Meal Description
Pintxos! (Pronounced PEEN-Chos) You are going to be
the hippest one at your next neighborhood happy hour telling all your friends
about one of the newest trends. Pintxos….just don’t call them Tapas! Now that the Ramen Noodle craze has begun to
wane...was it ever popular?!.... there are plans for several Pintxos
restaurants to open in the DC area in the near future. From the Basque region of Northern Spain and
Southern France, Pintxo literally means “spike” and is used to describe
appetizers served on a stick, but also refers to any bite sized food on a piece
of bread, or even on a small plate.
The Basque Region has
long sought its independence as its culture was first documented as far back as
the 16th century. The capital city is
Vitoria-Gasteiz and it has its own language, called Euskara. Ferdinand Franco, the fascist dictator that
was supported by the Nazi’s during the Spanish Civil War, had persecuted the
Basque people and even banned the language.
Hitler, who supported Franco’s rise to power, used the Spanish Civil War
to test the weapons later used in his Blitzkrieg, or “lightning War.” The first
intervention by the Luftwaffe, the German Air force, was the bombing of the
Basque town of Guernica, or Gernika, on April 26, 1937, immortalized by the
visceral and terrifying painting by Pablo Picasso of the same name. Oppressed throughout Franco’s rule, a
separatist movement took hold led by the militant Basque Separatist group, ETA,
which was labeled a terrorist organization by most western governments until
disbanding within the last decade.
The main difference
between Tapas and Pintxos, is that one is Spanish and the other Basque. Tapas are typically eaten sitting down with
utensils while the later is with fingers standing up. Pintxos is a festive food that can be eaten
all day or all night and are meant to tempt the eye, as they are set out on the
bars throughout the Basque Country.
These are to be enjoyed with friends, moving from bar to bar throughout
the evening. The primary varieties of
Pintxos include:
There are several
characteristic ingredients for Pintxos, especially peppers, and many are meant
to be eaten at room temperature, such as:
Each meal kit will come
with your choice of any 4 Pintxos. We
can exclude certain ingredients, or exchange certain ones (esp. cheese), so
please let us know. Many, but not all,
will be served with a skewer and a piece of crusty bread, and some will simply
served on a small plate. Given the
number of ingredients, the deadline for this sale will be Tuesday, April 18th at
10pm. Please list the 4 according to the
corresponding number, and any special requests in the box above.
Note: We may substitute
certain secondary ingredients, but not the protein.
Choose any 4 and put the corresponding numbers in the box above:
Vegetarian
1- Goat Cheese stuffed
Piquillo Peppers with a Sherry Vinegar Reduction
2- Figs Marinated in Sherry with Aged Goat Cheese
3- Piperrada (or Pipérade) - stewed onions, peppers and tomatoes
4- Watercress, Walnuts, Goat
Cheese, and Roasted Peaches
Seafood
5- Manzanilla Olives, Guindilla Peppers and Boquerones (White Anchovies)
6- Prawns with Garlic Confit and Preserved Lemon and Piment d'Espelette
Pork
7- Chorizo, Petit Basque (Sheep’s Cheese), and Guindilla Peppers
8- Figs With Honey and Petit Basque (Sheep’s Cheese) wrapped in Serrano Ham
9- Ham and Cheese Bocadillos (mini sandwiches)
Poultry
10- Piperrada with
Chicken
Red Meat
11- Piquillo Peppers stuffed with Braised Short Rib, Oxtail, & Goat Cheese
On
Egin! (Basque for Bon Appetit!)
Time to Cook: 30 min.
Cook by Day: Monday
Items included (serves 2):
*Menu items subject to slight variation based on the availability of fresh ingredients; Picture is not necessarily representative of final dish
Meal Contains (including add-ons): Milk, Wheat, Egg, Fish, Shellfish, Peanuts, and Tree Nuts. We store, portion, and package various meal kits containing all eight (8) major allergens (milk, wheat, egg, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts) and cannot guarantee that cross-contamination will not occur between kits.
Add-on Checkout Items:
On
Egin!