So as part of our decompress after my parents left my husband and I decided to have a lovely little spa getaway. Part of our spa getaway had to involve a foodie indulgence ofcourse. Our indulgence was the endless tapas at a resort called Tigh Na Mara. Oh my! What an inspiring event. I love tapas, who doesn’t love tiny little tastings of delicious food? Such variety and so beautifully executed. It really gave me some great ideas of little tapas that I would love to recreate with my own healthier touch. I think I will now take the time to give a shout out to a few of my favourites from the experience.
Marinated Calamari
Cilantro Sticky Rice, Sesame Seaweed: I’m not usually a fan of Calamari but this was done perfectly…what started out as an “o.k. I’ll try it” quickly turned into an “omnomnom” clean plate.
Terrine of Smoked Salmon
Fromage Frais, Cedar Jelly: This was the first time I have had cedar jelly. I am in love.
Grilled Flatbread
Caramelized Red Onions, Goat Cheese, Smoky Bacon: A classic really. You just can’t go wrong with goat cheese with me.
Mipkozola, Musk Ox Prosciutto
Mountain Cranberry Compote, Pumpkin & Sesame Seed Cracker: This has inspired us to give a stab at making our own custom crackers. Looking forward to sharing a success with you guys!
Crisp Skinned Local Cod
Smoked Sea Salt, Edamame Beans, Shiitake Mushrooms: This was a black cod and it was delicious!! The beans and mushrooms with this were just divine!
Crab & Shrimp Roll
Avocado Mousse, Corn Relish: This roll was presented in a rice paper. I love rice papers and am always looking for more excuses to use them. I am definitely going to see about making my own version of seafood roll.
Caramelized Prawn
Vancouver Island Blackberry Port Reduction, Nanoose Organic Greens: The blackberry port reduction on this one stole the show! I am always making fruit based dressings and this one just blew me away.
Tamarind & Lime Marinated Lamb Chop
Lemon Cous Cous: I am almost always disappointed in lamb served to me at restaurants it is usually badly prepared. These guys were genius at it. It was cooked perfectly. Sadly the tamarind did not shine through as much as I would have hoped but they made up for it by having such beautiful lamb. The couscous was so full of flavour, I will definitely be adding lemon to my couscous in the future.
Alberta Game & Chipotle Meatballs
Grain Mustard & Honey Aioli: I heart aioli. This aioli was perfection!! It paired beautifully with the meat…and I probably could have licked the plate clean…if I weren’t such a lady…in public. Hehe.
Raclette & Yukon Gold Potato Croquettes
Smoked Tomato Jam: Oh raclette…how do I love thee? These little guys reminded me of miniature crunchy cepelinai (don’t worry if you don’t know them, it is a lithuanian dish of uber awesome with potatoes and lamb. My bobbi was the queen of them.) I think the big ground breaker here was that my emphatically anti tomato self loved this jam. I asked how it was done. They took cherry tomatoes, cut them up, smoked them, then made jam out of them. This must be attempted sometime I think. The smokey sweetness was just NUM!
Another shout out of course to the amazing staff out there especially Devillier (I imagine I have just destroyed the spelling of his name) whose knowledge and love of the food made the experience truly complete. Fantastic and inspiring. I must make tapas and one day return to the spa for another round of naughty endless tapas.
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