Catalonian Cuisine

CEBU, Philippines — Charges d’ Affaires Ignacio Perez-Cambra of the Embassy of Spain visited Cebu in 2014. He explained then that there are four reasons behind the worldwide recognition of Spanish cuisine: politics, soil, talent and time. Spanish cuisine had plenty of time to evolve since the arrival of the original Iberians (North Africans and Western Europeans). Other visitors also came and stayed: Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, Teutonic peoples etc. The Moors occupied Spain for 800 years and brought almonds, citrus fruits, sugar cane and saffron.

Today, there are ethnic groups that have a culture and a language that is distinct from the Castilian Spanish. In the Northeast, we have the Catalans, Galicians (Northwest), nomadic Gypsies or Gitanos and the Basques or Euskal-dun.

Recently, a Catalan dinner was prepared by Shangri-La Mactan Spanish Sous Chef Daniel Guevara Quintero, who has trained at Michelin-starred restaurants like Gaig Restaurant (Charles Gaig) and El Bulli (Fernan Adria). I was a guest at the recent Shangri-la dinner.

The First Course was the Sliced Tuna Carpaccio with Strawberry, Iberico Ham, Organic Cucumber & Champignon. Many dinners now start with Carpaccio, Ceviche, Tataki or Tartare using raw salt-water fish combined with fruits and vegetables. Chef Daniel Quintero’s version uses strawberry, cucumber and Iberico ham, paired with Tinto Crianza 2014, Vina Bujanda, Rioja, Spain. The ham made from the black Iberian pig and fattened on the acorns is the greatest contribution of Spain to the world of cuisine.

I had studied jamón ibérico de bellota at one time and found that the ham from Salamanca with its extra marbling of fat was superior compared to that of Andalucía and Extremadura. Jamón has a very dominant taste and Chef Daniels’s genius idea was to add the ham without over -powering the fish. Extremely, excuse me, delicious dish!

Second Course was the Grouper in Salsa Verde with Organic Egg, Green Asparagus & Grilled Baby Squid, paired with Viura Sobre Lias, 2015 from Finca Antigua, La Mancha, Spain. Catalonia is a part of Spain but its cuisine is distinct. Chef Daniel used Salsa Jurvert with just four ingredients: parsley, basil, garlic and sunflower oil. Egg and asparagus provided interesting distractions to the enriched flavor of fish while grilled squid was an added layer of flavor to be enjoyed.

A bottle of Post Scriptum, 2015 from Prats & Symington, Douro Valley, Portugal was poured and the Third Course was served, the Mar y Montaña, US Beef Tenderloin, Bohol Prawn & Foie Gras Natural Beef Jus.

I love beef as main course and prefer beef with fat marbling but tenderloin contains little fat.  Chef Daniel simply added foie gras for its extremely rich flavor without masking the delicious nature of beef. The prawn was so fresh that you could drink a third of a teaspoon soup from the shrimp’s head. Wonderful!

Dessert was called Tierra, Homage to Pastry Chef Albert Adria, paired with Dr. L Riesling Germany. Wine pairings for the dishes were endorsed by Mr. Daniel Blais, Wine Sommelier of Wine Warehouse. Bits of freeze-dried fruits like blueberry and strawberry, nuts like hazel nuts and pistachios and chocolates (ice cream and powder) made it look like earth. Perfect end to a dinner!