Most of us tried or at least have heard of Spanish Tapas food and restaraunts. Tapas meaning bite sized or small plates of food. I used one of my favorite restaraunts in Chicago, Quartino, as my inspiration to create an Italian Tapas party using Italian ingredients and recipes instead of Spanish. Quartino has these bite sized meatballs with golden raisins on their menu that are to die for. I created my own version of this dish...which I must say was to die for as well! My second inspiration was thinking about some of my favorite italian recipes and trying to create bite sized versions of these dishes. For example; I absolutely love anything eggplant, especially eggplant parmesean or pomodoro. I came up with mini Eggplant Pomodoro stacks that were amazing! When creating a tapas or appetizer menu you must also think about making a more "hearty" menu because you will not be serving a meal after the appetizers....the tapas/appetizers are in fact the meal. Also, please don't forget you cannot throw a party without desserts! Include at least 2 different bite sized desserts that you can serve at a different table with some coffee and after dinner liquors! We had about 14 adults (plus kids) at our party and believe me no one left hungry from this Italian Tapas Party!
