Catalan cuisine is in a category of its own within the realms of other Mediterranean foods.


Dishes such as escalivada, esqueixada, or Bacalla a la llauna, simple things such as pa amb tomaquet (recipe below), and famous desserts like crema catalana are but some of the specialties you will learn how to make during your gastronomical holiday.


Apart from its fabulous Priorat wines, this area also produces a delicious olive oil made from arbequina olives. This oil is produced right here in El Masroig, and its acidity is no more than 0.3 degrees, a true sign of quality.


Alicia and Jonathan will welcome you as if you were part of the family. From the moment you arrive at the Barcelona airport, where we will pick you up, you will not have to worry about anything but enjoying a relaxing vacation. Each day you will learn how to cook a new Catalan dish. Daily excursions will enable you to discover most of the Priorat and visit its vineyards, wine producers, and olive oil presses.


This program will enable you to learn the basics of Catalan cuisine as you will have a total of six classes of approximately three hours duration each. The fourteen meals you will be having during this time, five of which are in restaurants, will allow you to sample a wide variety of different Catalan dishes. The Priorat wines will no longer be a secret to you after the wine tasting session at “Can Miquelet del Mano”, and the many trips to vineyards and a wine museum. You will not only love the olive oil that you will be using on a daily basis, but you will also get a chance to see how it is made.


The daily excursions will unveil most of the Priorat and its history so that when the time comes to leave, you will truly feel you have discovered the essence of this beautiful region. This is also your vacation and so we want you to have time to relax as well, and if you have any requests for a change in the planned schedule, we will surely try and accommodate your needs.


THE TOUR INCLUDES:
- Transport to and from Barcelona to "Can Miquelet del Mano"

- 5 hands-on Catalan cuisine classes
- 6 nights accommodation at our private boutique hotel/cooking school

- 1 welcome appéritif (lunch)
- 4 restaurant lunches and 1 Catacurian lunch

- 6 breakfasts
- 6 dinners

- 4 Priorat winery visits
- 1 private olive oil tasting presentation

- 1 private wine presentation by local enologist
- 3 cultural excursions

- All of the Priorat wines and drinks (open bar)
- Diploma, Cooking apron and recipe book, farewell gift

- All transport and entrance fees for the excursions
- Local Taxes


For further information on this and other European Culinary Vacations, visit Euro Adventuresu>
about Catalonia & Barcelona, visit Barcelona Blog

Catalonia (Catalunya) has a reputation for producing some of Spain's finest cuisine.


The region's geographical diversity means that Catalans enjoy a variety of fresh, high-quality seafood, meat, poultry, game, fruit and vegetables. These can come in unusual and delicious combinations: meat and seafood (a genre known as mar i muntanya - 'sea and mountain'), poultry and fruit, fish and nuts. However, really high grade Catalan fare tends to require deep, full pockets - unless, of course, you are fortunateenough to be in Catalonia.


Catalan Cuisine


The essence of Catalan food lies in its meat and fish sauces of which there are five staples:
1. Sofregit - fried onion, tomato and garlic

2. Samfaina (or Chanfaina) - sofregit with red pepper and aubergine or courgettes
3. Picada - ground almonds, usually with garlic, parsley, pine or hazel nuts, and sometimes breadcrumbs

4. Allioli - pounded garlic with olive oil, often with egg yolk added to make more of a mayonnaise (discussed earlier on Culinary Arts Blog
5. Romesco - almonds, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and vinegar, also used as a salad dressing.


Catalans find it hard to understand why anybody would bother to put butter on bread when pa amb tomaquet (see below) - bread sliced, then rubbed with tomato, olive oil, garlic and salt - is so easy.


Other good things to look out for include oca (goose) and canalons (Catalan cannelloni). Wild mushrooms are a Catalan passion - people disappear into the forests in autumn to pick them. There are many, many types of bolets; with the large succulent rovellons being a favourite.


Pa Amb Tomaquet

Pa amb tomaquet is a very easy traditional Catalan starter course which may sometimes topped with cured, sliced botifarras (sausages) or anchovies. Whether serving this dish as an appetizer or starter course, the host provides the toast and ingredients and the guests traditionally prepare their own meal.


Ingredients (for four portions):


Four slices thick good crusty bread. (The original base used to be made with toasted slices of pa de pagès - Catalan peasants' bread)
1 - Tomato, halved

1 - Clove garlic, halved
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Good Quality Sea Salt to taste.


Preparation:


Grill or toast bread slices and deliver to the table hot.
Allow your guests to continue from here, under your 'expert' guidance!

Rub grilled bread with garlic halves
Thoroughly rub the tomato halves into the toast to soak the surface.

Drizzle with good olive oil to taste, then sprinkle with some sea salt.
Serve toast hot.



For more information on Catalonia and Barcelona, visit Barcelona Blog

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