Catalan Sausage Casserole

Sausage casserole is one of those real winter warmers, when you need something that warms you up and is rustic and filling then this casserole will do the job! Fresh Catalan sausage is something that can be purchased on most Spanish butchers but for this recipe anything similar will do as long as its a pork sausage such (ie: Cumberland, Lincolnshire etc)

This particular dish was cooked in a clay/terracotta baking tray or 'bandeja', with plenty of depth it allowed for a generous splash of wine as well as vegetables and chickpeas making this meal as about as hearty as it gets. Piping hot from the oven and this casserole is packed full of flavour.

Ingredients:

8 - 10 Sausages
2 Onions, chopped
1 Red bell pepper, sliced
1 Green pepper, sliced
200g chickpeas, soaked
2 Fresh sprigs rosemary
2 Fresh sprigs thyme
2 Glasses white wine
2 Bay leaves
Ground black pepper & salt to season
Olive oil

How to make:

1. Lightly brown the sausages in a frying pan or cazuela.

2. Place the sausages and and all the ingredients into a terracotta baking tray.

3. Season and place the fresh herbs over the top.

4. Cover with kitchen foil and cook in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.

5. Remove foil and cook for another 40 minutes adding more wine if required.

6. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Terracotta Cookware Instructions

Catalan Spinach

This is a traditional Catalan way to serve spinach which we tried with our visiting neighbours from Barcelona - they seem to put pine nuts in everything!  It a lovely side dish which can also be served on toast as a tapa.

Ingredients:

1 kilo (2.2lbs) fresh spinach

70g (2.5 oz) raisins

4 tablespoons pine nuts

2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

150ml (5 fl.oz) olive oil

Salt

Method:

1.    Put the raisins to soak in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

2.    Meanwhile, lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and set aside.

3.    Thoroughly wash the spinach, drain, remove the stems and tear up roughly

4.    Peel the onion and chop finely, peel and crush the garlic.

5.    Heat the oil in a large frying pan or terracotta cazuela and slowly cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.

6.    Remove the raisins from the water and drain.

7.    Add the spinach and mix well with the oil so it gets a good coating.

8.    Add the pine nuts and the raisins to the pan, mix well and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes until the spinach has wilted and turns dark green

9.    Season with salt and serve

You can also add 150g(5.25 oz) chickpeas to the pan when you add the spinach or top the whole dish with a few green olives cut into quarters

Serves 4-6

Catalan Calcots

Catalan Calcots served with Romesco sauce is a real springtime treat, typical to Catalonia. We have been lucky enough to experience this feast on a few occasions and this recipe is provided with help of our good friend and neighbour Montse and her Dad Rafael who have been preparing and serving calcots for generations, literally from seed to table...

Ingredients

Home made Salsa Romesco:

250g Toasted almonds
150g Toasted hazelnuts
4 Walnuts
100g pine nuts
1 Dried sweet red pepper or (nora), roughly chopped
¼ Dried chilli pepper, roughly chopped
6 Medium ripe vine tomatoes
7 Cloves garlic
3 Calçots
Salt
Tablespoon white wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil

Equipment:
Natural wood fired BBQ, newspaper for wrapping.

Method:

* Roast the vine tomatoes, two of the calçots and the garlic on the barbeque, keeping one clove of garlic aside. Allow the vegetables to cool and then peel removing the seeds from the tomatoes too.

* Place the almonds and hazelnuts, sweet pepper, chilli, all the vegetables, salt and vinegar into a blender or food processor and mix well.

* Slowly add the olive oil as you continue to mix (about 300ml, as the nuts will make the salsa quite thick and textured)

* Keep mixing, slowly adding the oil until the sauce is smooth and thick.

* Check the seasoning and spoon the Romesco into a cazuela or small tapas bowl, cover and keep in a cool place for a day or so until you are ready to enjoy.

For the Calcots:

For this Catalan recipe you will need 5 dozen calcots or "scallions" in their entirety. Give them a quick rinse under the cold tap and leave to dry. The barbeque coals are the crucial to success with this recipe – a thick layer of hot coals or "brassa" is ideal, place the scallions on top of the grill and cook until the undersides of the scallions turn black. Rotate and cook until they are black all over (20 – 30 minutes and don not be afraid to burn them slightly). Once cooked wrap them up into bundles of 12 using good old fashoined newspaper. Your Catalan “Calcots” are now ready to eat!

Read the full article inc prepping Calcots here

Photo credits: Montse Capdevila


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