Summer Solstice Recipes: Skip the Scandinavian Food & Make These Easy Spanish Recipes

The summer entertaining season is fast approaching – think pool parties, barbecues, backyard picnics and, of course, summer solstice! Among the easiest and tastiest ways to kick of your celebrations is with Spanish pinchos (aka snacks). These typically no-fuss nibbles can be prepped in advance and are the perfect handheld companions to beer and cocktails.

Our favorite pinchos are the stuffed kind: olives, beets, tomatoes, and pretty much anything that can be hollowed out, wrapped, and/or jabbed with a toothpick.

Quick and Easy Spanish Recipes, the new cookbook by mother-daughter duo Simone and Ines Ortega, is packed with recipes of exactly this type. In fact, there are more than 100 recipes in the book, all of which take less than 30 minutes to prepare – they’re geared towards busy home cooks – and all of which were culled from the pages of the bestselling Spanish food bible 1080 Recipes, now in its 48^th edition and authored by the late Simone Ortega in 1972.

We like the cookbook so much we featured its recipes in a recent issue of Latina magazine.

Click on for your new favorite party foods!

Prunes with Roquefort, Raisins, and Pine Nuts 

• 3 1/2 ounces Roquefort cheese
• 4 tablespoons half and half

Get the full recipe. 

 

Baked Sardines with Spinach

• 7 tablespoons butter, divided

• 3 1/2 pounds spinach, coarse stems trimmed, blanched

• 3 1/2 pounds fresh sardines, scaled, cleaned and boned

• 4 tablespoons Olive Oil

• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs  

Get the full recipe. 

 

 

Stuffed Beets

 

• 1/2 cup long-grain rice, cooked

• 1 apple, peeled and diced

• 4 cooked beets
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and halved
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped

Get the full recipe. 

 

Tomatoes Filled with Sardines 

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon parsley, chopped