Escalivada

By: Jose Pizarro
From: Catalonia
Serves: 6
Photographer: Laura Edwards

Priorat is the most beautiful area, and after a visit to Cellers de Scala Dei winery, we went for lunch at an amazing place – a small restaurant called El Rebost de la Cartoixa. I love this kind of restaurant – the welcome when you arrive, the retro look, paper tablecloths and, most importantly, the incredible smell of cooking.

I love too that the whole family is involved, with the mother in the kitchen, the father on the floor and daughters helping them at the weekend.

I had escalivada, which was just wonderful, with a smoky aroma and flavours coming from the charcoal, which is where the name originates from.

Escalivada is traditionally made with aubergines and red peppers; some say onions as well. El Rebost de la Cartoixa serve it with potatoes, onions, artichokes and asparagus, all cooked on the grill. Maybe not very traditional, but still, delicious!

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
2	red peppers
2	medium potatoes
1	onion, left whole with skin on
2	aubergines
1	bulb garlic, cloves separated
4	ripe tomatoes
	olive oil
2	globe artichokes
	sea salt
	freshly ground black pepper
	extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
1	lemon, juiced

Method

Heat the grill as high as it will go and blacken the peppers under it. Then pop them into a plastic bag to steam and loosen the skins.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Wrap the potatoes and onion in foil and put them in the oven to steam and cook for about 45–60 minutes, depending on size. Make a slit down each aubergine and stuff with a few garlic cloves. Put them in a roasting tin with the tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and cook for 1 hour, removing the tomatoes aer 30 minutes.
Cook the artichokes in a steamer for 20–30 minutes until they are really tender.
Remove the skins from the peppers then halve them, remove the seeds and cut into strips. Peel the onion and cut into quarters. Thickly slice the potatoes. Allow the aubergines to cool a little, then peel and cut into strips.
Squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins. Arrange all the cooked vegetables and garlic on a platter, season with plenty of sea salt and black pepper and drizzle with lots of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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