TYPICAL VENDRELL PRODUCTS
El Xató from El Vendrell
It is a popular dish made with endive, romesco-style sauce and other ingredients. The restaurants integrated in the Xató Route offer it during the winter.
The first Sunday in March is celebrated on the Rambla del Vendrell, the Xatonada Popular, a gastronomic day that offers the possibility of tasting this popular dish.
Recipe (for 4 people)
Ingredients for the sauce:
- 100 grams of almonds
- 80 grams of hazelnuts
- 1 blanched nyora pepper
- 1 slice of bread, fried
- half of a chili pepper (optional)
- half of a grilled onion
- 1 grilled head of garlic
- 3 grilled tomatoes
- oil
- vinegar
- salt
- paprika
Ingredients for the dish:
- 2 endives
- 120 grams of chopped cod
- 120 grams of tuna
- 4 anchovy fillets
- 80 grams of Arbequina olives
Preparation:
Put salt in a mortar and grind the ingredients one by one in the following order: almonds and hazelnuts until they become a very fine paste, onion, skinless nyora pepper, chili (optional), paprika and fried bread. Finally, add the garlic, tomatoes, oil and vinegar.
Once the sauce has been prepared, mix it in with the washed and drained endive, and let it rest for a few hours. When serving the dish, add the chopped cod, tuna, anchovy fillets and Arbequina olives. This dish is usually eaten with a bean omelette.
The coca enramada
Coca enramada is another very typical and original food from Vendrell. It is made with a dough of flour and yeast. Garnish with spinach, beans, onion and red pepper baked in the oven, and accompanied by sausage or sardines. It has a very old origin, like all bread-based “cocas”, dating back possibly to the Middle Ages.
Rostades
“Fer la rosta” is an old tradition for the farmers from when they would take the olives to the mill, at which point they took the opportunity to toast a slice of bread and soak it in freshly pressed oil.
The Baix Penedès has revived this custom and most of the towns in the region celebrate a town “rostada” every year. At this festival everyone can enjoy the extra virgin olive oil of the Arbequina variety, which is considered one of the best in the world for its quality. It should be noted that it is part of DO (Designated Origin) of Siurana.
Along with this fresh oil, you can taste the young wines, which boast the superb quality of DO of Penedès wines. It should be noted that these two products are the most representative of the local agriculture.
Resolis
A brandy liqueur flavoured with anise and cinnamon. Of Italian origin, it is made by hand in some of the El Vendrell wineries.
It is the perfect liqueur to accompany bufats.
Bufats
Bufats are exquisite sweets made with hazelnuts, sugar and egg white, and can be found all year round.
Their origin dates back to the last century, when a pastry chef from the village started making them. Despite the relatively short history of this dessert, it has already become a typical feature of El Vendrell.
It can be found in pastry shops and bakeries.
Orelletes
This is a typical dessert eaten for Carnival and Lent. It is made from a very fine paste of flour, eggs, milk, lemon, salt and yeast, which is fried and sweetened with sugar.
It can be found in pastry shops and bakeries.
Carob (garrofa) cake
A group of culinary professionals were able to create an excellent dessert made from the fruit of a dry-land tree very present in the Vendrell region—the carob—which has a surprising taste.