My second favorite thing about serving tapas to guests is that many of the most crowd-pleasing recipes are rediculously simple, to the point that the guest “ooooh and ahhhh” to work ratio is so vastly spread it feels like you are cheating. Here there are three recipes that use as few as two ingredients and involve just a few minutes of prep time each. (Photoshop credit to Brian for the lovely composite above)

#1 – Rustic Eggplant Toasts

When I plan my tapas menu, many of my ideas come from eating out or adaptations of favorites that allow the ingredients to simply shine with almost no help from me at all. The recipe for rustic eggplant toasts was born earlier this fall, when I had come to the end of a week and found myself stuck with lots of unused tomatoes and a huge eggplant from the previous weekend’s trip to the greenmarket.

The eggplant made me think of baba ganoush. The almost over-ripe tomatoes reminded me of a Mark Bittman post in the New York Times where he talked about the deliciousness of roasted tomatoes. Then the Italian in me said, “Combine them! With Garlic!” – and thus this little gem was born. For this party, I used grape tomatoes – not from the market, but still organic, because they have more flavor and frankly – tomatoes in the off-season suck. The garlic and eggplant are from the greenmarket – I selected the eggplant for its size and asked the person at the stand it it would be ready to roast (I recommend asking if you are not sure – I often learn cool tips for checking myself this way).

I drizzle my pan of eggplant slices (cut 1/2 inch thick), grape tomatoes, and peeled garlic with olive oil and season with sea salt and ground black pepper and roast them in an oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, then I flip them and put them back in for another 10. They should look like the picture when they are ready, with the tomato skins beginning to caramelize and the eggplant getting squishy and beginning to release liquid.

This next part is optional: because I had so little faith in the tomatoes, I decided to add a little squirt of concentrated tomato paste to ensure that there was some good sweet tomato flavor. I also grated a quarter cup parmigiano reggiano to add in, but if you would prefer to abstain from adding cheese this dish will still be very delicious – not to mention vegan!

It all goes into the food processor with a small glug of olive oil. Cover and let the food processor do its thing for approximately three minutes, until the mixture is creamy and the only particles you can see are small bits of eggplant skin. You can put this in the fridge until its time to serve – at that point toast some crusty french bread rounds on a cookie sheet and top with the mixture – as you might a crostini, which is what this ultimately becomes. It is pictured below with some quacamole crostini, because that’s how I like to roll.  

#2 – Roasted Artichokes

This one is so quick, it’s absurd. I didn’t even get to photograph the steps because it all happened so fast! Very simply – this recipe is meant to be pure, unadulterated artichoke pleasure. Take your artichokes and cut the stems off, being sure to leave the succulent base intact. strip off the rough outer layers, cut off any remaining sharp tips, and cut the artichokes in half.  Place them in boiling water with the juice of half a lemon for ten minutes. Drain the water and then place the artichokes in a small casserole dish with some olive oil. Season with sea salt and fresh black pepper, and place in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes (check them at 20 minutes to see if they are soft, if not keep going). Remove from the oven and squeeze the remaining half of the lemon over the top. This dish is obviously great for vegans and vegetarians.

#3 -Bacon-Wrapped Dates

You’re going to have some time to kill while your veggies are roasting – it’s the perfect time to wrap some dates in delicious bacon! This is one that I’ve enjoyed at several local establishments (Sala and Euzkadi in the East Village and Salt Bar on the Lower East Side, to name a few), therefore I’m not sure who to give credit, but this is classic Spanish tapas dish. Some people like to stuff the dates with almonds or gorgonzola cheese, which is also awesome. This time I opted for the most simple version.

What you see is what you get – simply take a slice of bacon (if you can get one without nitrates that is ideal and from the greenmarket is even better) and wrap it around a date (remember: “pitted” means that the pit has been removed – be sure to pit them if they are not already!) and stick a sturdy toothpick through the middle (I discovered that I was out of toothpicks and used a skewer to hold them together, four at a time). That’s it! These can be held in the fridge until about half an hour before serving, then put in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on how well done you prefer bacon. Serve these at your next party – they are dangerously delicious!