So people have been asking me about this Whole30 Tapas Party we had with a group of our friends. Just so you know, most of the people there were also doing Whole30. A couple of them were not though, and they actually enjoyed the food and had a good time. Actually, we all had a good time.
It is quite easy to throw a Whole30 Tapas Party with your friends. So I will start from the beginning, it is all about meat. Meat on sticks, grilled meat, even canned meat (by meat, I also mean fish). After meat, it’s all about your vegetables. You have veggies coming out of your ears on Whole30, but that’s not a bad thing. In fact, that’s a really good thing.
Early on in the week, we all decided we were having a tapas themed Whole30 Party. But rather than follow the Tapas party in the Whole30 book, we made up our own tapas based on the Whole30 premise. Each of has had to make two tapas for the party.
Our Tapas Party Spread
I made a Spanish Tortilla from Bon Appetit. Not to be confused with a corn or flour tortilla from Mexico. A Spanish tortilla or Tortilla Española, is like an omelet made with potatoes and it looks like a small torte. It usually consists of four ingredients: eggs, olive oil, potatoes, and salt. You can of course modify this to your liking. In Spain, it is often served as an appetizer or light meal.
In addition to the Spanish Tortilla, we had beef skewers, using simply hanger steak with garlic, olive, salt and pepper.
A friend of ours made the salmon cakes from the Whole30 book. This recipe can also be altered to use tuna, crab or lobster. The almond flour works as a great substitute for bread crumbs. The texture of these cakes is surprisingly delicious. He also brought roasted potatoes.
Lastly, someone else made Deviled Eggs with Confit Tuna, Olives, Tomato, and Olive Oil along with pork tenderloin and artichoke skewers. I think the deviled eggs were the most beautiful deviled eggs I had ever seen. I am not a big deviled eggs person, but these were delicious. And how could you not try something so pretty?
Tapas Party Veggies & Dip
We made an artichoke hummus, using just canned artichokes, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to go with all of these wonderful foods. We also made the Whole30 Cilantro Mayo which went great with the grilled meat skewers. We found Whole30 compliant prosciutto at Whole Foods and Marcona almonds, and made a pretty little display out of them. Of course, there was also olives, cornichons, and piquillo peppers. And because we needed more vegetables, we sliced up some celery and carrots. Voila! Food done.
We felt as though we needed something more than sparkling water to go with all of our scrumptious food. We noticed on the Whole30 Instagram feed that La Croix sparkling water came up with a Whole30 approved Pina Colada. Simply take La Croix coconut water and pineapples and put them in a blender. We used frozen pineapples to make the drink appear more substantial and frothy. It was awesome! I highly recommend it if you haven’t tried it already!
Whole30 Pina Colada
For dessert, we had pineapple and blackberries. You start to notice that fruit tastes sweeter on the Whole30. It becomes your “candy”. And that’s it! Everything was simple, easy and delicious. We all left feeling full and with no regrets. Whole30 on!
