Mr Hubby Reviews
I must admit that I’m quite ignorant regarding Iberia as a culinary region, let alone Catalonia; when I think of Spanish food my mind automatically thinks of Paella and Chorizo. This is probably quite an insult to a region that had the world’s best restaurant, elBulli, for a record five years in a row and I must apologise for my ignorance!
I am aware that Spain has, for a long time, been a prolific producer of very good wine; Cava was invented in Catalonia in the 1870s and 95% of Cava’s production remains in the region (more than 200 million bottles are sold each year)! Those familiar with wines will no doubt have heard of some of the regions finest cellars such as Torres, Codorniu and Freixenet.
We were very kindly sent some wines from the Torres Winery to taste and I must admit to sampling (OK, drinking all of) the two Cavas when the weather was unseasonably pleasant last month. For a long time, Cava was seen as the cheap alternative to Champagne but fine Cavas, like the ones made by Gramona, are now widely acknowledged as a match for any high-end Champagne. A concept that some traditionalists may find challenging!
So I thought it would be a good opportunity to educate myself and use some of the Torres Gran Vina Sola in a traditional Catalan dish.
To be honest, I’d jump at the chance to try any new food (within reason – I’m not interested in any sort of bush tucker trial) so, I took to the internet to find something suitable (by that I mean something within my limited culinary ability).
When I came across a recipe for a Catalan Beef Stew my search was over. It may not sound very adventurous, but I’d never tasted anything with Saffron in and was intrigued to taste a variation on something I’ve eaten all my life.
Ingredients assembled, the cooking began. I didn’t take photos of the various stages of cooking as I assume nobody needs to see pictures of some onions frying and the technique was similar to a traditional English stew/casserole.
After two hours, the lid was removed and the rice added to what looked like a very liquidy sauce (stop me if I get too technical). I needn’t have worried, after half an hour the rice had absorbed all of the liquid; to such an extent that more needed adding before serving.
The taste was very distinctive, I assume because of the Saffron, but the stew was very nice and was devoured with a slice of bread and butter.
I doubt Ferran Adrià will be losing too much sleep over my culinary mastery but as ElBulli has now closed, I guess we’ll never know!
Interested in finding out more about Catalonia? Click here
Disclosure: We were sent this wine in order to produce this post. All words/opinions are Mr Hubby’s.