Calçotada - The Catalan Obsession with the Onion
There is a winter obsession in Catalunya. An obsession with onions. More specifically, a type of onion called the calçot. This obsession runs so deep that there is a name for the rampant Dionysian gatherings celebrating these onions: the calçotada. Catalans gather together and imbibe hundreds of thousands of calçots every weekend, roasted until blackened over an open fire then slurped up with a rich nutty sauce similar to romesco, paired with lashings of local wine, and followed by an array of barbecued meats.
Calçots in Cadaques
I love an onion. Perhaps the most humble and underrated of all vegetables, whilst also fundamentally integral to most cuisines the world over. Like the bassist or the drummer of a band, rarely in the limelight, but you would really notice if they were missing. Onions provide a foundation of flavour, bringing subtle sweetness and magical umami to all manner of dishes. Often the first ingredient in the pan, but rarely is an onion the star of the show.
Then I realised; these celebrations aren’t just about calçots. This is a way of bringing warmth and light to life during the shorter darker months. This is about celebrating the working class hero of ingredients for a change. This is about allowing reason for coming together with friends and family and sharing food. There is always a celebratory feel to eating calcots, this isn’t any old lunch, this is a calçotada!
A calçot looks like a cross between a leek and a spring onion, but has been both bred and grown to be sweeter, larger and whiter than its relatives. When you find them in a market they are often covered in dirt, a sign of their authenticity. The farmer piles dirt up against their base as they grow, shielding them from the sun and helping keep the onion white and sweet by prohibiting the development of chlorophyll.
The traditional sauce for a calçotada is sometimes called salsa calçots, but is essentially a variation on romesco. Much like a gazpacho, there is no official recipe, and there are variations from cook to cook, and many a closely guarded family secret.
In essence the sauce should be made of roasted red peppers, thickened with nuts and sometimes bread, with a little acidity from lemon or vinegar, a generous amount of garlic and an even more generous amount of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Here is a recipe that can be easily made with ingredients from most supermarkets.
Ingredients
Serves 4
20 Calcots (hunt around for the real thing at a local market or Spanish shop if you can, or failing that find some baby leeks or some big juicy spring onions just don’t say that I said so)
1 Newspaper
100g Roasted and salted almonds
100g Roasted hazelnuts
50ml Sundried red pepper paste (known as ñora paste in Spain, or Biber Salçası in Turkish - alternatively roast a red pepper in a hot oven until blackened, remove the seeds and skin, and use the flesh)
50g Sundried tomatoes
2 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
2 tsp Sherry vinegar
100ml Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
Put the nuts, red pepper, tomato, garlic and vinegar together in a blender. Add enough water to cover and blend until you have a chunky consistency.
Slowly add the olive oil whilst blending to emulsify the sauce. You want the sauce to be able to cling to the calçot. Season to taste.
Roast the calçots on a hot barbecue or open fire until blackened on the outside.
Wrap them in newspaper and leave them to continue steaming and cooking whilst the rest are on the fire.
Hold the calçot with the newspaper and strip off the outer layer to reveal the soft centre, dip in the sauce and get as much in your mouth in one go as possible.
Enjoy with a glass of wine, preferably something from Catalunya, perhaps a Xarel-lo from Penedes or a Garnatxa from Montsant.