Banderillas

These easy tapas called Banderillas get their name from the barbed darts used during a bullfight! These banderillas are a very simple-to-prepare tapa. They require no cooking! If you can open a jar and skewer the ingredients on a toothpick, you can make banderillas! The trick is to make them colorful, with flavors that complement each other and excite your pallet.

Banderillas are cold tapas made from small food items pickled in vinegar and skewered together. They are also known as gildas or piparras and consist of pickled items, like olives, baby onions, baby cucumbers, chiles (guindilla) with pieces of pepper and other vegetables. Sometimes they include an anchovy.

6 to 10 anchovies
2 roasted red peppers, packed in brine
3 pickled green chillies
4 gherkins or cornichons
12 pitted green olives
12 cocktail onions

Slice the anchovies, red peppers, green chillies and gherkins into bite-sized pieces. Thread all of the ingredients onto wooden cocktail sticks, with one piece of each on each stick.

Makes : 12 banderillas