TOURISM · VILANOVA I LA GELTRÚ

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“Suquets”, "all cremat" (toasted garlic), "sípia a la bruta" (cuttlefish) or "bull de tonyina" (tuna fish dish) are just a few dishes from the traditional seafood cuisine that often uses local farm products not found elsewhere, such as "espigalls" or "brotons" (cabbage shoots or buds). But the most emblematic dish is the well-known XATÓ, a bed of crinkly lettuce dressed in the sauce from which it gets its name.

GASTRONOMY

OTHER WEB SITES:

The Xató route

Xató de Vilanova

Sípia a la Bruta

Sarsuela

Allipebre de Conill amb Galeres

All Cremat

Xató de Vilanova (Salad with fish and Xató, a tipical dressing)

RECIPE

Ingredients for 6 people
For the sauce	For the dish
• 2 medium-sized cloves of garlic • 35 roasted almonds and 12 roasted hazelnuts • 8 hot peppers, scalded or macerated in wine • Crumb of bread soaked in vinegar • Oil to taste • Salt • Wine(optional)	• 2 curly endive or escarole • 200 g of salt cod, soaked to remove the salt, and dried • 150 g of tuna, soaked to remove the salt, and dried • 18 fillets of de-salted anchovies • Black olives and Arbequine olives.

Crush the cloves of garlic in a pestle and mortar with the salt, so that they do not fall out. Once they are well crushed, gradually add the almonds and hazelnuts until you have a smooth paste. Scrape out the inside of the hot peppers that have been scalded or macerated in wine and add this pulp to the mortar. Blend it in, then add the bread soaked in vinegar, slightly drained, and go on mixing. When it is ready keep on stirring slowly and gradually add the oil and the wine used to macerate the peppers until the sauce has the desired consistency. Drain the escarole well and place it in a large salad dish. Add a little of the sauce, mix well, and put on the plates. Once on the plate, add the tuna, cod, and anchovies. Let each guest add a little more sauce to their own taste.

THE "XATONADA"

The XATÓ has always been closely associated with wine-drinking. The ceremony of tapping the wine barrel consisted in inserting a small tap so that the wine could be drawn out. This was the sign for the FESTA to begin, and was celebrated with a special dish. The dish was made up of the salty ingredients, anchovy, tuna and salt cod, that were the usual fare in the farmer's pantry, and accompanied with winter salad leaves and some olives. It was enriched with a sauce, made using unmistakably Arabic techniques, that was commonly used among local farming people in more or less elaborate forms.
They did not have to look very far to find a name for the dish. XATÓ comes from “aixeta”, the word for tap.
It seems appropriate for a town to return to its origins, take up the tradition again and celebrate by sharing it with others. The celebration takes place two Sundays before carnival.

GASTRONOMY

But there is more to local cuisine than XATÓ; the secret of good cooking lies in the fresh fish and seafood brought in from our coast. The fish is always very fresh when it reaches the table. The traditional knowledge of our sailors, handed down from father to son, has enriched the local cuisine with such dishes as: "bull de tonyina", "all cremat", "rossejat", "espineta", "ranxos de peix", "gibrellada"...

And down by the sea are Vilanova's market gardens. The local farmers come to market every day loaded with freshly-picked: artichokes, tomatoes, crinkly lettuces and all kinds of fresh vegetables with all their traditional flavour. "Espigalls" (cabbage shoots) are worth a special mention, as they come from this region.

“Suquets”, all cremat (toasted garlic), sípia a la bruta (cuttlefish) or bull de tonyina (tuna fish dish) are just a few dishes from the traditional seafood cuisine that often uses local farm products not found elsewhere, such as "espigalls" or "brotons" (cabbage shoots or buds). But the most emblematic dish is the well-known XATÓ, a bed of escarole dressed in the sauce from which it gets its name.

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Sípia a la Bruta (Cuttlefish "a la Bruta")

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 people
• 1,300 g of cuttlefish • 1,500 g of potatoes • 2 ripe, skinned tomatoes • 1 onion	• 3 cloves of garlic • olive oil • white wine • parsley, water and salt

Put the olive oil and all the raw ingredients, except the potatoes, into a casserole.

Add salt and cover with water. Cook for 45-60 minutes until the cuttlefish is cooked.

10 minutes before removing from the heat add the potatoes.

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Sarsuela (Seafood casserole)

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 people
• 1/2 kg of mussels • 4 Norway lobsters • 4 prawns • 2 sliced squids • 4 pieces of monkfish • 4 pieces of hake • 1 onion	• 2 tomatoes • olive oil • salt • pepper • fish broth • 1 glass of brandy • fried bread cut into dices

Slice the squid and fry in a frying pan. Add the onion and tomato when the onion turns golden add the brandy. Reduce the sauce.

Fry the fish and shellfish separately. Boil the mussels until they open.

Put all the ingredients into an earthenware casserole and add the fish broth.

Cook. Serve hot, garnished with dices of fried bread.

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Allipebre de Conill amb Galeres (Rabbit with mantis shrimps, garlic and pepper)

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 people
• 4 dried hot peppers • 5 cloves of garlic • 10 almonds • 2 slices of fried bread • olive oil • pepper	• salt • 1 litre of water • 3/4 kg potatoes • 400 g haricot beans • a rabbit cut into pieces • 8 mantis shrimps

Scald the hot peppers in a litre of water. Keep the water and the pulp for later.

Use a pestle and mortar to crush the peeled cloves of garlic, the almonds, the thin slices of fried bread and the pulp of the hot peppers.

Fry the mantis shrimps in a saucepan and put them aside for later. Season the rabbit with salt and pepper and fry it in the oil used for the shrimps.

Water down the paste in the mortar with the liquid used to scald the hot peppers and pour it over the rabbit. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes and, when they are almost done, the mantis shrimps, and, gradually, the beans.

Check the seasoning. Simmer for not more than 10 minutes and... enjoy your meal!

All Cremat (Sizzled garlic)

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 people
• 750g. clean fish • Fish broth • 3 small tomatoes • 750g. potatoes	• A bulb of garlic • Olive oil • salt

We put the casserole with olive oil. When oil will be hot, put the bulb of garlic in it.Remove it in order that they do not burn. Once golden well add the tomatoes grated.

After add the potatoes cut to dice, remove it and throw half fish broth ( if you don’t have it, you can use water).

Once done it, place the fish clean with little salt distributed by the casserole. Add the rest of the fish broth until cover the fish.

When potatoes are cooked, it’s time to withdrow it of the fire.
Try that the broth isn’t consumed. Before serving, it is necessary to leave it in rest for a few minutes. It taste better.

This seaworthy local dish is possible to make it with all kinds of fish. But the preferable species could be like anglerfish, sea-bream or bass.

If we use hake we have to put it when potatoes will be practically cooked.

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