CATALAN FOOD

ramonamcdaris · Post by **ramonamcdaris** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 20:14

Polremy, I am thinking "Arctic Rolls" but not knowing what they are (we Stateside folks are a bit behind), I will just say, bras de Venus are a Christmas-type dessert roll, sort of like buche de noel, as others have described (custard inside a spongecake). However, the word, "bra de Venus" is also slang for an anatomical part, (or so says Google)...so I will stick with asking for buche de Noel at Christmastime!

Are various fish dishes not "Catalan"? And what about cherry desserts? And isn't there a special onion that is broiled? Very rustic-sounding, but I like that!

Ramona

Serge · Post by **Serge** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 20:26

Catalans are very fond of eating snails .................

I think you have to be a 'special' kind of person to eat them.

polremy · Post by **polremy** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 20:53

Serge wrote:Catalans are very fond of eating snails .................

I think you have to be a 'special' kind of person to eat them.

i can vouch for that.
mr p.r. loves escargots and he is something special i can assure you.

Puddles · Post by **Puddles** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 20:57

As we are on Snails at the moment , I think I should share this one with you.
One of my neighbours , at a certain time of year, gets out in the garden & collects the snails & cooks them.
So as I see it , snails to the catalans dont have to be farmed for the cusine.
Hope this does not put anyone off.

john · Post by **john** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 21:08

The only truly catalan fish dish is Suquet. Zarzuela or Bouillabaisse is better.

Little mention seems to be made of paellas here. they are much-maligned,but a good one can be excellent. French ones are DIRE,in the main,but do not be tempted to go for a "cheapie". You get what you pay for.

ramonamcdaris · Post by **ramonamcdaris** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 21:32

SNAILS...yes. To prepare the "garden variety", one must first cleanse their intestines (not as difficult as it sounds). Collect snails, put in a plastic container (plastic, glass, whatever), and feed them cornmeal and water for about two weeks. This cleanses their digestive system of any chemicals or other things you don't want to eat. Then, put them in water and boil them...pouring off water several times until scum stops accumulating at top. After a few boilings to de-scum the water, the snails are ready to eat! Sounds like a lot of trouble to me...besides, I don't eat anything with eyes (except potatoes).

Ramona

thumbelina · Post by **thumbelina** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 21:45

Locally, we collect the snails, put them in a cardboard box and give them just thyme and rosemary to eat for a few weeks, to purge them. We then stop feeding them.

After a few more weeks, we take the snails, scrape off the crusty bit and add a little salt and pepper. They are then cooked on a barbeque and eaten with lots of bread, aioli and Catalan sausage.

You can also eat them in a tomato sauce.

blackduff · Post by **blackduff** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 23:01

Here's a photo of these snails ready to fill a belly.

http://www.pyreneesmediterraneanliving. ... is_jpg.htm

There some other photos on this site too. They were very, very nice that afternoon.

Blackduff

polremy · Post by **polremy** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 23:43

thumbelina wrote:Locally, we collect the snails, put them in a cardboard box and give them just thyme and rosemary to eat for a few weeks, to purge them. We then stop feeding them.

After a few more weeks, we take the snails, scrape off the crusty bit and add a little salt and pepper. They are then cooked on a barbeque and eaten with lots of bread, aioli and Catalan sausage.

.

yes, that's exactly how our neighbours cooked them when we were invited to a cargolade - with my son and his vegetarian girlfriend!!! great success - not.
i mean the snails were still alive when we got there!!

round our way the catalans love rain because, when it has stopped, they can go out collecting snails which they keep in nets until they have enough for a good old binge.

Serge · Post by **Serge** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 23:46

The shells look a bit 'crunchy' to me, is there a technique to it?

thumbelina · Post by **thumbelina** » Wed 11 Mar 2009 23:57

polremy wrote:
round our way the catalans love rain because, when it has stopped, they can go out collecting snails which they keep in nets until they have enough for a good old binge.

Last year I went up to Angers with a load of Catalans, we came back with 5000 of the things in nets in the car. All of the men went out snail collecting in the pouring rain on the Saturday morning after a heavy night on the sauce the night before!

Just shows how much they love a good cargolade!!!

Santiago · Post by **Santiago** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 08:02

It certainly sounds a lot of faffing about for a small amount of food. I think I'll stick to letting my neighbours or restaurants prepare the snail dishes.

Vegetarian Catalan food, hmmm.

Pan tomate - bread with tomato and garlic
Escalivade - roasted peppers and tomatoes
Sauce Catalane - tomatoes, onions, garlic, capers and oranges

Now I'm stuck, apart from deserts.

The Catalan Vegetarian Cookbook would be a sheet of A4 I think, mainly taken up with photos.

john · Post by **john** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 08:46

Santiago wrote:.

Vegetarian Catalan food, hmmm.

.

The Catalan Vegetarian Cookbook would be a sheet of A4 I think, mainly taken up with photos.

Jon,you are being generous.You could fit the combined German AND Catalan ones on the back of a fag packet.

Roger O · Post by **Roger O** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 08:49

There.... and I thought Arctic Rolls were something indulged in be Inuit couples??

polremy · Post by **polremy** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 11:06

Santiago wrote:It certainly sounds a lot of faffing about for a small amount of food. I think I'll stick to letting my neighbours or restaurants prepare the snail dishes.

Vegetarian Catalan food, hmmm.

Pan tomate - bread with tomato and garlic
Escalivade - roasted peppers and tomatoes
Sauce Catalane - tomatoes, onions, garlic, capers and oranges

Now I'm stuck, apart from deserts.

The Catalan Vegetarian Cookbook would be a sheet of A4 I think, mainly taken up with photos.

exactly. and the cargolade we were invited to even started off with pizza - ham and chorizo on the top!
mind you, her face lit up when shesaw the whole 4 kilo tray of fresh peaches as dessert.

ramonamcdaris · Post by **ramonamcdaris** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 12:54

Roger, you are so funny...

Re veggie-Catalan recipes, if you notice, it's not as tough as it sounds--you probably already eatlots of the same foods that I do...just omit the meat and see what else you eat each day. Enough variety there for me to constantly still have to watch the weight, for sure!

I love thick stews, and a good Catalon recipe I found calls for dried red peppers, OR Spanish paprika, veg. broth (or water is fine), ripe tomatoes, black olives, lots of onion and garlic, carrots, flat-leaf parsley, SMALL amt. of herbs such as thyme or basil, several cups of cooked beans (fava, or chick-peas--but add last and stir OFTEN,so they don't scorch!), spinach, cooked corn, olive oil, black pepper and salt and TINY pinch of sugar. Cook a day early so seasonings "marry"--serve on polenta or rice.

There are loads of other recipes, but the above will carry me through a couple of days, easily. Also, there are so many salads, desserts (my weakness), etc.

And...I LOVE saffron rice. I use the www.epicurious.com recipe, omitting the chicken broth, using water only. Serve with fresh veggies (tomatoes and green beans or asparagus are my favorites), bread (?), wine and dessert, of course!

I often use "nutritional yeast" in soups, casseroles, etc., instead of parmesan cheese--neither of which is "Catalan", of course (this yeast sounds soooo hippy or else "New-Age", neither of which I am!!). It can be ordered on the Internet and is a great mellow flavor-enhancer, not to mention healthful additive...or so they say. I just use it for the taste.). Bon appetit!

Ramona

john · Post by **john** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 13:24

I'm never too sure what makes the ingredients used ,as mentioned by Ramona above, "Catalan" specifically. Nearly all of them appear in pretty much any Mediterranean cuisine. Certainly most regional Italian and Greek ones.

I'd guess that where Catalan cooking differs from Spanish southern cuisine is that a lot of that includes ingredients brought in by the Moors,who,of course didn't get up as far as Catalonia. Paelle is ,of course mainly a S Spanish dish.

Sav · Post by **Sav** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 13:35

Now when we are down in the lovely PO, i do tend to struggle with the menu's, due to the fish element

So my ideal dishes consist of parma ham, cheese, salamis, chorizo, frittata, catalan sausage, frites, salad etc etc
followed by a dessert of churos

Oh & not forgetting loads of bread

Now i have been keen to try the tomato toast & the porc de picolat, perhaps also tapas, but without veg

Cheers Sav

ramonamcdaris · Post by **ramonamcdaris** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 13:37

Ah, but John ("I'm not sure what makes the ingredients Catalan..."),
We even have escargot/snails in the States/England/ and all over, yet they are a "Catalan dish". We can also find tomatoes, green/red/yellow peppers, garlic, onions universally...and all other ingredients found in Catalan foods. So, ingredients? They are fairly commonly found everywhere, and it just depends on how they are put together, I guess, that makes the end product specific to one area. Whatever the provenance, that is a fine stew, in any language!

Ramona

john · Post by **john** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 13:50

Again,Ramona,snails are not specific to Catalan cooking. I've seen them in Italy,Cyprus,Malta,Turkey. Also Escargots Bourgignonne? classic French dish. I have to be honest,they do nothing for me,whatever sauce is used!

Sav makes an interesting point re fish. I'm actually quite surprised how little fish apppears in "Catalan cuisine". Whether that is a recent thing brought about by sky-high fish prices,I don't really know. Any ideas Ramona?

rbg · Post by **rbg** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 14:02

Ramona, you are making me hungry ( and I just had dinner , which was sanglier stew actually ; the neighbour drops a saucepanful into us from time to time when they catch a biggie. It was yum! Is that a catalan dish? Dunno? We have it with mashed spuds, the sauce is rich and tomatoey and the sanglier is very tender, yummm)
Thanks for the tasty ideas. Incidentally , are you going to the book club on Sun if it is on , maybe we could swap recipe books?!!!! I used to be a veggie until my OH reconverted me!

Sav · Post by **Sav** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 14:12

That sounds ok rbg

No veg involved & a nice tomato sauce, what other meat
does sanglier compare to & would i have to go out & hunt it down to try

But i could take Serge to help

Cheers Sav

rbg · Post by **rbg** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 14:27

Sanglier, hmmm, if I had to compare it with anything, I'd say it tastes like strong gamey beef? Does that make sense?
Have no idea where you could acquire some? Ask the local hunters? Or your neighbours?
There are plenty of them about anyway - they caught 26 sangliers one day after Christmas this year in the Canet / St Nazaire area !!!!!

Sav · Post by **Sav** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 14:34

Not sure about gamey

I'm not easy to please

So they will not be around during the
summer months then, i'm sure i can track some down, thanks for the info

Cheers Sav

ramonamcdaris · Post by **ramonamcdaris** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 15:05

John, re fish not being mentioned a lot as Catalon food...I don't KNOW why not, except for the fact that maybe it is so common in all the world's ports, it is possibly taken for granted as being on the menus. However, with regional sauces and other toppings, it COULD be Catalan, couldn't it?

And RBG, no I can't make it to this book-club meeting, but will be there for the next one. I wonder what we are to read (oh my! I am wandering off from Catalan food subject...). Anyhow, as long as I have already goofed on that, might as well be hung for a goose as hung for a gander, so, I'll see you at the book-club in April, and I hope you enjoyed reading "The Pilot's Wife" this month (guys, you would love it, too)!

Ramona

Ramona)

john · Post by **john** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 15:12

Sanglier(or Jabali in Catalan) tends to be only available in season (ie Oct to jan),and from specialist butchers;very rarely seen in supermarkets.So yes,you'll be hard-pressed to find any in the summer.

To me it is unmistakeably pig meat,but,as you say darker and more strongly flavoured.

One restaurant nr Ceret does it in chocolate sauce,which has to be said,is an acquired taste!

Sav · Post by **Sav** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 15:24

I do like pig meat john, especially on a spit roast

Can someone arrange it

Looks like a yuletide visit, may be in order.

Cheers Sav

polremy · Post by **polremy** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 16:25

Sav wrote:Now when we are down in the lovely PO, i do tend to struggle with the menu's, due to the fish element
So my ideal dishes consist of parma ham, cheese, salamis, chorizo, frittata, catalan sausage, frites, salad etc etc
followed by a dessert of churos
Oh & not forgetting loads of bread

Now i have been keen to try the tomato toast & the porc de picolat, perhaps also tapas, but without veg

Cheers Sav

if you can eat all that, you must be hiding your belly behind that bush!

Sav · Post by **Sav** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 16:36

I do like my food polremy & losing part of my inards, helps with the weight scenario

Prior to my medical probs last year, i was playing a lot of tennis & i do enjoy clambering in the mountains

Give me a plate of cheese, parma ham, salad & a crusty boule every day, that's me happy

Cheers Sav

DaveM · Post by **DaveM** » Thu 12 Mar 2009 17:54

Saw a large range of Sanglier meat in our local Super-U (in season, and while the chasseurs were blasting away in the hills around here) - all of it imported from New Zealand!

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cote vermeille area of France

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CATALAN FOOD

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CATALAN FOOD

cote vermeille area of France