Finding Florence

We spent the weekend exploring Barcelona, both by tour bus and on foot. I’ll post more about our adventures over the next few days. In the meantime, here’s a Catalan recipe—it’s very representative of Catalan cuisine.

Snails & Rabbit in Romesco Sauce | 4 servings:

8 rabbit pieces + the liver / 2 lbs of snails (weight includes shells) / 2 medium onions / 4 garlic cloves / 4 tablespoons of Romesco sauce (see recipe below) / 1 small red chili pepper / flour, salt, black ground pepper / 2 cups of water / Olive oil

Rinse the snails thoroughly. Begin heating a large, heavy pot filled with cold water. Add a few branches of thyme and a head of garlic. Toss in the snails and cover with a tight lid. Set heat to low. After a few minutes skim any foam, add a little salt, and cook for another 20 minutes. Strain and set aside.

Put some olive oil in a dutch oven. While it heats up, clean the rabbit, dry, add salt and pepper over it and coat in flour. Fry the rabbit in the dutch oven at medium heat. Set aside when golden brown.

Add the two chopped onions to the dutch oven and stir at low to medium heat until they start to brown, and then add the chopped garlic. Stir until fragrant. Add the chili and the pre-cooked snails. Stir at low heat for 10 minutes. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and set aside. De-glaze the casserole with the two cups of water and add the cooked rabbit back in.

Give the dutch oven a good shake and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes. Chop the rabbit liver (or an equal amount of chicken liver) and add it to the pot. Stir and toss until the liver is cooked. Cover with the lid and simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the Romesco sauce and stir the casserole so that all ingredients mix. Hold at low heat for another 5 minutes.

This dish is better the day after or if you cook it in the morning will be perfect for dinner.

Romesco Sauce | A very traditional Catalan sauce used on meat, fish, rice, pasta, and/or potatoes:

5 ripe tomatoes / 2 garlic heads and two garlic cloves / 5 dried red peppers / Olive oil, salt and pepper / 5 to 6 ounces of toasted hazelnuts and 5 to 6 ounces of toasted almonds / 2-3 mint leaves (optional)

For best presentation, the nuts should be peeled and toasted in a skillet.

Quarter and roast the tomatoes and garlic heads. After 45 minutes in the oven at 375ºF, the tomatoes and garlic will be ready.

Soak the dried peppers in boiling water for about an hour. Remove the seeds from the softened peppers.

Peel and seed the roasted tomatoes. Use a food processor to pulverize the tomatoes and roasted garlic. Then add in the peppers, mint leaves, 2 raw garlic cloves and the toasted nuts to make a thick paste. Slowly add olive oil to the running food processor until you get a fine textured, smooth sauce.

Leftover sauce can be frozen, or stored in the fridge with a little olive oil on top to seal out the air.

See the original recipe.

If you get really inspired to cook, order prepackaged Spanish food, Iberian hams and beautiful Spanish tableware from La Tienda online.

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