In February when my family was vacationing in Spain we were pretty adventurous with our dining. We visited a bunch of different markets and tried new foods, including Calcots, Catalonia’s Spring Onion. We were almost done with our meal at the Santa Caterina Market and saw locals around us eating these weird onions and without really knowing what they were, pointed them out to our waiter and ordered up a plate. We also had to ask how to eat them (you peel off the first layer).
We were so happy we made the last minute addition to our order because they were delicious and unique. I don’t know if Calcots are available in the US (maybe a speciality market?) but with the inspiration from our trip to Spain we tried to replicate the dish with scallions. Maybe not quite as exotic but still very tasty.
What to do: Take a bunch of fresh scallions, cut off the little spikes at the end (the white side), wash the scallion then sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss them on the grill and flip over when they start to char. It only takes a couple of minutes and they should be good to go.
If you think you’ve made too many, you probably didn’t. The shrink up once cooked and also they are so tasty I could eat 100 of them (which is great, because that’s approximately how many I bought last time we grilled, they are so cheap!). LIke any good grill session, we cooked up a variety of fruits and veggies. Pictured above is eggplant, fig and the scallions.
If you’re looking for something new to grill, try scallions and if you go to Barcelona make sure you order the Calcots!
