Montaditos are Catalan tapas (pintxos) which are essentially open faced mini sandwiches made from sliced baguette with various toppings. You can see these in many bars around Barcelona, lining the counter tops. It is a picturesque and enticing view, which generally tends to lure me in. One of the great, and terrible, things about Barcelona is the ability to spend the day grazing through tapas bars on such items. My palate is somewhat limited by my general dislike of fish and all things seafood based (with some notable exceptions) which tend to be somewhat prominent in montaditos in Barcelona. These are a very easy thing to make for a party, as all you need is a selection of toppings and you can make a diverse selection. Your creations should be held together with long toothpicks or satay sticks (traditionally counted at the end of your time in a bar to calculate your bill, though as societal trust decreases in general, so does this practice). This is my selection of toppings. With the exception of the cream cheese/honey/walnut combinations, I cannot vouch for their authenticity, but I can tell you  saw fairly similar combinations. Feel free to substitute home-made ingredients with shop bought for time purposes.This will usually be enough to make 2-3 baguettes worth (i.e. enough to feed an army).

Ingredients

• 1 tub savoury cream cheese (e.g. chives or garlic).
• Honey
• Walnuts
• 1 wedge brie
• 2 packs Sliced chorizo or lomo iberico
• 1 portion each  homemade red and green pesto (see earlier recipe for crostini)
• Sundried tomatos
• Olives
• Caramelised onions (see earlier recipe for quesadillas)
• Garlic and paprika mayonnaise (i.e. 100g of good quality mayonaise with 1 clove of garlic and 2 teaspoons paprika mixed in).

Method

• Slice the baguette at approximately a 45° to create maximum surface area of the bread, in slices around 2-3cm thick.
• Suggestions for toppings:
• Brie and caramelised onions
• Cream cheese, honey, walnuts
• Chorizo, mayonnaise and brie
• Chorizo and pesto
• Pesto and cream cheese
• Chorizo and honey

• Alternate olives or sundried tomatos scewered on the cocktails sticks to form the top of the montadito. Anchovies could also be used for this function.