Sunday, 23 February 2014

The First Calçotada in Rotterdam.

Last Saturday Marc invited us to a calçotada here in Rotterdam. Here's some wiki info of what a calçot is:


Calçot (Catalan pronunciation: [kəɫˈsɔt]) is a type of scallion or green onion known as blanca gran tardana in the Catalan language from LleidaCataloniaSpain. The calçot from Valls(TarragonaCatalonia) is a registered EU Protected Geographical Indication.[1]
Calçots are milder and less bulbous than onions and have a length of between 15 and 25 cm (white part) and a diameter of 1.7 to 2.5 cm at the root. Planted in trenches, like an onion, as a single bulb, and successively increasing the depth of the soil around the stems throughout autumn and winter, they sprout into 4-10 shoots, roughly the shape of smallleeks.
Calçotada is an annual event in TarragonaCatalonia celebrating the harvest of Calçot. It is grilled in newspaper, served on terra cotta tiles and eaten with romesco sauce along with an accompaniment of red wine and white cava.[2]

I was obviously very excited to get this invitation as calçots only grow in Catalunya and are practically impossible to get out of that region. Marc took on the mission of bringing over 30 kg of calçots to Rotterdam in a body bag, impressive! Together with more people they made a perfectly delicious romesco sauce to go with them and even a whole pig was roasted! What a feast! 
It was a very cozy evening, sat round a big hot fire with full bellies, dirty hands and nice company. 
Marc y Elena, muchísimas gracias por organizarlo! Trajisteis un pedacito de casa a Rotterdam, fue una noche especial. 


Roasting the up-side-down piglet!



The precious calçots about to be put on the fire. 




This seemed like a very long wait.










No comments: