Best Spanish Recipes

Calçots are a variety of scallion (Blanca Grande Tardana) native to Tarragona in Catalonia, Spain. Calçots are milder than onions and look similar to small leeks. The most traditional way of eating calçots is in a calçotada, a popular event held between the end of winter and March or April, where calçots are consumed massively. Calçots are traditionally roasted over fire in an outdoor oven but they can also be cooked in a grill, a conventional oven or on top of the stove. Calçots are traditionally served on top of upturned roof tiles, which are used as serving trays.

Romesco is a sauce originating in Tarragona, Catalonia, that is typically made from almonds and hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and nyores – small, dried red peppers. It is perhaps most often served with seafood, but can also be served with a wide variety of other foods including poultry and vegetables, particularly calçots.

A traditional Christmas dessert, Mazapán is Arabic in origin, arriving to Spain with the arab invasion of the 8th century. It is available all year around but consumed mostly in Christmas, except in Valencia, where napkins (Mocaors) filled with fruit-shaped Marzipan are given by men to their girlfriends and wives at the Mocaorà celebration on the 9th of October.