In Catalonia they eat a special kind of onion called calçots which they cook over grills and serve with romesco sauce. You can find them in the UK when they are in season. Cook and writer Rachel McCormack grills hundreds of them, check cataIancooking.co.uk. The sauce will keep in the fridge for a week.
romano pepper : 1, halved and seededtomato: 1, hoIved
olive oil
garlic: 2 cloves, crushed
red chilli: 1, finely chopped
bread: 1 slice, roughly chopped
hazelnuts: 50g
blanched ainonds: 25g
parsley: chopped to make 2 tbsp
olive oil: 150ml
red wine vinegar: 2 tbsp
salad anions: 12, roots trimmed
* Grill the pepper halves skin-side up until they start to blister and grill
the tomato halves cut-side up until they start to brown on top. Peel the
pepper halves and slip the skin off the tomatoes and roughly chop them.
Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the garlic and chilli briefly until it
soltens, add the bread and fry until browned then add the pepper and
tomato. Scrape the lot into a lood processor with the nuts and parsley
and pulse until roughly chopped, add the oil, vinegar and a good pinch
of salt and pulse together. lip into a bowl.
* Heot the grill or a griddle pan and brush the onions with oil. Griddle
or grill them until they blocken on the outside (or put them over the grey
coals of a barbecue). Once blackened, wrap them in newspaper and
leave them for 15 minutes to soften.
* Serve them with the sauce. To eat them, slip the cooked onion out of
the outer blackened skin and dip them in the romesco sauce.