River Ebro Babble

I’m so looking forward to weekend! We have been invited to a “Calҫotada -a Catalan Onion Fiesta. A calҫot is a long thin onion – a bit like a spring onion but about the size of a leek! It is unique to Catalonia and (I’m fairly sure) originated here in Tarragona. At this time of year you see bundles of them for sale in supermarkets and occasionally you see a “come and pick your own” sign. They sometimes appear on menus in restaurants but the only way to really eat calҫots is outdoors with a gathering of friends at a calҫot barbeque. They are served with a traditional sauce made from roasted almonds, hazlenuts, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and pimiento ground together with a pestle and mortar.

Calҫots are prepared over a large open fire. The green tops of the onions and the roots are trimmed a little but they are not washed. They are then placed in neat rows on a wire rack and roasted until tender and the outsides are black and charred. Next bundles of them are wrapped in newspaper to keep them warm and traditionally they are served on a tile. Now the best bit! You wear your old clothes for a calҫotada and abandon any vain tendencies you may have because you are probaly going to end up looking a mess! With one hand you hold the onion at the top and with the other you pull at the bottom and remove the blackened outer layer. This gets your hands nice and black! Then dip the onion in the sauce, throw back your head, lower the onion into your mouth and chomp your way up it! It is delightfully messy! By the time you’ve eaten your way through a dozen or your hands and face are saucy and sooty and the table is piled high with onion remains. The humble onion – who would think that you could have a day dedicated to eating it! For me this is the charm of the Catalan way of life- the enthusiasm for simple pleasures, eating and drinking and being with friends – which after all is what a calҫotada is all about. As the Catalans say “Mes que una ceba! It is more than just an onion!