Spicy, colorful Catalan cuisine shares the favorite ingredients all over Mediterranean coast: olive oil, fish, fresh vegetables, fruits ... The Catalans have also taken the pulses from the Romans but also products and techniques, particularly the patisserie from the Jews and the Arabs ...

Composed mainly of simple dishes, it’s characterized by a spirit of improvisation, variety, mixing (sweet / salty, sour / sweet), and specific cooking techniques such as the sofregit or the picada ... All his wealth has been found and highlighted by Eliane Thibault Comelade, a leader of the Catalan culinary heritage.

Each season is the opportunity to enjoy local Catalan produce: paschal lamb, dew of the Pyrenees, purple artichokes, tender beans, sardines, snails, salads, anchovies, fresh figs, peaches, goat cheese, honey, nutmeg, almonds.

Rustic dishes or more refined dishes and agree the Catalan regional wines (like Rivesaltes, Banyuls, Maury ...).

 

Examples of these specialties, there are essential dishes in any Catalan family. Their recipe is passed on through generations, the “Grandma secret recipe” is jealously preserved...

 

The bullinada : To quickly prepare the day's catch.
Based on fish and potatoes, typical from villages near the ponds, including the Barcarès its distinctive taste is due to the presence of sagi (rancid bacon).

The ollade : cabbage soup with bacon rancid
It is a pleasant soup that is cooked once in a corner of the hearth for hours over a wood fire.

The Boles of Picolat : balls of minced meat sauce

Picolar "means chopping. This is the most popular dish in Roussillon, characterized by the amalgamation of the garlic flavors and the cinnamon.

The cargolade : grilled snails
Outdoors grilled snails, the cargolade accompanied by an authentic aioli and a rosé drunk from a porro (neck fine bottle to drink at lunch or dinner.

The sardines : grilled sardines over vine
With very fresh sardines, fish the day or the day before, and it’s placed on a grid over the coals made from vines that will give them all their flavor. A bit of thyme, some herbs...!

The escalivade : oven-roasted vegetables that you let marinated in vinegar Banyuls, which can be eaten cold with a drizzle of olive oil. Ideal to accompany barbecue in summer

 

The sofregit : a sauce made with onion and tomato, which enters in the composition of many Catalan dishes. A Must !

The Braç de gitano : caramelized rolled biscuits
Type of sponge cake, it’s according to the taste of everyone, is filled with custard or whipped cream, or even apricot jam.

The crema catalana : formerly it was called rather Cremada crema (crème brûlée). Creamy and caramelized surface, it is flavored with cinnamon and lemon. A dessert that blends beautifully with the old Muscat Rivesaltes or with amber Rivesaltes ...

Source: www.tourismedeterroir.fr