The essential winter gourmet experience: bibs a must!
The first powdering of snow on the peaks of the Pyrenees heralds the start of a season keenly anticipated by Catalan foodies – it’s calçotada time! It is estimated that by Easter, when the season officially ends, some 300,000 people will have devoured around 14 million calçots, most of which will have been consumed at a calçotada, probably the messiest, noisiest, most lip-smackingly enjoyable orgy of eating in Catalonia.
But what exactly is a calçot (kal-sot)? It starts life as a spring onion but a lengthy and complex growing process – in fact, two processes lasting almost two years – ensures that the end result bears more resemblance to a rather grubby leek. Calçots are unique to Catalonia and the name derives from the verb calçar, which means to pull on shoes or boots, which in turn describes the enclosure of the slim shoots in a thick layer of packed earth to encourage fattening and blanching.
Purists would have us believe that the only time to eat calçots is from January to March and it’s true that calçot aficionados can tell the difference between the early and late harvests, the latter having a deeper, sweeter flavour. However, demand has grown to such an extent that the season now stretches from late November to April.
On the last Sunday in January each year, the distinctly unfrivolous calçot capital of Valls (Alt Camp) erupts in a celebration of their beloved vegetable. Thousands of people from miles around descend on the town to wander through the crammed streets, watch dozens of expert calçot-cookers and sauce-makers, or even participate in the many calçot-eating competitions.
Ideally, your first calçot experience should be at a proper calçotada which typically takes place on a Sunday afternoon at any large, rustic restaurant in the Catalan countryside – the larger and noisier, the better. A huge car park packed with cars is always a good sign, as are rough wooden tables, red gingham tablecloths and a giant glowing brazier outside piled with smouldering calçots.
A calçotada is a set menu and hearty appetites are essential. A bowl of olives, probably the tiny Arbequinas, is first to appear, along with a jug, porró or even a bottle of local red and platters of the ubiquitous pa amb tomàquet, toasted country bread with cloves of garlic and ripe tomatoes to be rubbed into the toast and finished with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Next comes the calçot sauce, a rich blend of roasted hazelnuts or almonds, garlic, tomato and nyora peppers (see recipe below) along with a stack of paper napkins and a bib (absolutely essential). And finally, a steaming, blackened heap of calçots, piled high in a curved terracotta roof tile.
There is an art to eating a calçot but don’t be afraid to ask for a demonstration. Grasp the inner green leaves at the top with one hand and the charred stalk with the other and pull gently downwards as if milking a cow. The soot-blackened exterior will slide off, leaving a long, white, glistening stem. Drape this through the calçot sauce and then lower it (head back as if admiring the rafters) into your mouth. Imagine yourself as a baby bird accepting a large and particularly succulent worm and you get the picture. Repeat until the tile is empty, which usually means around 12 calçots per person, though up to 25 is not unusual.
This is merely the starter. By now, the wine is flowing, the hubbub of dozens of Catalan families enjoying their favourite leisure pursuit – eating – is deafening and every available surface is covered in a layer of soot and discarded napkins and bibs.
Next on the menu is a mixed grill of botifarra sausages and tiny lamb cutlets, perhaps with some mongetes (white haricot beans) and most definitely with lashings of pungent allioli. The traditional calçotada dessert is fresh oranges though crema catalana is also often served. Most restaurants will also proffer a plate of carquinyols (jaw-breakingly hard almond biscotti) and a baby porró of muscatel to soften them up.
Cooking calçots at home
Allow between 12 and 25 calçots per person, depending on how greedy your guests are. Clean the calçots and barbecue them over glowing embers until completely blackened. Wrap them tightly in newspaper and then pop them in a large plastic bag and allow to steam for around one hour. Meanwhile, make the calçot sauce as follows:
Ingredients (for 4 people):
1 dried nyora pepper (found in the spice section of supermarkets), soaked overnight to soften
4 large, ripe tomatoes
1 head garlic
1 wine glass olive oil
150g almonds or hazelnuts, toasted
1 slice fried bread
Preparation:
Heat the oven to 180ºC. Bake the tomatoes and garlic for 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, remove the stalk from the soaked nyora, cut the fried bread into cubes and put them in a large mortar. Mash to a thick paste with a pestle (this can take some time!). Remove the skin and any burnt bits from the garlic and tomatoes and add 2-3 cloves of garlic, the tomatoes and half the glass of olive oil to the mixture. Beat everything together well. At this point you can use a stick blender if you wish. If the sauce is too thick, add more oil. Remember that the sauce needs to have the ideal texture to adhere to the calçot, so it shouldn’t be too runny. If you like the sauce to be a bit spicier, add some chilli pepper to taste.