Pintxos & Friends

Ever since I returned from Spain in January, I’ve been dying to try making Basque pintxos for myself. Dustin put me to shame by having a rival Pintxos & Friends party and preparing octopus! I planned to make a very tasty tortilla española served on toast with fresh roasted red and green peppers and aioli. Those ingredients were easy enough to find, but I traversed Greater New Orleans at will looking for specialty ingredients for the other dishes. For example, I couldn’t remember ever seeing boquerones, the white anchovies preserved in vinegar that are widely available throughout Spain, sold anywhere in the GNO. I was pleasantly surprised to find some at Martin Wine Cellar’s flagship store in Metairie. I served them on toasted baguette slices accompanied with a salsa-like vinaigrette that is common throughout the Basque Country. This recipe from Anya von Bremzen’s The New Spanish Table is very similar to what I ate several times on pintxos in Spain:

Whisk together ½ cup Spanish olive oil; 1/3 cup white wine vinegar; and 1/3 cup each finely diced green pepper; red pepper; and white onion.

In Bilbao, I ate fried quail eggs placed perfectly on tiny baguette slices with smoked salmon and aioli. I thought to myself “so that’s what you do with quail eggs!” So cute and small, I had picked them up several times at Hong Kong Market and always wanted an excuse to buy them. I planned to make a trip out to the giant Asian grocer ASAP to pick some up.




I rounded everything out with some quick herbed goat cheese-stuffed pepadews and some Spanish olives.




I also went to a variety of wine stores in search of a txakoli. After all that, I learned the only place that sold it was a wine shop right by my house that I pass almost daily on my stroll- the Magazine Street branch of Martin Wine Cellar. I really felt like I was living it up when I forked over the $16 for it (I’m more of an $8 bottle type), but I’ve come to learn in reading The Basque Table by Teresa Barrenchea that “because txokoli are artisanal rather than mass-produced wines, they are rather expensive.” I also learned that they are “nice summer wines, and their low alcohol content make them good with lunch or aperitifs,” so I probably looked pretty lame when I was drinking them in San Sebastian at night in the middle of winter. Oh well.

Thanks to Caitlin for the photography!