This past weekend we partook in a great Catalan tradition: La Calçotada!
A Calçotada is a get together of friends and family for a backyard afternoon calçot feast in late winter or early spring.
Calçots are a special type of green onion originally from the Valls area south of Barcelona. The tradition of the Calçotada has reached nearly all areas of Catalunya. There are restaurants that specialize in them and they usually give you a big bib and gloves, or better yet, make them at home.
The calçots are grilled, wrapped in newspaper to stay warm and grow more tender
and then traditionally served on curved roofing tiles. While the
grill is still warm, you can throw some
botifarra on the grill, large sausages, to enjoy at the end of the meal.
Now, to tell the novices from the experts, no bibs or gloves, time to get good and dirty. You hold the onion with the bulb part down and gently slide the outer layers of the onion down. Then dip the onion in romesco sauce, tilt your head back and eat up the tender parts of the onion. When all the calçots are gone, you can try to stuff yourself with a botifarra or two.
I would have more pictures, but I had to hurry up and eat while there were still calçots left!
At the end, you can only hope someone still has the energy to go make coffee.
Time for a walk around the village.
