So, you’ve invited friends over for drinks and you feel you should put on more of an impressive spread than Kettle Chips and hummus; the key to impressing with a good Basque spread of pintxos is to have a few show stoppers bulked out by some quick fixes.

I regularly put on a pintxo night when I want to impress. I bought a tapas & pintxos book whilst in San Sebastian and have been making pintxos ever since!

Here are my go-to pintxos, which I recently made for 6 people, which are surprisingly filling!

They are best accompanied by a glass of dry white wine. I’d recommend a Verdejo or Albariño to go with these, which can both be found in British supermarkets. If you’re not a fan of wine, a light cider or bubbly will also work.

NOTE: they look like a fiddle but they’re really easy; the most difficult part is peeling the quail eggs, so outsource that to your spouse/friends/family whilst you whip up the rest of it.

Gildas

Named as such after Rita Hayworth’s spicy character Gilda in the 1946 film of the same name. Guindillas vary in spice level and there’s no way to tell, it’s a great roulette!

Ingredients to make amount in picture:

1 x jar of Guindilla peppers (find them in the “foreign” aisle at a large supermarket)

14 stoneless green olives

1 tin of anchovies

Olive oil + salt & pepper

Cocktail sticks

Method:

Cut each guindilla in half, then simply stick each item on a cocktail stick in any order you want (at this point you can cover the plate in cling film and put these in the fridge until just before your guests arrive).

Finish by drizzling with olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper just before the party starts.

Anchovy accordions

Ingredients for amount shown:

1 packet of marinated anchovies

Quarter of a large green pepper + large red pepper

Quarter of an onion

16 stoneless green olives

Olive oil + salt & pepper

Cocktail sticks

Method:

Weave two halves of an anchovy onto a cocktail stick, then put an olive on the end (at this point you can cover the plate in cling film and put these in the fridge until just before your guests arrive).

Cut up the quarters of red and green pepper and the quarter onion into really small pieces and mix together with olive oil, salt and pepper. Use a teaspoon to place a cluster of the pepper-onion mix onto the ridge of your anchovy accordions. Give the dish a final drizzle of olive oil and pinch of salt and pepper as per your taste.

NOTE: if you’ve got leftover pepper-onion mix, it goes great on any salad the next day.

Quail egg and prawn tower

Ingredients for 18 bites:

A pack of quail eggs (usually come in 18)

A pack of shell-less cooked prawns

The remainder of the pepper-onion mix you made for the anchovy accordions (see above)

One packet of Serrano ham

Mayonnaise

Sweet powdered paprika

A thin baguette or other bread easily sliced into little pieces

Cocktail sticks

Method:

Toast the pieces of bread (under the grill to avoid jamming up the toaster!). Allow to cool. Boil the quail eggs, then peel them once cooled. Give them a quick rinse if you have trouble getting tiny pieces of shell off them. Place a small piece of serrano ham onto each piece of toast, followed by a dash of mayonnaise, then the pepper-onion mix (which will stick to the mayonnaise). Then skewer the prawn and quail egg. Sprinkle with paprika and salt and pepper as desired.

Goat’s cheese and walnut bites

Ingredients for a plateful:

Bag of halved walnuts

Sesame seeds

Serrano ham

Goats cheese

Balsamic vinegar or glaze (the thicker, the better)

A thin baguette or other bread easily sliced into little pieces

Method:

Toast the pieces of bread and allow to cool. Cut to desired size if necessary – think a mouthful. Layer a small piece of Serrano ham, a chunk of cheese and half a walnut on top of the bread. Drizzle the balsamic glaze over as desired, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Some quick and easy additions to make this a whole meal:

Fry up some Padron peppers on high heat then sprinkle with chunky salt.

Buy a ready-made tortilla from the supermarket and heat it up in the microwave right before you lay out your spread (just don’t do this if your guests are Spanish or Basque or Catalan or Galician or anywhere from the Spanish peninsula… they will know the difference!).

Buy some chistorra (txistorra in Basque) sausages from Aldi or Lidl and fry them on high heat without any oil (the sausages will expel their own oil). Cut them into chunks and serve as they are.

Buy some Manchego cheese, cut it into chunks, and place a piece of quince on each slice. If you can’t get hold of Manchego (I can’t find it anywhere in France!), any other hard cheese will work.

The proof will be in the empty plates!

Final thoughts

The first time you make these you might feel that it’s a rather laborious process, but once you get the hang of it, they’re really quick to whip up and they really do look impressive when put together.

I’d love to hear if you’ve tried any of these out and how they went down with your guests; comment below!