THE CALÇOTADA FIESTA
LA CALÇOTADA LENDS its name to the communal celebration of the calçots – leek-sized spring onions, blackened over open fires and served with a spicy nut sauce (see Romesco sauce below).
Valls, north of Tarragona, happens to be the capital of the Calçotada, going back to the 1800´s. All over Catalunya other towns celebrate this fiesta, usually in January or February.
In Roquetes, the Calçotada this year coincided with one of the first warmest and sunniest Sunday afternoons we have experienced so far!
Barbecues alight, the picnic tables all set, the competition was on for the best Romesco sauce. Ours was found to be a little too “picante” – they like chillies here, but not quite as hot as we do!
Everyone was afforded a warm welcome and we spent a lovely afternoon getting our hands blackened as we ate the delicious calçots, sharing each others picnics, ginger beer(!) and wine!
ÇALCOTS ARE INDEED a special plant, taking a year and half to grow,being planted as seed onions in September or October (always when the moon is waning), and then transplanted about two months later when the shoots have pushed up through the ground.
By late June or early July, they are harvested and stored in a cool dry place whilst they germinate again. Then, in August or September, they are trimmed and re-planted.
ONCE THEY BEGIN to sprout, earth is packed up around them, almost as though they are being shoed or covered up, which is where their name springs from – calçar, to put on shoes or boots.
The Catalan name for footwear is calçats. Not too dissimilar!
By January, the calçots are ready. There could be as many as 12 or 13 of them from each large onion, maybe 7 or 8 from the smaller ones. Now they are milder and sweeter than the usual spring onions, we know. Because of their “shoe” of soil, at least half their length is white.
The recipe for Romesco sauce is as follows:
3 ñora peppers, soaked, seeded and chopped
2 tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic chopped
24 almonds
24 hazelnuts
1 small chilli pepper (optional)
pinch of parsley
slice of fried bread
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
olive oil
Set oven to 180° C
Sauté the fresh and dried peppers in a small amount of oil. Bake the tomatoes in a lightly oiled baking dish for 10 minutes, then remove and cool. Using a pestle and mortar, make a thick paste of the garlic and sauteed peppers, then add the nuts, parsley and fried bread, mixing it all together. Then carefully peel and seed the tomatoes and chop. Now work the tomatoes into the mixture, then add vinegar and 2-3 tablespoons of oil and add salt to taste. The mixture should be thickly liquid.
CHEATS CUISINE
A Cheating Sauce
Throwing some medium vegetables, garlic and chorizo sausages into the oven last night for a quickie meal I thought a sauce would be nice and it was just the right taste for that sort of meal with some crusty bread if we weren’t doing a no bread thing.
Staring into the fridge thinking what do I have that is instant, produced half a bottle of barbacoa salsa, a third of a jar of salsa calcots aand about two tablespoons of mild mustard ( American style ) heated it up gently and that was it. Now it will be a favourite, this amount was for two or thereabouts.
Livening up Mushrooms
I don’t know about you but I find mushrooms here rather tasteless I always season them but sometimes need more taste.
Try finely slicing leeks and fry off gently in a little butter and oil then add sliced mushrooms and let them cook until all juices have gone back into the mushrooms, absolutely lovely and if you want to turn this into a sauce just add cream, don’t forget to season.
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