Coaching Cooking

This has been going on for a while. Now you can go to a restaurant and eat a lot of little plates full of many different flavors and cuisines. Tapas bars have been going on in Spain and elsewhere and the craze hit the U.S. at least a few years ago. Other restaurants have also bought into this trend of offering small tastes of different dishes. To me, this trend makes perfect sense. I grew up in a family who strategized on the entrees and even the appetizer portions of any meal when we dined out. No one could order the same dish and it was mandatory that everyone offer and try everyone else’s dishes. As my friend Natasha puts it, being Chinese also means having the choice of lots of flavors. This struck me as hilarious, but also true for me and for my family’s habits. We love having a little sweet, a little salty and a little crunchy as the flavors and textures of our meals. There has to be a bit of meat and grains and vegetable in every feast and we always made sure to order a bit of everything.

This becomes particularly clear to me when I eat at Chinese restaurants with my family. We have to order a seafood dish and a beef dish. There has to be a green vegetable which invariably shifts between dry sauteed string beans or quick sauteed pea shoot greens with garlic or asparagus with beef. A soup is usually ordered as part of the meal and this must either be hot and sour soup or chicken with corn soup or, on special occasions, shark fin’s soup. Then we order a whole fish or prawns with honeyed walnuts or both. Plus the quintessential part of the meal: steamed rice. We might also order sweet and sour pork (my little sis’ favorite) or a specialty dish such as cornish hens stuffed with sticky rice and Chinese sausage. Everyone picked their favorite dish and we always had such a perfect balance of flavors. I always remember feeling sated at the end of these meals because of the array of choices and the great variety of dishes.

The concept of small plates drifts back in my mind to those dinners at Chinese restaurants with my family. We always had such a great variety of dishes. Dining at restaurants with small plates allows diners to sample such a great selection of foods. Recently I celebrated with AB at Cascal in Mountain View. We ate crab and shrimp tostaditos with guacamole and pico de gallo. Our mouths watered at the sight of the pancetta-wrapped dates stuffed with Cabrales (a Spanish blue cheese). We savored a delicious Spanish-style cassoulet with garbanzo beans and spicy sausage. Although all the flavors were translated from Spanish dishes, we enjoyed the ability to pick several dishes with different flavors (rich, spicy, sweet, citrusy). AB always picks the best desserts so we finished the meal with a perfect carmelized plantain dessert and vanilla bean ice cream.

The small plates trend could easily extend to home entertaining. Pick four to six dishes that can be divided into small plates or that can be served in bite-sized pieces. Pick a few wines to enjoy or mix some great cocktails. Have a great cd playing tunes in the background and set out small plates and napkins. This type of eating makes for a great, casual party or a fun evening with a few friends.

Stay tuned tomorrow when I post an example of a great small plates menu.