Calçots...

... or how tradition became tasty.

Someone who lives in Barcelona should never miss the chance of going to one of those crowded meetings called "calçotada". Eating calçots is the springtime excuse to meet people and see cousins you hadn't seen for years. Wearing a huge bib and drinking wine, everyone seems to forget troubles.

But, what's a calçot? Just a kind of vegetable between an onion and a leek, which itself wouldn't be specially tasteful, but which is wonderful in a great sauce, just like the Romescu sauce. This sauce, depending on the cook, is made of tomato, garlic, toasted bread, vinegar, salt and oil. The caçots are barbacued and once they seem burnt, they are served really hot; the burnt part is taken out and the calçot remains clean, so that it can be dipped in the sauce. I could eat twenty of those.

Usually meat and butifarra is also barbacued, and some tomato of the best class (I would choose raff tomatoes), olives and escalibada are served. You should also have a good mature wine to go with this meal. Avoid the calçots after Easter: they might be frozen and they're not as good as they should.