Letter from food blogger Erika Shimahara

Last week I gave a foody tour to Erika Shimahara, a blogger that writes a gorgeous food blog: The Big "E" (for "eater"). We toured the Boqueria Market as well as my favorite food stores in the Old Town. She wrote a great post on the sweet part of the tour, and I left her a little comment on it. This is the email she sent me in return:

Dear Marta,

Thank you for your comment on my blog!

I am back in California, overcoming jet lag at the moment.

I sincerely appreciated the tour your provided. I learned a lot and you showed me some terrific places.

I saw you a few days later at Sagrada Familia, but you were quite engaged in giving a tour so I kept quiet. I kept thinking about how the group you were guiding was fortunate to have you!

I went back to Quim's and Pinotxo again on my own and tried to talk to the cooks. They were very nice to me. I felt terrible taking photos, unable to speak to them in anything but horrible, broken Spanish. They must have thought I was just another crazy tourist! In any case, I was very appreciative of their kindness, and wished I could have conveyed this to them.

I hope we have an opportunity to cross paths again, Marta. You were a excellent guide.

Bona Pasqua!

Best wishes,

Erika

PS: By the way, I'm sure the chefs at la Boqueria haven't thought at all she was "still another crazy tourist": Erika is so delicately well behaved and charming!
I also wished to share that by the time I'm writing this post, she has already added another great post on her stay in Barcelona. It's about our Chocolate Eggs tradition for Easter Monday - "la Mona". You can't miss it!

My first real post for PromptGuides

Hi again!

So after my interview has been published, now my first post in the Promptguides TravelBlog is up!
It's on Calçots, the delicious green onions we devour this time of the year.
Some of the information had already been posted in this blog, but some interesting facts are new.
Check the Blog link above to read it!

My videos are finally online at KISS FROM THE WORLD

Hi!

Do you remember last july I spent a day with Domenico and Giulia from the Kiss From The World website? I posted an article here about my day with them.

After their world tour this summer, they are back to work and the videos we recorded are finally online! and soon new pics and the contact data of all the people interviewed will be online aswell!

Check out here my own presentation, or our walk through the Boqueria Market, and also other very interesting interviews of very special Barcelonians!


I want to thank Domenico and Giulia for all their work and for the fun day we spent together, I wish them a big success with their project.
Avete una amica a Barcellona! (You have a friend in Barcelona!)

It's calçot's season!

 

Delicious grilled sweet green onions dipped in romesco sauce. Yummy!
This kind of delicacy is only found in the market from January to end of March, and they constitute a good excuse for Catalan to socialize. To us, "calçotades" (gatherings to eat calçots) are to Catalan what barbeques are to American.

But if you don't have the chance to be invited by a local to one of these events, where can you at least try them?
In Barcelona many tapas bars like Cerveseria Catalana include them in their menu during this season. Traditional restaurants also serve them. An affordable option is the Mussol restaurant chain.

But if you prefer something more authentic, I can take you on a Day Trip where we'll stop for lunch at some traditional restaurant. Our options are:

- Montserrat
- Penedès Wine Country
- Sitges
- Tarragona

By the way, find my mom's romesco sauce recipe in my blog, and also discover the secrets of how to eat calçots "the authentic way".

Panellets, Catalan All Saint's Eve dessert

All Saint's in Catalonia is a festivity that is far from the scary anglo-saxon Halloween (even if unfortunately globalisation is spreading Halloween parties over hear as well... people wants to do what they see in the movies!)

All Saints is a time to be with the family, if possible by the fire and telling stories, visit your death ones in the cemetery, and eating chestnuts, sweet potatoes and... panellets!

Although you can buy them in all pastry shops and supermarkets these days, it's fun to cook them at home.

PANELLETS RECIPE, as explained by the E&A Gispert Nut Roasters since 1851.

FOR THE BASIC PASTE you'll need (around 40 units):
- 250gr (8.8 ounces) of sugar
- 500 (17.6 ounces) of sliced almond
- 3 eggs.
NOTE: some recepies add also one boiled big potatoe, but I prefer to trust the experts, so here we won't use it.

FOR SPECIAL PANELLETS you can use:
- either 150gr (5.2 ounces) of pine nuts
- or 150gr (5.2 ounces) of sliced or miced almond
- or 1 bag of candied cherries
- or 1 bag of grated coconut
- or 1 pack of candy quince
- or 1 lemon
- or some ground coffee
- or some cacao powder

TO DO THE BASIC PASTE mix the sugar and the almonds with the eggs and work it until it becomes a thin paste. Let it rest for 24h (or if you don't have that much time, keep working on the paste longer, and do not let it go too soft). If the paste gets too dry, you can add a little bit of water or another egg.
Now make little balls (the size of golf balls), and you have your basic panellets ready to decorate!

TO DO SPECIAL PANELLETS SPECIALTIES YOU CAN:
- Dip the panellets in egg white, then roll them over a surface full of pine nuts until the balls are completely covered by the nuts (it's easier if your hands are wet). To finish, paint the panellets with egg yolk. They are the most popular ones.
- For the almond panellets, same thing but here the panellets won't have a ball shape but a half-moon shape (croissant like), to follow the tradition.
- For the cherry ones, make a ball and stick half a candy cherry on the top.
- For the coconut panellets, you'll have to mix the basic paste with as much coconut. Make either balls or pyramids.
- For the quince ones, slice the quince in small pieces, and stick a piece on the top of each panellet. They can be balls or long shaped.
- For the lemon ones, mix the basic paste with the skin of the lemon and some drops of its juice. Make balls and cover them with sugar or whisked eggs.
- For the coffee or chocolate panellets: mix the basic paste with the coffee or the cacao and make balls.

More ideas to stimulate your creativity: use marmelade, orange, other type of nuts... And try other shapes: mushroom-like, triangles...

TO FINISH OUR PANELLETS, bake them in the oven at a quite hot temperature for 10 minutes. Panellets dry as they cool down. They taste better one or two days after they have been baked.

Serve as desert with some sweet wine (moscatel wine is highly reccomended!)

Chestnuts and Sweet Potatoes

 

 

Now that it starts to be colder, it's always good to warm up a bit, specially when you are walking around.
In autumn you can find the "Castanyeres", roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes vendors. Buy a cone and share it with your friends sitting on a bench in a park or boulevard, and savour one of the little autumn pleasures.

This year you'll find a Castanyera in the crossing of Rambla, Boqueria and Cardenal Casañas streets.

June 23rd - Saint John's Eve

Saint John's Eve is a big event everywhere in Catalonia. The night of the summer solstice is a night of magic and fire.

In many villages and some Barcelona traditional neighborhoods people will lit big fires (jump accross for good luck). It's the night of fireworks and powder. People will organize dinners that will end with cava (local sparkling wine) toasts and the traditional Saint John's desert: coca of all kinds (pine nuts, glazed fruits, cream, lardons...) yummy!


There will be lots of macro-parties and late-night dancing in clubs (we could compare it to New Year's Eve). If you stay up until the sunrise, then you must bath in the sea for more good luck. And after that, finish the night eating churros and hot chocolate (you'll find bars in la Rambla and the Old Town will be open around 6-7am).

To find ideas on what to do for that night, check out the day newspapers: usually La Vanguardi and El Periodico publish nice listings (and ask the receptionist of your hotel to translate it for you!). And if you are planning to go out for dinner... remember to get your reservation ASAP!!!!

Enjoy the beggining of the summer!

Calçots sauce, the way my mom does it!

For those that want to try to eat it at home, here is the recipe as my mom does it! Enjoy!

YOU'LL NEED:

1 garlic bulb

3 red tomatoes

1 slice of bread

A handful of roasted almonds and hazelnuts

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil, vinager and salt, as much as you like.

Some sweet red pepper powder.
1 sweet red pepper (a local one called "nyora", not the salad kind: smaller, roundish and a bit spicy). It is sold dry and you'll have to put it in water to soften it. Here is a picture (I took it beside an onion to give you an idea of its size):

INSTRUCTIONS:

Roast the garlic bulb and the tomatoes in the oven.

Frie the slice of bread.

Mix all the ingredients in the mixer.

Done! Good appetite!

It's CALÇOTS time!

Hi again!

Wintertime is the Calçot season in Catalonia: both a social event and a culinary experience for the locals!

Calçots are a special type of green onion that is harvested in the winter. Catalan people organize "calçotades" with their friends and families, that could be socially considered our equivalent to summer american BBQs.

We get together and buy litterally hundreds of units (one serving is around 10-12 calçots). We grill them in the barbecue until they are quite burnt outside, and they are traditionally served on roof tiles to preserve the heat.

Before starting to eat, you must remember to put on a bib (if you are eating them in a restaurant, they'll provide them for you). And now you are ready!

First of all, pinch the root end of your calçot with your fingers, and pull the burnt skin out. It's the easiest way to clean the calçot.

Then dip the white tender part of the onion in the calçot sauce (a local sauce very similar to romesco... another Catalan sauce).

Keep grabbing the calçot by the green leaves, lift up your arm and aim the calçot at your mouth. Be careful with the sauce drops!

So you see, this is a fun (but a bit dirty too) tradition!

If you are not lucky enough to be invited by local friends, you can still try the calçots in most good tapas bars and traditional Catalan restaurants, even in some market bars.

But if you have an extra day left, I reccomend you to take the RENFE train to Valls, the hometown of Calçots.

Have fun and good appettite!