January has certainly flown past, so fast that most of us have not seen it and February is knocking on the door. February and March in Barcelona and especially the Catalan countryside is a fantastically festive time, with the Calçsot season in full swing.
This is the time of the year when the locals get together on the weekends around the BBQ´s and under the welcoming February sun and blue sky´s , to cook calçots and drink wine from the porron.
Calçots is a long onion, a variety of scallion, which is milder than your normal onion. Cooked on the flames till black on the outside, then wrapped in bunches in newspaper, so they do not dry out and get cold. Once all the calçots is cooked, THE FEAST BEGINS!!!
You put your bib on around your neck and start digging in. There is no clean hands during a Caçotada. You take the calçot by the green leaves on top, and with your other hand you pull from the bottom to extract the succulent white flesh from the charcoaled outer layer.
Calçots is served with a delicious “ salsa de romesco “, a sauce made of almonds, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, vinaigrette and olive oil. Once you start, you can not stop, I promise you!
No calçotada goes without a wine porron ( clear glass pitcher ) being passed around. The traditional Catalan way of drinking wine. The wine pours thru a thin spout. You hold the porron in one hand as you start close to your mouth and slowly pull the porron further and further away, keeping a constant stream of wine pouring into your mouth. As the crowd cheers you on, you then try to break the stream of wine as you stop, trying not to spill wine all over your face and chest. Now you understand the importance of wearing a bib !!!
To experience the best Calçotada is to be in the Catalan countryside during the Calçot season. In all the small Catalan villages, you will see the fires burning, the air filled with the aroma of food and the laughter of people enjoying this scrumptious Catalan delicacy.
VIVA CATALONIA!!!!!!!!
