Escalivada (Catalan Baked Veggies)

By Restaurant Sa Torre in Palau Sator, Catalonia. 

This simple and delicious recipe celebrates the fresh ingredients of Catalan cuisine when bell peppers, eggplants, and onions are available in the summer. The picture shows cured anchovies as a possible addition, in a variation offered to us in a restaurant we visited in Catalonia.

Escalivar in Catalan means "cooking in the ashes" or ambers of the fire, to give a distinctive smoky flavor. A simpler version would involve cooking the veggies on the grill or baking them in the oven. This recipe can be featured as a side dish or as a topping to one of the tapas offered in this region of Spain.

Enjoy it on one of our tours in Catalonia or try making it at home as an edible expression of the Mediterranean!

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 1 kg (2.2 pounds) eggplants
• 750 g (1.5 pounds) bell peppers
• 0.5 kg (1.1 pound) onion
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp of EVOO or more

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400F
• Wash all the veggies
• Prick the whole eggplants with a fork
• Pour EVOO in a tray and coat the bottom
• Place eggplants, bell peppers, and onions on the tray and bake at least 45 min or until completely cooked
• Remove from the oven to cool and put eggplants and bell peppers in a paper bag (to loosen their skins) 
• Peel all the veggies (remove the seeds from the peppers) and place them on a plate
• Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle salt and pepper to taste
• Add other ingredients such as garlic and/or anchovies, if you like
   

Bon profit! (Catalan expression for buen provechio, which means "bon appetit" in Spanish)