Feeling adventurous, Jonathan and I improvised on some traditional Spanish tapas dishes: fried calamari and albondigas with an eggplant tomato sauce!
Fried calamari is simple - grab some fresh calamari, cut it up, dip in an egg wash, and bread with panko. Jonathan added capers and banana peppers, which gave it a nice flavor and kick. Don’t forget to add salt to taste.
The albondigas are a bit more complicated. First, for the meatballs, roll the ground beef (which I seasoned beforehand) into balls, dip into an egg wash, and bread with panko. Then place into baking dish and bake at 450 degrees. The sauce was made by browning onions and tenderizing eggplant in tomato paste. Eggplant takes a while for it to be the right consistency, so be patient! Once the meatballs and sauce are both done, the sauce goes right over the top of the meatballs.