Last week my friend Ditte Lokon invited some friends for a tapas party. At first she was going to do the entire dinner herself but decided that her guests should be able to contribute.

The tapas party was not held to a strict must-be-Spanish theme. Instead it was a melding of cultures that prevailed.

Ditte’s five guests helped the local economy by shopping at Trader Joe’s, Santa Cruz River Farmers Market, Caravan, India Dukaan, Roma Imports, 17th Street Market, and Sunflower Market.

Some recipes came from a used Greek cookbook (bought at Bookmans), Bon Appetit, and Fine Cooking as well as Claudine cooking with her Lebanese mother and grandmother. Other recipes were improvised or memorized, origins unknown. 

Wine was purchased from Callaghan Vineyards in Sonoita, Plaza Liquor, and Total Wine & More. The white wines were from the Mendoza region of Argentina, a lush Torrontes. I believe four bottles of wine were consumed plus red dessert port also from Callaghan.

We supped lavishly on:
–Heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar
–Muhummara – red dip made from pomegranate syrup, pomegranate seeds, red pepper, walnuts, cayenne and toasted pita bread
–Asian pears wrapped with prosciutto 
–Zucchini fritters
–Shrimp fritters
–Brie wrapped in phyllo, drizzled with truffle oil
–Salad of organic greens, mint, basil, fresh figs and apricots, topped with Manchego cheese and vinaigrette
–Custard cups filled with Coquille St. Jacques (scallops with Parmesan/cream/butter)
–Burek – phyllo dough squares stuffed with cheese, parsley, and dill

It was an amazing meal where every bite held fascination and even being full, the food was just too good to not taste. Then there was the conversation, the laughter, and the connection that brings people together — a feast of exploration. Pot luck in the truest sense of the word.

When everyone felt they couldn’t eat one more thing, dessert appeared…phyllo dough cups dotted with homemade lemon curd and fresh berries finalized by that powerful red port.

But back to Tucson food markets which beholds less common ingredients like pomegranate syrup (17th Street Market), truffle oil (Roma Imports), brown rice flakes for the zucchini fritters (Indian Dukaan), fabulous hard to find fresh figs in season (17th Street Market).

Go Tucson  food shopping!

–17th Street Market, 840 E 17th St, 792-2588
–Caravan, 2817 N Country Club Rd, 323-6808
–India Dukaan, 2754 N Campbell Ave, 321-0408
–Roma Imports, 627 S Vine Ave, 792-3173

Gannett News Service/Citizen File Photo

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 11:47 am and is filed under Global / Ethnic Markets, Life. Tags for this post: burek, pomegranate syrup, tapas party, Tucson ethnic food market, tucson food markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.