Catalonia offers very many culinary specialities, combining sea produce and products of the land. Its gastronomy is rich and varied and is a delight for the finest palates. Tomato, garlic, olive oil, Serrano or Jabugo ham, shellfish, fish and meat, snails, fresh and dried vegetables, the use of sweet spices and mushrooms have made its gastronomy famous. The variety of succulent fresh fruits has also contributed to this reputation.

With regard to drinks, you really have to taste Orxata, a refreshing soft drink with the taste of barley water, manufactured with the roots of Chufa, and granizados, very sweet fresh fruit juices prepared in centrifuge machines in cafés. The beer (cerveza) which is called "Cana" for a draught beer is also a very popular drink. The many quality vineyards have given Catalonia many DO appellations (indicating that the quality of the wine is monitored) as well as Cava, Catalan champagne, a semi-sparkling, very pleasant wine.
And you must also try Moscatel, a very fruity fortified wine.

The main Catalan specialities

Pa amb Tomaquet

(recipe below)

Garlic soup

(see recipe below)

Calçotadas

Young onions cooked over embers and dipped in Romesco sauce (a sauce made of tomato, fried bread, grilled almonds, flavoured with garlic and hot red peppers, herbs, vinegar and spices)
This dish is very popular in Catalonia.

Conill amb cargols>

(Rabbit in sauce with small grey snails)

Zarzuela

(A dish containing firm-fleshed fish tossed in olive oil, with tomato, garlic, onion, cinnamon, sherry, bay leaves, paprika. Before serving, the zarzuela is flamed in brandy, and squid, crawfish, clams and mussels are added)

Fideua

(Catalan paella, rice is replaced by vermicelli type pasta)

Suquet de Peix

(The speciality of Rosas, it’s a bouillabaisse (thick fish soup) see recipe below)

Arroz negre

(Rice with squid, cooked with its ink)

Peus de porc estofat

(pig’s trotters)

Bacallà a la llauna

(Cod cooked à la plancha and sprinkled with garlic, pimento and tomato sauce, accompanied by grilled sweet peppers)

Tiro amb naps

(Duck with turnips)

Escabeche

(See recipe below)

Escalivada

(Sweet peppers, aubergines, sweet onions, tomatoes roasted then marinated in olive oil and garlic)

Esqueixada

(Onion and tomato salad, olives covered with raw de-salted cod)

Crema catalana

(Burnt cream flavoured with cinnamon and lemon)

Mel i mato

(Fresh ewe’s cheese sprinkled with honey)

Churros y bunyols

(doughnuts)>

Brazo de gitano

(Rolled biscuit flavoured with rum covered with icing sugar then marked with a red-hot iron)

Recipe for all I oli

8 cloves of garlic, 2 dl olive oil, salt, wine vinegar. Peel the cloves of garlic. Throw in the mortar and sprinkle with a teaspoon of fine salt. Crush the garlic with the pestle to obtain a consistent very smooth cream. Add oil in drops and stir, with the pestle, with each addition to make the mixture smooth and creamy. After using half the oil, add a half teaspoon of vinegar and stir to stiffen the mixture. Continue as before adding the oil.
To eat on slightly toasted bread or with desalted then poached cod, accompanied by hard-boiled eggs, beans, potatoes and raw tomatoes.

Pa amb tomaquet

Liberally rub slices of bread (lightly toasted or not) with a clove of garlic, then rub them with a fresh ripe tomato, pour over olive oil, add salt.
To taste with serrano ham or botifarra, lomo (embutits: cooked meats)

Soup with garlic

Boil a half litre of water with thyme and two heads of peeled garlic for 10 minutes. During this time, beat an egg yolk with olive oil until thick. Off the heat, gradually incorporate the stock after removing the heads of garlic.
Add two slices of stale bread and some slices of spicy chorizo, and serve immediately.

L'Escabeche

(Can be prepared with all red-meat fish: tuna, bonito, mackerel, sardine, and anchovy).
Clean 800g of fish, marinate for 12 hours in white wine vinegar. Remove the bones, drain well. Brown 3 sweet onions cut in rings in olive oil, add the juice of a lemon and thyme. In a terrine, alternate layers of fish, cooked onions, fresh garlic and fresh parsley. Pour olive oil evenly over then leave to rest in a cool place for 24 hours.

Suquet de Peix

Prepare a sogefrit (1 sweet onion with a glass of water in a pan, on an average heat for 10 minutes, then add 10 c1 of olive oil, l tomato, 1 clove of garlic, a handful of parsley and a green pepper cut into dice, simmer for 15 minutes) and reserve in an earthenware dish. Add 1,500 kg of cleaned rock fish, cover with water, add some slices of firm-fleshed potatoes, 3, cloves of garlic, pepper and salt, a dose of saffron then cook on a high heat until the potatoes are soft.