Spanish gastronomy has a lot of regional different cuisines, and Catalan is one of the most well-known world-wide (basically due to the great job of amazing chefs like Ferran Adrià, Carme Ruscalleda, Santi Santamaria, Sergi Arola, Fermí Puig and many others...)

For those who are begginers to Spanish cuisine, I must say, that there's a lot more to discover other than paella and sangria, I'm happy to tell... If you are interested to know more about Spanish cuisine, one book you can't miss is 1080 recipes by Simone Ortega (I think half Spain learnt to cook with her book, she wrote it almost 30 years ago!!! and it's still one best-seller...)

During these days, in some cities of the Garraf and Penedés are celebrating the Xatonada (a feast dedicated to Xató).

There are several cities that attribute themselves the origin of Xató: Sitges, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Vilafranca del Penedès, El Vendrell...

There is a gastronomic route, named Ruta del Xató, through Garraf and El Penedès regions, to the south of the province of Barcelona. The route begins in Sitges, goes inwards to Vilafranca del Penedès, then to El Vendrell and finally again by the sea to Vilanova i la Geltrú. Here you can find more information: Ruta del Xato official website

Xató is a salad, and its recipe is very simple, escarole, anchovy, tuna, desalted cod and Arbequina olives (this kind of olives are small but very tasty) in quantities to taste.


Most typical thing in this salad, however, is the sauce (called Romesco) that accompanies it, as in each village is made in a different way. Some use almonds, other nuts, both or none... In this other website you can find every recipe for Xató according to different towns.

I have to admit this time I used bottled sauce I bought. A good real Romesco sauce requires time (about 40 minutes done at the traditional way (oven, hand-made with a mortar…), or about 15 using micro-wave and mixer…) and good ingredients, and as I had some missing I preferred to use a ready-cooked one (very tasty anyway). Next time I promise I will do the sauce myself.