Roots Essential Catalan Cuisine According To El Celler de Can Roca

Table of Contents
Roots
Introduction
Bases and principles of Catalan cuisine
Bases
Products
Brief glossary of typical Catalan products used in the
recipes
Cooking techniques
Recipe index
Starters
Salads
Soups
Pasta & Rice
Eggs
Fish
Meats
Surf and Turf & Snails
Desserts
The Pantry
ROOTS.
Essential Catalan Cuisine According to El Celler de Can Roca
Joan Roca
Original title: La cuina de la meva mare

© Joan Roca Fontané, 2004
Licensed by Columna Edicions Llibres i Comunicació, S.A.U.
Edicions Columna, Peu de la Creu, 4 – 08001 Barcelona.
© For this edition:

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© For the translation: Adriana Acevedo

Coordinating editor: Cèlia Pujals
ISBN: 978-84-938910-4-6
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All rights reserved – copy prohibited
CONTENTS
Roots.
Introduction.
Bases and principles of Catalan cuisine.
Bases.
Products.
Brief glossary of typical Catalan products used in the recipes.
Cooking techniques.
Recipe index.
Starters.
Salads.
Soups.
Pasta and Rice.
Eggs.
Fish.
Meats.
Surf and Turf and Snails.
Desserts.
The Pantry.
ROOTS
This book is meant as a small tribute to my mother, Montserrat and
grandmother, Angeleta, as well as an excuse to thank them for all the
affection, generosity and love they have given us.
As we have sought and remembered recipes for this book, all sorts of
memories have arisen from the time when I began to help out in the
kitchen. We don’t remember the exact age when I told my mother I
wanted to be a cook, but she still keeps a cooking coat she had made for
me when I was only nine.
I’ve always felt comfortable in the kitchen. That’s the reason why often
after school I would go and help out in the kitchen at Can Roca. Back then
it was non-stop, and since some recipes were prepared ahead of time for
the whole week, every evening after dinner we still had a lot of work left to
do. Other recipes, to be served with the daily menu, were prepared the
previous night.
My memories of Mondays are of making meatballs for the escudella. In a

very large bowl, we seasoned the meat with salt, pepper, chopped garlic
and parsley, eggs and some milk-soaked bread crumbs; with a fork, we
would then mix all the ingredients and form small rugby balls with
grandma Angeleta.
Tuesday afternoons we made the botifarres. We mince the pork with a

hand-operated mincer and, after seasoning with salt and pepper, we’d
pack it. I liked working the machine, especially for packing, even though
you had to control the mincer’s rhythm with one hand while checking with
the other that the skin was being filled uniformly.
Wednesday afternoons we made the sofregit. We peeled and chopped two

bags of onions and sautéed slowly. The cooking began in the afternoon and
lasted all night and the following day, very slowly, over very low heat so
the onion would tenderise well. Then we would add tomato and cooked it
for a while longer.
Thursday afternoons we rolled a thousand cannelloni. And seldom was

there one left by Sunday evening.
Friday we prepared the flans and creams and it was the day in which the
kitchen smelled the best. I recall perfectly the aromas of cinnamon and
lemon peel that filled the air.
Saturday morning was market day, and I’d accompany my father to Lleó
square. It was one of the activities I had the most fun doing, where you
could experience an explosion of amazing colours and aromas that made
you feel the changing seasons very intensely. With the list my mother had
written for us in hand, first we did an exploration round. Once my father
had selected the best products, he started to bargain and always beat the
starting price. It was a kind of established ritual that both parts took with
good humour.
Sunday we had the most work to do. Then, I would help prepare the fried
calamari or picada for stews and, since our oven wasn’t big enough, we
took trays of cannelloni in my father’s Simca 1200 to Pelayo’s, the town’s
baker, so he could bake them for us.
These are my true beginnings in the kitchen. Later on I went on to study at

the Escola d’Hostaleria de Girona and I remember professors such as Mr.
Andreu, Mr. Romero, or Mr. Ruiz, with gratitude for sorting out everything I
learnt at home.
In school, I learnt the reasons behind much of what happened in the

kitchen, that there were other ways of cooking, and that cooking was a lot
more complex. But the most important thing was to cook with enthusiasm
and the desire to offer happiness to those who came to our home to eat,
with all the generosity that my mother and grandmother put into it.
This book is also intended as a small tribute to the traditional cuisine of

Catalonia, which needs to be reappraised and disseminated. This cuisine is
the cornerstone of modern Catalan cuisine.
Can Roca and the cooking made back in those years and that is still being
prepared by Montserrat and Angeleta, was the basis of our learning and
the structure needed to provide El Celler de Can Roca with the freedom
required to design a new cuisine that never forgets its roots.
Joan Roca
INTRODUCTION
In 1972, Josep Pla made a clear observation about home cooking: «In this
country, where I normally live—Empordà—there’s a certain home cuisine
which, incidentally, nowadays is ending surely and inevitably. This cuisine
was good —or at least those of us native to Catalonia considered it good.
Today you can eat well at a few homes, but very few. In the past everybody
ate well, the poor and the rich. Now cooking is becoming more and more
infrequent, it is confined to the four walls of private homes. In the past,
friends obsessed with the culinary arts, gathered in groups with any excuse
to enjoy meals outdoors.»
The massive arrival of tourists to Catalonia began to take place in the

1960s; twelve years after the native Empordà writer published his book, El
que hem menjat (What we ate). Ever since, the scenery has changed: our
coast is crowded with summer houses, towns with hotels and apartments
that, in the winter, are a sad and distressing sight; but also cooking and
farming have changed. The basic needs of tourists have led many people to
substitute their lifelong work for a business that only operates two months
out of the year. In Catalonia, we have often adulterated our cooking to
offer a different product to the traveller.
And perhaps that is the key. Without good ingredients it’s hard to make an
exquisite dish, no matter how simple.
Home cooking has never been sophisticated. It’s a cuisine based on

ingredients, made from whatever is available locally at any given moment.
And it is rich in dishes and the different flavours offered by each region and
every product’s struggle for survival.
Home cooking from a few years back always had well-defined menus.
Along the Catalan coastline fishermen cook for sustenance, out of
necessity. With the fish that was hard to sell they made wonderful soups,
bullinades (fisherman’s soups) and suquets (seafood stews). It was a
simple cuisine cooked right on the boat in order to continue working and
bring home the bacon. The most valuable fish, on the other hand, was sold
to earn the day’s wages.
Then there are the inlanders. Peasants who farm the land and sell their
products in markets like Rengle of Olot, or at the market square in Girona,
to set a small example; also the farmers who breed animals to sell and to
eat. I even remember seeing, only twenty years ago, a bus going from town
to town buying chickens and rabbits to slaughter and sell to butcher shops.
Today’s business standards tell us doing this is no longer feasible, nor
productive. The profitability of the product is taken into account, the
breeding time is shortened as much as possible and thus, we get nearly
tasteless, poor quality meat.
But not only are the producers to blame. We ourselves buy a lot of these
products. We want to have meat every day. In the old days in Catalonia,
chicken was a Sunday and holiday meal: the delicious giblets’ dish; roast
chicken; chicken with plums and pine nuts; or lobster and chicken, a dish in
which, according to Josep Pla, there was more lobster than chicken
because the crustacean was more affordable.
The same has happened to vegetables, legumes and cereals. Large

chicories and endives have been replaced by small heads of curly lettuce
sold at high prices. Fruit is picked unripe from the tree and ripens in
preservation chambers where the sugar content is controlled every day,
and is later sold with a predetermined quality seal.
The different varieties available back then in Catalonia and now seldom
found in a few market stalls—which resemble harvest museums—such as
the Camosa apple, Del ciri apple, or the Cor de bou tomato, have been
replaced by larger, more colourful varieties bearing names in English such
as Pink Lady, Royal Gala, or Granny Smith; not to mention potatoes, whose
names sound like airplane brands. And the fact is that today we’re used to
eating whatever we want, regardless the season. Tomatoes, pears,
cherries, peaches, asparagus, pineapples, melons, or chives, can be found
anytime, coming from one place or another and more or less tasty. The
seasons for products have expanded to alarming limits.
But not everything is negative, there are flavours that remain and it’s true
that farming—eco-friendly, if you will—is growing and trying to go back
and find those old varieties or, at the very least allowing for products to
ripen while still attached to the plant. This gives the product a different
flavour, the flavour of the good old days. As for apples, in addition to eating
them, their aroma was also used to scent clothes in the wardrobe.
One thing we must realize is that Catalan cuisine is not only the cuisine of
a region, but a set of traditions from places with very different orographic
characteristics that have created very specific microclimates. Within a few
kilometres we find a great variety of crops, from the coastline, inland, the
mountains, etc. Each region has its own personal seal. There’s not one
single sofregit or picada, but they vary according to the dish being
prepared at any given moment.
We find turnips in Capmany, a municipality of Empordà, but also in

Talltendre, Cerdanya; potatoes are grown all over Catalonia, but the ones
from Solsonès, Camprodon, Olot and Osona deserve special mention; the
first prize goes to the rice produced at the Ebro Delta, but there’s also
great rice in the Pals area, at Baix Empordà; as far as beans is concerned,
we have those from Castellfollit del Boix, the Santa Pau beans, and by
extension, those of the whole Garrotxa county, where the importance of
volcanic soil plays a crucial role, etc.
But thankfully some products are still grown, or at least, aren’t difficult to
cultivate. Mushrooms are still a seasonal product, although those from
areas such as France, Hungary or Eastern Europe, are found in the market.
Cherries have a short life cycle, but they come from Extremadura when
scarce in Catalonia; strawberries are starting to come from the south of the
Peninsula at a very affordable price; then we have the local product, grown
in our territory and of an extraordinary quality; and in the hot months of
summer, they come from the more temperate areas of Northern Europe.
And finally, berries such as sloes, raspberries, blackberries, redcurrant,
etc.: when there are none here, we get them from the other side of the
Atlantic, from Venezuela or Chile.
In terms of sausages, there are two kinds: industrial and homemade.

Clearly defined by their looks, smell and taste, we can get sausages of
either type according to our preferences or needs. But there is a wise
practice in this regard, which consists of stocking the pantry during the
winter. Naturally, in rural areas this takes place during pig slaughter
season. Of course, pigs are fed the traditional way in order to obtain a tasty
meat, with just the right amount fat and lean meat and without adding
flavour enhancers.
Something similar occurs with cheese. In Catalonia there has been a clear
return to certain types of mountain cheeses, and for the past several years
some people, driven by the desire to bring back those flavours from the
past, have been making an effort to produce, often with raw milk, cheeses
with a clear personality that have cheese lovers travelling great distances
for a taste or the chance to have them on their table. They go to Vall de
Bianya, Meranges, Músser, Ossera, Bar, Borredà, Adrall, Sort, Altron, Serra
del Montsec, Ullastret, Fonteta, Centelles, etc.
Something curious occurs with sweets. On the one hand, elaborate

products such as Empordà’s brunyols (fritters), entorxat or coca de
llardons from Olot, Sant Joan coca, xuixo (cylinder-shaped sweet filled
with cream and sprinkled with sugar), carquinyolis (dry almond biscuits),
flaona (pie filled with cottage cheese or cheese), the Vic sponge cake, the
Santa Coloma or Camprodon biscuits, the taps (individual sponge cakes in
the shape of a cork) from Cadaqués, the Easter cakes, the melindros (iced
cakes), the Ba-
nyoles pie, etc., which have been made for many years—dozens or even
hundreds—and have become classics of Catalonia, are still alive and
popular. On the other hand, some pastry cooks insist on creating and
making new products without a basis, without history, and without the
local flavours.
And with regard to bread, you soon discover that in order to find bread that
has certain quality standards, that when eaten isn’t cold or chewy, you
must travel quite a distance.
All of this calls for reflection. Traditional cooking doesn’t have to be the
baroque, fatty cuisine that some people expect, but a careful cuisine made
with quality products, a cuisine rich with sounds and textures like those of
Catalonia’s stuffed calamari or the black scorpionfish suquet; the trinxat
(boiled and broken cabbage and potato) from Cerdanya, or charcoal-grilled
sardines; bread and tomato and fuet (thin, spiced Catalan sausage) or sea
urchins with black botifarra (traditional Catalan black sausage) and
peasant bread.
Regardless of its origin, there are only two types of cuisine: good and bad.
It all depends on the wisdom and love invested into either.
BASES AND PRINCIPLES OF CATALAN CUISINE
BASES
Sofregit
In a pan or frying pan, heat a tablespoon of lard or a dash of olive oil, toss
in one peeled and finely chopped onion (avoid grating, as that would cause
it to lose all its juice and burn easily). When the onion begins to brown, add
a finely chopped or grated ripe tomato, depending on the texture desired.
A garlic clove can also be added, but it should be tossed in before the
tomato. Cook slowly on low heat until it acquires a jam-like consistency.
The onion should lose strength and the tomato acidity. If it becomes too
dry, pour in a little water or broth, according to the intended use of the
sofregit.
Depending on the preparation, you can include some pepper or it can be

made with just garlic and tomato, or only onion. As the sofregit
concentrates, its colour will darken.
Picada
A picada is the ending, the final touch in a preparation, the last aroma
added to finish the cooking process.
A picada consists of several ingredients, minced in the mortar or with a

mixer to get a paste that combines all the different flavours. Each dish can
have its own picada, depending on the cook’s taste.
The most commonly used ingredients are: garlic, parsley, saffron,

hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts, biscuits, chocolate, nyora peppers, chicken
or monkfish liver, dry or toasted bread crumbs, carquinyolis (dry almond
biscuits)...
This paste is made gradually, adding and crushing the ingredients one by
one until obtaining a thick sauce to be dissolved in the cooking juices, or
with a splash of water, white or rancio wine (similar to sherry, served as an
aperitif or used in cooking), or simply beef or fish stock.
In addition to changing the flavour and colour of the recipe, it also

modifies its density, normally being used to bind with nuts, chocolate, liver
or biscuits.
If the picada is prepared with a food processor, the result will be a thinner
paste.
Allioli
Allioli is a sauce used to accompany many meat dishes, especially when

charcoal-grilled, but it also is a good final touch for many casseroles. To
prepare a good allioli, here are a few tips to consider: if the garlic has any
green germ, remove it, because it would difficult binding; all the
ingredients must be at room temperature, or a bit warm, especially in
winter if the oil is kept in the pantry; also, the oil must be added in a thin
stream and following the chopped garlic; and the whisking should always
be carried out in the same direction.
Peel garlic and split cloves in half to look for any germ. Add a pinch of salt
to keep the garlic from spreading, and mash to a very smooth paste. Once
the paste is ready, add a splash of mild olive oil while whisking in one
direction at a constant speed. If available, you can also include some bitter
orange to help it bind. The allioli is ready when the pestle can stand up in
the middle of the sauce.
There are a few different ways of fixing a broken allioli, such as adding
vinegar-soaked bread crumbs, or a boiled potato. You can also add an egg
yolk, but then it becomes a garlic mayonnaise, a different sauce also very
popular in Catalonia but that can’t really be called allioli.
The amount of garlic used is up to the chef; from three to four cloves, to a
whole head.
A good allioli is prepared and served right away without being refrigerated.
With time, garlic oxidises and acquires an unpleasant flavour.
In places such as Lleida, some people add roasted quince to make a quince
allioli; there are also honey allioli, and apple allioli.
Drowned allioli
This allioli,broken intentionally, is used everyday in many homes. To

prepare, mash a few garlic cloves to a very smooth paste with a pestle.
Then, add a good stream of oil while whisking. It must be «broken» allioli,
intended to add flavour to stews, rice, noodles, etc.
Mayonnaise
It is said that mayonnaise came from the city of Maó, in the island of
Menorca. It is a sauce prepared by binding a couple of egg yolks with a bit
of salt and a trickle of lemon juice, then adding a splash of mild olive oil.
Romesco
The romesco is a basic sauce from the Tarragona region of which there are
many versions. Ours is as follows: scald four or five romesco peppers and
remove pulp. In a mortar, smash five to six roasted garlic cloves, a handful
of toasted hazelnuts, and a pinch of salt. Add a slice of fried bread, a
roasted tomato and, when the paste is ready, add a dash of vinegar and
mild olive oil. Adjust salt. It can be used both as a sauce and as a base for
casseroles.
Boles de sagí (balls of lard)
Generally speaking, sagí balls are used to flavour escudelles (traditional

Catalan winter soup). Sagí is a variety of lard, preserved rancid or
otherwise, generally used to make balls to enrich soups and escudelles. It
can still be found in some butcher shops in
Catalan mountain villages.
Legume broth
The water in which legumes are cooked usually goes to waste and ends up
discarded. But it has a really good flavour and can be an excellent base for
scalded soup, or to hydrate stew made with the same vegetables.
Vegetable broth
The same occurs with the water in which vegetables are cooked. We
usually drain the vegetables and dispose of the water, but it tastes great. It
can be used for scalded soups, or for cooking noodles or rice. The water
used to boil mushrooms can also be used for the same purposes.
Chicken stock
Chicken stock is used as a base for poultry dishes and escudelles, soups
and creams. In a large pot, place previously scalded hen and chicken
bones. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, skim,
remove excess fat and add onion, leek, celery, carrots and turnips. Boil for
about 1.5 hours, removing fat every 10 minutes to prevent it from
emulsifying, which would give the broth an unpleasant taste. Finally,
strain and let cool.
Beef stock
The stock of different meats is used as a stew, and as a base for escudelles,
soups, creams, and sauces. You need veal, cow or ox, as well as chicken
bones, together or separate. Pork or lamb bones are not often used
because of their high fat content and flavour.
Place bones in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. When it
starts to boil, lower heat and cook slowly, removing as much fat as
possible. Add a bunch of vegetables including onion, celery, leek, carrots
and clean and peeled turnips. Boil for a couple of hours, then strain and
cool quickly.
Fish stock (fumet)

To prepare a fish stock or fumet, you need fish heads, bones, and a crab or
mantis shrimp. Generally speaking the fish should be whitefish or rockfish,
because oily fish has a strong taste.
Clean bones and head well, removing any traces of entrails that might
have been missed when filleted. Place in a pot with cold water and bring to
a boil. Remove foam as it forms and add vegetables like onions, carrots,
leeks and a few bay leaves, but not too many. You can also pour a glass of
dry white wine and a peppercorn. This broth should be brought to a full
boil for no longer than 25 to 30 minutes. If it’s a fish of firm meat such as
black or red scorpionfish, cook a few more minutes. Next, strain and cool
quickly.
Roast juice
Roast juice can be made from different types of meat, depending on how it
will be used. To prepare a good roast juice you need bones from veal, cow,
ox, rabbit, lamb, chicken, duck, squab, etc., as well as vegetables like
onion, leek, carrot and some aromatic herbs such as bay leaf or thyme.
Try, for example, extracting the juices from veal roast. In a pan, place veal
bones—from the leg, if possible, as they’re more gelatinous—, add a dash
of oil and brown. Halfway through the cooking process, add clean,
chopped vegetables and brown well. Next, remove the fat remaining in the
pan and wet with a splash of wine.
Reduce for a few minutes, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. When
it begins to boil, remove fat and lower the heat. Simmer slowly until the
juice has reduced to less than half the original amount, the liquid is very
concentrated, and has gathered all the substance from the bones and
vegetables. Once ready, strain and leave to cool.
The following day the fat remaining on top can be easily removed. You can
also oven roast the bones and vegetables on a tray, and transfer
immediately to the pot. The wine is used to remove any glaze that remains
stuck to the tray. To do so, place over heat with a dash of wine and let the
heat lift the coating from the tray. Then add it to the pot with bones,
vegetables and water.
PRODUCTS
The culture of a country manifests itself via different means of cultural
communication; be it through its history, language, art, traditions, or
roots, but also its diet.
As a great character said, «we are what we eat» or, in the words of writer
Josep Pla, «the cuisine of a country is its landscape in the pot». Catalan
cuisine could be said to have been, from its inception, a cuisine that has
coupled the need for nourishment with the pleasure of eating. Because in
the villages of Catalonia the custom of self-sufficiency still exists, its
cuisine is prepared with the seasonal products the vegetable garden has to
offer, fishing and breeding chiefly rabbits, chickens, pigs and veal.
Furthermore, the same cuisine has never rejected foreign ingredients.

Since ancient times it has welcomed products like rice —whose production
appears in writings dating back to the 15th century—, now considered part
of traditional cooking. Other examples are hazelnuts, almonds,
aubergines, beans, peppers, tomatoes, etc.
It’s also worth mentioning that by the middle of the 16th century, dried
broad beans were substituted in stews for potatoes upon their arrival from
the American continent; beans gave way to new varieties of crops; peppers
and aubergines established the escalivada as a referent of everyday
Catalan cookery. But much longer before all that, we learned from the
Greeks about fish salting, a technique still practised today along the coast.
And from the Romans we adopted the culture of wine, oil, and bread.
The soil of Catalonia has been influenced by other cultures, but its
microclimates and diverse landscapes, from the sea to the mountains, dry
land, etc., have also forced it to invent microcuisines, and «pair together»
the diversity of products found throughout this tiny land.
Oftentimes, these products have made our fare seem heavy or fatty, but I
personally disagree with that idea. Only the lack of knowledge of cooking
and preparation techniques makes food heavy. Also, at different time
periods such as the postwar years, people had to eat whatever was
available or at hand because it was impossible to get other products. Over
the years, lard has been substituted by olive oil, a crop —like fruits and
vegetables— very much present in Girona, Tarragona and Lleida. In more
mountainous regions, herds of sheep like the Ripollesa or the Xisqueta in
Tarragona were consolidated; or veal in Girona and the Pyrenees, goose
and duck at Empordà, chicken at Empordà and Penedès, etc.
Along the Mediterranean in Catalonia, the art of fishing gave rise to a very
rich cuisine rooted in the land: shrimp, hake, rockfish such as black and red
scorpionfish, gurnard, white seabream...; healthy oily fish like European
anchovies, sardines, bonito, tuna, mackerel...; or even some shellfish like
king prawns from La Ràpita, rock mussels, donax, smooth clams. But let’s
not forget one of our own star fish, especially inland: the cod, a species
that quickly became integrated and spread everywhere. And so, we can
find dishes such as the empedrat in Empordà, the xató in Vilanova, cod
with raisins and hard-boiled eggs served during Lent, cod with samfaina in
La Selva, or the brandada, a dish that comes from Occitan cuisine.
And let’s not forget our forests, where the culture of mushrooms —
especially truffles— and hunting, paint an idyllic picture of autumn-winter
cooking.
The past, present and future of Catalan cuisine are interlinked with all
these products and the different cooking techniques that depend on
region, season, and the daily life of its inhabitants.
BRIEF GLOSSARY OF TYPICAL CATALAN PRODUCTS USED IN THE
RECIPES
Bahia rice
A short-grain, quick-cooking rice from the Valencia region, often used for
paella recipes. Other varieties of rice largely used in Catalan cuisine are
Senia and Tebre.
Botifarra
Catalan sausage of which there are several different varieties, both raw
(fresh) and cooked. Some of the main types mentioned in this book’s
recipes are:
Sweet botifarra (botifarra dolça): typical of some coastal and inland

regions of Northern Catalonia (Empordà, Pla de l’Estany, Selva and the
Eastern part of Garrotxa). Many butcher shops use pork loin, meat from
the haunch and some bacon. For every kg of meat, the grated zest of one
lemon (only the yellow part) is added, as well as 400 g of sugar and salt;
the mixture is kneaded and stuffed into natural pig intestine skins. Sweet
botifarra is reddish and glossy.
Black botifarra (botifarra negra): traditional Catalan pork sausage made

with lean meat and blood, which gives it a black appearance.
Botifarra de perol: pork sausage typical of the Girona region made with
meat, bacon, head, blood, pepper and salt.
Calçot
Variety of spring onion typical of Tarragona (southern province of

Catalonia).
Carquinyoli
Dry almond biscuit.
Escalivada
Roasted aubergine, red pepper and onion.
Escudella
Traditional Catalan winter boiled dish generally made with a combination

of black botifarra, white botifarra, minced meat, lean veal, lamb, chicken,
pork cheek or ears and bacon; plus pulses such as chickpeas, potatoes and
cabbage. Some onion and leek, celery, carrots and one or two garlic cloves
are also usually included. It can be served all together as a one-dish fare or
separately. Traditionally, a soup with noodles or rice was made with the
stock. The recipes included in this book are versions of this typical dish.
Figueres’ onion
Non-hybridised onion variety, somewhat flattened with an outer purple

skin, and highly valued for its smooth texture.
Fuet
Thin, dry, spiced Catalan sausage.
Galets
A special type of large elbow pasta.
Montserrat tomato
A pumpkin shaped variety of sweet and refreshing taste, a crispy skin and
little pulp, all which make it ideal for salads or stuffed.
Rancio wine
Wine from the Catalan vineyards of France and Catalonia generally

fortified and oxidised through extended periods of ageing in wood and
heating in sunlight. Of a tawny brown colour its aroma is rich, nutty, and
sweet.
Samfaina
Catalan ratatouille-like dish made with tomato and other vegetables such
as courgette, aubergine, pepper and onion, depending on where it’s
prepared and the recipe.
Suquet
A Catalan seafood stew that has popularised along the coast, the suquet is
a soupy preparation made with different fish. In popular cuisine it’s made
with fish caught the same day, which must be of hard and firm meat that
can stand longer cooking times.
COOKING TECHNIQUES
Boiling
A pot full of boiling water is the first step in every dish. Vegetables freshly
picked from the garden, cleaned and chopped, must be broiled uncovered
with a pinch of salt. Once ready, avoid leaving them in the same water,
drain and eat them as soon as possible in order to keep their full flavour.
Every legume has its own cooking method. Beans, chickpeas and lentils are
the base of many starters, some simpler, some more elaborate. A key
factor when cooking them is the quality of the water, which must be hard.
Chickpeas are a delicate legume. They must be soaked in a pot with a small
amount of warm water, a pinch of salt and, optionally, a teaspoon of
baking soda to counteract the hardness of the water and soften them.
After soaking for about 10 to 12 hours, rinse and clean chickpeas. Then,
bring a pot of water to a boil, add chickpeas and cook slowly with a bundle
of aromatic herbs, an onion and a carrot. Don’t allow boiling to cease; if
you need to add water, it must be boiling hot so the cooking continues. Stir
occasionally until ready, adjust salt and remove from heat.
Beans also must be soaked, but in cold water. After doing so, drain and
clean well. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil, adding an onion, a
leek, a carrot and a garlic clove. When the water starts to boil, remove
foam, then cover the pot and cook slowly on low heat, checking water level
often. Finally, when beans are ready, adjust salt and serve as desired.
Lentils don’t need to be soaked because of their size and cooking speed.
They must be placed in a pot, submerged in cold water, with vegetables
and aromatic herbs, if desired, same as beans.
Escalivar (grilling over hot embers)

Grilling vegetables over dying or red-hot embers producers fantastic
flavours and aromas, different from roasting in a typical oven. Onions,
peppers, aubergines, artichokes, calçots (variety of spring onion typical of
Tarragona), young broad beans, etc. When cooked, they should be covered
for a few minutes to facilitate peeling. Normally, potatoes and truffles are
also cooked over ashes on the ground, wrapped in brown paper.
Sautéing
To make different use of part of a previous meal, it is very common to sauté

boiled vegetables or legumes with a dash of oil or lard. Accompanied with
bacon, they make a great entrée. Mushrooms can also be sautéed, but
some types ought to be cooked well in order to avoid indigestion; among
these is the morel . Other varieties, such as penny buns, chanterelles, or
Caesar’s mushrooms only need to be cooked lightly. The same applies to
thinly filleted meat or fish.
Frying
Cooking food covered in oil—olive oil, if possible—at a temperature of

160-180ºC/320-356ºF, results in a crispy exterior and tender inside; from
chips, courgettes fried in breadcrumbs, or flour coated Mediterranean
sandeels. Make sure not to cook different products in the same frying oil. If
you want soft bunyols (fritters), they need clean oil, freshly added to the
frying pan. You can also fry fish or meat rolled in flour or batter.
Confit
Initially, preparing confit, or pickled fish or meat, was meant more as a

method for preserving rather than cooking. When cooking a product slowly
by immersing and leaving it in fat for a long time, the lack of air and
microorganisms prolong its life. Meat is usually preserved by submerging it
in lard or olive oil in a cooking pot, where it cooks slowly.
Pickling
To pickle is to cook a product, usually rabbit, a small game bird, or oily fish,
by submerging it in oil, vinegar, herbs, vegetables, spices, citrus peels, etc.
Once ready, it can be kept in the same cooking juices. Leaving to stand
improves its flavour.
Tossing in oil
It consists of cooking ingredients (usually vegetables) in their own steam

while covered slowly and with some fat. The vegetables’ own flavour can
be enhanced by adding a sofregit.
Charcoal-grilling
This roasting method is achieved with a grill over embers, if possible from
holm oak wood. There are gas or vegetable coal grills that don’t produce
even remotely the same taste results.
Grilling a la llosa
This is a cooking method typical of small villages of the Pyrenees. The llosa
is a slab of black slate generally used for roofing in the region. The slate is
heated over wood or coal and the heat accumulated is used for grilling
meat or fish.
Roasting (oven)
This is a dry cooking method done with some fat, herbs, spices and
sometimes a splash of wine. When roasting, make sure to preheat the oven
so that it’s very hot when the product is introduced. Be it meat, fish or
vegetables, sear previously. A golden brown exterior creates a layer that
prevents the juices from being released. Continue cooking immediately at
a lower temperature, allowing the heat to enter the product slowly. If a
long cooking time is necessary, some of the grilling fat can be sprayed over
the product to keep it moist.
Roasting (pot)
The result of this cooking technique is similar to preparing a confit, and it’s
deeply-rooted in our cooking tradition. It consists of browning the main
product, typically meat, in plenty of oil or lard. Next, add wine, a dash of
water or broth, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and spices. Cook slowly,
covered, until the meat is tender. The vegetables are served as garnish and
the juice as the sauce, a bit fatty but delicious.
Braising
In Catalan cuisine, braising has become very popular because of the slow
cooking of the meat, as well as to tenderize fish of firmer meat and make it
more digestible. You can find cuts of game meat that always have been
previously marinated, poultry, less tender veal, pork or lamb legs, etc., but
also cuttlefish, squid, or octopus; or fish such as conger, stockfish, etc.
Every stew is preceded by browning the product; a good sofregit made with
onion, garlic, tomato and pepper with a splash of broth or water; and
finally a picada prepared with hazelnuts, almonds, aromatic herbs, bread,
carquinyolis (dry almond biscuits) or spices like cinnamon, saffron, juniper,
and not forgetting to add a one-ounce piece of chocolate.
Stewing
Stewing is a technique similar to pot roasting, but immersing tougher, hard

to cook cuts of beef in more broth. Covering the product and vegetables
with water and cooking over a long period of time slowly softens the meat
while the flavours mix in the broth. This technique can be used to cook veal
cheeks and tongue, as well as the neck, brisket, knuckles...
Scalding
To scald means to submerge a product in boiling water for a few seconds or

minutes in order to facilitate plucking birds, removing dirt from
mushrooms, or precooking vegetables, for example.
Blanching
To blanch a meat product, especially giblets, consists of submerging it in
cold water and bringing to a boil to remove its strong characteristic smell,
as well as any dirt it may have. It can be done with pork or veal cheek, tail,
tripe, leg, chitterlings, heart, tongue...
RECIPE INDEX
Starters.
Fried calamari
Potato and roast meat croquettes
Squash blossoms
Cod brandada
Salads.
Crushed onion and preserved cabbage salad

Mountain herbs salad
Baby broad bean salad with mint
Roma tomato and young garlic salad
Empedrat
Cod esqueixada
Escalivada
Catalan salad
Curly endive and bitter orange salad
Carn de perol (pork confit)
Pork knuckles with allioli
Soups.
Spring mushroom soup

Fish soup
Monkfish soup
Cod escudella
Pumpkin escudella
Chestnut soup
Scalded soup
Grey knights soup
Garlic soup
Soup with mint
Farro (corn soup)
Rice and noodle escudella
Escudella i carn d’olla (stew)
Pasta & Rice.
Braised noodles with rabbit

Festival cannelloni
Macaroni with tomato
Fideuà
Casserole noodles with pork chops and sausages
Casserole noodles with beans and cod tripe
Casserole rice
White rice with blue whiting
Giblets rice
Rabbit, cuttlefish and crayfish rice
Dark or black rice
Sardine rice
Rice with autumn mushrooms
Soupy squab rice
Cod and cauliflower rice
Eggs
Scrambled eggs with St. George’s mushrooms

Black botifarra omelette
Garlic scape omelette
Lettuce omelette
Fried eggs with bacon
Botifarra de perol and bean omelette
Flour omelette
Fish.
Baked hake fillet with garlic and rosemary vinaigrette

Monkfish mariner style
Cod with raisins and pine nuts
Cod with chickpeas and cod tripe
Baked red mullets
Sole with almonds
Mackerel suquet
Charcoal-grilled sardines
Sardines with onion and tomato
Cuttlefish and potato stew
Sardine marinade
Fish suquet
Sarsuela (seafood stovetop casserole)
Meats.
Breast of lamb with peas

Casseroled lamb shoulder with broken allioli
Neck of lamb with pepper and tomato
Lamb trotters and tripe
Raisins and pine nuts stuffed lamb’s leg with thyme sauce
Veal with peas
Veal knuckle with mushrooms
Veal tongue stew with potatoes
Fricandó
Veal tail with red wine
Oven roasted pig’s cheeks
Pork ribs with chestnuts
Sweet botifarra with apple
Pig’s trotters with turnips
Roast chicken and meatballs with mesentery
Roasted woodcock
Orange duck
Duck and pears
Duck with black turnips
Partridge with cabbage rolls
Rabbit with snails
Rabbit with samfaina
Rabbit with mushrooms
Marinated wild rabbit
Giblet dish
Blood and lungs
Blood and onion
Stewed wild boar
Surf and Turf & Snails.
Stuffed squid
Chicken with pig’s trotters and crayfish
Cuttlefish with meatballs
Snails with garlic and parsley
Snails with spidercrabs
Snails with pork ribs and botifarra
Desserts.
Braç de gitano (rolled sponge cake)

Flan
Crema catalana (Catalan crème brûlée)
Bread with cream and sugar
Bunyols de Quaresma (Lent fritters)
Bunyols de vent (fritters)
Pijama
Pears in wine
Baked apples
Rice pudding
Torradetes de Santa Teresa (French toast)
Bread with wine and sugar
Farinetes de fajol
Neules (wafers)
Stuffed apples
The Pantry.
Anchovies in salt
Tomatoes preserved in their own juice
Peaches in syrup
Plum jam
Quince cheese
Pinkmottle woodwax in salt
Bleeding milk-caps in oil
Pork pâté
Pickled cauliflower
Bitter oranges in their own juice
Pickled cabbage
ROOTS. STARTERS.
FRIED CALAMARI
Ingredients (for 4 people)
1 kg large squids
300 g flour
400 ml cold water
a splash of carbonated water
a splash of brandy
salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of baking soda
mild olive oil
Preparation
1. Clean squid and remove skin. Cut into thin rings.

2. Prepare batter by mixing flour, cold water, a splash of brandy, salt,
eggs and a pinch of baking soda in a bowl. The mixture should be
semiliquid. Just before tossing in the calamari rings, add a splash of
soda water.
3. Dip the calamari rings in the mixture and transfer directly to a frying
pan with oil heated to 175ºC/347ºF. There must be enough oil for the
calamari to cook uniformly.
4. Remove from the oil, drain on a paper towel and serve quickly while
hot.
Comments
This may not be a Catalan dish per se, but it is very popular in every
Catalan city. It has become the appetizer par excellence and it is one
of the star dishes in our house. Everyone who visits Can Roca
always tries the calamari my grandmother and mother have been
preparing since the restaurant opened its doors. Some people add
baking powder or beer to the preparation. The dish can be garnished
with a few drops of lemon, but also romesco sauce, or a good
mayonnaise. In order to get a fluffy, crispy mixture, the carbonated
water must be added a few seconds before tossing the calamari into
the batter; if done ahead of time, it loses its effervescence and
doesn’t work. If, while coating the calamari the mixture becomes too
thick, you can add more soda water or plain water to bring it back to
its initial density.
POTATO AND ROAST MEAT CROQUETTES
1 kg potatoes
400 g roast meat (chicken, pork, rabbit)
1 onion
1 tomato
flour
egg
breadcrumbs
salt
olive oil
Preparation
1. Boil potatoes in a pot of water with salt.

2. Prepare a sofregit with the onion, chopped. When golden brown, add
grated tomato and cook well.
3. In the meantime, dry and shred meat.
4. Add to the sofregit and stir. Adjust salt and machine grind to a paste.
5. When the potatoes are ready—test with a toothpick or a thin-blade
knife—, remove from heat and peel immediately.
6. Mash. Mix equal amounts of meat and purée and adjust salt again.
7. Let cool on a tray covered with cling wrap, poking a few holes in it to
breathe.
8. When cold, take small amounts and toss in flour, egg and
breadcrumbs.
9. Fry in very hot olive oil.
10. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain excess oil on a plate lined with
paper towels.
11. Serve quickly while hot.
Comments
These roast meat croquettes are a great option for using the
leftovers of a delicious meal and transform them into a different dish.
They can also be prepared with boiled or fried fish left from the day
before. Some people prefer to bind them with béchamel sauce, or
add finely chopped garlic and parsley. Either way, it’s important for
the oil to be very hot in order to prevent the croquettes from
absorbing it, and for it to be olive oil because it provides a special
flavour.
SQUASH BLOSSOMS
150 ml cold water

100 g flour
salt
squash blossoms
olive oil
Preparation
1. Mix water and flour slowly to get a smooth mixture without lumps.
Add salt.
2. Clean blossoms and cut in half.
3. Toss in flour, then dip in mixture, drain well and fry immediately in
very hot olive oil.
4. When they start to turn golden brown, remove from heat and drain
excess oil on paper towels.
5. Serve while hot.
Comments
In Catalonia, squash blossoms are often used as garnish when in season.

But you can make the same preparation with borage, which grows
naturally in many places around Catalonia; or with chard stems to
accompany braised meats like duck or giblets. The mixture can also be
enriched with an egg, a splash of oil or soda water, or even a teaspoon of
baking powder. Once fried, you can also add a dash of honey to turn it into
a sweet and delicious dish.
COD BRANDADA
500 g flaked salt cod

a dash of virgin olive oil
500 ml sunflower oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 dl whole milk
Preparation
1. Desalt cod changing the water a couple of times. The first soaking
hydrates, and the second desalts. Drain well.
2. In a saucepan, with a jet of virgin olive oil, lightly fry laminated garlic
without browning.
3. Next, add the cod and turn it over to cook lightly.
4. When the cod starts to release water, remove from the heat and crush
to a paste in a mortar.
5. Slowly add a trickle of oil and mash and bind like a mayonnaise.
6. As it binds with the oil, add milk in small splashes.
7. Stop when the brandada binds well and is firm.
8. Serve in small bowls.
Comments
Jaume Fàbrega, art and gastronomy scholar and a personal friend of mine,
has often argued that the brandada could be a Catalan dish. Occitan and
Catalan cuisines are very similar and in both languages the word brandar
means to move from one side to the other.
Beyond the historical liturgy about the origin of this culinary delicacy, the
brandada has always been present as an appetizer in my parents’
restaurant menu, right next door to El Celler de Can Roca.
In preparing the brandada, the oil and milk must be warm to help the cod
bind. In terms of the type of oil, you can either use a seed oil or olive oil,
but the later must be mild, otherwise its flavour will overpower the cod’s.
You can also toss in the cod skin while cooking the fish to help further
emulsify the brandada, and make sure not to overcook the cod, or it will
dry out.
The brandada must be a smooth paste without noticeable strands of cod.

Some people add more milk, but it’s a matter of preference. To save time in
the restaurant, we usually bind the brandada with an electric mixer.
However, I don’t recommend adding potato purée like many places do,
because it tarnishes a great dish.
It can be prepared au gratin with or without cheese, served with a freshly

toasted slice of bread, or as filling for piquillo peppers, and also with a
roasted red bell pepper sauce and dill oil (this was one of the first dishes I
prepared at El Celler de Can Roca). I currently use brandada to prepare a
cabbage leaf terrine with brandada and macaroni, served with a cod soup.
ROOTS. SALADS.
CRUSHED ONION AND PRESERVED CABBAGE SALAD

4 Figueres onions (non-hybridised onion variety, somewhat flattened with an

outer purple skin, and highly valued for its smooth texture)
preserved cabbage
black olives
coarse salt
extra virgin olive oil
vinegar
Preparation
1. Peel onions.
2. Wrap an onion in a piece of cloth and crush with your fist or with the
pestle until broken, but not mashed, otherwise it will lose its juice.
3. Wash well, drain and repeat the process with the remaining onions.
4. Arrange on a platter, add drained preserved cabbage and black olives,
and season with a pinch of salt and a splash of oil.
Comments
In Catalonia, this salad is usually prepared in the cooler months of autumn

and winter, when onions are old and spicy. They are crushed in order to
reduce their strength, making them sweeter and more edible. Some people
have a special cloth bag just for crushing onions. Others prefer to crush,
sprinkle with vinegar and store them in the fridge; later on they’re washed
well, drained, and seasoned with salt and olive oil.
The preserved cabbage can be easily prepared at home. Remove the outer
leaves and discard, and then separate the rest. Cut into small pieces and
place in a mason jar. Boil 1 litre of water with a pinch of salt, add 1.5 dl of
vinegar and scald cabbage until covered. Add some weight on top so all the
leaves are submerged and cover when cold. The cabbage will be ready to
eat in about 4 to 5 days.
MOUNTAIN HERBS SALAD
chicory gum succory sow thistles French scorzonera purple artichoke salt extra
virgin olive oil mild vinegar olives 1 tomato
Preparation
1. Wash herbs separately with plenty of water to eliminate any traces of

dirt.
2. Drain well and run through the salad spinner to extract all the
moisture.
3. Arrange on a platter.
4. Peel purple artichokes, which should be very tender and have no
down, and julienne. Add to the salad together with the olives and
tomato, finely chopped.
5. Season with a pinch of salt, a good splash of extra virgin olive oil, and
a few drops of vinegar.
Comments
Today, we can find different varieties of lettuce, endives, and cultivated

herbs at the market. Even combinations of clean and cut vegetables have
popularised to save us some work at home. In addition to these products,
there are also farmers who go out and find the wild herbs that make such
wonderful salads: chicory, gum succory, French scorzonera, sow thistles,
kermes oak, fennel, watercress, etc. These herbs are found in the forest,
the countryside, the roadside, or near water currents, but we might need
an expert to tell them apart.
It’s not advisable to let them wither in the fridge; they should be eaten
fresh.
The saltworth and samphire, for example, are found near the sea along the
Mediterranean coastline. They can be combined with some cultivated
vegetables such as artichokes, young garlic, or tomatoes.
BABY BROAD BEAN SALAD WITH MINT
1.5 kg freshly picked baby broad beans

1 heart of lettuce
2 dl extra virgin olive oil
a dash of mild wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of mustard
fresh mint leaves
Iberian ham
salt
Preparation
1. Heat a pot of water with a pinch of salt.

2. When it starts to boil, add broad beans and cook briefly, leaving them
somewhat undercooked. Transfer to an iced water container to
interrupt the cooking process and drain well.
3. Wash heart of lettuce and julienne.
4. Prepare a mild vinaigrette sauce with mustard, a few drops of vinegar,
salt, a splash of oil, and finely chopped mint.
5. In a bowl, toss the broad beans and lettuce with the vinaigrette and
arrange on plates.
6. Garnish with small, thin slices of Iberian ham.
7. Serve quickly.
Comments
This salad has become very popular throughout Catalonia in spite of being
rather young in comparison with the classic salads of our cuisine. It was
created by the mythical Josep Mercader at the Motel Empordà restaurant
in Figueres and it can now be found in many restaurant menus and even
private homes by mid-spring.
It must be served as soon as it’s prepared, or the ham softens and the mint
oxidises by coming into contact with the vinaigrette.
ROMA TOMATO AND YOUNG GARLIC SALAD
2 Roma tomatoes
6 young garlic shoots
salt
Preparation
1. Wash tomatoes, drain well and slice. Arrange on a plate.

2. Discard outer layer and root of the garlic shoots. With a small knife,
slice young garlic thinly over tomato slices.
3. Season with salt and a splash of oil.
Comments
This simple salad makes for a great fork breakfast. It can be accompanied
by a slice of peasant bread and some medium tender fuet, a few slices of
llonganissa, or black botifarra. It also goes well with some quality
anchovies in brine, previously desalted and seasoned with a dash of oil and
a few drops of good vinegar, or with a lightly fried herring.
Known as Italian Roma tomato, Italian tomato or plum tomato, the

Lycopersicon esculentum is a large succulent variety, very fleshy, not
floury, and very sweet. It’s often necessary to do a thorough search in
markets to find these types of products of recognised quality. They are
tenderly cultivated tomatoes ripened on the vine, which gives them a very
unique aroma, taste and colour.
If kept in the fridge, remember to take them out and let them warm before
serving in order to preserve their original aroma.
It’s a good idea to wash the young garlic with a trickle of water and dry
well to avoid spoiling the salad. Use all the white part as well as some of
the green because that’s where all the aroma is found. Keep the leafy part
to make a good vegetable soup.
Often in the countryside, a tomato salad is prepared and a platter of peeled

garlic is placed in the middle of the table. Each guest gets a small dish with
salt, where they dip the garlic before biting into it.
EMPEDRAT
500 g previously boiled beans

300 g flaked salt cod
2 spring onions
1 Montserrat tomato (a pumpkin-shaped variety with a sweet and refreshing
taste, a crispy skin and little pulp, all which make it ideal for salads or stuffed)
black olives
salt
white wine vinegar
Preparation
1. Lightly desalt the flaked cod, but not entirely.

2. Peel onions and break with fingers.
3. Mix cod, beans, onion, previously cleaned and coarsely chopped
tomato, and black olives.
4. Season with salt, a good splash of olive oil and a few drops of vinegar.
Comments
It is said that the empedrat is a summer salad originally from Empordà but
there’s no certainty. What is for sure is that it’s very popular in many
villages in the Girona, Barcelona and even Valencia regions.
It’s important for the beans to have been cooked the same day and that
they haven’t spent time in the fridge, so that they have all their original
flavour.
You can also add some finely chopped green and red peppers, or even a
couple of halved hard boiled eggs.
It can also be garnished with a few chopped parsley leaves and some
freshly ground black pepper.
COD ESQUEIXADA
500 g salt cod

2 onions
2 ripe Roma tomatoes
black olives
salt
Preparation
1. Desalt cod, flake with fingers under running water, and leave to
hydrate for a few hours in the fridge, changing the water a couple of
times.
2. When ready, drain well by squeezing with both hands to remove any
traces of water.
3. Place in a soup bowl. Add clean, peeled and chopped onion, finely
chopped tomato, and olives.
4. Season with a pinch of salt and a good splash of olive oil.
Comments
The excellence of this salad is determined by the superiority of its

ingredients. Cod that is white and top quality; extra virgin olive oil (I
personally prefer Arbequina olive oil); and the sweetness of the Roma
tomatoes, the tenderness of the spring onions or shallots, and the perfect
amount of salt, which can be coarse, make for a lot of different
esqueixades even if the same ingredients are used. A few drops of a good
white wine vinegar or cava vinegar can be a great addition to this dish, but
only a few drops!
ESCALIVADA
2 red peppers
2 onions
4 potatoes of the same size as the onions
2 seedless young aubergines
Arbequina olive oil
salt
vinegar
Preparation
1. Wash vegetables and dry well.

2. Roast each of the vegetables on an open flame or, better yet, over
charcoal ashes, checking each for cooking. They can also roast in the
oven. Aubergines cook first, followed by peppers, potatoes and
onions.
3. Wrap in brown paper for a few minutes to keep some of the juice and
aroma and make them easier to peel.
4. Peel carefully without touching the water, or they will lose their
flavour.
5. Arrange on plates and have each guest season to taste.
Comments
Escalivar means to roast a product directly on an open flame or over

embers (holm oak wood, if possible). Clearly, the success of this widely
known salad relies on the roasting procedure of its ingredients. There’s a
difference between roasting over ashes and wrapped in foil in the oven.
That’s why it’s important to value these dishes from their purest source.
But at home it’s difficult to roast over ashes without a fireplace.
Nonetheless, there are gas grills in the shape of a skillet with a hole in the
middle that are placed, covered, directly on the burner. This is the best
substitute for charcoal ashes.
During the winter, some people add spring onions, anchovies or a kipper.
You can also add a chopped garlic clove, a hard boiled egg, or some flaked
salt cod.
CATALAN SALAD
lettuce
escarole endive
onion (spring onion, if possible)
salad tomato
preserved guindilla pepper
preserved broccoli
black olives
anchovies in oil
salt
vinegar
assorted sausages (black and white botifarra, tongue botifarra, fuet,
llonganissa, Bayonne ham, cured ham, streaky bacon, etc.)
Preparation
1. Wash lettuce and endive. Drain well, use fingers to cut into small
pieces and reserve.
2. Peel onion. If it’s spring onion, quarter. If it’s old, crush by hand and
wet with a dash of water, salt and vinegar to remove the bitterness.
Next, drain well.
3. Slice guindilla pepper.
4. Wash tomatoes and cut into slices or quarter.
5. Arrange all the vegetables on a platter.
6. Add olives, anchovies and preserved broccoli.
7. Season with salt, a good splash of extra virgin olive oil, and a dash of
vinegar.
8. Place sausages next to the salad and serve.
Comments
The Catalan salad is so popular that each region adds or omits ingredients
depending on availability or season. In the mountains in spring, it’s
prepared with chicory and watercress; you can also add carrots, celery, or
an assortment of olives and, why not, a few slices of hard boiled egg and
tuna preserved in oil.
To obtain a good salad, it’s very important for the two large product groups
not to mix on the plate. On one hand there are vegetables well seasoned
with salt, oil and vinegar; and on the other, freshly sliced sausages placed
side by side but without touching the salad, otherwise they would get wet.
It is especially important for the sausages to be artisanal and not the

ready-to-serve combination plates sold in stores. It’s worth driving a good
distance to find them. The quality of this salad relies on this. That’s why
it’s important to buy the sausages ahead of time and make sure they are
properly kept in the pantry.
If stored in the fridge, remove a few days before serving, air and slice some
time before preparing the salad.
CURLY ENDIVE AND BITTER ORANGE SALAD
1 curly endive
4 bitter oranges
mineral water
salt
purple olives
Preparation
1. Peel oranges and halve.

2. Boil in salted water for approximately 15 minutes or until the pulp is
soft. Let cool in the same water.
3. Clean curly endive with plenty of water and use a salad spinner to
extract all the moisture.
4. Arrange endive leaves on each plate.
5. Drain orange, cut and place over endive. Add purple olives.
6. Season with a pinch of salt and a good splash of oil.
Comments
An endive and bitter orange salad with a few olives is a good option for
winter, when tomatoes are not at their best. Sometimes you can even add
some preserved cabbage, or bleeding milk-caps preserved in vinaigrette
during autumn.
Preserved bitter oranges are an ancient preparation introduced to

Catalonia in the 11th century, whereas the sweet orange tree arrived in the
14th century. The bitter type are the original oranges known in China since
around 2500 BCE and described around 100 BCE by Roman writers, who
called them the golden apples of the Hesperides. A few centuries later,
however, it was substituted for sweeter and more edible varieties
introduced by the Arabs and the Portuguese. Small, 6 to 8 cm, with a very
thick skin and acid pulp, it is often used in cooking to make salads,
marmalades, or preserves. There are many sweet and sour recipes dating
back to medieval times, such as duck with fruit, apple salad, and chards
with raisins and pine nuts. In winter, combine with a dish of boiled
cabbage and potatoes.
CARN DE PEROL (PORK CONFIT)
1 pork head
2 cheeks
2 ears
2 tongues
2 kidneys
1 heart
chitterlings
salt
black pepper
vinegar
Preparation
1. Heat a pot of water with salt.

2. Add all the meat products and cook until very tender. Remove from
heat and let cool for a few minutes.
3. Remove meat, drain, slice or dice each piece and place on a platter.
4. Season with salt, pepper and vinegar to taste.
Comments
Although the carn de perol is a dish consisting only of meat products and is
often served warm or hot, it is considered an extraordinary winter salad,
made during pig slaughter season.
In the old days in Catalonia, the pork confit was boiled in the same pot and
broth used to prepare the sausages, but now it’s also cooked at home in
water.
If too much is prepared or it cools down too much while chopping, return
the meat to the pot and reheat for a few minutes with some of the cooking
broth. Next, drain well and place on a platter.
The dressing also varies depending on the location; some people add
chopped garlic and parsley.
PORK KNUCKLES WITH ALLIOLI
2 pork knuckles
coarse salt
water
allioli
Preparation
1. Leave pork knuckles in coarse salt for a week.

2. After seven days, clean well and cook in water for 5 to 6 hours until
tender.
3. Let cool, cut into thin slices and serve with allioli.
Comments
The knuckle is the pig’s leg and shoulder. In the old days, the unused parts
of the bones of cured ham and shoulder were also included. The bones
were boiled in order to facilitate removing the meat, which then was
served with allioli. Nowadays, the bone is seasoned with salt for a few
days, then boiled.
In a similar process, the whole backbone, ribs, or streaky bacon are also
preserved in salt for a few days. Next, they are cleaned and charcoal-
grilled, accompanied by sautéed beans and some good allioli. The salting is
done a few days prior to cooking so the meat releases all the liquid and
acquires a saltiness inside, becoming delicious.
ROOTS. SOUPS.
SPRING MUSHROOM SOUP

2 L chicken stock
2 onions
100 g streaky bacon
2 tomatoes
olive oil
300 g scotch bonnets
300 g St. George’s mushrooms
300 g morels
300 g chanterelles
6 young garlic shoots
25 g toasted almonds
3 garlic cloves
3 slices of toast
a few strands of saffron
salt
Preparation
1. Clean mushrooms separately with a trickle of water and being careful

not to eliminate their aroma.
2. If necessary, chop so they’re all about the same size. Morels and
chanterelles are usually larger than scotch bonnets and St. George’s
mushrooms.
3. In a frying pan, sauté with a dash of oil. Reserve.
4. Heat chicken stock.
5. In a saucepan with oil, sauté the streaky bacon, diced.
6. Peel onion, chop finely and add to the bacon. Repeat with young
garlic.
7. When ready, add grated tomato and cook slowly.
8. Add mushrooms and chicken stock.
9. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes.
10. In the meantime, prepare a picada with almonds, toast and saffron,
previously dried in a frying pan to release its aroma.
11. Dissolve with some of the broth and add to pot.
12. Cook for a few more minutes and serve.
Comments
In the mountains of Catalonia, soups are prepared with anything available.

Asparagus and mushrooms like St. George’s, morels, or scotch bonnets
during spring, for example. The same soup can be prepared in autumn with
any assortment of mushrooms such as penny buns, llenegues
(Hygrophorus latitabundus), saffron milk-caps, bleeding milk-caps, or grey
knights; or mushrooms that are not as highly valued, but are just as
delicious, such as the cauliflower coral, terracotta hedgegog, crab
brittlegill, pinkmottle woodwax, oyster mushroom, etc.
FISH SOUP
3 L mineral water
1 monkfish head
1 blackbelly rosefish
1 spidercrab
1 gurnard
1 small black scorpionfish
2 onions
4 tomatoes
2 carrots
a tablespoon of Cayenne pepper
4 shrimps
8 mussels
4 crayfish
4 garlic cloves
a handful of almonds
1 parsley sprig
2 slices of bread
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Clean mussels well by removing the beard and scraping them. Place in
a saucepan over heat, cover and cook until they open. Reserve the
water and extract mussels from the shell.
2. Clean all fish well, scale and gut, chop and place in a pot with cold
water together with the shrimp and crayfish heads, an onion, one
tomato and a couple of carrots. Simmer for about 25 minutes,
removing foam when necessary.
3. In a saucepan, prepare a sofregit with a peeled and finely chopped
onion and a grated tomato and cook until concentrated.
4. Add sofregit to the pot and boil for another 10 minutes. Strain the
soup, remove the fish’s meat from the bone and return to the soup.
5. Dice bread and fry until golden brown. Prepare a picada with garlic, a
handful of almonds, bread and the sprig of parsley.
6. Dissolve with soup and pour into the pot.
7. Add mussel water, mussels and the shrimp and crayfish tails.
8. Cook for 2 minutes. Adjust salt and serve.
Comments
In Catalonia there’s not one single fish soup but many, as many as there
are sailors. To prepare, you can use shrimp, donax, clams, crayfish,
burrowing crabs or mussels to provide the seafood taste. It can also be
prepared with a hake or gilthead bream, white seabream or common
pandora to get a white broth, or also with squid or cuttlefish. Some people
add a picada made with garlic, almonds and pine nuts, instead of bread
and parsley. Some soups are also made with only one type of fish, such as
monkfish, or gilthead bream. Likewise, there’s also rockfish soup, conger
soup, or cod escudella.
MONKFISH SOUP
1 kg monkfish
1.5 L mineral water
2 onions
2 tomatoes
4 garlic cloves
2 parsley sprigs
olive oil
1 slice of bread
salt
Preparation
1. Clean monkfish, skin and gut.

2. Cut into slices and quarter head.
3. Place in a pot with cold water and boil for about half an hour.
4. In a different saucepan, prepare a sofregit with finely chopped onion.
When lightly fried, add grated tomato and cook slowly until it
resembles a jam.
5. Strain the monkfish broth and add to the sofregit.
6. Detach the monkfish meat both from the tail and from the head. Add
to the soup and cook for 5 more minutes.
7. In the meantime, prepare a picada with the garlic, parsley, almonds
and slice of bread. 8. Dissolve with a couple of tablespoons of soup
and mix well. Adjust salt and serve.
Comments
Usually, fish soup is prepared with all kinds of whitefish, often rockfish and
some shellfish. However, monkfish soup, made exclusively with this type,
is delicious for its subtlety.
Some people add fennel or absinthe to give the soup an herbaceous

flavour, or include a few strands of saffron in the picada. It is also common
to add the monkfish’s head to the picada, or it can also be made with black
scorpionfish, salema, or conger.
COD ESCUDELLA
1.5 L mineral water

2 onions
2 tomatoes
4 garlic cloves
parsley
300 g flaked salt cod, previously desalted
80 g thick noodles
salt
olive oil
Preparation
1. Prepare a sofregit with the peeled and chopped onions and, when
they’re nearly ready, add laminated garlic and cook.
2. A few minutes later, add grated tomato and cook slowly.
3. When the sofregit is concentrated, add flaked cod, stir and cover with
boiling water.
4. Add noodles and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Adjust salt, add finely chopped parsley, and it’s ready to serve.
Comments
This is a very simple escudella; it could be said to be a dry land fish

escudella. You can add a picada made with garlic, almonds and saffron, or
some cooked beans, or rice. It’s important to control the amount of salt
taking the cod’s own into consideration.
PUMPKIN ESCUDELLA
2 L water
veal and chicken bones
1 ham bone
onion, leek, carrot and turnip
500 g pumpkin
100 g noodles
100 g rice
salt
Preparation
1. Heat a pot with cold water, the veal and chicken bones, ham bone,
and clean and chopped vegetables.
2. Cook for about one and a half hours and strain.
3. Peel pumpkin, dice and boil in hot broth.
4. Then, add rice and noodles and heat until cooked.
5. Adjust salt and serve.
Comments
In the old days in Catalonia, when there was some escudella left from the
previous day, a squash was chopped and boiled with the soup, or boiled in
the water from cooking vegetables. The squash is also served boiled with
potato and a splash of oil, or finely diced with beans. Finally, some people
add a lightly fried onion to the escudella.
CHESTNUT SOUP
1 L chicken stock
1 onion
500 g chestnuts
salt
Preparation
1. Make a small cut to the flat side of chestnuts and scald with boiling
water to make them easier to peel.
2. Once the shell and the inner skin have been removed, reserve.
3. Fry finely sliced onion lightly and add peeled chestnuts.
4. Cover with stock and cook until chestnuts are ready.
5. Adjust salt, and it’s ready to serve.
Comments
Chestnut soup is an energetic, invigorating broth to warm you up.

Nowadays not everybody is willing to take the time to peel chestnuts to
make the soup, but they can be bought dry to save time, in which case they
must be hydrated. This delicious soup can be further enriched by adding
some diced foie gras and some quince preserve.
SCALDED SOUP
1 L broth from cooking vegetables or legumes

12 thin slices of bread from the previous day
8 garlic cloves
Preparation
1. Slice bread thinly and place in soup bowls.

2. Also slice a couple of garlic cloves for each bowl and place on the
bread.
3. Pour a splash of oil on top and then boiling broth.
4. Cover the bowl and leave to stand for a few minutes to soften the
bread, then it’s ready to eat.
Comments
To cook taking advantage of everything is to cook wisely. Some may say

the idea belongs to the time of the post-war, when food was scarce and
dishes were thought up with anything available around the house.
Nonetheless, cooking to save money doesn’t make it less tasty. One-day-
old bread, as long as it was peasant bread, stayed soft, unlike today, when
it seems elastic. The vegetable broth and also the water from cooking
legumes, such as beans, contains all the flavour of potatoes, broccoli,
cabbage, beans; and this water is not commonly taken advantage of, even
though it contains all the vitamins and flavour of the vegetables. In fact,
the word «soup» refers to the ancient practice of soaking bread slices in
broth. Often in some regions, the bread is previously toasted, or pieces of
bacon, vegetables or even a herring are added.
GREY KNIGHTS SOUP
600 g grey knights

1.5 L chicken stock
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of oregano
2 onions
25 g toasted almonds
1 garlic clove
1 slice of toast
salt
Preparation
1. Heat the stock. When it boils, add aromatic herbs, boil for 2 minutes
and strain.
2. Clean grey knights, including the part of the stalk where all the dirt
accumulates. This must be done carefully to prevent the mushroom
from losing its flavour.
3. Heat a saucepan with a splash of oil. Peel onion, julienne and add to
the saucepan to fry lightly and slowly.
4. Next, add grey knights and stir a couple of times.
5. Add hot stock and cook for 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime, prepare a picada made with garlic, almonds and the
slice of toast.
7. Dissolve with some of the stock and add to the soup. Cook for 5 more
minutes and adjust salt.
Comments
The grey knight or dirty tricholoma (Tricholoma terreum), is a very well
known and valued mushroom in Catalonia. There are a few other very
similar edible varieties, the T. Scalpturatum and the T. Squarrulosum. They
grow mainly in evergreen forests and usually in large groups during the
months of autumn and well into the winter. The grey knight is generally
used to prepare omelettes, soups and even cook with all types of meat,
vegetable or legume stews. Because of its texture, it goes well with cod.
GARLIC SOUP
1.5 L water or vegetable broth

peasant bread from the previous day
6 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt
3 eggs
Preparation
1. Heat a pot with the water or vegetable broth together with laminated
garlic, a pinch of salt and a splash of oil.
2. Boil for 4 minutes and add thin slices of bread.
3. Whisk with a mixer until the bread is reduced to a soup.
4. A few minutes before removing from the heat, add eggs, whisk and
serve quickly.
Comments
This is one of many scalded soups prepared throughout Catalonia. It’s very
simple and inexpensive; it uses the bread from the previous day and the
broth from boiling vegetables or cooking legumes such as beans or
chickpeas. To make this a scalded soup, some people slice the bread thinly
and place it in the soup bowls. The bread is then topped with sliced garlic,
followed by a splash of oil and very hot broth poured on top.
The bowl is covered and left to stand for a few minutes, and then it’s ready
to eat.
SOUP WITH MINT
1.5 L water
a few sprigs of fresh mint
a good splash of extra virgin
olive oil
salt
thin slices of bread (even better
if it’s 1 day-old)
3 eggs
Preparation
1. Heat a pot of water with fresh mint.

2. Boil for 4 minutes, remove mint and add sliced bread, oil and salt.
3. Cook for a few more minutes beating the soup with a whisk to
dissolve the bread.
4. Add eggs, keep whisking until they mix well with the soup, and serve.
Comments
This classic mint soup belongs to the group of herb soups prepared in every
mid and high mountain region of Catalonia. It’s similar to thyme, garlic,
fennel, onion or shepherd’s soup, ideal for the icy months of winter and the
first colds. My mother doesn’t remove the mint leaves from the soup but
instead liquidises them with a mixer. It’s a good soup to whet your
appetite.
FARRO (CORN SOUP)
2 L water
2 onions
1 potato
1 pig’s ear
1 pork chop
1 sagí ball (50 g)
200 g (approx.) corn flour
salt
Preparation
1. Prepare a broth with the water, onion, potato, lard, chop and ear.
Simmer for about 2 hours.
2. When ready, remove the lard, chop and ear. Cut into small dice.
3. Return stock to the heat and, when it starts to boil, sprinkle corn flour,
previously sieved to avoid lumps.
4. Cook slowly, stirring constantly for about 20 minutes.
5. Adjust salt.
6. When serving, add pig’s ear and chop.
Comments
In the cold days of winter, we feel like eating all types of hot soups, like this
corn soup. This dish tasted even better when using the broth from cooking
sausages during pig slaughter season. The sagí, in Catalan, is lard mixed
with flour, used to enrich all types of escudelles; in Catalonia, it can still be
found in butcher shops in some mountain towns. Today, however, this
invigorating soup can be made lighter by adding a few leaves of cabbage
and eliminating the lard. Add flour to taste, depending on whether you
prefer a heavier or lighter soup.
RICE AND NOODLE ESCUDELLA
3 L water
1 ham bone
4 bones from a pig’s backbone
2 pork chops
2 onions
2 potatoes
1 carrot
4 cabbage leaves
125 g rice
125 g noodles
salt
Preparation
1. Heat a pot with cold water and all the meat products, onions,
potatoes and carrot.
2. Boil for about 2 hours to flavour.
3. Remove meat and add shredded cabbage leaves.
4. Next, add rice and noodles and cook for about 20 minutes.
Comments
If no meat is available for the escudella, using a ball of lard and a ham
bone is enough to add flavour. The sagí, in Catalan, is lard preserved rancid
or otherwise, used to prepare balls to enrich soups and escudelles. In
Catalonia, it can still be found in some butcher shops in mountain towns.
In the cooking process, the lard ball should be removed when adding the
rice and noodles.
ESCUDELLA I CARN D’OLLA (STEW)
4 L water
½ kg veil bones (knucklebones or backbone, if possible)
½ chicken
1 pig’s ear, pig snout, 1 pig’s trotter, 1 ham bone, 4 desalted bones from backbone
4 lamb hocks
1 sagí ball (50 g)
200 g beans
4 potatoes
2 onions
1 turnip
1 leek
4 carrots
½ winter cabbage ½ kg thin, black botifarra (Catalan pork sausage made with
lean meat and blood)
200 g minced lean pork
1 egg
2 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
white bread bread crumb
flour
galets (a special type of large elbow pasta)
salt
Preparation
1. Soak beans overnight to soften.

2. Clean veal bones, chicken, pork and lamb hocks, and heat in a pot
with water.
3. When it starts to boil, skim and cook for about 2 hours. Add the sagí
ball.
4. In the meantime, form one or several large balls with the minced lean
meat, chopped garlic and parsley, egg and soaked bread crumb, plus a
pinch of salt.
5. Coat balls well with flour. When the water has boiled for a couple of
hours, add clean and chopped vegetables, black botifarra and
meatballs. When cooked, remove meat and sagí ball and add the
pasta.
6. Boil for about 20 minutes, adjust salt and serve; first the soup, then
the meat, chopped.
Comments
The escudella is traditionally an everyday winter dish throughout

Catalonia, and more elaborate versions are prepared for Christmas. The
pig’s bones are usually previously salted because they give the soup a very
good flavour. They can be found in many butcher shops and pork butchers.
At home, the escudella is served first, followed by the meat. Some people
season it with a splash of oil and garnish it with a salad prepared with
onion, a preserved guindilla pepper, preserved cabbage, and even roasted
red peppers.
ROOTS. PASTA & RICE.
BRAISED NOODLES WITH RABBIT

½ rabbit
1 dl oil, or 100 g lard
400 g thick noodles
2 onions
2 ripe tomatoes
¼ green pepper
a splash of rancio wine
2 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
3 or 4 strands of saffron
150 g freshly podded peas
salt
black pepper
water or broth
Preparation
1. Chop rabbit into small chunks, season with salt and pepper and
brown in a pan with a splash of oil or lard.
2. When golden brown, remove from the heat and, in the same
saucepan, prepare a sofregit with onions and pepper. Halfway
through the cooking process, add grated tomato and let concentrate.
3. Add a splash of rancio wine and allow alcohol to evaporate.
4. Return rabbit to the pan and wet with water or broth.
5. Cook for a few minutes until the meat is tender.
6. When half-cooked, add noodles.
7. Before they finish cooking, add peas and continue.
8. In the meantime, prepare a picada with garlic, parsley and saffron,
lightly toasted in the oven.
9. Dissolve in the stew and add to the pan.
10. Adjust salt again and cook for 2 more minutes.
11. Cover the pan, leave to stand for a few minutes and serve.
Comments
In rural homes the culture of product self-sufficiency still prevails.

Therefore, every house owns a vegetable garden to grow seasonal
vegetables, a coop for eggs and chickens for the roast, a few rabbits and,
the more fortunate, have a few ducks or geese, or even a couple of pigs to
slaughter in the wintertime.
The rabbit is slaughtered, skinned, and shortly it’s ready to be cooked. This
is why its meat is commonly eaten in small villages, although in recent
years its price has increased. In autumn, some people add mushrooms or
substitute it for wild rabbit, which requires a longer cooking time.
Frequently, chicken giblets, breast of lamb or—in spring— broad beans
are added to the preparation.
FESTIVAL CANNELLONI
300 g lean veal and pork

100 g chicken
1 chicken liver
50 g lamb brains
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
a splash of brandy
1 ripe tomato
olive oil
2 slices of bread (crumb only)
1 L milk
30 g butter
30 g flour
salt
white pepper
nutmeg
12 cannelloni sheets
125 g cheese for melting, such as Maó or emmental
Preparation
1. Dice all the meat and brown in a saucepan with a splash of olive oil.
2. Halfway through the cooking process, add peeled and laminated
garlic and grated onion. Cook slowly to tenderise meat.
3. Wet with rancio wine and brandy, letting alcohol evaporate.
4. Next, add chicken liver and lamb brains, cook for a few more minutes.
Toss in grated tomato and let concentrate.
5. Soak bread crumb in milk and add to the meat.
6. Run through meat grinder using the medium hole.
7. Adjust salt.
8. Boil pasta sheets for a few minutes. Cool in cold water and place on a
clean cloth.
9. Add a tablespoon of meat to each sheet and roll.
10. To prepare the béchamel sauce, boil ½ L of milk. On a different
saucepan, melt some butter. Add flour and cook for a couple of
minutes on low heat, stirring continuously. Pour milk slowly to
prevent it from curdling and cook on low heat for a few more minutes.
11. Adjust salt and add white pepper and nutmeg.
12. Spread a tablespoon of béchamel sauce over the bottom of the baking
tray, arrange cannelloni and cover with the remaining sauce.
13. Sprinkle grated cheese on top as well as a few small balls of butter.
14. Grill in oven at 200ºC/392ºF.
Comments
Cannelloni are without a doubt the most popular festival fare in Catalonia.
In the old days, cannelloni were prepared with the leftover meat from the
Christmas escudella and served on December 26 (the celebration of St.
Stephen’s day, a holiday in Catalonia).
Even though there are many different versions of cannelloni, the meat
must always be diced and browned before grinding.
Some people substitute the two slices of bread for a couple of tablespoons
of flour or béchamel sauce made with a chopped onion. Others coat the
bottom of the baking tray with butter or tomato sauce.
MACARONI WITH TOMATO
400 g macaroni
3 onions
2 tomatoes
water
olive oil
300 g minced pork
2 chicken livers
salt
Preparation
1. Begin by making a sofregit with the finely chopped onion and a splash
of oil.
2. Add grated tomato halfway through the cooking process and let
concentrate.
3. Fry pork and crushed chicken livers lightly on a pan with a splash of
oil. Add to the sofregit and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Adjust salt and finish cooking.
5. Bring a pot of water to a boil with a splash of oil and a pinch of salt.
6. When water starts to boil, add macaroni and stir. Boil until al dente.
7. Drain and add to the sofregit. Stir.
Comments
Macaroni dishes are very popular. Originally in Catalonia they were

prepared for town festivals, but they have become everyday meals because
they’re so easy to cook. In rural homes, the olive oil is often substituted for
lard, especially for making the sofregit. It’s usually served as an only
course meal garnished with a good salad, because it includes pasta, meat
and vegetables all in the same dish.
Frequently, the minced meat is substituted for raw (Catalan sausage) to
get a very tasty meat; or it is even grilled on a baking tray with grated
cheese sprinkled on top and some butter.
During the autumn months you can add some mushrooms like pinkmottle
woodwax, or chanterelles.
The amount of sofregit made with onion and tomato (not tomato sauce) is
very important. Not much is needed, but only enough to season the
macaroni well. The pasta must be somewhat dry, without filling the plate
with the sauce.
FIDEUÀ
1 medium onion
2 ripe tomatoes
250 g mantis shrimp
200 g crabs
600 g rockfish, such as gurnard, conger, spidercrab, burrowing crab, etc.
400 g thick noodles (hollow, if possible)
6 garlic cloves
olive oil
water
salt
Preparation
1. Prepare a sofregit with laminated garlic and finely chopped onion.

2. When it’s almost ready, toss in grated tomato and let concentrate.
3. Add previously cleaned and scaled fish, mantis shrimp, crabs, and
cover with cold water.
4. Boil for about half an hour. Strain and reserve.
5. In a cast iron saucepan, pour a splash of oil and noodles. Brown well,
slowly and evenly. Stir.
6. Next, add 750 ml to 1 L of broth, and cook for 12 to 14 minutes or until
noodles are ready and dry.
Comments
The fideuà, a typical Valencian and Catalan seafood fare, has popularised
all the way inland.
In the last stages of cooking, some people add shrimp, crayfish, or a couple
of tablespoons of cuttlefish cooked with some peas.
If not precooked, the cuttlefish can be lightly fried with the noodles and
remain throughout the whole cooking process in the fish stock, as long as
it stays tender.
To control the noodles readiness and make them dry, half of the time they
can be broiled, and baked the other half.
You can make a small picada with garlic and saffron, or some broken allioli,
or serve the noodles with allioli made in the mortar.
A soupier fideuà can also be made and add some sardines or European
anchovies to it.
CASSEROLE NOODLES WITH PORK CHOPS AND SAUSAGES
4 pork chops
8 pork sausages
1 dl olive oil
2 medium Figueres onions (non-hybridised onion variety, somewhat flattened
with an outer purple skin, and highly valued for its smooth texture)
2 ripe tomatoes
325 g No. 2 noodles
poultry stock
2 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
salt
Preparation
1. Cut pork chops into small pieces and fry lightly on the saucepan with
a splash of oil. Reserve.
2. Brown pork sausages and reserve.
3. In the same oil (add more, if necessary) make a very concentrated
sofregit by lightly frying the chopped onion and adding a grated
tomato when golden brown. Cook on low heat.
4. Add a splash of rancio wine and reduce.
5. Return pork chop to the saucepan and pour some poultry stock.
6. Cook for 10 minutes to further soften the meat.
7. Next, add sausages and noodles and cook until ready. The noodles
should be watery.
8. In the meantime, prepare a picada with garlic and parsley; add it one
minute before it finishes cooking. Leave to stand for a few minutes
and it’s ready to serve.
Comments
These stewed noodles are a one-course fare served with a salad. They
contain everything you need: vegetables, pasta and meat. And they can be
even more wholesome by adding a handful of cooked beans at the last
minute.
In the wintertime, when tomatoes are not at their best, you can prepare
the sofregit using a tomato preserve made during the summer—when
tomatoes are plentiful—, or with hanging tomatoes.
Some people prefer adding some broken allioli instead of the garlic and
parsley picada.
CASSEROLE NOODLES WITH BEANS AND COD TRIPE
Ingredients (for 4 people)1 dl olive oil
2 medium Figueres onions (non-hybridised onion variety, somewhat
flattened with an outer purple skin, and highly valued for its smooth
texture)
1 carrot
1 green pepper
2 ripe tomatoes
a splash of dry white wine
325 g No. 2 noodles
mineral water
skin and bones of cod
250 g cod tripe
250 g cooked beans
2 garlic cloves
Preparation
1. Begin by making a good cod broth. Boil cod skin and bones with the
onion and carrot for about 30 minutes. Strain and reserve.
2. Desalt the cod tripe, scald and remove black membrane. Chop finely.
3. Prepare a sofregit with peeled and finely chopped onions.
4. Toss in oil slowly in a pan.
5. When soft, add green pepper, clean and diced.
6. Next, add grated tomato and let concentrate.
7. Wet sofregit with white wine and reduce.
8. Add noodles, stir and wet with cod stock.
9. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add tripe and cooked beans. Finish
cooking.
10. In the meantime, prepare some broken allioli. Add 2 minutes before
the end of the cooking time.
11. Remove from heat, leave to stand for a few minutes and it’s ready to
serve.
Comments
This noodle stew with beans and cod tripe is a version prepared for town
festivals. Some people also add some flaked salt cod or a few cod loins to
make the dish more wholesome. It’s especially important to make it
watery enough to eat with a spoon.
If you include cod loin, cooking it should be top priority; it should be added
at the last minute to avoid overcooking. You can also liquidise the cod skin
with some broth and a splash of olive oil to add with the broken allioli,
binding the dish to perfection.
CASSEROLE RICE
360 g round-grain rice

1.5 L water
4 medium shrimp
200 g chicken
chicken giblets
200 g rabbit
200 g pork chops
4 sausages
a splash of rancio wine or brandy
1 cuttlefish or squid
2 onions
5 garlic cloves
a few parsley leaves
2 tomatoes
50 g green and red pepper
150 g peas
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. In a clay or cast iron casserole with a splash of oil, brown shrimp and
reserve.
2. In the same casserole, brown all the meat and giblets, finely chopped,
and add clean and diced cuttlefish. Cook for a few minutes.
3. When brown, add chopped onion, half the garlic cloves and pepper,
finely chopped. Wet with a splash of rancio wine or brandy.
4. Cook well, add grated tomato and rice.
5. Stir, add peas and pour boiling water. Season with salt and allow to
cook.
6. Prepare a picada with chicken liver, the rest of the garlic and the
parsley leaves. Add to rice a few minutes before removing from heat.
Also add the shrimp.
7. The rice must be watery and a bit uncooked because it will continue to
cook in the casserole 3 or 4 minutes longer.
Comments
Casserole rice is a typical Thursday fare in Catalan restaurants that my

mother continues to make. There are many versions of the dish, and its
ingredients vary depending on the season. In spring, for example, it’s
generally prepared with young French beans. In rural homes, especially, if
a chicken is slaughtered its fried blood is added at the last minute. During
autumn, some mushrooms are normally included, or whatever seafood is
available: squid, mussels, crayfish, etc. It is finished with a picada made
with garlic, parsley and chicken or rabbit liver, or even with monkfish liver if
this type of fish is in the rice. In the old days, casserole rice was a dish for
weddings and town festivals, for which arrossades (rice-based meals) are
still prepared today. All types of rice dishes are prepared, with fish, squab,
pigeon, spidercrab, royale cucumber, stony sea urchins, rabbit, cod, lesser
slipper lobster, oily fish, etc.
WHITE RICE WITH BLUE WHITING
6 garlic cloves
2 onions (spring onions, if possible)
salt
400 g Bahia rice (a short-grain, quick-cooking rice from the Valencia region,
often used for paella recipes)
4 blue whiting or hake slices
1.25 L water
Preparation
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

2. When it starts to boil, add peeled garlic, sliced onion, a pinch of salt, a
splash of oil, and rice.
3. Cook 12 to 13 minutes and toss in blue whiting, previously cleaned and
scaled. The rice must be watery enough to eat with a spoon.
Comments
This simple rice is very suitable for an upset stomach, or for the months of
winter when it’s easy to catch a cold or the flu.
The blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), is a fish found year-round in

markets, it’s inexpensive and goes well with boiled rice as well as fried,
accompanied by a dish of vegetables seasoned with a splash of oil. The
blue whiting is a small, mild-tasting fish, about 20 to 25 cm long. You can
also use slices of hake from our coasts. Even today, it’s common in small
villages to bring some fresh hake from the Costa Brava, along with some
lamb chops, a can of peaches in syrup, or some biscuits when visiting a sick
person.
GIBLETS RICE

4 garlic cloves
2 ripe tomatoes
1 green pepper
olive oil
the giblets from one chicken and one rabbit
parsley
salt
Preparation
1. In a cast iron casserole, fry chicken and rabbit giblets lightly, saving
the rabbit’s liver for the picada. Brown well, and remove from heat.
2. In the same casserole, prepare a sofregit with chopped onion and
garlic, as well as the green pepper, diced. When golden brown, add
grated tomato. Cook well.
3. Add rancio wine and reduce for a moment.Return giblets to the
casserole, then add the rice and brown for a minute. Next, pour
boiling water. Cook on medium heat 15 to 17 minutes.
4. In the meantime, prepare a picada with a garlic clove, a couple of
sprigs of parsley and the rabbit’s liver. Add the picada during the last
few minutes. Stir, adjust salt, and remove from heat.
5. Leave to stand for a few minutes and it’s ready to serve.
Comments
Giblets rice is undoubtedly one of those dishes that make good use of
everything available, which by no means makes it less tasty. Although
usually prepared in rural houses, today’s mass breeding systems mean
giblets are not as reliable as when coming from animals bred in the
countryside. The rice includes the less desirable parts of the chicken and
rabbit: neck, gizzards, liver and wings (chicken); and head, neck and liver
(rabbit). Some people even boil the chicken legs, which are very gelatinous,
or add in the blood, which gives it a very special flavour. This rice is usually
cooked with more water and stock than necessary: about 2.5 parts of water
per one part of rice, in order to make it watery or undercooked.
If the giblets are not from animals bred in the countryside, the skin from
the chicken’s neck should be removed, as it’s very greasy. You can also add
a seasonal vegetable, such as peas, broccoli or cabbage.
RABBIT, CUTTLEFISH AND CRAYFISH RICE
1 medium size cuttlefish

8 medium size crayfish
4 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 dl rancio wine
6 sausages
½ rabbit
1 rabbit liver
200 g seasonal mushrooms
400 g rice
water or beef stock
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Clean cuttlefish, making sure to reserve the liver. Dice.

2. Cut rabbit into small chunks and sausages in half.
3. In a cast iron casserole with a splash of oil, lightly brown crayfish and
reserve.
4. Sauté rabbit. When golden brown, add the cuttlefish to tenderise it.
Toss in sausages and let everything absorb the colour. Reserve for a
moment.
5. In the same casserole, add a splash of olive oil and fry onion and a
couple of chopped garlic cloves lightly and slowly. Add rabbit and
cuttlefish, and wet with rancio wine. Let alcohol evaporate.
6. Next, add clean mushrooms, followed by rice; stir, and brown for a
minute.
7. Pour boiling water or stock and cook for about 15 minutes. Broil for the
first 8 to 9 minutes, then reduce heat and continue cooking for 4 to 5
more minutes.
8. A few minutes before its ready, add some picada made with rabbit
liver and mix well.
9. Remove from heat and leave to stand, covered, for the last 2 or 3
remaining minutes.
Comments
Rabbit rice is prepared in Catalonia almost year-round. Several different

typical ingredients are included depending on the season, like the
trumpets of death whose name and black colour remind us of the
celebration of All Saints’ Day, around the time when they grow.
Trumpets of death (Craterellus cornucopioides) are easy to recognise

because of their trumpet-like shape and black colour, even though in some
places, depending on the humidity level, they can be greyish. You can also
add grey knights and pinkmottle woodwax.
DARK OR BLACK RICE
400 g rice
4 sausages
150 g pork chops
400 g small squid
1 small ripe tomato
1 long green pepper
2 artichokes
4 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
water or beef stock
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. In a cast iron casserole with oil, brown sausages and pork chop, cut
into smaller chunks. Remove and reserve.
2. Next, in the same oil lightly sauté squid and reserve.
3. In the same casserole, prepare a sofregit by cooking chopped onion
on low heat until dark brown, but without burning. Then, add diced
green pepper and a few minutes later the tomato, grated. Let
concentrate well.
4. Add rice, stir and pour boiling water or broth.
5. Cook for about 16 minutes. First, broil and lower heat halfway through
the cooking process.
6. Adjust salt and sprinkle garlic and parsley on top. Leave to stand
covered for a couple of minutes and serve.
Comments
Black rice is a typical dish of the Costa Brava. It’s prepared by caramelising
onion very slowly until its colour turns very similar to honey. The correct
caramelising of the onion requires a very important ingredient: patience. If
it dries up while cooking, add a few drops of water to prevent it from
burning. But the best thing to do is to make a lot (4 to 5 kg) and transfer it
to a different saucepan as it reduces in volume to prevent the juices from
evaporating quickly.
Some people also add squid or cuttlefish ink to achieve a richer colour and
for it to acquire the typical flavour of the ink.
SARDINE RICE
800 g sardines
6 garlic cloves
2 ripe tomatoes
1 L fish stock (made with hake heads, monkfish, ribbonfish...)
200 g peas
1 dl olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Scale sardines, gut, and remove head.

2. In a cast iron casserole, make a sofregit with chopped garlic and
grated tomato until its texture resembles a jam.
3. Add rice, stirring a couple of times, and pour hot stock. Broil for about
10 minutes.
4. Add peas and lower heat. Cook 3 to 4 minutes longer.
5. Adjust salt and add sardines on top. Cover to cook with the rice’s
heat. The rice should be somewhat soupy.
Comments
Throughout the Costa Brava and the rest of Catalan seafood tradition, a
great variety of rice dishes and oily fish suquets (Catalan seafood stews)
are prepared: rice with anchovies, sardine suquet, rice with tuna. Each
village has its own version of this simple and delicious rice; for example,
adding onion or green or red pepper to the sofregit, or chopped parsley,
artichokes, a few strands of saffron, or a picada made with almonds. The
summer is the best time of the year to prepare this sardine rice because
oily fish is fattier, tastier, and full of protein.
RICE WITH AUTUMN MUSHROOMS
200 g bleeding milk-caps

200 g pinkmottle woodwax
100 g penny buns
100 g ivory waxy caps
100 g llenega negra (Hygrophorus latitabundus)
100 g brown slimecaps
1 onion
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 green pepper
¼ red pepper
2 L water
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Clean mushrooms separately. Chop well. Bring a couple of litres of

water to a boil. When it starts to boil, scald all mushrooms. Reserve
the water.
2. In a clay casserole fry lightly the chopped onion with a splash of olive
oil.
3. Add mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Next, add laminated garlic and peppers, diced.
5. When this sofregit has the texture of a jam and the mushrooms have
released their juices, add rice and stir well.
6. Add mushroom broth and broil for 8 minutes. Next, season with salt
and cook a few more minutes on low heat until rice is ready.
7. Serve rice somewhat watery.
Comments
This is an authentic mountain rice dish of mid-autumn, the mushroom

season. It’s usually prepared with any assortment of mushrooms,
whatever is picked from the ground, as well as a few vegetables, perhaps
from those canned during the summer. The rice must be round-grain
(Bahia, Tebre, Senia, Bomba, etc.) so the result is more soupy and the grain
absorbs the juice. The medium or long-grained rice varieties are more
suitable for salads because the grain separates better.
SOUPY SQUAB RICE

4 young squabs
250 g pinkmottle woodwax
2 medium-sized onions
¼ green pepper
¼ red pepper
3 artichokes
1 ripe tomato
1 baby spinach bunch
1.2 L poultry stock
2 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Clean spinach well with plenty of water. Clean pinkmottle woodwax

mushrooms, chop and reserve.
2. Pluck squabs if needed, scorch to make sure to remove all feathers.
Cut into four or eight parts if too big. Brown in a clay or cast iron
casserole with a splash of olive oil and then remove from saucepan.
3. Prepare a sofregit in the same casserole with chopped onions,
laminated garlic and finely chopped peppers, followed by grated
tomato. Concentrate well, then return squab and add the rice.
4. Stir a few times to fry well and add boiling stock. Broil for the first 10
minutes. In the meantime, peel artichokes, remove hairy bits and
quarter. Add to the mixture, salt to taste and finish cooking.
5. A few minutes before removing the casserole from the heat, add
pinkmottle woodwax mushrooms and spinach.
Comments
This rice is typical of the months of winter in Catalonia, although it can be

prepared year-round. With the arrival of the cold weather and the hunting
season, squab can be substituted for common wood pigeon. If you buy it,
you must make sure it’s a young bird and, if it isn’t, make sure to precook
it, or you could be surprised by a tough and dry meat. A few varieties of
mushrooms can also be included, such as chanterelles, grey knights,
trumpets of death, or llenegues (Hygrophorus latitabundus). In order for
the stock to be tastier, grill the poultry bones before boiling in water with
the vegetables. The squab can also be boned and the carcass used to
prepare the broth.
COD AND CAULIFLOWER RICE

400 g flaked and desalted cod
200 g cauliflower
1 onion (spring onion, if possible)
½ green pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 hanging tomato
a handful of toasted almonds
a few leaves of parsley
4 saffron strands
1 L mild beef stock
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Begin by making a sofregit. Peel onion and two garlic cloves, finely
chop and soften in a saucepan with a splash of olive oil on low heat.
2. Halfway through the cooking process, toss in chopped green pepper,
stir and add grated tomato. Cook slowly until it acquires a jam-like
consistency.
3. A few minutes later include cod, flaked, desalted, and well strained to
prevent it from releasing water while cooking. Stir a few times.
4. Stir in rice and wet with boiling stock. Broil for 7 or 8 minutes.
5. Add in cauliflower in small florets and cook 5 more minutes.
6. Adjust salt, lower heat and finish cooking.
7. In the meantime, prepare a picada with almonds, a garlic clove,
parsley and saffron. Dissolve with the rice water and add to the
preparation in the last few minutes.
Comments
This rice dish is ideal for the wintertime, when more aromatic cauliflowers
can be found at the market. The cauliflower should not boil too long
because it releases an unpleasant smell. The cauliflower can be
substituted for artichokes, beans, some legume, etc.
ROOTS. EGGS.
SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH ST. GEORGE’S MUSHROOMS

8 free-range eggs
a couple of handfuls of
St. George’s mushrooms
olive oil or lard
salt
Preparation
1. Clean mushrooms with a trickle of water. Strain well and chop the
larger ones.
2. Sauté in a frying pan with a splash of oil or a tablespoon of lard.
3. Stir a couple of times and add beaten eggs with a pinch of salt.
4. Stir eggs non-stop with a wooden spoon until nearly set.
5. Place on a plate and serve while hot.
Comments
Although scrambled eggs may seem like a modern dish, the truth is that
there is tradition to them. It’s important not to overcook in order for them
to be juicy. The aroma of the St. George’s mushrooms will saturate the
whole dish. It can also be prepared with other mushrooms, such as scotch
bonnets or morels, or with peas or green asparagus in spring.
BLACK BOTIFARRA OMELETTE
8 eggs
8 slices of black botifarra (Catalan pork sausage made with lean meat and
blood)
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Beat eggs with a pinch of salt.

2. Remove the skin from the botifarra and slice thinly.
3. Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil.
4. Fry botifarra slowly to release some of the fat.
5. When it begins to brown, add beaten eggs and make an omelette as
you normally would, cooked to taste.
Comments
In winter, with the arrival of the cold weather, the black botifarra omelette
makes for a good breakfast. If prepared with thin botifarra, cut a few slices
and fry on both sides. If it’s soft, you can remove the skin and crumble the
meat. It can be accompanied with potatoes cut into thin slices and fried in
a covered frying pan with olive oil.
If you want to make it even more enjoyable, add some stony sea urchin roe
and leave the omelette slightly undercooked.
GARLIC SCAPE OMELETTE
8 eggs
a handful of garlic scapes
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Chop garlic scapes.

2. In a frying pan with a splash of olive oil, sauté garlic scapes until soft,
stirring a few times.
3. Add beaten eggs with a pinch of salt and cook omelette as usual.
4. Serve while hot.
Comments
In the old days, everything possible was utilised, and the green scapes
from garlic that still hasn’t produced a seed at the end is very aromatic and
tasty. If unavailable, it can be substituted for young garlic or even spring
onions. The result will be a very aromatic omelette.
LETTUCE OMELETTE
8 free-range eggs
green leaves of lettuce
4 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Clean green leaves of lettuce, strain well and shred.

2. Peel garlic and laminate.
3. Sauté garlic in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil.
4. Next, add lettuce and fry lightly for a while.
5. Add beaten eggs with a pinch of salt. Prepare omelette as usual.
6. Cook to taste.
7. Serve while hot.
Comments
The lettuce omelette is made with the greenest leaves that are usually not
eaten. These are the tastier leaves. In mountainous regions chicory is also
used when no longer fresh. Likewise, it can be made with young broad
beans, squash blossoms, courgettes, artichokes, aubergine, or even
samfaina (Catalan ratatouille-like dish).
FRIED EGGS WITH BACON
8 free-range eggs
12 slices streaky bacon
olive oil
salt
Preparation
1. Heat frying pan with a splash of oil.

2. Fry bacon slices slowly until brown.
3. Heat oil in the frying pan and crack two eggs in a bowl.
4. Pour on the frying pan and cook until the whites are brown
underneath and around the edges. The yolk must remain liquid. You
can pour hot oil on top with a spoon.
5. Place on a plate and add salt to taste. Accompany with bacon slices
and serve while hot.
Comments
The weekly intake of fried eggs has always been subject of discussion.
They are often accompanied by pork products (bacon, sobrassada, raw,
white or black botifarra) or even a dash of honey. They can also be
accompanied by herrings or sardines. And with a piece of toast they make
for a delicious breakfast.
If you cover the frying pan while cooking, the result can be very satisfying.
BOTIFARRA DE PEROL AND BEAN OMELETTE
8 free-range eggs
250 g cooked beans
2 botifarres de perol (pork sausage typical of the Girona region made with meat,
bacon, head, blood, pepper and salt)
olive oil or lard
salt
Preparation
1. Add a splash of oil or a tablespoon of lard to a frying pan and lightly

fry cooked beans for a few minutes.
2. Remove skin and add botifarres de perol, crumble well.
3. Add beaten eggs with a pinch of salt and make a round omelette,
brown on both sides.
4. Serve while hot, accompanying it with peasant bread.
Comments
This omelette is both delicious and healthy. You can also add chopped
garlic and parsley to make it much more refreshing.
Some people substitute the botifarra de perol for salt and pepper botifarra.
FLOUR OMELETTE
8 free-range eggs
4 tablespoons of flour
salt
water
olive oil
4 garlic cloves
parsley
Preparation
1. Place eggs in a bowl and leave with a pinch of salt.

2. Slowly add flour, trying to prevent lumps from forming.
3. Next, add a dash of water until getting a thin, smooth paste.
4. Add garlic and parsley, and heat a frying pan with a splash of oil.
5. When hot, pour mixture and make long, thin omelettes that are well
cooked and fluffy.
Comments
The flour omelette may be the most basic and simple omelette, commonly
prepared during the post-war period when hunger invaded many homes.
However, it’s such a delicious omelette it’s still often made.
Some people mix in a few slices of streaky bacon or black botifarra. It can
be served with a lettuce and tomato salad dressed with a good splash of
olive oil.
ROOTS. FISH.
BAKED HAKE FILLET WITH GARLIC AND ROSEMARY VINAIGRETTE

1 hake (2 kg)
2 potatoes
2 onions
2 dl white wine
½ L olive oil
1 garlic head
fresh rosemary
a splash of red wine vinegar
salt
Preparation
1. Begin by lightly frying onion. Peel and julienne. Toss in a pan on low
heat with a splash of olive oil. Cook in its own juice while covered.
2. In the meantime, prepare some garlic vinaigrette dressing. Peel
garlic, reserve half the cloves and laminate the rest. Sweat slowly in
olive oil. When it starts to brown, remove from heat and add the green
rosemary leaves, separating from the sprig. When cold, add a dash of
vinegar.
3. Peel potatoes and cut into ½ cm slices. Place on a platter covered with
olive oil and a couple of whole garlic cloves. Bake for half an hour.
4. Clean hake. Scale and gut. Also remove the black membrane from the
belly.
5. Cut into slices about 5-cm-thick.
6. On a baking tray, arrange potatoes. Place onion and hake on top.
7. Season with salt and add a dash of white wine and a splash of oil.
8. Cook at 180ºC/356ºF for about 15 minutes. Halfway through the
cooking process, wet with its own juice.
9. Serve hake fillets with a couple of tablespoons of the cooking juice.
10. Heat garlic and rosemary vinaigrette and pour a couple of
tablespoons over each piece of hake.
Comments
Baking fish is one of the easiest ways to cook it, and doesn’t involve too
much handling or seasoning. Along with a good olive oil, a good quality
fresh fish is the main element of a simple and delicious dish. It can be
prepared with a great variety of fish: black scorpionfish, gilthead bream,
common pandora, white seabream, European seabass, seabass, grouper,
etc. This is my father’s favourite dish.
MONKFISH MARINER STYLE
8 pieces of large monkfish

1 kg rock mussels
flour
3 dl olive oil
2 onions
3 tomatoes
1 dl white wine
1 fennel sprig
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
water
16 clams
3 garlic cloves
a few saffron strands
2 slices of fried bread
monkfish liver
salt
white pepper
Preparation
1. Season monkfish with salt and pepper and coat with flour. On an iron
pan, fry in hot oil leaving slightly undercooked. Reserve.
2. In the same pan, prepare a sofregit with finely chopped onion and,
when nearly ready, add grated tomato, letting sofregit concentrate
well.
3. In the meantime, clean and steam mussels open. Separate from shell
and reserve until the end.
4. Pour white wine over the sofregit and reduce.
5. When sofregit becomes smooth, return monkfish to pan and add a
couple of ladles of water and aromatic herbs.
6. Prepare a picada with garlic, saffron strands dried in the oven, fried
bread slices, toasted almonds and monkfish liver. Dissolve well with
some water and add to the pan.
7. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring saucepan so the fish cooks
evenly.
8. During the last few minutes, add clams to open and mussels.
Comments
Fish mariner style is very popular and valued by the Catalans. And
monkfish is one of the fishes mostly used, probably because of the texture
of its flesh and the lack of bones. Monkfish liver gives a picada a very
special flavour. Avoid adding too much water in the marinara sauce, as
monkfish releases some liquid and could make it too watery. The clams
and mussels are optional, although you can also add cockles. It can be
made with other fish too, such as hake or gurnard.
COD WITH RAISINS AND PINE NUTS
800 g cod loin, desalted

2 onions
2 tomatoes
olive oil
70 g raisins
70 g pine nuts
1 slice of bread
2 garlic cloves
a few parsley sprigs
salt
water
Preparation
1. Heat a saucepan with a good splash of oil.

2. Fry a slice of bread and reserve.
3. Coat cod with flour and fry until brown. Reserve.
4. In the same saucepan with a small splash of oil, begin to make a
sofregit with finely chopped onion.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, toss in the tomato and cook.
6. Once ready, add raisins, pine nuts and a couple of ladles of water.
Cook for 5 minutes.
7. Return cod to saucepan and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.
8. In the meantime, prepare a picada with garlic, parsley and fried bread
slice. Dissolve well and add to saucepan.
9. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes.
Comments
In Catalonia, cod is a fish for Lent and Easter. Many dishes are prepared
with it, such as this cod with raisins and pine nuts. The good quality of a
cod is essential for the casserole to be extraordinary. You can also add a
few baby spinach leaves to get a spinach cod. A few years ago at the
restaurant, I prepared a version with hot spinach jelly, the cod cooked on
low heat and raisin and pine nut oil. I added a very mild cream made with
serrat cheese (pressed sheep milk cheese of few or very small eyes), that
mixed well with the cod and spinach.
COD WITH CHICKPEAS AND COD TRIPE
4 pieces of cod loin (150 g each)

4 garlic cloves
1 onion
2 ripe tomatoes
300 g chickpeas
200 g cod tripe
olive oil
water
salt
Preparation
1. Desalt cod tripe by immersing it for a few hours in plenty of water.

Remove the black membrane around it and cut into regular dice. Scald
in boiling water and reserve.
2. In a saucepan, prepare a sofregit with a couple of garlic cloves, finely
chopped onion and grated tomato, and sweat well while covered.
3. Add cod loin and chickpeas, and cover with water. Cook slowly for 8 to
10 minutes.
4. Add tripe and cook for 2 more minutes.
5. Stir in a picada made with almonds. Adjust salt and continue cooking.
6. Make a broken allioli with the two remaining garlic cloves and a
splash of oil. Stir into saucepan to dissolve well and serve.
Comments
Cod with chickpeas and cod tripe, or with potatoes, is a classic dish in
Catalan seafood cuisine. Instead of regular tap water, you can add some of
the water used for cooking the chickpeas to make it tastier. The cod tripe
sweetens the stew and gives it a gelatinous texture, but also a special
flavour.
BAKED RED MULLETS
2 kg red mullets
breadcrumbs
½ garlic head
parsley
2 tablespoons paprika
salt
white pepper
Preparation
1. Clean red mullets, scale, remove entrails and head.

2. Peel garlic and chop finely with parsley. Mix with breadcrumbs,
paprika, salt and pepper.
3. Coat red mullets with this mixture and arrange on a baking tray with a
splash of extra virgin olive oil.
4. Place in the oven at 160ºC/320ºF for 10 minutes.
5. Serve quickly while hot.
Comments
There are red mullets and striped mullets. Red mullets (Mullus
surmulentos), considered extraordinary by the Greeks and Romans, are
known for their orange colour and found in rocky areas. They are more
highly valued than striped mullets because of their habitat and diet. The
meat of the red mullet is semi-oily, high in protein value, and very
nutritious and digestible.
Striped mullets (Mullus barbatus), of a pale pinkish colour, live in muddy

and sandy areas and their meat is blander and more tender.
To bake mullets, it’s important that they are all the same size, between 120
and 150 g each, and freshly caught so they all require the same cooking
time. Some people prefer frying the laminated garlic in oil with an onion
and a tomato, spread the mixture at the bottom of the baking tray and add
a splash of white wine; while others prefer to fry the mullets beforehand in
very hot oil.
SOLE WITH ALMONDS
4 soles
flour
olive oil
salt
200 g raw almonds, sliced
Preparation
1. Clean soles with some water to remove slime.

2. Make a small incision by the tail and, aided by kitchen tissue, pull the
skin towards the head. It will come off easily.
3. Do the same with the other half of the sole. Cut off dorsal and ventral
fins with scissors. Also, remove entrails and the black triangle-
shaped, bitter-tasting sack.
4. Dry well. Season both sides with salt, coat with flour and fry in a frying
pan with very hot olive oil. Place on a plate.
5. In the same oil, fry almond slices slowly and, when slightly brown,
sprinkle over the soles and serve quickly.
Comments
Sole is a very common fish in the Mediterranean, and highly valued in

festival cuisine. One of the reasons might be that it was the first fish to be
sold whole before the invasion of fish such as farmed gilthead bream and
seabass. It’s a fish of whitish, delicate skin with few bones and no fat. It’s
also ideal to charcoal-grill without removing the skin. The aroma of the
almonds goes well with the taste of the sole’s meat, but some pine nuts
and soaked raisins may be added as well, turning it into a sole with nuts.
MACKEREL SUQUET
1 kg fresh mackerel
½ garlic head
2 grated tomatoes
1 tablespoon of paprika
salt
white pepper
olive oil
water or fish stock
broken allioli
Preparation
1. Clean mackerel by removing head and entrails.

2. Lightly fry garlic, peeled and laminated, in an iron pan with a splash of
oil.
3. Toss in grated tomato and a tablespoon of paprika.
4. Stir, add seasoned mackerel and hot water or stock.
5. Broil 4 to 5 minutes.
6. Add a tablespoon of broken allioli and serve.
Comments
The oily fish suquet, whether made with mackerel, anchovies or sardines,
is cooked throughout the Costa Brava with some variants; with potatoes,
for example, cooking them for a while beforehand and adding the mackerel
during the last few minutes, or with a grated onion. It can also be prepared
with skate.
CHARCOAL-GRILLED SARDINES
2 kg sardines
salt
Preparation
1. First, prepare some embers with holm oak. Or make a fire with pine
wood until getting some very bright embers.
2. Take sardines as they are, without washing or scaling. Add salt and
place on the grill.
3. Place grill over embers and leave for a few minutes. Turn over, leave
for a few more minutes and remove.
4. Arrange on a plate and dress with a splash of extra virgin olive oil;
serve with a slice of peasant bread and accompany with a good wine.
Comments
A sardinada is a collective meal celebrated in the past and still today in

some towns around Catalonia. The best grills are those consisting of two
parts that trap the sardines in the middle so they’re easier to turn over.
Wire meshes are used for special occasions, or for gatherings of 200 to 300
people. It’s important to have the sardines ready at the same time as the
embers to avoid wasting time.
Sardines must be cooked and eaten while hot; that’s when they’re juicier
and tastier. The best time is between May and September, when they’re
fatter and tastier.
It’s particularly important that they’re fresh, just caught if possible, and
that they haven’t touched ice because it spoils the flavour.
If prepared at home, a wood stove or barbecue grill should suffice.
Accompany with a salad made with lettuce, tomato and spring garlic to
make a delicious meal. They can also be charcoal grilled with other fish,
such as black scorpionfish, common pandora, white seabream, mackerel,
red mullet, etc.
SARDINES WITH ONION AND TOMATO
1.5 kg fresh sardines

flour
4 garlic cloves
3 onions
3 ripe tomatoes
a splash of white wine
olive oil
salt
a few parsley sprigs
Preparation
1. Clean sardines by scaling carefully. Remove head and entrails.

2. Heat a frying pan with olive oil.
3. Season sardines with salt, coat with flour and fry. Reserve.
4. Remove some of the oil from the frying pan and, with the remaining
oil, prepare a sofregit with finely chopped onion.
5. Halfway through cooking, add garlic and stir.
6. Toss in finely diced tomato, previously scalded and having removed
seeds and peel.
7. Pour a splash of white wine and return sardines to the pan.
8. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add a dash of water, if necessary.
9. Adjust salt, include some finely chopped parsley leaves and serve.
Comments
Although affordable, the sardine is a spectacular fish of extraordinary

flavour. It goes well with rice, in suquets, charcoal-grilled, pickled,
marinated, fried, and also cooked in a very simple fashion, by adding only
onion and tomato. These are three products bountiful in summer. Some
people add a splash of vinegar or a few slices of pepper. And don’t forget to
dip the bread!
CUTTLEFISH AND POTATO STEW
1 large cuttlefish
½ garlic head
2 onions
2 tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 dl white wine
1 kg potatoes
parsley
20 g dark chocolate tablet
olive oil
salt
white pepper
Preparation
1. Clean cuttlefish. Remove cuttlebone, which will come off easily by

pressing with both hands. Remove muscular centre, where the eyes,
mouth, intestines and reproductive organs are found (you’ll also find
the spleen, a second bag with a creamy substance known as salsa by
Catalan fishermen and connoisseurs) and the ink sac.
2. Store carefully to avoid breaking the ink sac and the flap of skin.
Remove the eyes and mouth carefully to avoid splattering, and
discard.
3. Cut cuttlefish into even pieces.
4. On a cast iron pan, prepare a sofregit with finely chopped onion.
When it starts to brown, add garlic and stir.
5. Next, add bay leaf and grated tomato. Concentrate well, pour white
wine and reduce.
6. Add cuttlefish and cover the pan. Cook slowly in its own juices.
7. Halfway through the cooking process, add potatoes broken into
uneven pieces. Season with salt and pepper and continue cooking. If
more liquid is needed, add water.
8. Prepare a picada with a couple of garlic cloves, parsley, the salsa of
the cuttlefish and the chocolate tablet. Dissolve with the cooking
juices and toss in.
9. Finish cooking. Adjust salt and turn heat off.
Comments
Cuttlefish and potato stew is an extraordinary dish. Some people make the
same preparation with octopus. Both cuttlefish and octopus can be
tenderised by pounding them. When cooked in its own juice, the cuttlefish
becomes even tastier; therefore it’s important to cover. It can even be
prepared like broad beans and turn the lid upside down with cold water in
it, so the steam from the cuttlefish turns back into water and returns to the
saucepan.
If made in spring, add a couple of handfuls of peas, making sure not to

overcook.
SARDINE MARINADE
1.5 kg fresh sardines

½ garlic head
1 medium onion
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
1 oregano sprig
salt
1 tablespoon of paprika
a dash of white wine vinegar
water
5 dl olive oil
Preparation
1. Clean sardines by scaling and removing entrails. Coat with flour and
fry in very hot oil. Reserve.
2. Separately, in a cast iron or clay casserole, add oil and lightly fry
peeled and laminated garlic and finely sliced onion.
3. When it begins to brown, stir in a tablespoon of paprika, aromatic
herbs and a dash of vinegar.
4. Add sardines and cook for a few minutes. Leave to cool and they are
ready to eat, even though their taste is better after leaving to stand
for a couple of days, when they have acquired more flavour.
Comments
These sardines can be served with a good peasant bread to dip in the
marinade. You can also prepare the marinade with mackerel, gilthead
bream, bonito, red mullet, etc.
FISH SUQUET
2 kg fresh fish (black scorpionfish, common pandora, gilthead bream, stargazer,

common seabream, blackbelly rosefish, white seabream, etc.)
1 garlic head
2 very ripe tomatoes
1 green pepper
1 kg potatoes (old, if possible)
water or fish stock
salt
broken allioli
Preparation
1. Heat a cast iron casserole with olive oil. Brown peeled garlic cloves,
whole.
2. Add grated tomato and fry lightly until reduced.
3. Toss in potatoes, broken into uneven pieces, and finely sliced green
pepper, then cover with fish stock or water. Add salt.
4. Broil for a while, until potatoes are half-cooked.
5. Next, add all the fish, clean, cut into slices approximately 1.5- cm-
thick, and finish cooking.
6. Adjust salt.
7. Before serving, pour a couple of tablespoons of broken allioli on top
and turn off heat. Next, serve.
Comments
How many different ways are there to make a suquet? Or should we say
suquets, because there are as many as fishermen. This is one of the dishes
that has popularised along the Catalan coast. The suquet is a soupy
preparation made with different fish; popular cuisine uses the fish caught
the same day. But it must be fish of hard and firm meat that can take
longer cooking times.
My father in law, a fisherman, says that to make a good suquet you must
remember 4 rules: the oil must be a good olive oil, the water shouldn’t
cover the fish completely, the heat must be high, and the fish must be
fresh, just caught and cleaned with seawater.
Old potatoes are better because they are dryer and so they absorb the
water from the suquet. Cut them into uneven chunks. It’s important to
remember that the potatoes must always be covered by the juice,
otherwise they won’t cook evenly and they could become rubbery. Some
people add the garlic peeled and halved, and then may remove it or leave it
in. Others add a picada made with hazelnuts or some chopped parsley. The
allioli is optional, although in moderation it’s very aromatic. When
homemade, the potatoes and fish are boiled together with the juice,
everything raw, just like in the old days.
SARSUELA (SEAFOOD STOVETOP CASSEROLE)
4 slices of hake
4 chunks of monkfish
4 squids
4 crayfish
4 medium red shrimp
16 rock mussels
16 clams
flour
4 garlic cloves
2 onions
4 ripe tomatoes
1 dl dry white wine
olive oil
a few parsley leaves
monkfish liver
fish stock
salt
white pepper
Preparation
1. Clean mussels and steam open.

2. Clean and cut squid into thin slices.
3. Season hake and monkfish with salt and pepper, coat with flour and
fry until brown in a frying pan with very hot oil. Place in a casserole.
4. In a frying pan with a splash of oil, prepare a concentrated sofregit
with finely chopped onion and adding the grated tomato halfway
through cooking. When ready, add squid slices and cook for a few
minutes. Next, pour in white wine and let alcohol evaporate.
5. Pour sofregit on top of the fish and half-cover with fish stock.
6. Heat and cook 12 to 14 minutes, stirring the casserole so the flavour
gets to all the ingredients.
7. Halfway through the cooking process, add crayfish, shrimp, mussels
and clams, and let cook.
8. A couple of minutes before turning the heat off, prepare a picada with
garlic, parsley, monkfish liver and a few strands of saffron dried in the
oven, dissolve with the cooking juice and add to the casserole.
Comments
Even today, the sarsuela is a dish for town festivals. Although judging by
its name this dish doesn’t seem Catalan in origin, it’s very rooted in
Catalonia.
It is said to have originated in Barcelona in the 1930s, spreading

throughout the Costa Brava in the 60s, when tourism began to arrive to
coastal towns.
The relevance and prestige of a sarsuela are determined, naturally, by the

quality of the fish it contains. Good coastal hake, small freshly caught
monkfish, jig-caught squid, fresh shrimp and live crayfish will make of this
sea combination a memorable dish.
It can also be cooked with other species, such as gilthead bream, European
seabass, black scorpionfish, conger, etc.
ROOTS. MEATS.
BREAST OF LAMB WITH PEAS

1 kg breast of lamb
lard or olive oil
2 medium onions
2 tomatoes
1 dl rancio wine
400 g fresh peas
water or veal stock
pepper
salt
Preparation
1. In a cast iron pan with a tablespoon of lard or olive oil, brown the
breast of lamb in chunks, previously seasoned with salt and pepper.
Once brown, reserve.
2. Discard some of the fat from the pan and prepare a very concentrated
sofregit with onion and tomato.
3. Next, return lamb to pan, add rancio wine and let alcohol evaporate.
4. Cover meat with water or veal stock and cook slowly until very tender.
5. Add peas and cook for 10 more minutes.
Comments
The breast of lamb with peas is one of the best lamb dishes for spring.
Freshly picked peas and a lamb born in the winter are two quality products.
The consumption of breast of lamb has declined in recent years, so it can
be found at a very affordable price. You can also add a picada made with
garlic and almonds, or some red pepper to the sofregit.
CASSEROLED LAMB SHOULDER WITH BROKEN ALLIOLI
1 lamb shoulder
3 potatoes
1 garlic head
olive oil
salt
black pepper
water or beef stock
Preparation
1. Peel potatoes and cut into 1-cm-thick slices. Arrange on a baking tray
and add salt.
2. Season shoulder with salt and pepper, make a few small incisions for
it to cook evenly and arrange on top of the potatoes.
3. Dress with a good splash of oil and place in the oven at 160ºC/320ºF
for about 1½ hours.
4. In the meantime, prepare a broken allioli by crushing peeled garlic in
a mortar. Once it becomes a paste, add olive oil and stir.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, turn shoulder over and add a
dash of water or stock for the meat to produce some juice.
Continuously wet shoulder with the same juice to prevent it from
drying.
6. When removing from the oven, add a couple of tablespoons of broken
allioli on top and serve with potatoes.
Comments
Oven roasting lamb meat might be the easiest way to cook it, but not
necessarily the least tasty. In many cultures, lamb is one of the most
frequently used meats. A suckling lamb is the young animal that has only
been fed with the ewe’s milk and hasn’t even tasted grass; a lamb hasn’t
reached a year of age and its meat is tender; and a mutton, which is
practically not commercialised, is an adult lamb whose meat is used
mainly for stews and casseroles because of its strong flavor.
The meat of the lamb must be tender and mild flavoured; in rural houses
around Catalonia the ribs are charcoal-grilled and are accompanied by the
traditional allioli. Lamb can be roasted whole, like in Castile, or in parts—
shoulder, leg (in which you can insert chunks of greasy bacon to make it
more tender)—, or even the head split down the middle.
Some people add thinly sliced onion, tomato slices, a few pieces of bacon
and a bay leaf. The same dish can also be made with kid during the first
months of the year, when in season, even though with the passage of time
the natural life cycle of goats and sheep is falling into oblivion.
NECK OF LAMB WITH PEPPER AND TOMATO
1.5 kg neck of lamb

2 onions
2 red peppers
5 ripe tomatoes
1 dl rancio wine
olive oil
salt
black pepper
water
Preparation
1. Cut the neck into slices about 1-cm-thick and season with salt and
pepper. Brown lightly in a frying pan with a splash of oil. Reserve.
2. Using the same frying pan or a cast iron pan, toss chopped onion in
oil.
3. When golden brown, add grated tomato and cook.
4. Halfway through the cooking process, add clean peppers julienned
into 1-cm-thick strips. Allow to cook.
5. Pour in rancio wine, reduce and return neck to the frying pan.
6. Wet with water and cook until the meat is very tender.
Comments
For this dish, the neck of lamb is cut just like ribs. It’s a very tasty meat and
delicious when charcoal-grilled, boiled in an escudella, or stewed with
tomato and pepper like in this recipe during summer, the season for this
wonderful vegetable.
Some people add breast, stomach or shank of lamb. Some also prefer to
liquidise the vegetables, strain and add them to the meat as a sauce.
LAMB TROTTERS AND TRIPE
8 lamb trotters
1 kg lamb tripe
lard or olive oil
2 onions
2 tomatoes
1 dl rancio wine
4 garlic cloves
4 walnuts
water
salt
Preparation
1. Clean and skin trotters well. Wash tripe with abundant water several
times.
2. Boil everything together in a pot of water until very tender.
3. Separately, in a cast iron pan, make a very concentrated sofregit with
onion and tomato.
4. Once reduced, add rancio wine and let alcohol evaporate. Add trotters
and tripe, cover with water and cook slowly for about ½ hour.
5. In the meantime, prepare a picada with garlic, almonds and walnuts,
and add to the pot. Cook for a few more minutes and adjust salt.
Comments
Lamb trotters and tripe (pota i tripa) was a dish cooked in Catalonia’s rural
houses when a lamb was slaughtered, but it can be easily cooked
anywhere. Some people add potatoes to enrich it and make it a one-course
meal. Others, depending on the season, include peas, peppers or even
mushrooms. It’s important to leave this dish to stand and serve a day later.
RAISINS AND PINE NUTS STUFFED LAMB’S LEG WITH THYME SAUCE
1 lamb’s leg
250 g raw botifarra meat (catalan sausage made with minced pork meat)
1 egg
a handful of currants
a handful of toasted pine nuts
olive oil or lard
½ garlic head
2 onions
2 carrots
1 dl rancio wine
1 dl brandy
thyme
mineral water
black pepper
salt
Preparation
1. Bone lamb’s leg by carefully separating the meat from the bone in one
piece (your butcher can do this for you).
2. Remove skin from the raw botifarres and mix the contents with an
egg, raisins and pine nuts. Use the mixture to stuff the leg and season
with salt and pepper.
3. Tie with a string or thread and place on a baking tray with a
tablespoon of lard or olive oil, bones, peeled garlic, finely sliced onion,
carrots and a sprig of thyme.
4. Roast in the oven at 150ºC/302ºF for a couple of hours.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, turn over and pour brandy,
rancio wine and a dash of water to prevent it from drying up.
6. Once cooked, remove from tray and liquidise the juice from the roast
together with the vegetables. Strain.
7. Remove string and slice. Accompany with the sauce.
Comments
Stuffed lamb’s legs are often made on Sundays and holidays, when there
are guests over. It is usually served with sautéed mushrooms, potatoes, or
boiled chestnuts in the middle of winter. You can add a tomato or a piece of
pepper to the baking tray. The filling can vary, it can include pork, lamb,
truffles, mushrooms, soaked breadcrumbs, eggs, olives, garlic, etc.
You can also stuff it with a few slices of bacon. And if you want to cook it in
a clay casserole, make sure to turn it over often and add water or stock
whenever needed.
VEAL WITH PEAS
1 veal shoulder (approximately 1 kg)

lard or olive oil
2 onions
1 garlic head
1 kg fresh peas
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
½ cinnamon stick
1 dl rancio wine
salt
black pepper
water
Preparation
1. Season shoulder with salt and pepper and place in a casserole with a
tablespoon of lard or a splash of olive oil to brown on both sides.
2. Add garlic head split in half, finely julienned onion, bay leaf, thyme
and cinnamon. Cook slowly.
3. When the vegetables are ready, add rancio wine and reduce.
4. Next, pour water without covering the meat entirely and continue
cooking on low heat.
5. In the last few minutes, add peas and adjust salt.
Comments
Veal with peas can also be considered a one-course meal and can be
accompanied with a salad. It is even served for breakfast in many guest
houses. It can be prepared with shoulder, but also with other parts of the
veal such as veal round or the tri-tip, a delicious cut. You can also add
carrot or tomato to the sofregit, as well as mushrooms, potatoes, baby
onions, or some spices such as clove.
VEAL KNUCKLE WITH MUSHROOMS
1 knuckle of veal
2 onions
1 tomato
lard
olive oil
1 dl rancio wine
water or beef stock
4 garlic cloves
10 almonds
10 hazelnuts
1 kg assorted seasonal mushrooms (scotch bonnets, pinkmottle woodwax,
llenegues, chanterelles, penny buns, grey knights, St. George’s mushrooms, etc.)
black pepper
salt
Preparation
1. Heat a saucepan with a tablespoon of lard and a splash of olive oil.

2. Brown knuckle previously seasoned with salt and pepper and tied
with a string. Remove and reserve.
3. Prepare a sofregit with onion and tomato. Concentrate well.
4. Return veal knuckle to the saucepan, add rancio wine and reduce.
5. Cover with water or beef stock and cook covered until tender.
6. If the knuckle dries up, add more hot stock or water.
7. In the meantime, clean mushrooms and sauté in a frying pan with a
splash of oil. Add to the saucepan.
8. Next, prepare a picada with garlic, almonds and hazelnuts. Dissolve
with the cooking juices and add to the stew.
9. Adjust salt and finish cooking. Leave to stand.
10. Remove string from knuckle and cut into 1-cm-thick slices.
11. Return to the tray with sauce and serve.
Comments
Veal with mushrooms is a very well-known dish in Catalonia, where it’s

prepared especially in autumn, during mushroom hunting season. The
shoulder, knuckle, and rolled veal are great quality cuts to cook with
mushrooms, but also with fruit, olives, etc. Some people add aromatic
herbs, a glass of red wine or a cinnamon stick, a typical spice in medieval
cooking. If using mushrooms that have been preserved in salt, they must
be desalted the day before by soft-boiling twice or thrice; and if they’re
dehydrated mushrooms, they must be hydrated with cold water that can
later be used for cooking, as it keeps much of the flavour.
VEAL TONGUE STEW WITH POTATOES
1 veal tongue
2 onions
½ garlic head
2 tomatoes
1 dl dry white wine
1 dl rancio wine
2 kg potatoes
water or stock
2 parsley sprigs
olive oil
Preparation
1. Place veal tongue in a pot covered with water and boil for about 1¼
hours, until it starts to tenderise and the skin detaches from the
tongue.
2. In the meantime, heat a pan with a splash of oil, onion and some
finely chopped garlic cloves.
3. Halfway through the cooking process, add grated tomato and cook
until the flavour concentrates.
4. Add white wine and rancio wine, and reduce.
5. Peel potatoes and break into uneven chunks. Reserve in water.
6. When the tongue is almost completely cooked, remove from heat and
pull the skin off carefully to prevent burns.
7. Cut into approximately 1-cm-thick slices and toss into the sofregit
pan.
8. Also add potatoes, cover with water or stock and cook for another ½
hour until potatoes are ready.
9. Make a picada with a couple of garlic cloves, a few sprigs of parsley
and some saffron strands dried in the oven. Dissolve with the cooking
juices and add to the pan.
10. Cook 10 more minutes and turn heat off.
Comments
Veal tongue is a very tender meat that can be accompanied with

mushrooms in autumn, peas in the spring, capers and olives in the winter,
or potatoes year-round. It’s one of those one-course meals which, served
with a salad as an appetizer, contains all the elements needed for a good
meal: vegetables, meat and carbohydrates.
You can also add a bay leaf, thyme, or oregano. Also, once it has been
removed from the heat, some broken allioli can make the dish more
refreshing. It tastes even better when left to stand for a while.
FRICANDÓ
1.2 kg veal cut into small fillets

flour
2 onions
1 carrot
1 tomato
1 dl rancio wine
1 dl dry white wine
water or veal stock
St. George’s mushrooms
4 garlic cloves
a couple of sprigs of parsley
2 carquinyolis (dry almond biscuits)
olive oil
black pepper
salt
Preparation
1. Season veal fillets with salt and pepper, coat with flour and shake off
excess flour.
2. Heat a pan with a good splash of oil and brown fillets. Place on a
platter as you cook them.
3. In another saucepan with a splash of olive oil, prepare a sofregit with
grated or finely chopped onion and carrot. Add grated tomato halfway
through the cooking process and concentrate well.
4. Pour white wine and rancio wine and reduce.
5. Return meat to the pan and cover with water or veal stock.
6. Cook slowly for a while until meat tenderises.
7. Next, add mushrooms, cut in half if they are too large and, right
before the end of the cooking process, stir in a picada made with
garlic, parsley, carquinyolis, almonds and saffron strands.
8. Adjust salt and turn heat off.
Comments
The fricandó is probably one of the best-known dishes in Catalan cuisine.

Old cookbooks already show its presence back in the 17th century.
There are several veal cuts that can be used for the fricandó, but they
always need to be cooked for a length of time: shoulder, knuckle, round
and any cut from the leg. The meat should be filleted thinly and flattened,
which can be performed by your butcher.
Sometimes at the market you can be given one dried mushroom for the
other, but don’t mistake St. George’s mushrooms for scotch bonnets. Both
are spring mushrooms. Scotch bonnets, also known as fairy ring
mushrooms, are small, light-brown coloured mushrooms of thin stems. St.
George’s mushrooms are whitish, plump mushrooms that give out an
aroma of fresh flour and are very tasty.
If St. George’s mushrooms are not in season, they can be substituted by

penny buns, chanterelles, pinkmottle woodwax, llenegues, or grey knights,
for example.
The picada can also include some aromatic herbs such as thyme, hyssop,
oregano, marjoram, cinnamon, etc. It can even include some bitter
chocolate.
Some people also add diced bacon to the picada.
As with every stew, it tastes better after leaving to stand for a few hours, or
even a few days.
VEAL TAIL WITH RED WINE
2 kg veal tail
4 onions
2 carrots
2 leeks
1 celery stalk
1 L red wine
5 L water
salt
black peppercorns
olive oil
flour
Preparation
1. Chop veal tail into 2.5-cm-thick chunks, season with salt, coat with
flour and brown in a pan with some olive oil. Reserve.
2. In the same pan, lightly fry onion, carrot, celery and leeks, cleaned
and cut into even chunks.
3. Next, return veal tail to the pan, add a few black peppercorns, red
wine, and cover with plenty of cold water. Cook slowly for 6 to 7 hours,
until the tail is very tender.
4. Remove tail and transfer to a different saucepan.
5. Liquidise sauce and strain. Pour stock over tail and cook for a few
more minutes.
Comments
Veal tail is one of the most rustic meals found int he kitchen. In the old
days, it was made with ox or bull tail, but nowadays it’s been substituted
by veal or beef, which is less tender. Because it is such a smooth meat,
after about 6 to 7 hours of cooking it becomes very versatile to combine
with potatoes, vegetables, mushrooms or even a surf and turf. It can be
combined with red wine, muscatel, and rancio wine if you prefer a milder
sauce. A more elaborate version I’ve been preparing for years is boned tail
filled with marrow or foie gras, wrapped in mesentery and served with a
walnut ratafia (liqueur often flavoured with almonds or fruit): a true
delight.
OVEN ROASTED PIG’S CHEEKS
4 pig’s cheeks
2 onions
½ garlic head
2 tomatoes
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
salt
black pepper
a splash of olive oil
1 dl rancio wine
water
Preparation
1. Season pig’s cheeks with salt and pepper and place on a baking tray
with a splash of olive oil.
2. Brown a little at 180ºC/356ºF.
3. Next, add onion julienned, and four halved garlic cloves.
4. Halfway through the cooking process, add quartered tomatoes, the
thyme sprig and the bay leaf. Let vegetables tenderise.
5. Pour a glass of rancio wine and turn roast over a couple of times.
6. Add water to prevent cheeks from drying up and tenderise.
7. Once tender, remove from tray and strain sauce.
8. Return cheeks to the tray, pour sauce on top and bake for a few more
minutes.
9. Adjust salt.
10. When removing from the oven, add a couple of tablespoons of broken
allioli.
Comments
Roasted pig’s cheeks are a very tasty and affordable dish, prepared both in
private homes and small restaurants. It can also be made with veal cheeks,
but they must be cooked for long hours and always covered by water or
stock. They can be accompanied with mushrooms, potatoes, turnips,
plums, vegetables, etc. You can also add a picada made with parsley.
PORK RIBS WITH CHESTNUTS
1 kg pork ribs
4 garlic cloves
2 medium onions
2 tomatoes
½ kg chestnuts
olive oil or lard
salt
black pepper
water
1 carquinyoli (Dry almond biscuit)
Preparation
1. Make a small cut on each of the chestnuts, boil for about 20 minutes,
then peel. If they’re old, they will have dehydrated, so they will have
to be cooked for a longer period of time.
2. Cut ribs into regular pieces, season with salt and pepper and brown in
a saucepan. Reserve.
3. In the same saucepan, prepare a sofregit with onion, garlic and
tomato until concentrated.
4. Return ribs to the saucepan and add water. Cook on low heat for
about 45 minutes.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, add chestnuts and finish
cooking until meat is tender.
6. Adjust salt and add a picada made with almonds, a garlic clove and a
carquinyoli.
7. Turn off heat and leave to stand for a while in order for the flavours to
mix.
Comments
This pork rib and chestnuts dish is very typical of winter cooking and the
cold weather. Chestnuts are also prepared with pig’s trotters, duck and
wild boar. The flavour will be best if left to stand for one day and reheated.
The chestnuts can be substituted for turnips, previously coated with flour,
or for stuffed cabbage leaves. You can also add a couple of tablespoons of
broken allioli or a splash of rancio wine. To save time, you can easily find
preserved or frozen chestnuts, but the taste won’t be the same.
SWEET BOTIFARRA WITH APPLE
4 sweet botifarres (catalan fresh pork sausages)

2 Reinette apples
olive oil
lard
1 lemon zest
1 cinnamon stick
water
1 dl muscatel
Preparation
1. Pierce botifarres before cooking to prevent them from bursting.

2. Add a tablespoon of lard and a splash of oil to a clay or cast iron
casserole.
3. Lightly brown botifarres. Turn over and cover with dash of water,
lemon zest, the cinnamon stick and muscatel.
4. Cook slowly so it concentrates well.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, add peeled apples cut into 8
pieces, and cook along with the botifarres, to combine the flavour
from both ingredients.
6. Serve hot with a slice of bread, before dessert.
Comments
Sweet botifarra is a typical sausage in some coastal and inland regions of

Northern Catalonia (Empordà, Pla de l’Estany, Selva and the Eastern part
of Garrotxa). In many butcher shops, it’s made with pork loin, meat from
the haunch and some bacon. For every kg of meat, the grated zest of one
lemon (only the yellow part) is added, as well as 400 g of sugar and salt;
the whole thing is kneaded and stuffed into natural pig intestine skins.
Sweet botifarra is reddish and glossy. If dried, you get sweet fuet, a
delicious sausage perfect for an afternoon snack accompanied with a slice
of peasant bread.
PIG’S TROTTERS WITH TURNIPS
4 pig’s trotters
3 onions
1 carrot
2 cloves
2 tomatoes
8 garlic cloves
1 dl rancio wine
1 kg black turnips
salt
olive oil or lard
a couple of parsley sprigs
flour
water
Preparation
1. Clean pig’s trotters, scorch to eliminate any traces of hair. Insert the
two cloves into an onion and boil with trotters and carrot until tender.
2. In the meantime, prepare a sofregit with 4 garlic cloves finely
chopped and 2 onions also chopped in a cast iron or clay casserole.
3. When it begins to brown, add grated tomato and cook slowly, like
marmalade.
4. A few minutes later, pour rancio wine and reduce.
5. Add boiled trotters and cooking water.
6. Simmer for about 20 more minutes.
7. Separately, peel turnips, cut lengthwise, coat with flour and fry in
olive oil.
8. Add to casserole within the last few minutes of cooking with a picada
made with 4 garlic cloves, a handful of toasted almonds and the
parsley leaves.
10. Leave to stand for a couple of hours and serve.
Comments
Pig’s trotters are very popular in Catalan cuisine. They can be oven roasted
with Spanish salsifies, charcoal-grilled, grilled, prepared Catalan style with
raisins and pine nuts, plums, mushrooms, stuffed, etc. Some people
garnish the dish with some broken allioli.
A few years ago, we used to serve pig’s trotters stuffed with foie gras and a
sauce made with the turnips, and also in the shape of carpaccio; currently,
they’re part of a dish I accompany with royal cucumber and a picada oil.
ROAST CHICKEN AND MEATBALLS WITH MESENTERY
1 free-range chicken (1.5 kg) 20 baby onions

2 garlic heads
400 g preserved mushrooms
200 g lean pork
200 g lean veal
100 g fresh streaky bacon
3 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
2 eggs
breadcrumbs soaked in milk
salt
black pepper
300 g pig mesentery
olive oil or lard
2 dl rancio wine
1 dl brandy
water
Preparation
1. The first step is to make the meatballs. Mince lean pork, veal and
streaky bacon with a meat grinder, running it through the small hole,
if possible.
2. Place in a bowl and knead together with the three garlic cloves and
parsley, chopped, and eggs, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
3. Once the mixture is ready, make large meatballs and wrap in
mesentery rectangles.
4. In a frying pan with very hot oil, first fry one side and then turn over
until the outside is brown and the inside cooked.
5. Place on a paper towel and reserve.
6. Clean chicken well; scorch, if necessary, to eliminate all feathers.
7. Cut into eight pieces and add salt and pepper.
8. In a pot with oil, brown the chicken slowly.
9. When medium brown, add garlic and onions. Cover and cook.
10. Pour rancio wine and brandy and turn chicken over. Let alcohol
evaporate.
11. Pour spoons of water on top to prevent the chicken from drying and
add meatballs. Adjust salt.
12. A few minutes before the end of the cooking process, toss in
mushrooms and finish cooking.
Comments
Roast chicken is a typical Sunday meal in Catalonia, prepared with a few

onions, a couple of garlic heads and a few types of seasonal mushrooms.
Each guest gets to choose his or her favourite part of the chicken: the
young tend to choose the drumstick and the adults the dryer breast, but I
personally prefer the thigh, the tastiest part.
Meatballs wrapped in mesentery are mouth-watering. They can be served

alone freshly made, or braised with a sofregit and a picada. They can also
be part of a good roast or accompany a giblet preparation.
The mesentery is the membrane that wraps around the pig’s liver. It’s used
to make these meatballs, to wrap boned veal tail, or to prepare the pa de
fetge, a sort of pâté de Campagne made with pork liver, bacon, pork neck
and eggs in the regions of Cerdanya and Empordà. The mesentery must be
washed thoroughly to remove its strong smell. Soaking it with the juice of
a lemon for a few hours is the best method. The water must be changed a
few times before using.
If the mushrooms are fresh, they can be added directly to the roast; but if
they’re salted, they must be soaked for a few hours in water and sautéed
for a couple of minutes. During spring, don’t forget morels, because they
make a miraculous roast!
ROASTED WOODCOCK
4 woodcocks
200 g bacon
olive oil or lard
1 dl rancio wine
poultry stock
4 slices of peasant bread
black pepper
salt
Preparation
1. Pluck and clean woodcocks. Cut off legs and clean gizzard. Open
carefully, without removing their intestines and entrails.
2. Wrap in bacon. Tie to prevent it from falling off and add salt and
pepper.
3. Brown in a pan with olive oil and a tablespoon of lard, if desired.
4. When half done, add rancio wine and reduce.
5. Wet with a couple of ladles of stock and cook for a few minutes
covered.
6. When practically cooked, remove woodcocks from casserole and
remove innards. Chop intestines into very small pieces and fry with
some lard.
7. Place on slices of toast.
8. Serve woodcocks in their juice, accompanied by the toast.
Comments
The woodcock is one of the most highly regarded game birds in Catalan
cuisine. This migratory bird has a long beak and a way of flying that makes
it very valuable to hunters. In the kitchen, the best way to prepare it is
simply roasted with few ingredients. It can also be cooked two ways at
once, where the breast turns out juicier and the thighs more cooked
because of their harder texture.
ORANGE DUCK
1 duck weighing 1 kg
6 oranges
1 onion
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 dl muscatel
starch (optional)
Preparation
1. Clean duck well by plucking completely and removing quills.

2. Add salt and pepper and place on a baking tray over a base of
julienned onion.
3. Quarter half of the oranges and place on the tray, along with the
aromatic herbs.
4. Add a splash of oil on top and roast at 180ºC/356ºF for about 1½ hours.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, turn duck over and pour
muscatel and the orange juice extracted from the remaining oranges.
6. When the duck is well roasted and tender, remove from oven and
strain sauce.
7. Place duck and sauce in a casserole and heat, then bind sauce with a
tablespoon of starch diluted in cold water, if necessary.
Comments
In the old days, orange duck was prepared with bitter oranges, which
arrived before sweet oranges and were well-known during the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance. Citrus fruits like oranges go well with meats like duck
because they degrease and clean the palate. You can also introduce the
orange segments into the duck to eat with the meat. Also, you can prepare
it with duckling, a young bird of less than 800 g that needs less cooking
time; or with goose.
DUCK AND PEARS
1 duck weighing 1 kg
4 Blanquilla pears, or 8 Sant Joan pears
2 onions
2 tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
olive oil or lard
2 dl rancio wine
poultry stock or water
1 cinnamon stick
2 carquinyolis (dry almond biscuits) or Marie biscuits
salt
black pepper
Preparation
1. Clean duck well. Pluck, scorch and remove quills.

2. Cut into eight parts or quarter and season with salt and pepper.
3. Brown in a pan with a splash of olive oil and a tablespoon of lard, and
reserve.
4. In the same pan but discarding some of the fat, prepare a sofregit
with the onion very finely chopped.
5. Next, add grated tomato and cook slowly until it acquires the texture
of marmalade.
6. Return duck to the pan with the cinnamon stick and rancio wine. Let
alcohol evaporate.
7. Cover with stock or water and cook on low heat so the duck meat
becomes tender.
8. Twenty-five minutes before the end of the cooking process, add pears,
previously cleaned and peeled, and cook over low heat for a few more
minutes.
9. In the meantime, prepare a picada with garlic, almonds and
carquinyolis. Dissolve with cooking juices and add to pan.
Comments
If surf and turf dishes are very well-known, so is combining meat and fruit.
This sweet and salty way of cooking adds subtlety to meat dishes and is
especially suitable for holidays, when meals are generous. In the old days
it was prepared with a variety of pears suitable for cooking, small and not
too sweet. Some people boil them separately with muscatel and,
subsequently, fry them halved in lard; then they are added to the duck
during the last minutes of cooking. Nonetheless, in spring they can be
substituted by cherries, raisins, apples, figs or even olives.
This dish can also be prepared with goose, although the cooking takes
longer. Saffron, aromatic herbs, or a few sprigs of parsley can be added to
the picada.
DUCK WITH BLACK TURNIPS
1 Muscovy duck
1 kg black turnips
2 onions
1 tomato
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
poultry stock or water
salt
black pepper
flour
lard or olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Preparation
1. Clean duck well removing quills and scorching, if necessary.

2. Quarter and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a casserole with a splash of oil or, if you like, a tablespoon or lard,
brown duck and reserve.
4. In the same casserole, discarding some of the cooking fat, prepare a
sofregit with finely chopped onion; when half-cooked, add tomato
and cook slowly and completely.
5. Return duck to the casserole, add aromatic herbs and a couple of
ladles of hot stock or water.
6. Cook covered slowly until the meat is ready.
7. In the meantime, peel turnips and quarter. Boil for a few minutes in
water, strain well, coat with flour and fry.
8. Also prepare a picada with garlic, almonds and carquinyolis.
9. Fifteen minutes before removing the duck from the heat, add turnips
and the picada and finish cooking.
Comments
This dish can be made with duck—better yet if it’s a female Muscovy duck,
which are less fatty—as well as with goose, chicken, pork ribs, or a
combination of meats.
It’s recommended to add a good splash of rancio wine or brandy and leave
to stand for one day, like all casseroles.
The black turnip is a winter turnip found in Talltendre, Cerdanya, Capmany,

or Alt Empordà in Catalonia. Their usage dates back to medieval cuisine.
Before the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the turnip was very likely the
vegetable par excellence in stews, soups and casseroles. Fried turnips can
even be the substitute for French fries as an accompaniment to charcoal-
grilled or grilled meats when in season. In some regions, turnips can also
be substituted for the valued sisters of the scorzonera, the Spanish
salsifies. They’re a variety of turnips or roots that must be washed and
peeled carefully and placed in water right away, because they oxidise
quickly. Next, follow the same steps as with the turnips: boil for a few
minutes, coat in flour and fry.
PARTRIDGE WITH CABBAGE ROLLS
2 partridges
2 garlic cloves
1 onion
2 ripe tomatoes
1 celery stalk
1 dl rancio wine
water or poultry stock
1 green cabbage
salt
black pepper
flour
1 egg
oil
Preparation
1. Clean partridges and scorch to pluck thoroughly. Separate thighs and

breast.
2. In a saucepan, with a splash of oil, season with salt and pepper and
brown lightly. Reserve.
3. In the same saucepan, prepare a sofregit with garlic and onion,
chopped well. Add celery stalk and grated tomato. Sweat well.
4. Return partridges to saucepan.
5. Wet with rancio wine and reduce.
6. Cover with water or stock and cook slowly for a while until partridge
becomes tender.
7. In the meantime, prepare cabbage rolls. Remove leaves from cabbage
and split the middle stems.
8. Boil leaves 3 to 4 minutes and cool quickly. Place on a piece of cloth to
dry well.
9. Make small, very tight balls to eliminate any traces of water, coat with
flour, toss in beaten egg and fry until dark brown.
10. A few minutes before the partridges have finished cooking, add rolls
and simmer for a few more minutes.
Comments
Partridge with cabbage rolls is a very refined dish in Catalan cuisine. Some
people stuff the cabbage leaves with a combination of lean pork and beef,
raisins and pine nuts. You can also finish the dish with a picada made with
almonds and Marie biscuits. Some people prefer to strain the sauce to
make it smoother, and others like to oven roast the partridges whole. You
must be careful, especially if the partridges are store bought, because they
could come from game preserves and not be entirely wild, so the birds have
been bred in captivity and released one month before hunting. The meat of
these partridges is a lot tenderer than that of wild partridges.
RABBIT WITH SNAILS
1 rabbit (1.2 kg)

1 kg purged snails
½ kg pork ribs
8 thin sausages
1 dl rancio wine or brandy
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
1 onion
2 tomatoes
4 garlic cloves
salt
black pepper
olive oil
water
Preparation
1. Clean snails, which should have been fasting for a few days, and
discard dead ones. Place in a pan with a splash of olive oil over high
heat and covered.
2. Cook for a while for the snails to disgorge. First, they produce a
yellowish foam that disappears as the snails cook.
3. In a different pan, season rabbit with salt and pepper and brown.
4. Reserve on a platter.
5. In the same pan, prepare a sofregit with finely chopped onion, garlic
and grated tomato.
6. Once ready and sweat, add aromatic herbs, rabbit chunks, snails and
hot water.
7. Cook slowly until rabbit meat is tender, or for about 40 minutes.
8. Stir occasionally. Adjust salt, stir saucepan so all ingredients are
covered by the juice. Then it can be served, but the taste is best when
left to stand for a while.
Comments
Rabbit with snails is a town festival dish in many towns throughout

Catalonia. You can even add shrimp, crayfish, or lobster to make it even
more attractive. In this recipe, the snails are cooked covered with a splash
of oil instead of boiled to preserve their flavour.
Some people also, in addition to rancio wine, add a dash of anisette or

even an almond picada.
RABBIT WITH SAMFAINA
1 rabbit (1 kg)
olive oil
2 onions
2 red peppers
2 aubergines
2 tomatoes
1 dl rancio wine
water
pepper
salt
Preparation
1. Coarsely chop rabbit, season with salt and pepper and brown in a
casserole with a splash of oil. Reserve.
2. In the same casserole, start to prepare a samfaina (Catalan
ratatouille-like dish). First add julienned onion and brown slowly.
3. Next, add pepper, grated tomato and aubergine. Fry lightly until its
consistency is very smooth.
4. Return rabbit chunks and pour rancio wine. Cook for a few minutes
and then add a splash of water.
5. Continue cooking until rabbit meat is very tender.
Comments
Rabbit with samfaina is a very simple dish of mild flavour. Some people
roast the vegetables in the oven before frying in the pan, and others prefer
to prepare the samfaina and liquidise it so the texture resembles more that
of a sauce. It can also be prepared with chicken, squab chicken, lamb or
fish like cod or tuna.
RABBIT WITH MUSHROOMS
1 rabbit
2 onions
½ garlic head
600 g llenegues (Hygrophorus latitabundus)
olive oil
1 dl dry white wine
2 parsley sprigs
salt
black pepper
water
Preparation
1. Cut rabbit into eight pieces and season with salt and pepper.
2. Place rabbit chunks and finely chopped onion in a casserole with a
splash of oil. Cook.
3. When rabbit is almost entirely brown, add white wine and reduce.
4. Wet with water until nearly covered, cover casserole and cook until
meat is very tender.
5. In the meantime, clean llenegues and cut root off. It must be done
very carefully to avoid breaking and, if large, they should be
quartered.
6. Sauté in a frying pan with a splash of oil and add to rabbit during the
last 10 minutes of the coking process.
7. Prepare a picada with garlic, parsley and almonds. Dissolve with the
rabbit juice and add to casserole.
8. Cook over low heat for 5 more minutes and turn heat off. Adjust salt.
Comments
Rabbit with llenegues or any other type of mushroom is a common dish in
regions where mushrooms are plentiful. When not available, it can also be
prepared with the cultivated type, such as common mushrooms. Another
option is to add a few small pieces of streaky bacon and some aromatic
herbs like marjoram, savory or thyme. If made in spring, you can also use
scotch bonnets, or the aromatic St. George’s mushrooms.
MARINATED WILD RABBIT
1 wild rabbit
½ garlic head
1 onion
1 carrot
black peppercorns
2 cloves
red wine vinegar
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
1 marjoram sprig
olive oil
salt
water
Preparation
1. Clean rabbit well by removing any pellets that may have remained.
2. Cut into regular chunks and add salt.
3. Brown in a casserole with a splash of olive oil and reserve.
4. In the same casserole, fry onion, carrot and whole garlic cloves with a
splash of oil.
5. Halfway through the cooking process, return rabbit chunks to the
casserole and add aromatic herbs, some black peppercorns, 2 cloves,
a glass of vinegar and a glass of water to half-cover all the meat.
6. Cook rabbit slowly until tender.
Comments
In the old days, marinating was a way to preserve products. Today, it has
become a cooking method that requires a slow cooking time. It can be
served hot out of the pan, warm, or cold, but the taste improves if left to
stand for a few days. You can also add some common juniper and
coriander, or even a cinnamon stick.
GIBLET DISH
chicken and duck giblets (necks, wings, legs, livers, gizzards) and also rabbit
giblets (head and ribs)
1 dl rancio wine
1 dl brandy
1 kg mushrooms (pinkmottle woodwax, llenegues [Hygrophorus latitabundus],
russulas, chanterelles, bleeding milk-caps, saffron milk caps, grey knights, etc.)
2 medium onions
1 tomato
6 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
water
olive oil or lard
salt
Preparation
1. Clean giblets well. Scald and skin chicken legs, split gizzard down the
middle and remove the food bag, cut off the tip of the wings, and
pluck neck well.
2. When the meat is clean, chopped and seasoned with salt, heat a
saucepan with a splash of oil or some lard.
3. When hot, lightly fry all meat cuts and brown well.
4. Next, add chopped onion, a couple of chopped garlic cloves and, when
half-cooked, the grated tomato.
5. Pour rancio wine and brandy and let alcohol evaporate.
6. Stir a little and toss in clean and chopped mushrooms.
7. Add a small amount of water to cook well and cover.
8. Cook slowly until the meat is tender.
9. During the last few minutes, add a picada made with the remaining
garlic cloves, parsley sprig, almonds and carquinyolis.
Comments
The giblet dish is very popular in Catalan rural homes during town
festivals. This dish is served first, followed by the roasted duck, chicken
and rabbit. However, today the whole animal is used to prepare the dish.
Preferably, the mushrooms should be fresh, but if they aren’t they can be
desalted the day before.
BLOOD AND LUNGS
½ L lamb blood
2 garlic cloves
1 parsley sprig
150 g bacon
1 egg
500 g lamb lungs
2 onions
2 tomatoes
olive oil
1 dl rancio wine
1 dl muscatel
Preparation
1. Finely chop garlic, parsley and bacon and place on a platter.

2. When the lamb is slaughtered, a container must be placed under it to
hold the blood. Stir for a moment and then let curdle.
3. When curdled, cut and fry in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil.
4. A watery substance will remain, with which you can beat an egg and
cook as well. Reserve.
5. Clean lung, open conducts and rinse with water.
6. Chop in regular chunks and place in a saucepan with a splash of oil
and a dash of water. Stir constantly; you will see it expand and then
contract. Cook until very tender.
7. In the meantime in another saucepan, prepare a very concentrated
sofregit with onion and grated tomato.
8. Add cooked lung, rancio wine, muscatel, and reduce.
9. A few minutes later, cover with water and cook for about 10 minutes.
10. Add curdled blood and adjust salt.
11. After cooking for another 10 minutes, turn heat off and leave to stand
before serving.
Comments
Blood and lungs is one of those dishes that are no longer prepared for
being a giblet dish, because of sanitary regulations, and due to some
people’s prejudices against blood. Nevertheless, in the old days blood and
lungs was prepared at homes when lambs were slaughtered, and used to
be sold in guesthouses and diners for breakfast during the town’s festivals.
Some people prepare a picada with garlic, parsley and almonds to use as
garnish. The taste improves greatly if eaten a day later.
BLOOD AND ONION
2 onions
pig’s blood
salt
olive oil
Preparation
1. Peel onions, julienne and arrange on a platter.

2. When slaughtering the pig, place the platter under it to hold the
dripping blood.
3. Curdle blood, cut into pieces and fry in a frying pan.
Comments
Blood and onion is a breakfast dish prepared the same day the pig is
slaughtered. The blood is also used to make botifarres and must be
continuously stirred to avoid curdling. The blood can also be prepared with
the pig’s liver, adding the juice of one bitter orange. The juice of bitter
oranges is good for making the dish less fatty and smoother. Some people
fry the blood and separately the onion with a couple of garlic cloves.
STEWED WILD BOAR
1.5 kg young wild boar

3 carrots
½ garlic head
2 onions
2 tomatoes
1 leek
1 L red wine
1 beer
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
1 rosemary branch
1 kg potatoes
olive oil
flour
salt
water
Preparation
1. Chop wild boar meat into small pieces.

2. Place in a casserole with all the vegetables (carrot, garlic, onion,
tomato, leek) clean and chopped, as well as the red wine, beer and
aromatic herbs. Marinate two to three days to tenderize and
eliminate the strong smell of game meat.
3. Once marinated, separate meat, vegetables and juice.
4. Coat meat with flour and fry in a clay casserole with a splash of olive
oil. Reserve.
5. In the same casserole, with new oil, lightly fry the vegetables from the
marinade.
6. Once fried, return wild boar and the juice from the marinade to the
casserole and cover with water.
7. Cook slowly 3 to 4 hours, or until meat is so tender it practically falls
off the bone.
8. In the meantime, peel and dice potatoes in larger chunks and fry in
very hot oil.
9. When the wild boar is almost ready, add potatoes and a picada made
with toasted almonds and chocolate.
10. Adjust salt and finish cooking. Turn heat off and leave to stand for a
few hours before serving.
Comments
Stewed wild boar is a very popular dish for autumn and winter, or during
hunting season. Hunting parties often mix different wild boars together,
combining meats of different ages. Nowadays, health regulations require
for the animal to pass several controls before being labelled suitable for
human consumption. Sometimes it can be accompanied with chestnuts or
mushrooms. Some garlic cloves or even some parsley leaves can be added
to the picada as well.
ROOTS. SURF AND TURF & SNAILS.
STUFFED SQUID
9 squid
1 egg
2 onions
2 ripe tomatoes
5 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt
black pepper
fish stock or water
Preparation
1. Clean squid by removing skin and rinsing. Turn inside out.

2. Finely chop tentacles and fins.
3. In a bowl, mix lean pork with squid tentacles and fins, one egg, a
couple of garlic cloves, a sprig of parsley, salt and pepper.
4. Stuff squid and secure with toothpicks.
5. In a saucepan with a splash of oil, fry squid lightly with chopped
onion.
6. When it starts to brown, add finely chopped tomatoes and garlic and
a dash of water or fish stock; cook on low heat and covered until the
squid are ready.
7. A few minutes before they finish cooking, add a picada made with
almonds and chocolate; it’s a nice, tasty, smooth and dark sauce.
8. Adjust salt and leave to stand for a while before serving.
Comments
Stuffed squid is another dish prepared in Catalonia during town festivals.

It’s highly valued also cooked with peas when in season, or with meatballs
or mushrooms. The squid can also be tossed in flour before frying to brown
further. It’s important to cook them slowly so they don’t break. Lean meat
can be substituted for sausage meat.
CHICKEN WITH PIG’S TROTTERS AND CRAYFISH
1 free-range chicken (2 kg)
3 cooked pig’s trotters
12 crayfish
2 onions
2 carrots
3 tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 dl rancio wine
1 dl brandy
1.5 L poultry stock
salt
pepper
flour
olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 parsley sprigs
2 biscuits
a handful of toasted hazelnuts
a piece of hard chocolate
Preparation
1. Scald and pluck chicken, scorch to remove all quills.

2. Cut into eight pieces, season with salt and pepper and coat with flour.
3. Heat a pan with a splash of oil and brown pieces of chicken on both
sides.
4. In a different saucepan and with a splash of olive oil, lightly sauté the
crayfish and reserve.
5. In the same saucepan, prepare a sofregit made with onion and carrot
finely chopped. Halfway through the cooking process, add grated
tomato. Cook well until smooth.
6. Pour rancio wine and brandy and let alcohol evaporate.
7. Next, add chicken and cover with poultry stock. Cook until tender.
8. In the last few minutes, add pig’s trotters and cook briefly with the
chicken.
9. In the meantime, prepare a picada with garlic, parsley, biscuits,
hazelnuts and chocolate. Dissolve with some of the cooking juice and
add to saucepan.
10. Cook for a few more minutes, adjust salt and it’s ready to serve.
Nevertheless, its best if left to stand for a while.
Comments
In Catalonia, the mixing of products from the sea and dry land—what’s
commonly known as «surf and turf»—, is called mar i muntanya (literally,
«sea and mountain»). Different examples of this are found along the Costa
Brava. Among the most traditional is the chicken and crayfish; inland, pig’s
trotters are added to enrich the dish and make it more affordable. The
illustrious Josep Pla said that years ago chicken was a dish reserved for
town festivals, or for holidays like Christmas. Nowadays in rural houses,
chickens are bred for cooking, to sell during such special days, or even to
give away. Chickens used to be scarce, whereas crayfish or lobsters were
more inexpensive; so as the writer from the Empordà used to say, in the
past the dish consisted of lobster with some chicken.
CUTTLEFISH WITH MEATBALLS
500 g clean cuttlefish

1 egg
bread crumbs
4 garlic cloves
salt
black pepper
flour
olive oil
2 onions
2 tomatoes
1 dl dry white wine
water or fish stock
250 g peas
1 fried bread slice
Preparation
1. The first step is to make the meatballs. Mix minced pork with egg,
soaked bread crumbs, salt, a pinch of black pepper, the legs of the
cuttlefish chopped, garlic and parsley.
2. Stir well and form small meatballs. Coat with flour and fry in a
casserole with a splash of olive oil.
3. Chop cuttlefish in regular chunks and heat in a covered saucepan with
a splash of oil.
4. In a different saucepan, prepare a sofregit with chopped onion and
grated tomato until it acquires the consistency of marmalade. Pour in
white wine and reduce.
5. Add stewed cuttlefish, meatballs and cover with water or fish stock.
6. Cook slowly for about 20 minutes so all the flavours mix well.
7. Halfway through the cooking process, add peas and adjust salt.
8. During the last few minutes, toss in a picada made with a couple of
garlic cloves, a few leaves of parsley, almonds and fried bread.
Dissolve well with cooking juice and add to the saucepan.
Comments
This surf and turf consisting of cuttlefish and meatballs is very popular in
the provinces of Girona and Barcelona, especially in coastal areas. If
preferred, the pork can be mixed with veal, or even add a chicken liver to
the picada and some diced potatoes to make it a one-course meal.
SNAILS WITH GARLIC AND PARSLEY
2 kg snails
4 dl extra virgin olive oil
1 dl white wine vinegar
½ garlic head
parsley
salt
black pepper
water
Preparation
1. Clean purged snails with water, a pinch of salt and a dash of vinegar.
2. Place in a pan over heat with plenty of cold water and simmer to drive
them out of their shells.
3. Next, turn heat up to disgorge them and prevent them from re-
entering the shell. Boil 30 to 40 minutes or until tender.
4. In the meantime, prepare the sauce with peeled and finely chopped
garlic and parsley.
5. Place garlic and parsley in a bowl with salt, a pinch of pepper, oil and
vinegar. Stir well.
6. When the snails are ready, strain and place on a tray. Bring to the
table.
7. Each guest gets his or her own snails, removes them from the shell
and dips them in the sauce.
Comments
Snails with vinaigrette or garlic and parsley are very typical of Catalonia as
a starter. Some people do without the garlic and parsley, but it gives them
a very refreshing flavour. They can also be accompanied with a good allioli
or tomato sauce with diced ham and a pinch of hot pepper.
The snails should be purged by fasting them for a few days. Some people
feed them flour or bran to check the colour of their droppings.
SNAILS WITH SPIDERCRABS
1.5 kg snails
olive oil
2 spidercrabs
6 garlic cloves
2 onions
2 tomatoes
1 dl white wine or dry vermouth
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
water
salt
Preparation
1. Fast snails. Clean with plenty of water and a pinch of salt and discard
empty shells and dead snails.
2. Heat a saucepan with a splash of olive oil to disgorge and cook. First,
they will produce a yellowish foam that will disappear as they cook.
They must be dry.
3. In the meantime, break spidercrabs and keep the tasty juice. If
they’re female and contain roe, keep also.
4. In a different saucepan with a splash of oil, lightly fry the spidercrabs.
Remove from pan.
5. In the same saucepan, prepare a concentrated sofregit with the four
garlic cloves and finely chopped onion.
6. Halfway through the cooking process, add grated tomato and
aromatic herbs and cook slowly.
7. Return spidercrab to the saucepan and pour wine. Reduce.
8. Add snails, cover with water or fish stock and cook for 20 minutes to
combine all flavours.
9. Prepare a picada with the remaining garlic cloves and parsley. Toss
into saucepan and adjust salt. Leave to stand for a while.
Comments
Snails with spidercrabs is another surf and turf dish par excellence. The
spidercrab conferes an extraordinary taste to the dish. Some people add a
tablet of chocolate or broken allioli. It’s important to keep the spidercrab’s
juice to include later, because it makes it really flavourful. To achieve this,
the spidercrab can be broken on a chopping board placed over a baking
tray. When broken, remove the parts that don’t add to the taste such as
the tail if it doesn’t contain any roe.
SNAILS WITH PORK RIBS AND BOTIFARRA
1 kg fasted snails
100 g streaky bacon
300 g pork ribs
2 botifarres (catalan fresh pork sausages)
2 onions
2 tomatoes
4 garlic cloves
olive oil
water
salt
thyme
marjoram
parsley
varied mushrooms
Preparation
1. Fast snails. Clean well and separate the dead and the empty ones.
Disgorge and boil for about 1/2 hour. Strain and reserve.
2. In a saucepan with a splash of oil, brown bacon chopped into small
chunks, medium-sized chunks of ribs, and chopped botifarra. Remove
from heat and reserve.
3. In the same saucepan, slowly brown the onions, chopped, and half
the garlic cloves.
4. Halfway through the cooking process, add grated tomato and cook
well until smooth.
5. Add aromatic herbs, snails and all the meat. Season with salt.
6. Cover with water and cook slowly for about 20 minutes until snails
and meat are ready.
7. During the last few minutes, add clean, chopped mushrooms and a
picada made with remaining garlic and parsley. Turn heat off and
leave to stand.
Comments
Snails with meat can be another one-course meal, accompanied with a

salad to start with. You can also add some red peppers or guindilla
peppers, a dash of rancio or white wine, or even make it a surf and turf by
adding some flaked salt cod during the last few minutes of cooking.
ROOTS. DESSERTS.
BRAÇ DE GITANO (ROLLED SPONGE CAKE)

8 eggs
250 g sugar
250 g flour
1 lemon
15 g baking powder
500 g whipped cream or chocolate whipped cream
caster sugar
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 210ºC/410ºF.

2. Separate yolks and whites.
3. In a hot bain-marie, beat egg yolks, lemon zest, and sugar to blanch
and emulsify.
4. Separately, sieve flour and baking powder.
5. Beat whites until they form stiff peaks.
6. Mix egg whites and yolks and stir delicately. Add flour and baking
powder.
7. On a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, spread a 1 cm layer of
sponge cake.
8. Set in the oven for about 10 minutes.
9. When cooked, remove from the oven, place over a wrung wet cloth
and cool.
10. Next, fill with whipped cream or chocolate whipped cream, roll and
sprinkle caster sugar on top.
Comments
The braç de gitano is a typical holiday dessert. I remember it wrapped in
paper with the bakery’s name stamped on it. A few years later, my mother
made them herself in an oven built by my father, Josep. It can also be filled
with custard and wild strawberries, or any fruit. It’s important to cover it
with a wet cloth to prevent the sponge cake from drying and breaking
when rolling.
Greaseproof paper can be found in many stores. It’s a type of paper

suitable for pastries, to avoid using buttered and flour sprinkled foil. In any
case, both options are acceptable.
FLAN
1 L whole cow milk
8 eggs (60 g each)
200 g sugar
1 vanilla pod
60 g sugar to caramelise baking pans
Preparation
1. Split the vanilla pod down the middle, and with the tip of a knife,
remove the black seeds.
2. Heat these seeds and the pod in a saucepan with milk. When it starts
to boil, turn heat off and infuse for 10 minutes.
3. Place the 60 g of sugar in a frying pan with a drop of water over low
heat. Being careful to avoid burns, when caramelised add a
tablespoon of sugar to each individual flan ring or more to a large
mould.
4. In a bowl, mix sugar and eggs. Add scented milk without the pod and
stir well.
5. Fill caramelised rings and place in a deep tray with water to cook bain-
marie.
6. Set in the oven, previously heated at 125ºC/257ºF. The cooking time
varies depending on the temperature, the amount of mixture and the
type of oven, but the time ranges between 40 and 60 minutes. The
flan is ready when you insert a toothpick in it and it comes out clean.
7. Remove from bain-marie and cool.
8. Unmould and serve.
Comments
Flan is probably the most typical dessert in Catalan diners, as well as small
and large popular cuisine restaurants. All the same, the prestige of this
dessert relies on the quality of the milk and eggs. The cow milk must be
whole and, if possible, pasteurised, since sterilised milk loses some of its
aroma. The quality of the eggs is determined by what the chickens have
been fed. How many times have we heard that an omelette must have
additives because of its intense yellow colour, smell and aroma when in
reality it’s just made with great quality eggs?
The oven temperature must be carefully set. If the bain-marie water is

brought to a boil, the flan will have holes and the top will probably brown.
Nevertheless, some people like that texture and colour.
The vanilla pod is optional; you can also use a cinnamon stick, lemon zest,
or orange zest, removing the bitter pith. Or substitute some of the milk for
strong coffee to obtain a coffee flan; or coconut milk and some grated
coconut to get a coconut flan, delicious in the summer. Also, the flan is one
of the protagonists in the also typical dessert called pijama.
CREMA CATALANA (CATALAN CRÈME BRÛLÉE)
1 L whole cow milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon zest (only the yellow part)
8 egg yolks
200 g sugar
40 g corn starch
Preparation
1. Heat milk with the cinnamon stick and lemon zest. When it starts to
boil, turn heat off and infuse for a few minutes so the flavours of the
cinnamon and lemon zest mix.
2. In the meantime, beat egg yolks in a bowl with sugar and corn starch
until achieving a very fine mix without lumps.
3. Bring milk back to a boil and, once boiling, pour the mixture of egg
yolks, sugar and corn starch slowly, lowering heat as much as possible
and stirring constantly with a wooden spatula.
4. When the mixture thickens, run through a strainer to make sure it’s
lump-free and also to remove the cinnamon stick and the lemon zest.
5. Pour into clay containers and cool.
6. When serving, sprinkle a handful of sugar on top and burn with a very
hot iron broiler.
Comments
Crema catalana or Crema de Sant Josep (Catalan crème brûlée) is another

favourite traditional town festival dessert in Catalonia, especially during
spring, when there’s an abundance of eggs.
Many desserts and sweets are associated with religious holidays. We have
bunyols for Lent, panellets for All Saints’ Day, torrons for Christmas, coca
for Sant Joan, tortell for Palm Sunday, mona for Easter, and crema for St.
Joseph’s Day. This abundance of eggs means they can also be added to the
saucepan with cod or chickpeas, as well as used to make some great
bunyols.
As in the case of flan, the quality of a good crema catalana relies on its
ingredients: good cow milk, freshly milked and then pasteurised, eggs from
free-range chickens fed with corn; sugar and starch. Some people, instead
of burning the crema, sprinkle powdered cinnamon or place a Marie biscuit
on top for kids. During celebrations, the crema was served on a large
platter and set in the middle of the table for all the guests to share.
BREAD WITH CREAM AND SUGAR
4 slices of peasant bread, bread rolls, or milk bread

fresh cow milk
sugar or honey
Preparation
1. Bring milk to a boil. Once it starts to boil, turn heat off and let cool.
2. With a slotted spoon, separate the skin and set on bread slices,
toasted or not.
3. Next, dress with a dash of honey or sprinkle sugar. Eat right away.
Comments
It’s very important for the milk to be of good quality, from a farm where
cows are fed with good products. Today, thanks to controlled and balanced
feeding practices milk with a standard amount of fat is produced. Gone are
the times when a cow’s milk was valued by its amount of fat.
Boiling non-pasteurised milk is a necessary process and a must to kill

microorganisms. However, since the sale of loose milk was prohibited a
few years ago, it’s not easy to buy non-pasteurised milk. If in spite of it all
you’re lucky enough to visit a farm or buy handmade cheese, you can
request to buy 1 L of fresh milk and you’ll be able to relive the happy days
of childhood.
BUNYOLS DE QUARESMA (LENT FRITTERS)
1 kg strong flour
250 g sugar
7 eggs
25 g aniseed
20 g coriander
12 g salt
the grated zest of 3 lemons
1 dl whole cow milk
100 g lard or olive oil
200 g sourdough
2 dl anisette
olive oil to fry
Preparation
1. Place flour in a bowl and form a volcano. Add ingredients one by one,
except anisette and frying oil.
2. Knead for a while until dough becomes elastic and fine (when it
stretches without breaking).
3. Cover bowl with a cloth and leave to stand until it doubles its volume
in a place where the temperature is modered and there are no air
currents. This can take approximately 2 hours.
4. Prepare a pan for deep frying with olive oil and heat.
5. Break small amounts of dough with your fingers covered in oil to
prevent it from sticking, shape them with a hole in the middle and fry
well on both sides.
6. Remove and drain excess oil. Sprinkle sugar on top and a few drops of
anisette.
7. If you make too many, they can be stored in a pot and covered with a
cloth to prevent them from drying.
Comments
Fritters are typically prepared during the Holy Week and are served for
breakfast as well as an afternoon snack or dessert. Traditionally, on the
day of making fritters the whole family lends a hand. Enough are made to
also give away to neighbours and relatives. You can add a dash of
muscatel, rancio wine, or resoli.
Sourdough is produced by fermentation with pressed wet baker’s yeast,

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, from a mixture of flour and water. It’s found in
bakeries. Some people, instead of sourdough, prefer to use fresh yeast. For
this formula you will need about 25 g of this type of yeast, which should be
dissolved in warm milk and then used like the sourdough. One of the
secrets to get soft fritters is to knead hard and for a long time.
BUNYOLS DE VENT (FRITTERS)
250 ml water
100 g lard or butter
150 g flour
275 g eggs (3 or 4)
a pinch of salt
the grated zest of 1 lemon
olive oil to fry (mild)
caster sugar
Preparation
1. Heat water, salt, sugar, and lard or butter in a stainless steel

saucepan.
2. When it starts to boil, lower heat and add flour while stirring with a
wooden spatula until the paste stops sticking to the sides of
saucepan.
3. Next, remove from heat and stir until it cools down and becomes
denser.
4. Add eggs one by one until obtaining a smooth dough. Leave to cool
for a couple of hours.
5. Place fritter dough in a piping bag with a large plain nozzle and drop
small pieces of dough in very hot oil, at about 160ºC/320ºF.
6. Remove with a wire skimmer and place on a plate lined with paper
towels to release excess oil.
7. When they have cooled down a little, fill with crema catalana or
chocolate cream.
8. Sprinkle caster sugar on top with a sieve.
Comments
At home it was important not to waste any food, so in the spring when
there was an excess of eggs, they were cooked in one way or another. With
eggs we made crema catalana, flan, borage bunyols or these delicious
bunyols de vent. Today they have become very popular and the fillings are
endless.
PIJAMA
8 egg and cinnamon flans
400 g vanilla ice cream
8 yellow pulp peaches
1 pineapple
2 L mineral water
400 g sugar
500 g cream
16 preserved cherries
Preparation
1. Heat a pot of water with sugar.

2. Peel peaches and halve, removing the stone without cutting the pulp.
3. When water starts to boil, add peaches and cook slowly until tender.
Once ready, remove and reserve in the same syrup.
4. Peel pineapple and cut into 2 cm slices.
5. Whip cream adding a pinch of sugar to sweeten, but not too much.
6. Arrange a flan on the plate, the two halves of peach, the slice of
pineapple, a tablespoon of cream, a couple of preserved cherries on
top, and an ice cream scoop.
Comments
This is a typical town festival dish that has been part of the menus of
popular fare restaurants in Catalonia, such as ours, for a long time. It’s a
wholesome and complete dessert for hungrier palates. Some people even
add a carquinyoli (dry almond biscuit) to the cream.
In the old days and even today, especially in small towns, it was common
to bring a gift, often food, when visiting a sick person. I suppose this
costume comes from the time of the post-war, when there wasn’t much
food to go around. Very often, these meals consisted of preserved products
such as pineapple or peaches in syrup, sugar or biscuits.
PEARS IN WINE
1 kg small pears
200 g sugar
1 L red wine
½ L water
the zest of 1 lemon (only the yellow part)
1 cinnamon stick
Preparation
1. Place pears in a saucepan with water, sugar, red wine, lemon zest and
the cinnamon stick.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer until pears are tender.
3. Once cooked, remove the pears and let juice concentrate until the
alcohol evaporates and the juice is somewhat dense.
4. Turn heat off and return pears to the saucepan. Let cool.
Comments
Pears in wine or cooked pears are served as a dessert as well as to

accompany meats such as duck or goose. The red wine can be substituted
by rancio wine or Grenache, in which case the amount of sugar must be
reduced to avoid excessive sweetening. They can be served cold or hot, but
it’s important to leave to stand so the flavours homogenise.
The pears must be hard-fleshed, such as Sant Joan pears, which can be
found in the market only for a couple of months. I don’t recommend
preparing this dessert with watery pears that break easily because of their
texture, but the Blanquilla variety is suitable.
In mid-autumn you can also prepare this dessert with small and wild
apples.
BAKED APPLES
4 Reinette apples
1 dl muscatel or rancio wine
4 tablespoons of sugar
powdered cinnamon
Preparation
1. Clean and core apples from the top using a spoon or the fine tip of a
knife.
2. Place on a baking tray. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over each apple,
as well as a dash of rancio wine or muscatel and a pinch of cinnamon.
3. Add a cup of water to the tray and set in the oven at about
160ºC/320ºF until tender, or for about 40 minutes.
4. When removing from the oven, wet with their own juice.
Comments
Baked apples are a classic dessert in Catalonia during autumn, when

apples are ripening at home and release that floral and sweet aroma. The
Reinette is especially recommended for cooking; it’s a flattened yellow
apple of firm flesh and slightly sharp flavour. In the old days, varieties that
now have practically disappeared like the Camosa or Ciri, were also
prepared in the same manner. If the Reinette variety is not available, it can
be substituted for Golden or, well into the winter, the Verd-donzella apple,
a sweet green variety used to prepare the stuffed apples that are so
popular in the Girona region. These apples are usually filled with pork,
sweet botifarra and cooked with sugar, cinnamon, muscatel, and chopped
almonds and biscuits.
RICE PUDDING
200 g round-grain rice of the Bahia, Tebre or Senia varieties

750 ml cow milk
125 g sugar
the zest of 1 lemon (only the yellow part)
1 cinnamon stick
powdered cinnamon
1 L water
Preparation
1. Heat 1 L water and, when it starts to boil, add rice and broil for 5
minutes.
2. Heat milk with lemon zest and cinnamon stick in a stainless steel
saucepan.
3. When it starts to boil, add drained rice and cook on low heat for 12
more minutes.
4. When the rice is almost ready, remove lemon zest and cinnamon stick
and add sugar.
5. Stir carefully and cook for another minute.
6. Distribute in individual bowls or transfer to a large dish and let cool.
Before serving, sprinkle some powdered cinnamon on top.
Comments
Rice pudding is a dessert typically prepared during the holidays that has
popularized around the world and we all have tried at some point in our
lives.
The lemon zest can be substituted for orange zest and the cinnamon stick
for a vanilla pod. This dessert can be accompanied with cinnamon, vanilla
or llet merengada (chilled milk flavoured with lemon and cinnamon) ice
cream. If you prefer creamier rice, substitute 2 dl of milk for 2 dl of cream.
TORRADETES DE SANTA TERESA (FRENCH TOAST)
a one day-old bread roll

whole cow milk
1 cinnamon stick
the zest of 1 lemon
2 to 3 eggs
sugar
mild olive oil
Preparation
1. Bring milk to a boil with cinnamon stick and lemon zest. When it
starts to boil, turn heat off and leave to stand.
2. Cut bread roll into 1 cm thick slices and, when the milk has cooled
somewhat, dip bread slices in the scented milk, toss in the egg beaten
with a pinch of sugar, and fry in very hot oil.
3. When golden brown, arrange on a plate lined with paper towels and
sprinkle sugar on top.
4. Serve right away while hot.
Comments
French toast is a very popular dessert in Catalonia as well as in the rest of

Spain. It’s a good way of using dry one-day-old bread. Some people add
powdered cinnamon together with the sugar. They are usually
accompanied with muscatel, mistelle, or some good rancio wine.
BREAD WITH WINE AND SUGAR
8 slices of peasant bread or bread roll

red wine
sugar
Preparation
1. Arrange peasant bread slices on a plate.

2. Sprinkle with red wine until slightly soaked.
3. Sprinkle sugar on top and serve.
Comments
Many years ago, bread with wine and sugar, also called sucamulla and
then considered a tonic, was given to the youngest and oldest in the family
to whet their appetite. It was also given to the broody hens that were
incubating. It was normally served (and still is) as a dessert or afternoon
snack.
Other similar afternoon snacks are bread with oil and sugar, bread with
tomato and all sorts of sausages, bread with a piece of chocolate, tart with
llonganissa (spicy dry sausage), toast with milk skin and sugar, bread with
apples and walnuts, etc.
FARINETES DE FAJOL
1 L water
250 g buckwheat flour
oil
sugar
Preparation
1. 1. Heat a pot of water.

2. 2. Add buckwheat flour slowly, stirring constantly so no lumps are
formed, until getting a thick grey paste. This must be done over low
heat, otherwise the paste could burn.
3. 3. It’s ready when the stirring spatula can stand up in the middle of
the mix.
4. 4. Pour the mixture into loaf pan and let cool.
5. 5. Once cold and compacted, cut a few thick slices approximately 1.5
cm thick, and fry in very hot oil.
6. 6. Sprinkle with sugar or honey.
Comments
Buckwheat is a legume grown yearly in the volcano region of Garrotxa. It is

also used to feed animals.
A few years ago it covered the fields at Garrotxa and it was immortalized in
the artwork of the painters of the region. These days it’s cultivated less
and less, but some farmers still grow this legume, which in winter offers a
beautiful colour contrast. The farinetes de fajol used to be a typical dessert
at Garrotxa, prepared by grandmothers in the winter. My mother, Montse,
who as a child lived in Sant Esteve de Llémena, in the county of Garrotxa,
remembers this meal with great enthusiasm. Around that time, and
especially on market Mondays, some stores in the area sell the farinetes
already made so you only have to fry them and add sugar. A few years ago I
paid tribute to this dish by combining it with one of the classics at El Celler
de Can Roca, the carpaccio made with pig’s trotters and penny bun
vinaigrette.
NEULES (WAFERS)
180 g butter
180 g sugar
240 g egg whites
180 g flour
1 vanilla pod
Preparation
1. Melt butter and leave to stand.

2. In a stainless steel bowl, mix butter, flour, sugar, egg whites and
vanilla pulp.
3. Stir well until obtaining a homogeneous mix.
4. Cover and leave to stand for a couple of hours.
5. Heat oven to 160-170ºC/320-338ºF.
6. With a spoon, make circles with the dough on a sheet of greaseproof
paper.
7. Set in the oven.
8. When ready and almost brown, remove from the oven and, carefully
and swiftly, wrap around a cylindrical mould to cool and shape.
9. Reserve in an airtight container with silica gel.
Comments
Neules are usually associated with Christmas and Christmas baskets. But
they are easy to make at home, you only need a little patience. It’s
important to store them with silica gel, which absorbs humidity, to prevent
them from getting soggy.
STUFFED APPLES
8 Verd-donzella apples (sweet, green apple)

400 g minced pork
the zest of 1 lemon
powdered cinnamon
¼ L Grenache or muscatel
1 cinnamon branch
200 g sugar
water
40 g almonds
4 ladyfingers
olive oil or lard
salt
black pepper
flour
Preparation
1. First, prepare the filling by mixing the minced pork with finely grated
lemon zest, salt, and a pinch of powdered cinnamon.
2. With the tip of a knife, core apples being careful not to break them.
3. Fill apples with seasoned meat. Coat with flour, especially over the
filling, and fry in a saucepan with oil and lard so the meat creates a
crust that keeps it in.
4. In a cast iron or clay casserole, place apples, Grenache or muscatel, a
piece of the lemon zest, the cinnamon stick, sugar, water, and cook
slowly for a couple of hours, letting the juice evaporate and form a
caramel. If necessary, add a splash of water. Prepare a picada made
with almonds and ladyfingers or Marie biscuits and, halfway through
the cooking process, sprinkle on the apples. Finish cooking.
5. Serve cold or hot.
Comments
Stuffed apples are a typical town festival dessert in the region of Alt
Empordà, although it’s also prepared in other areas around the Girona
province. They may need to be cooked longer than indicated. Some people
interrupt and restart the cooking process so the juices concentrate more
and the apples cook more slowly. Others substitute the lean pork for a
mixture of half pork/half lamb without gristles, or even for sweet botifarra
when in season. They can also be prepared with peaches or pears.
ROOTS. THE PANTRY.
ANCHOVIES IN SALT
Ingredients
1.5 kg anchovies
coarse sea salt
black pepper
Preparation
1. Remove the heads and entrails of anchovies with fingers.

2. Place fillets in a washbowl and cover with layers of salt. Leave to
stand for a couple of days so they release all the liquid.
3. After 48 hours, place anchovies in wide-mouth mason jars, arranging
them one by one, loin up, alternating layers of anchovies with layers
of salt, and adding a couple of peppercorns in between to help them
cure faster.
4. Once the mason jars are full, finish up by covering the contents with
salt and add some of the liquid released by the fish.
5. Store mason jars in the pantry for three to four months.
6. To eat the anchovies from the mason jars, rinse under a trickle of
water to remove desalt.
7. Separate the two fillets with fingers and arrange on a tray.
8. When all the fillets are ready, cover with extra virgin olive oil and
leave to stand for a few hours before serving.
Comments
Anchovies in salt are one of those preparations that are frequently present
in the pantry of people who live near the sea, as well those who live inland.
Anchovies must be freshly caught and, if possible, they shouldn’t come
into contact with ice, which takes away their flavour. Some people like to
add marjoram, thyme, or a bay leaf to give them an herbal aroma.
Their own oil can be used as dressing; they can be served with peasant
bread spread with ripe or vine tomato, some escalivada (roasted
aubergine, red pepper and onion), or cooked beans seasoned with spring
onion and a Roma tomato.
This preserved product can be made anytime of the year, but the best
season is between May and the end of August, when anchovies are fatter
and tastier.
This is how my father in law, Josep Payet from L’Estartit (Costa Brava),
prepares them.
TOMATOES PRESERVED IN THEIR OWN JUICE
Ingredients
2 kg hard pulp tomatoes
water
salt
Preparation
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

2. When it starts to boil, scald tomatoes. Cool quickly in iced water.
3. Peel. Gently squeeze out the water accumulated and place in
elongated, wide-mouth mason jars.
4. Tomatoes must fit tightly in the jars because they will lose volume
while cooking. Add a pinch of salt and seal each jar.
5. Place in a saucepan almost completely covered with cold water.
6. Heat and count 25 minutes from the moment the water starts to boil.
7. Let cool in the same saucepan and then remove, dry, and store in a
dark place at a stable temperature.
Comments
These tomatoes preserved in their own juice are easy to prepare, and in
villages it’s done during the summer, when tomatoes are at their peak. Use
firm tomatoes like the elongated tomatoes that resemble light bulbs. It’s
always good to have preserved food of this type at home, to use in winter,
when tomatoes are not at their best. It can be used to prepare a good
sofregit, tomato sauce, samfaina, or even to add to a salad made with
canned products. You can also split the tomatoes in half, add a mixture of
cheese, oregano and breadcrumbs, and roast in the oven.
PEACHES IN SYRUP
Ingredients
8 hard pulp peaches
2 L mineral water
400 g sugar
Preparation
1. Cut peaches lengthwise to the stone and around it. Twist both halves
in opposite directions so the pit stays on one of them.
2. With a sharp knife, peel and remove the stone.
3. Arrange peaches stone side down in wide-mouth mason jars so they
can be easily taken out.
4. Make syrup with sugar and water and, when the sugar dissolves, pour
into the mason jars.
5. Seal and place in a pot with cold water.
6. Bring water to a boil and count about 35 minutes from the moment it
starts boiling, depending on the size of the mason jars.
7. Let cool in the same pot. Remove and leave to stand before serving.
Comments
To preserve peaches they must be hard but not unripe. Peaches with yellow
skin and pulp are ideal to cook in syrup because they stand cooking well.
When placing the mason jars in the pot, check they are well sealed and
don’t vibrate to prevent them from breaking during sterilization. Wrap
towels around the mason jars to keep them still.
When making the syrup, you can add a cinnamon stick or a vanilla pod to
add flavour and aroma to the peaches. You can also pour a dash of liquor to
add a special aroma. The same can be done with pineapples, plums,
apricots, etc.
PLUM JAM
Ingredients
1.5 kg plums
sugar
water
Preparation
1. Peel and stone plums. Weigh.

2. For every kg of plums, add 400 g of sugar and a dash of water. Place in
a glass or stainless steel container, cover and leave to stand until the
following day.
3. A few hours later, heat and cook for about 40 minutes, until it acquires
a one-thread consistency.
4. Check density by taking a tablespoon of jam and pouring it on a cold
plate. Once you have the desired consistency, turn heat off and store
in mason jars previously sterilised in boiling water.
5. Cover and reserve for a few days so the jam thickens.
Comments
In the summer, when there are plenty of fruits, it’s a good idea to make
some good jams to last the rest of the year. The same procedure can be
used to make orange marmalade, jams with yellow squash, figs, melon,
etc.
QUINCE CHEESE
Ingredients
1.5 kg quince
sugar
water
Preparation
1. Peel quince, cut into chunks and remove seeds.

2. Cook skin and seeds in water for 20 minutes and strain.
3. Weigh pulp and add 850 g sugar for every kg of quince pulp.
4. Pour in some of the water from cooking the quince skins and cook over
medium heat for about 40 minutes.
5. Use a wooden spoon to stir in order to prevent it from sticking and to
achieve a homogeneous consistency and texture. Cover to prevent
splashing and possible burns.
6. When quince has been reduced to a reddish, almost pearly paste,
remove from heat and place in rectangular flat containers.
7. Let cool and cover with a piece of greaseproof paper or saran wrap.
Comments
Quince cheese is very well-known everywhere in Catalonia, especially in

rural areas because a lot of houses have a quince nearby. In the old days, it
was common to plant different types of fruit trees at home to have fruit
available throughout the year, and with autumn came the season for
persimmon and quince.
It’s important to boil the peel and seeds of the quince because they are
great for helping the cheese set. You can include a cinnamon stick and the
zest of a lemon while boiling to add a lot of aroma.
Some people mix a few wild apples with the quince to get a preserve of
amazing taste.
The quince can be served with soft cheese or cottage cheese and a freshly
toasted slice of bread, or also a piece of flat bread; it can also be added to a
salad made with greens, apple and a few slices of duck ham.
PINKMOTTLE WOODWAX IN SALT
Ingredients
1.5 kg pinkmottle woodwax
water
coarse salt
Preparation
1. Clean mushrooms, cut off lower part of the stalk and peel if necessary.
Add plenty of water and drain.
2. Cut the larger ones in half and place on a container.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil, pour boiling water on the mushrooms
and scald for 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Drain and let cool.
5. Place in wide-mouth mason jars and alternate layers of mushrooms
and salt until filling the jar. Top with a layer of salt.
6. Cover and preserve for a few weeks.
Comments
Pinkmottle woodwax is a good mushroom to preserve because of its

texture and taste. It’s also ideal for any casserole or stew. Shake off salt
and soak in plenty of water to desalt for about 12 hours before using,
changing the water if necessary. You can mix different types of
mushrooms, but they must be of similar hardness. They can also be
prepared in brine by mixing 1 L water per every 100 g salt and a good splash
of olive oil to seal them from the air.
BLEEDING MILK-CAPS IN OIL
Ingredients
1 kg bleeding milk-caps
½ L mild olive oil
½ L white wine vinegar
salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves
1 thyme sprig
Preparation
1. Clean bleeding milk-caps by cutting off the lower part of the stalk and
wiping them with a piece of wet cotton paper to remove any traces of
dirt.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil, scald for 30 seconds and remove quickly.
Let cool.
3. Place in a wide-mouth mason jar and add salt, freshly ground black
pepper, the mixture of oil and vinegar, the peeled garlic cloves and a
thyme sprig.
4. Marinate in the pantry for a few days and they’re ready to serve.
Comments
To make these bleeding milk-caps preserved in oil use smaller, bud-like

mushrooms. They look great when served in an appetizer or a salad made
with curly endive and a piece of goat cheese, a few walnuts and a dash of
the vinaigrette from the mushrooms.
Other mushrooms can also be preserved in oil, such as saffron milk caps,
llenegues, or grey knights. You can add a small bay leaf or a marjoram
sprig. Also, the quality of the oil determines the quality of the preserve;
you must use mild tasting aromatic oil like the Arbequina variety.
PORK PÂTÉ
Ingredients
200 g fresh pork streaky bacon
200 g pork liver
200 g lean pork
2 eggs
50 ml rancio wine
50 ml brandy
salt
black pepper
bay leaf
thyme
6 garlic cloves
parsley
300 g pork mesentery
1 lemon
Preparation
1. Grind meat by running through the larger hole of the meat grinder, if
possible.
2. Place in a bowl with eggs, rancio wine, brandy, salt, freshly ground
black pepper, aromatic herbs, and finely chopped garlic and parsley.
3. Knead until obtaining a homogeneous mix. Cover and reserve for a
few hours.
4. Clean mesentery with plenty of water and a dash of lemon juice to
eliminate the smell. 5. Wring well and line a cake mould or a clay
casserole with it.
5. Add the pâté mixture to the mould and cover with the mesentery.
6. Set in the oven at 150ºC/302ºF for about 1 ¼ hours. Test pâté for
readiness with a toothpick.
7. When finished cooking, remove from the oven and leave to stand for a
few hours.
Comments
The pa de fetge (a more solid type of pâté served sliced) is a dish that is still
made in many regions of Catalonia. This similar pork pâté can be made
during pig slaughtering season. It can be served with a salad or freshly
made peasant bread toast. You can also add different ingredients such as
mushrooms, duck meat and liver, dry figs, etc.
PICKLED CAULIFLOWER
Ingredients
1 cauliflower
1 L water
1 L white wine vinegar
salt
Preparation
1. Wash cauliflower with plenty of water. Drain and divide into small
florets.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and scald florets.
3. Place cauliflower in wide-mouth mason jars.
4. Mix vinegar and water with a handful of salt and pour into jar covering
the cauliflower. Add weight on top of the cauliflower to make sure all
it’s completely submerged in the juice.
5. Pickle for 8 to 10 days and it’s ready to serve.
Comments
Cauliflower is a good vegetable to preserve. It must be freshly picked and

completely white. If the cauliflower florets are turning brownish or black, it
means it has been on the shelf for several days. The vinegar must be white
wine vinegar to maintain the beautiful colour of the cauliflower. If red wine
vinegar is used, the vegetable will be stained. The same procedure can be
used to pickle guindilla peppers or cabbage leaves.
BITTER ORANGES IN THEIR OWN JUICE
Ingredients
8 bitter oranges
water
salt
Preparation
1. Wash oranges and halve.

2. Heat a pot of water with a pinch of salt.
3. When it starts to boil, add oranges and cook for about 10 minutes until
pulp begins to soften.
4. Next, place in wide-mouth mason jars and cover with the cooking
water.
5. Seal jars and sterilise by heating for 25 minutes in a pot of water.
6. Cool in the same water and store in a dark, ventilated place.
Comments
Bitter oranges are smaller than sweet oranges, their peel is thick and they
have a different flavour. Even nowadays this preserve is often prepared in
Catalan villages. During the winter it’s seasoned with a pinch of salt and a
splash of olive oil to accompany a dish of cooked legumes, vegetables or
even an escalivada (roasted aubergine, red pepper and onion). In many
villages and rural homes there are bitter orange trees, introduced in the
country three centuries before sweet orange trees, around the 11th century.
PICKLED CABBAGE
Ingredients
1 cabbage
coarse salt
water
white wine vinegar
Preparation
1. Remove the outer green leaves from the cabbage.

2. Cut in half and then julienne.
3. Place in mason jars in layers of approximately 7 cm of cabbage, adding
a handful of coarse salt between each. Press down to compact.
4. When the jar is full, fill with a 1:1 mixture of white wine vinegar and
water.
5. Add weight on top to make sure the cabbage is completely submerged
and cover.
6. Pickle for a few days and it’s ready to serve.
Comments
This pickled cabbage is usually made in winter, when the fields have few
products to offer. If a cabbage was affected by the frost, you could prepare
a raw cabbage salad, which would have a milder flavour. Chop finely and
season with a pinch of salt and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. Accompany
with a herring and sautéed beans.

Roots Essential Catalan Cuisine According To El Celler de Can Roca

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Table of Contents

Essential Catalan Cuisine According to El Celler de Can Roca

Original title: La cuina de la meva mare

© For this edition:

© For the translation: Adriana Acevedo

Bases and principles of Catalan cuisine.

Brief glossary of typical Catalan products used in the recipes.

Pasta and Rice.

Surf and Turf and Snails.

My memories of Mondays are of making meatballs for the escudella. In a

Tuesday afternoons we made the botifarres. We mince the pork with a

Wednesday afternoons we made the sofregit. We peeled and chopped two

Thursday afternoons we rolled a thousand cannelloni. And seldom was

These are my true beginnings in the kitchen. Later on I went on to study at

In school, I learnt the reasons behind much of what happened in the

This book is also intended as a small tribute to the traditional cuisine of

The massive arrival of tourists to Catalonia began to take place in the

Home cooking has never been sophisticated. It’s a cuisine based on

The same has happened to vegetables, legumes and cereals. Large

We find turnips in Capmany, a municipality of Empordà, but also in

In terms of sausages, there are two kinds: industrial and homemade.

Something curious occurs with sweets. On the one hand, elaborate

Depending on the preparation, you can include some pepper or it can be

A picada consists of several ingredients, minced in the mortar or with a

The most commonly used ingredients are: garlic, parsley, saffron,

In addition to changing the flavour and colour of the recipe, it also

Allioli is a sauce used to accompany many meat dishes, especially when

This allioli,broken intentionally, is used everyday in many homes. To

Boles de sagí (balls of lard)

Generally speaking, sagí balls are used to flavour escudelles (traditional

Fish stock (fumet)

Furthermore, the same cuisine has never rejected foreign ingredients.

Sweet botifarra (botifarra dolça): typical of some coastal and inland

Black botifarra (botifarra negra): traditional Catalan pork sausage made

Variety of spring onion typical of Tarragona (southern province of

Roasted aubergine, red pepper and onion.

Traditional Catalan winter boiled dish generally made with a combination

Non-hybridised onion variety, somewhat flattened with an outer purple

Thin, dry, spiced Catalan sausage.

A special type of large elbow pasta.

Wine from the Catalan vineyards of France and Catalonia generally

Escalivar (grilling over hot embers)

To make different use of part of a previous meal, it is very common to sauté

Cooking food covered in oil—olive oil, if possible—at a temperature of

Initially, preparing confit, or pickled fish or meat, was meant more as a

It consists of cooking ingredients (usually vegetables) in their own steam

Stewing is a technique similar to pot roasting, but immersing tougher, hard

To scald means to submerge a product in boiling water for a few seconds or

Crushed onion and preserved cabbage salad

Spring mushroom soup

Pasta & Rice.

Braised noodles with rabbit

Scrambled eggs with St. George’s mushrooms

Baked hake fillet with garlic and rosemary vinaigrette

Breast of lamb with peas

Surf and Turf & Snails.

Braç de gitano (rolled sponge cake)

1. Clean squid and remove skin. Cut into thin rings.

1. Boil potatoes in a pot of water with salt.

150 ml cold water

In Catalonia, squash blossoms are often used as garnish when in season.

500 g flaked salt cod

The brandada must be a smooth paste without noticeable strands of cod.