So sorry I haven’t written sooner but you might have gathered from my past blogs, that I’m not the type to just slap something together…And, after getting back from Spain, trying to get my house up and running…Then with the snow, the kids all coming home AND with work, I’ve been unable to finish this–So, before our fabulous trip to Spain becomes a faint memory (and now that my duck confit has just come off the stove…), I’ve decided that TODAY IS THE DAY that I will finally tell you all about our delicious trip. First of all, going to Barcelona to celebrate my birthday sure beats me having to make myself an ice cream cake!
This was our first time in Spain and, being determined to do and see as much as possible, Jon and I really hit the ground running!
We were starving when we arrived at the hotel so we headed straight for the dining room, where there was a breakfast buffet… As soon as I saw the spread of food, I immediately thought of the three things everyone said to us before going to Barcelona…
1) “I hope you like pork!”…
2) “I hope you like shellfish!” …
3) And, ” I hope you’re prepared to eat meals LATE–Much later than you’re both used to!” (Those who know Jon and I know that we live like farmers…we’re up early and in bed early…and we eat somewhere in the middle.)
Boy, they weren’t kidding… on all counts!
After breakfast we headed out, to the famous food market called “Mercat de la Boqueria” and I must say that it was THE most amazing market I’ve ever been to, anywhere (and I’m a girl that’s been to a lot of food markets…). First of all, it was huge!–And stuffed from one end to the other with an incredible array of gorgeous fresh foods of all kinds and of wonderful quality. Although pictures will never adequately represent the awesomeness of this market, take a look…
Let’s start with pork.
There were many merchants selling all kinds and cuts of cured and fresh pork products. I fell in LOVE with the Spanish version of prosciutto–truly the best I’ve ever eaten. Like in Italy, Spanish dry-cured ham comes in different grades, noted in their prices…
Although it’s hard to read in the photo above, you’ll see the word “Ibeirc” (jambó ibérico), also called “pata negra” which is a type of dry-cured ham that’s only produced in Spain. And, the best of the best is sliced from the hind leg of black Iberian pigs that were fed a strict diet of only acorns. ( To purchase fine Spanish dry-cured ham online, click here.) But there are many more pork products sold at this market. Actually every part of the pig is enjoyed.
I know–it’s hard to see a pig’s head in a meat-case, but this guy (or gal) above is actually one of the lucky ones for getting to grow into a bigger pig! In Spain, animals are offered VERY young; much younger than those we can get in the US (and even younger than those eaten in France).
Here’s a suckling pig (among other things…), all cleaned and ready for purchase.
There’s also baby goat…
Although the name for a baby goat is “kid”…When I showed my daughter Jessie this picture, saying ” this is a baby kid”..she looked at me with such a horrified expression that I think I’ll just stick to saying “baby goat.”
The vegetables were just gorgeous and SO abundant! I never saw so many mushrooms, called “Rovellons.”
These (above) are huge porcini mushrooms.
These (above) were one of the most abundant kinds of mushrooms sold…not sure what their name is. They looked a bit like shiitakes but had green spots and streaks running through their gills. The edges of the caps were also a bit curled.
See…I told you there were a lOT of them! This was clearly mushroom season in Barcelona!
There were many stalls with piles of fresh eggs…
And, not just eggs from chickens. There were all kinds, like duck and quail eggs and even big, dark blue Emu and Ostrich eggs !
Although all the signs at the market describing the foods were, of course, written in Spanish, I found it amusing that here, the sign saying “Don’t Touch” was written first in English –before the Spanish translation. Good thing, since I (as a typical touchy-feely American) was just about to lift and shake one of those blue Emu eggs!!
Here’s a rainbow-like assortment of fresh fruit juices…
and lots of candy…
But what finally got us really hungry was the fresh fish! Tons of all kinds of fish…and what was SO amazing was that, although being a fish-monger (in the US) is a man’s job, here at the “Mercat de la Boqueria” almost all of the fish mongers were women (and they were wielding some crazy-big knives)!
Here’s a woman filleting anchovies by-hand. She worked so incredibly fast and, was so adept, that she often didn’t even look down, while working.
There were tons of fresh fish stalls …
They sold EVERY part of the fish. Even…
And, the shellfish display was amazing…
By now, Jon and I were ready to eat and would soon experience our first bit of drama (remember, we had only been in Barcelona a few hours…). So, hungry and straddled between US and Spanish time-zones, we sat down at a “counter” type of seafood restaurant that was positioned right smack in the middle of this open market (there were many such restaurants) where everything is prepared in front of you and, to eat, people sit on raised stools, while getting to watch their food cook. (Such fun…until)
So, we ordered and, as we often do, we shared …
In addition to the above, we also ordered a whole fish (small and white-fleshed), butterflied and pan-seared…Really good.
So: It was only 11:30 am (!) and there we were, eating freshly prepared, delicious food and drinking yummy Spanish wine! (Quite different from our usual suburban mid-morning existence.) We were incredibly happy and already feeling in the groove of being in Spain.
After lunch, we continued on our brisk walk through the streets of Barcelona–and happened to fine another food market almost as amazing as the first. All of a sudden, as we were traipsing around, trying to penetrate the crowds of people in the market, my neck started to itch. I stayed quiet about it–thinking it was just my scarf that was irritating my skin. After about 15 minutes, I started to itch on my cheeks and behind my ears…my back was getting itchy, too. I turned to Jon and said “can you just take a look at me?–I’m itching.” Well, that was it. He said “you have hives all over your face and neck!”
Hmmm…I (we) immediately knew the culprit…
We both panicked–Remembering that ONE TIME (years ago). It all came rushing back.
Although I eat tons of shellfish (of all kinds), years ago, we were at a wedding and, after drinking white wine, eating crab claws and after I danced up a storm, I ended up in the emergency room of a Long Island hospital. Seems I have this very odd allergy to certain types of shell fish –but ONLY when I drink white wine combined with certain types of strenuous or stressful situations (like dancing and, I guess (now), walking briskly in a different country, after being up all night–and then eating and drinking at 11 am…. (Weird, I know…)
So… because I was far away from home (and so frightened that I might end up looking like this)…
We hurried back to the hotel and asked to quickly see a doctor, which I did. (Doctors still make house-calls, in Barcelona!). The only thing is, he didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish or Catalan. Thankfully, we had a date to meet Remy, our guide, to discuss what we were going to do for our week in Barcelona. Her eventual presence (and her ability to translate) really helped me to trust a man that I couldn’t communicate with. Having said this, I did need to let him give me a shot AND a pill BEFORE Remy showed up…(Believe me, with three kids and a dog that depended on me, back in the US, this was all very scary.) Anyway, miraculously, the medication worked and although completely exhausted, I had survived my first health-hurdle of the trip.
Jon and I took a long afternoon siesta, then showered and went out to for a 9:30 pm dinner, which we loved. (We were feeling so– Spanish!)
About the restaurants we experienced: Although we had lots of amazing food that we adored, I’m not going to give you a blow-by-blow on all of the meals we had in Barcelona, but I will tell you about my favorite meal– One that I can honestly say was the best meal of my life!
(I will, at the bottom of this post, create a list with all the names and contact information for all the restaurants we enjoyed as well as the sites I feel you shouldn’t miss. That way you can just copy and paste that part onto a Word document.)
Oh…just to conclude on those remaining health issues…
During the one week we spent in Spain, in addition to the described allergic reaction, two days into our trip, Jon caught a very violent stomach flu, which I (two days later) proceeded to catch from him. So, in between the days and nights we each were (literally) confined to bed, sipping ginger ale and nibbling on plain white toast with jelly (I quickly learned NOT to ask for “jam” because, the word “jam” sounds way too much like jamón, which means “ham” in Spanish (oy vey!)– Believe it or not, we had plenty of time to recover and resume our traisping, eating amazing food and drinking wonderful wine. (But, during this trip, there was no more shellfish for me!)
OK, about the BEST meal of my life!…At: Restaurant Can Pineda (Sant Joan De Malta, 55 Barcelona Tel: 34-0-93-308-3081)
The location of this restaurant is not easy to find (even by a taxi driver who’s a native of Barcelona!) and it’s not a place that you’d just “find” by taking a walk–it’s on some obscure corner, alone, without shops around it so you’d really have to have heard about it to make it a destination. Whether or not this was a part of why I came away from this restaurant with such an extra-ordinary feeling, I don’t know but I DO know that the food Jon and I experienced felt like an enormous (and fabulous) treat.
This was our second dinner in Barcelona–the first, as you now know, I was recovering from an allergic reaction, so this was really my first night that I felt like “me.” It was about 9:45 pm (we were a bit late for our 9:30 reservation because the taxi driver had trouble finding the address on a map). We walked into the restaurant and, right away, I thought to myself “oh boy, this is going to be less than I hoped for”…the lighting was nothing special (bright–which I tend to not love, especially at dinnertime. I like it dim and candle-lit). The place itself was very simple–nothing at all special to look at and the blue and white ceramic back-splash behind the bar seemed almost Dutch-like–as opposed to whatever I thought would reflect Spanish decor. (To learn more about Catalan culture and cuisine, click here and to purchase authentic ingredients, click here.)
So, resolved to have a so-so meal, we were brought to our table which was in the smoking section. (We didn’t know to ask for a nonsmoking table–but, in retrospect, I wouldn’t have changed a thing–Having said that, if it’s an issue for you, just know that people are even allowed to smoke cigars in this restaurant, so you might want to remember that when you make your reservation…). Just as I was about to sit down, I glanced towards the table to my right and saw two people eating something that made me immediately put on my glasses. They each had before them a bowl with golden strands of fresh pasta that had, perched on top, a pile of thinly sliced WHITE TRUFFLES!!! I looked at Jon and said…”Honey…do you think they’re eating what I think they’re eating?” He said, “I think so…” At that moment, I knew that this night would be filled with edible surprises…and, trust me, it was.
We had an adorable waitress who spoke very broken English (which we were VERY grateful for) and I pointed to what the couple next to us was eating and she nodded “yes” to what I thought they were eating. When she saw my eyes light up (at the mere mention of truffles), she shook her head “no” to what they were eating and and then pointed to something on the menu that she pretty-much insisted I have. At this moment, after seeing that she understood that white truffles make me extremely happy, I totally relinquished all power to this young woman–trusting her to order my entire meal, along with all the different Spanish wines we enjoyed, by the glass (which was a very good thing, indeed).
My first course:
A white, oblong plate was placed in front of me. (Did you ever see something edible that made you audibly gasp? Well, my first course arrived and, even before taking a bite, I felt almost dizzy with the anticipation of pure pleasure.) On this plate were two perfectly cooked poached eggs and, each one was sitting on top of a very small mount of what I think was whipped potatoes–but they were a bit more toothsome–almost as if the creamy potatoes where mixed with some gently simmered grits. AND, on top of each egg was a pile of you-know-what –WHITE TRUFFLES!! Oh, I’m not done describing this masterpiece….Also on the plate, on the side of each egg, was an sublime slice of seared fois (duck liver)–Can you imagine?? The seasoning was perfect–just a very light dusting of exquisite sea salt–I tell you–this dish was beyond, beyond, beyond! Actually, my food was so good that I can’t even fully recollect what my husband ate–I know it was something high in omegas (either sardines, anchovies or herring–since those foods are, to Jon, what poached eggs, truffles and seared fois is to me).
We shared a second course…
A combination of deeply caramelized fresh mushrooms, flecked with sauteed onions, garlic and studded with lots of small, succulent nuggets of cooked monkfish. The sauce was savory and light, yet sturdy enough to hug each member of the plate. Another winner!
The simple ambiance in this restaurant combined with the level of culinary savvy showed by the chef, along with the warmth of everyone around us, kept Jon and my senses reeling. We were in pig-heaven.
Speaking of pig, our third course arrived (we both were presented with the same dish)…
Although I was sure that nothing could compare to what I had already eaten, this next course had Jon and I positively giggling like children–no joke. Let me see if I can do this dish justice… On a plate was a golden brown wedge of something that, at first glace, looked like a triangular shaped, 1-inch thick potato galette. Jon and I both used our fork to cut into this and, as we were chewing, that’s when Jon and I started to laugh, as if to say “how is it possible that this meal just keeps getting better??!”
I noticed the waitress looking in our direction–No doubt she found it fun to watch us so visibly happy. She came to our table wanting to offer any information that she could about what we were eating. She said “pig” and held her hands in front of her, about one-foot apart, to convey that our dish was made using a very young specimen. She also wanted us to understand that the chef initially cooked this pig low and slow–and that then, the suckling pig meat was “pulled” and place in between two layers of pig skin–which was then seared and rendered amazingly crisp on both the top and bottom, with an interior that remained incredibly succulent. This was then cut into wedges and served with an intensely flavored side-puddle of a burgundy-red, glaze-like sauce that was savory-fruity and perfectly acidic. Although I noticed there were a few roast potatoes sitting to the side of the plate, I chose to save every inch of what was left of my capacity to take in food, for the most amazing pork dish I have ever eaten.
It was like we had stumbled into this candy-coated land, only the treats offered gave us a very different kind of “high”… So, not wanting to ruin the perfection of how we felt, we declined ordering dessert.
That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have dessert…
We asked for the check and for a taxi. The waitress came back to the table and, instead of bringing the bill, she held a tray with two glasses and two bottles of dessert wine, one white and one red. She poured the white wine into Jon’s glass and, although that one was delish, I was the LUCKY recipient of the red one that was bursting with the flavor of dark cherries. (Again, another best–I had never had a red dessert wine that was so rich-so silky–so very delicious (on the bottle, it said: La Bota De Pedro Ximenez). Trust me, I could have drank several more glasses of this–they left both bottles on the table but I restrained myself.
Then, the wife of the chef came to our table with a small, rectangular wooden plate. On the plate were two nuggets, each about 1 1/2 inches long by 1 inch wide and, on the outside, was a flaky (puff) pastry that was dusted with bit of powdered sugar. She, not speaking English, instructed us by motioning, to eat the pastry in one-bite. I “got” that this was imperative (funny how certain things are just understood, no matter what language is spoken.) So, she proceeded to walk away from the table and, just as we each put the pastry into our mouths, she (like clockwork) turned and look straight at me (it was clear that she wanted to see see us experience this pastry in exactly the way the chef intended…). Jon and I, in concert, closed our mouth around this flaky nugget and bit down. That’s when two distinctly different textures burst into our mouths–one was soft, light, creamy and perfumed with vanilla (pastry cream). The other was just a bit more weighty, very velvety and unctuous (melted bittersweet ganache). And, as my eyes turned from the chef’s wife to Jon’s face, for the first time in my life, something edible literally brought tears to my eyes–it was that good.
The chef appeared…
A very simple-looking man, dressed in traditional chef’s garb (white coat and checkered pants), came out of the kitchen to greet his customers. As he came close to our table, I lept to my feet and pretty-much threw my arms around him and started to babble about how happy I was to have had this meal and about how wonderful he is, as a chef. (Although he, like his wife, didn’t speak English, happiness seems to be a universal language…)
So, after kisses, hugs (even to the waitress) and saying good-night to those at the table next to us, we slipped into our taxi and spoke nonstop about this very special experience, all the way back to the hotel.
We loved this time away in Spain– even though many parts were quite unexpectedly eventful. And, although considered “off season,” I think late fall is the perfect time to go to Barcelona (and not just because it was my birthday). The streets, shops and restaurants were much less crowded and, unlike the heat of summer, the temperature was very comfortable. I hope you’ll let me know if you go and if you love it as much as we did!
Most of the meals we had were in restaurants that specialized in Catalan cuisine and didn’t get to go to many of the tapas places we had on our list. Here is a list of the restaurants we really enjoyed and also some sites to see, in Barcelona.
First: I want to turn you on to our guide, Remy, who is extremely nice, knowledgeable and passionate (especially when it comes to art.)
Our Guide: Remedios Gimenez: Fluent languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, German and Japanese
email: remy2001es@yahoo.es Tel: 3493 321 43 28, Mobile: 609 159 594
Restaurants in Barcelona:
Can Pineda: Sant Joan De Malta, 55 Tel: 93 308 30 81: The best meal of my life (If you haven’t already, read above to find out why!!)
Maria Cristina: Provena, 271 Tel: 93 215-32-37: This was our first dinner in Barcelona. Unfortunately, even at 9:30 pm, the restaurant was pretty quiet, which was such a shame because the food was amazing! I had (first) a wonderful fois terrine with a salad and then a fabulous dish of slow-roast baby goat in a cava wine sauce (Cava is the Spanish version of Champagne.) Jon had oysters (which, in retrospect, he felt was a silly choice since you can get oysters anywhere…). He had monkfish with green lentils for his main course, which he adored.
Casa Leopoldo: Sant Rafael, 24 Tel: 93 441 30 14: We had lunch here and it was wonderful. Filled with locals, the menu here is really down and dirty–meaning you’ll find dishes like “pig trotters stew” (which we had and I can’t say that this was my favorite part of the meal…) We had great “pan con tomate” (a very popular accompaniment to meals: toasted bread, rubbed with garlic and fresh tomato), fish, rovellons, salad–and that pig’s trotters stew (ew). I found this place to be warm and authentic.
Butafumerio: Gran de Gràcia, 81 Tel: 93 218 42 30: This restaurant, that specializes in seafood, is large and, at first glance, seems a bit touristy. We had great fish that was impeccably fresh. We went here for dinner.
Can Ravell: Aragó, 313 Tel: 93 457 51 14: This is one restaurant that you would never know is there if not told to seek it out. That’s why you’ll only see “locals” dining there. Only open for lunch, this special restaurant is on the top of a small, family-owned sausage and cheese shop. Actually, you have to go through a door at the back of the shop, then traipse through the kitchen, then you’ll need to walk up two flights on a thin, winding staircase where you’ll finally find the restaurant. A beautiful room, with walls whimsically lined with loads of all kinds of Scotch bottles on one side and wine on the other. The long, communal tables mean that everyone all sit and eat together. This is a really fun place to experience. Just know it’s only open for lunch and the menu is VERY rich.
Day trip to Girona, Spain: We traveled one hour north of Barcelona (by train) to the city of Girona. I highly recommend doing this. The city is ancient, charming and educational.
Lunch in Girona: Cal Ros: Cort Reial N 9, Girona: Tel: 97 221 91 76: What a wonderful find!! This lovely, family owned restaurant, had amazing food and a soothing, yet “fine” atmostphere. Upon entering, we saw the wife of the chef sitting at a desk in the front of the restaurant (and her new-born baby was sleeping in his carriage). The BIG portions of food here have equally BIG flavors and we loved everything we ate. Jon’s anchovies were the best we both have ever had and the crisp, round fritters made with salt cod and whipped potatoes were incredibly good. Our main dishes were succulent and satisfying…but what really thrilled us was seeing those at another table eating! An older couple, slurping on garlicky snails…and then on huge braised crabs with pasta, all with such gusto! If you go to Girona, you MUST go to this restaurant for lunch or dinner.
Other than simply walking around and enjoying the beautiful city, here are a couple of sites to see in Barcelona:
La Pedrera of Caixa Catalunya (The Gaudi Museum): Provença, 261 Tel: 902 202 138 You will also be able to see Antoni Gaudi’s very unique style of architecture, simply by walking on the streets of Barcelona!
Museu Picasso (Picasso Museum):Montcada, 15-23 (www.museupicasso.bcn.cat ) Tel: 93 256 30 00
While in Girona: Museu d’Història dels Jueus (a facinating Jewish Museum): Forςa, 8 (www.girona.cat/call ) Tel: 972 21 67 61 (admission is free on the first Sunday of each month.)
Delicious
You are enough.
How to feed your sourdough starter right!
Disappointment
How Religious are You?
Some foods to always have prepared and ready.