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OK, let’s explore a hypothetical situation here: Valentine’s Day is just mere hours away, and you’re totally stumped about what to do for your significant other. With restaurants booked to the seams, your options now are rapidly dwindling to raiding the much-picked-over cards and dubious chocolates and ragged bouquets at Shaw’s (or, worse, CVS). And let’s face it, even if you did manage to snag a last-minute reservation at some fancy little boîte, you’re most likely getting jacked for exorbitant prix-fixes and harried service.

Wait, this isn’t so hypothetical, is it?

Fear not, friend — it’s not too late to surprise your special woogums with a totally handmade, heartfelt, delicious meal. With our special V-Day tapas menu, all you need is a working oven, a few groceries, and a few spare hours. (Oh, and some tiny plates wouldn’t hurt, either.)

We decided to go with tapas (basically, classy finger foods traditionally served in Spanish bars) for reasons of variety and efficiency: These recipes allows you to showcase a lot of nice little dishes to dazzle your date; meanwhile, there’s a lot of overlap between recipe ingredients, so you won’t have to worry about making room in your fridge.

MENU

• crusty bread with olive oil
• cheese with quince paste (queso con membrillo)
• marinated olives (aceitunas marinadas)
• roasted peppers (pimientos)
• white bean salad (ensalada de judías blancas)
• pear turnovers (hojaldres de pera)
• Spanish omelette (tortilla española)

Now, this might look like a lot of work, but the nice part is that you can prepare the most labor-intensive dishes in advance: the pimientos keep for days, and the tortilla espanola and white bean salad actually taste better when they’ve spent a few days chilling in the fridge. The rest is basically a cinch to throw together (take it from a kitchen novice). For such minimal efforts, the results are pretty impressive. (Note: Unless your date’s a linebacker with a glandular problem, you’re probably going to have leftovers if you follow these recipes to the letter. In fact, this same menu makes for a great party spread, too — perfect for any cheerfully bitter anti-V-Day celebrations.)

Read on for recipes and more pictures.

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