Cheese and Olive wontons

While I was making our vegetarian Spanish dinner, I thought of making olive and cheese wontons, a take on Spanish empanadas. I made 10 of these, but it was a quick thing to make, that I'm going to make these for a pot luck that I'm attending next week. 

Makes 20

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped pitted mixed olives 
• 1/4 cup mozarella
• 1/4 cup queso manchego
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Spanish paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 20 wonton wrappers

Method

• Preheat the oven to 400F
• In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients except for the wonton wrappers.
• On a clean and dry working surface lay out as many wonton wrappers as fit on your work surface. Cover the remaining ones with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. 
• Put a little bit of the olive and cheese mixture off-center of each wrapper. With damp fingers fold over the wonton wrapper and seal the ends shut with a dab of water.
• Transfer to a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. 
• Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until crisp (the photo above shows that I didn't watch them well enough and they are over cooked!)

Serve with a Spanish mojo if you some on hand.

Avocado and Tomatillo Salad

Friday night at home while our baby sleeps away… my husband and I wanted a nice light meal. Mediterranean food hits the spot for him, and more specifically, Spanish. He grew up with it and is very spoilt with good fresh ingredients. I've found that when I say Spanish food or cooking here in New York a lot of people think of it as difficult. Actually, I find it much easier than most other cuisines as it's all about the quality of the ingredient and about simplicity.

Tonight amongst the other tapas, the first one was a salad. This one we had first and then I made the rest. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and patted dry
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 tomatillo, sliced
• 1/4 cup mixed pitted olives
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 Spanish onion, sliced
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp walnut oil
• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• Thinly shaved Parmesan Regianno cheese

Directions:

• Toss together in a large salad bowl the first 6 ingredients
• In a small bowl add the salt, lemon juice, garlic  and balsamic vinegar. Add the maple syrup and then the oils as your whisk the dressing with a fork. Taste, season accordingly.
• Dress the salad with the dressing, toss to coat well and garnish with the cheese. Do not overdress your salad. 

Suggestions:

You can add some toasted pine nuts to this salad and it'll be great. 

Some orange zest and orange would add a nice touch of citrus.