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Ingredients
3 large tomatoes, thickly sliced
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
24 green olives
1 large Spanish onion, very thinly sliced
1 large roasted red pepper (see Escalivada, below), cut into strips
Crunchy lettuce, as much as you require
200g tinned tuna
8 plump anchovy fillets
Method
This is one of the most common of restaurant salads, and with it you can
improvise to your heart’s content, but don’t toss the ingredients all together
– it’s a composed salad, laid out on a plate, rather than a bowl of mixed salad.
For a more elaborate dish, you can add shredded carrot or pickled vegetables,
sliced cheese or thinly cut dry-cured ham or pork, salami or spiced sausage.
Dress the salad with salt and olive oil.
Escalivada
This fantastic mix of grilled peppers, onions and aubergine is a restaurant and
domestic staple. It’s usually available as a starter or an accompaniment to grills
and roasts, or you can buy it ready-made on deli counters in Catalan markets.
It’s also very easy to make.
Ingredients
2 large aubergines
4 red peppers
4 small onions
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped very finely (optional)
Salt
Method
Grill the vegetables whole on a barbecue, or under a grill, turning them until
the skins are blackened all over. Or simply place them on separate trays and
roast them in the oven on a high heat for the same effect – you’ll still need to
turn them periodically.When they are done, put the blackened vegetables in a
shallow casserole dish or on a tray and cover them with a cloth or lid for ten
minutes (some people place them in a paper bag).This process allows them to
steam while they cool down, making it easier to remove the blackened skins.
When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skins. Slice the soft internal
pulp of the aubergine into strips; seed the peppers and cut into thin strips;
remove the tough outer skin of the onions and separate out the soft inner
leaves. Spread out the vegetables on a serving dish, dribble with oil, scatter with
minced garlic if you like, and season with salt.
Espinacs a la Catalana
“Catalan spinach” can either be served as a starter or as an accompaniment to a
main dish.You can use greens instead of fresh spinach, but you should remove
the hard stems before cooking.
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Catalan cookery