A few days in Catalunya

We’ve just come back from a few days in El Port de la Selva on the Cap de Creus headland in Catalunya. It’s a working fishing port in an almost completely enclosed bay – we could see why it was chosen as a safe harbour because when we were in the port we couldn’t see the open sea at all.

The view from the quayside as a fishing boat came into port.

The nets being unrolled and laid out on the quay.

Nets and floats on the quay.

As it was a fishing port, we did eat some very good sea food while we were there, especially the anchovies and the cuttlefish. One of the food highlights was a wonderful fideua on our first evening there, served with aioli and full of squid, clams and large prawns (left, below). The recipe for my own version of this paella made with noodles is on the Mediterranean cuisine blog – here. This one was much darker and, I would guess, cooked in liquid which included the squid ink. Another good dish was cuttlefish with meatballs, in a wonderful spicy sauce and surrounded by sautéed potatoes (right, below), which we ate one lunchtime on a terrace overlooking the port.

Friday is market day in El Port de la Selva and the promenade along the port and beach was lined with stalls, mostly selling clothes, but also two fruit and vegetable stalls and a wonderful charcuterie and olive stall.

And some souvenirs…

We brought back a good selection of products from the charcuterie stall, some Cava, the sparkling wine made in Catalunya, and several varieties of olives oil, one from the Moulin du Mas St Pierre in French Catalunya, which I mentioned on the blog in April (here), one Arbequina oil available cheaply in a supermarket (the same variety of olives they grow at Mas St Pierre) and one local blended oil we bought from the market stall. We’ve bottled the larger quantities in 50 cl or 75 cl bottles so that we can taste them all without letting them go stale, although that’s not usually a problem for us as we eat a lot of olive oil. So we’ve got a few ways of prolonging the flavours of our holiday over the next few months!

Other food blogs

I seem to have offended the Guardian in some why by commenting on its food blog as I have had a comment removed by the moderator. I can’t understand what I have said that it takes objection to as it was nothing at all offensive, simply a description of the farmers’ market we went to in the summer, which I’ve written about on this blog and which I thought people might be interested to hear. I’m still waiting for a reply to a request for an explanation. As I’m sure readers of this blog know, my only intention in writing about food, gardening, markets…. etc. is to contribute to the enjoyment of people who, like me, value good food.