sometimes.

Then there was this dish of yellow rice.   It went well with the Pork Loin, and was also very good.

One of our guests brought this Smoked Amberjack.   It was caught the day before, and smoked.   Being a Dane, I have an affinity for smoked or preserved fish anyway, so I of course scarfed up a couple of pieces.   I was left some so I'm going to try my hand at making a fish dip in a couple of days.    Smoked Amberjack is a wonderful fish.
And lastly, a very blurry picture of a Key Lime pie,   Which was also very good.   I got a taste of the last sliver left.

So there you have it, an overview of the food served and consumed last night.  I love doing a Tapas night.   Apart from having to clean my house, (which I probably should do anyway), I get to try new dishes, and I get to try other people's dishes as well.   And because it's 'small plates' everyone gets to try something, and no one goes home hungry.   The cleanup for me is a breeze as well.   All I have to do is wash some glasses.   And wipe down counters and as I'm doing the tidying up, I get to think back on some of the conversations I enjoyed and the people I got to meet.   There's always someone new here.   We encourage our guests to bring someone along, and that has been a good thing, over all.