Catalan Grazing
Cold starters
Pa amb tomàquet
Rustic bread rubbed with ripe tomato, olive oil, and salt; often served alone or topped with cheese or cured meats.
Anxoves de l’Escala
Salt-cured anchovy fillets from L’Escala, typically served on toast or pa amb tomàquet as a simple but intense starter.
Esqueixada de bacallà
Shredded salted cod salad with tomato, onion, peppers, olives, and olive oil, served chilled.
Xató
Endive or mixed leaf salad with salt cod, anchovies, olives, and romesco-style xató sauce made from nuts and peppers.
Escalivada
Strips of roasted aubergine, red pepper, and onion, dressed with olive oil and often served on bread or with anchovies.
Warm vegetable and egg dishes
Espinacs a la catalana (espinacs amb panses i pinyons)
Sautéed spinach with raisins and pine nuts, sometimes with garlic, served as a small plate.
Tortilla (truita) a la catalana
Thick omelette with potato and additions such as onion or beans, cut into small wedges as a tapa.
Coca de recapte
Flatbread-style dough baked with escalivada vegetables and sometimes sausage or fish on top, cut into small squares.
Patates braves (patates braves)
Fried potato cubes served with a spicy brava sauce and often alioli; very common on Barcelona tapas menus.
Carxofes (chips de alcachofa or grilled artichokes)
Thin fried artichoke chips or grilled artichokes with olive oil and salt as a seasonal starter.
Fish and seafood starters
Bunyolets de bacallà (salt cod fritters)
Light fritters made with salted cod, flour, and herbs, served hot with alioli.
Musclos a la marinera
Steamed mussels in a tomato, garlic, and white wine sauce, often shared in the centre of the table.
Suquet de peix (mini portion)
A small bowl of Catalan fish-and-potato stew with saffron and garlic mayonnaise, served as a tasting starter.
Meat and mixed starters
Botifarra amb seques (botifarra amb mongetes) – mini plate
Grilled Catalan sausage with white beans, reduced to a tasting-size portion with a drizzle of olive oil.
Mandonguilles amb sípia (small tasting portion)
Meatballs stewed with cuttlefish in a rich “mar i muntanya” sauce, served as a small ración.
Main Course Ideas
Escudella i carn d’olla – Hearty two-part dish of rich meat and vegetable broth with pasta, followed by the boiled meats and vegetables as a second course.
Suquet de peix – Traditional fishermen’s fish and potato stew, usually with monkfish or hake plus shellfish, thickened with a nut-and-garlic picada.
Mandonguilles amb sípia – Meatballs stewed with cuttlefish and peas in a mar i muntanya (surf‑and‑turf) sauce.
Pollastre amb llagosta – Chicken and lobster stew, a classic mar i muntanya celebration dish.
Botifarra amb mongetes – Grilled Catalan pork sausage served with white beans sautéed in the sausage fat.
Fricandó – Veal slices braised slowly with mushrooms in a rich sauce finished with a nut-and-herb picada.
Conill amb bolets – Rabbit stewed with wild mushrooms in a tomato and onion base.
Trinxat de la Cerdanya – Pan-fried cake of cabbage and potato, often served with bacon or sausage.
Arròs negre – Squid-ink rice cooked like paella with squid or cuttlefish and often served with alioli.
Arròs de cranc blau – Rice from the Ebre Delta cooked with local blue crab in a rich broth.
Canelons a la catalana – Baked pasta tubes filled with mixed meats (often using leftover roast) in béchamel, typically served at Christmas.
Escalivada amb peix o carn – Roasted aubergine, peppers, and onion served as a main with grilled fish or meat.
Caragols a la llauna – Snails grilled “on the tin,” often with herbs, oil, and sometimes spicy sauce, served as a substantial course.
Olla aranesa – Mountain-style hearty bean, meat, and vegetable stew from the Val d’Aran.
Ollada – Rustic meat and vegetable stew, similar to other Catalan “olla” dishes, with pork cuts and seasonal vegetables.
Beyond the ordinary Desserts
Crema catalana – Classic baked-style custard flavoured with lemon zest and cinnamon, topped with a crisp caramelised sugar crust.
Mel i mató – Fresh soft cheese (mató) served with honey and often walnuts or almonds.
Xuixo de Girona – Deep-fried, sugar-dusted pastry filled with rich pastry cream.
Panellets – Small almond-based sweets (often coated in pine nuts) traditionally served around All Saints.
Coca de Sant Joan / coca de fruita – Sweet flat brioche-like cake topped with pastry cream, candied fruits and pine nuts, linked to the Sant Joan festival.
Catànies – Bite-sized marcona almonds coated in praline or white-chocolate-and-nut paste, then dusted in cocoa.
Neules (neulas) – Thin, crisp rolled wafer biscuits often served at Christmas, sometimes with cava or turró.
Turró / torró – Dense almond nougat-style sweet, especially common at Christmas, in soft and hard variations.
Postre de músic – “Musician’s dessert” of mixed nuts and dried fruits, typically served with a small glass of sweet wine like moscatell.
Roscón de Reyes – Ring-shaped enriched dough cake decorated with candied fruit, often filled with cream or custard and eaten at Epiphany.
Carquinyolis – Twice-baked almond biscuits (similar to biscotti) served with coffee or sweet wine.
Pa de pessic – Simple, airy Catalan sponge cake, sometimes flavoured with lemon or cocoa.
Borregos de Cardedeu – Sweet, twice-baked bread sticks from Cardedeu, sliced and toasted, often eaten for breakfast or dessert.
Xocolata amb melindros – Thick hot chocolate served with light finger biscuits (melindros) for dipping.
Coca de llardons – Sweet, thin pastry coca with cracklings (llardons), pine nuts and sugar, typically eaten at certain festivals
In the summer there is nothing better than sizzling prawns in garlic and parsley butter, quality local meats marinaded and cooked over coals or a large sharing pan of paella with its saffron rice, seafood, chicken & peas. Let Jakblak spoil you and your guests this summer.
