Vegetable
Calçot
Allium cepa
An onion made to grow twice: the bulb is replanted and earthed up until it sends out long white shoots. You eat them charred black outside, wearing a bib and standing up.
When
Around: Dec–Apr · At its best: Jan–Mar
Around: Dec–Apr · At its best: Jan–Mar
Around: Jun–Oct · At its best: Jul–Sept
Around here
It comes from Valls (Alt Camp), which holds the Gran Festa de la Calçotada on the last Sunday of January. Calçot de Valls PGI is grown from the late white Lleida onion in the Alt Camp, Tarragonès, Baix Camp and Baix Penedès. The classic way is to roast them over burning vine cuttings and dip them in salvitxada or romesco.
At the market
- Straight, with a good hand's length of white part and roughly as thick as a finger.
- Firm, unblemished white part; green tops upright with no dry tips.
- Avoid any with a hard flower stalk in the middle: late in the season they bolt.
- Buying bunches for a calçotada? Allow 20-25 per hungry person.
At home
- Unwashed, wrapped in newspaper, somewhere cool: they keep for about a week.
- In the fridge salad drawer in an open bag, around 7-10 days.
- Once roasted, wrap them in newspaper: they stay hot and finish cooking through.
If you have too much
- Leftover roasted ones, peeled, keep 2-3 days in the fridge: good in an omelette or on a coca.
- Raw, trimmed and chopped, they freeze without blanching for sofritos and stews.
- Make a soup with calçots, potato and a little stock, finished with a swirl of romesco.
In the kitchen
- Calçotada: over fierce embers until black, pull off the outer layer and into the sauce.
- No embers? A very hot oven, wrapped in foil.
- Dipped in tempura batter with romesco on the side.
- Slow-confited in oil to go with grilled meat.
- Chopped into an omelette or a rice dish instead of spring onion.
What it brings
There's no reliable figure for this one in the tables, so we don't make one up.
Goes with
- ArtichokeNov–MayIt's a flower bud eaten before it opens. It also leaves a sweet aftertaste that makes water, or wine, taste different straight afterwards.
- OrangeNov–MayOranges don't ripen once picked: what you buy is what you get. So it pays to know how to choose them.
- EndiveOct–MarBitter outside and almost sweet at the heart, which is yellow because the outer leaves keep the light off it. Cold weather makes it more tender.