Carmen, one of our writers at Big Blog Media is from Barclona (you can read her blog about FC Barcelona) and she always raving about Catalonia (Catalunya) and Catalan Cuisine. Catalonia is in the North East of Spain and the food is a quintessentially Mediterranean cuisine as Catalan recipes are a legacy of prolonged contact with the peoples from all corners of the mare nostrum, especially Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Sicilians - not to mention plenty of influences from southern France.

Catalunya produces an extraordinary variety of foodstuffs: wild mushrooms and game from the Pyrenees, olives, grapes and wheat from the hilly heartland, all manner of fruits, vegetables, and nuts from the irrigated lowlands, rice and eels from the river deltas, and a great variety of fish and shellfish from Catalunya’s 500 km of coastline.


One of the fundamentals of Catalan cooking is 'Allioli' sometimes written 'All-I-Oli' which means, literally, garlic(all) and oil(oli). Originally, these were the only two ingredients and they produced a very fiery sauce. Today, however, these are 'tamed'. This simple recipe is a good example. The sauce usually accompanies roast meats and potatoes, though many Catalans use it as a sort of ketchupwith just about anything. In texture and consistency, alliolli not unlike mayonnaise.


5 large garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg
1 cup olive oil


1. Mash the garlic and salt together in mortar until it is a paste. In a food processor, process the egg for 30 seconds.


2. Add the garlic paste to the food processor and slowly drizzle in the oil until absorbed. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before using. Keep refrigerated for up to a week.


Makes 1 1/2 cups