Catalan Roasted Vegetables Recipe (Escalivada)

Today we are exploring one of my top 10 catalan dishes. Escalivada is a roasted vegetable dish made with eggplants, red bell pepper and onion. Modifications such as garlic and tomatoes are accepted. I usually do the whole thing but our tomatoes weren’t ripe enough so I went with the more traditional option. Escalivada is usually enjoyed with roasted potatoes, anchovies (which for obvious reasons we will not), and pa amb tomàquet (toasted bread with tomato). So, let’s get into how to prepare this Catalan Roasted Vegetable Recipe aka Escalivada (plus a bonus recipe of pa amb tomàquet).

I started my job on monday which kinda altered my publishing schedule this week even though I tried to plan for it! Crazy. Anyway, the workload is kinda crazy so I will maybe need to re-evaluate my publishing schedule, but that we will see as the weeks go by. For now, let’s just enjoy this recipe.

🇫🇷 N’oubliez pas de descendre tout en bas pour la recette en français!

Ingredients for this catalan escalivada recipe

• Eggplants: Roughly 1 per person if you are making this the main dish, rather than a side.
• Red bell pepper: Same rule of thumb, 1 per person.
• Onion: If your onions are ultra big, go for 1 for 2 people. If they are regular size onions, go for 1 per person.
• Garlic: I put some garlic in there. I eat garlic quite regularly and roasted garlic is my faaaave. My boyfriend isn’t so much into eating garlic like that (soon, soon), so I just put 4-5 garlic cloves knowing I’d eat 4 and a half of those.
• Other veggies you can add: Tomatoes (again 1 per person), potatoes (Usually 2 per person if it’s the main dish).
• Salt, pepper and A LOT of olive oil. The rule of spanish/catalan cooking: If there is not olive oil, it ain’t good.

We ate our escalivada with:

• 2 egg omelette: You need 2 eggs per person, olive oil, pepper & salt
• Pa amb tomàquet: Half a baguette, very ripe tomatoes, olive oil, some garlic and salt.

How to prepare this catalan escalivada recipe?

As far as easy recipes go, this one joins the league. Every catalan person I know prepares their escalivada their own way. I started doing mine like my parents do but then I found that I eat mine right away most of the times so I adapted my cooking to that.

So, cut the vegetables vertically from top to bottom but without fully opening them. Just some cuts. Do that with the eggplant and the pepper. The onion, since mine was huge, I cut it in smaller portions then just spread the layers.

Cover the entire thing with a lot of olive oil, you can use your hands or a brush to make sure that all of it is covered with olive oil, inside the cuts as well. Add some salt and pepper. Important that you put salt, pepper & oil inside the cracks of the eggplant!

You are gonna cook this for at least 1 hour in the oven at 200ºC. Mid-way, you will add the garlic (you don’t want burned garlic). If after 1 hour it still doesn’t looked cooked, continue for a bit more until the pepper starts to roast.

How to eat the escalivada?

Once it’s done, take it out of the oven carefully and leave it to rest for a couple of minutes. Now, there are two ways:

• Shred it and layer it in a container. Let it cool down completely then store in fridge to enjoy later.
• Serve it in a plate and enjoy it with your sides (potatoes, bread, omelette, as you wish).

Pa amb tomàquet – Toasted Bread with Tomato

Ok, this is a staple of catalan cuisine. Everywhere you go there is this and it is one of the most delicious things to ever be invented. Cut some baguette or any other type of bread, you toast it. You take a super ripe tomato and you just smush it all over the bread, like spreading it. You put some olive oil and salt on top and you just enjoy this delicacy.

I usually add a bit of garlic spread to this so I do: Toast bread – Spread garlic – Spread tomato – Olive oil. If I want to take it even further, I do: Toast bread – Spread garlic – Spread tomato – Add allioli and just enjoy.

This is my first catalan recipe in tofucado but I have other cuisines that you would maybe like to check out such as quesadillas, or choucroute alsacienne.

📣 What is the one recipe where you are from that you would eat over and over? I’d love to try out and make some of your recipes! Tell me your faves in the comments and let’s share our cuisines!

Print Recipe

Catalan Roasted Vegetables Recipe (Escalivada)

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 5 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Catalan, Spanish

Keyword: eggplant, onion, peppers

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 large onion
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Optional side dishes: Roasted potatoes, omelette (2 eggs per person), toasted bread with tomato (baguette, ripe tomatoes, garlic and olive oil)

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven at 200ºC. Cut slices in the veggies and cover them with olive oil, salt and pepper thoroughly. Pay special attention to the inside of the eggplant.
• Place all the veggies (without the garlic) in an oven tray cover in tin foil.
• Put the tray in the oven and cook for around 30 minutes. Add the garlic then. Move a bit the eggplant if it’s getting too roasted on one side.
• Continue cooking for around 30 more minutes or until the pepper is starting to roast on top
• Take out of the oven and let it cool down for a couple of minutes. If you eat it right away, serve with either roasted potatoes, or an omelette, or bread with tomato. We ate ours with an omelette and bread with tomato.

Notes

Other ways of eating it:

Leave it to cool down completely. Shred all the vegetables and store them in an air tight container. You can leave it in the fridge for a couple of days. To eat it like that, you can enjoy it with some toasted bread and goat cheese.

🇫🇷 Légumes à la catalane recette (Escalivada) – Version en français