XATÓ - CATALAN FISH SALAD

Tonight we had a little break in our vegetarian journey and had a very traditional salad from Catalonia. It's called 'Xató' and many towns on the coast that goes from Sitges to Tarragona have a variation on their recipes. The main ingredients are basically the same: 'escarola' - curly endive, salted cod, tuna, anchovies and Arbequina olives which are a particular type of olive, quite small and bitter. It is served with a kind of romesco sauce and it is this sauce that varies from place to place; some people add a bit of chilli and more of this and that... 

I only do this recipe when I can get the endives at our local shop. This happens only once or twice a year... I have tried to use lettuce instead, but for me it doesn't work because the bitterness of the endive together with the saltiness of the fish and olives and the nutty flavour from the sauce it's what makes this dish so delicious. I had to adapt it with the ingredients available where we live and instead of cod I used hot smoked salmon and a mixture of olives. To be honest I didn't particularly liked the salmon much. In the past I used smoked herring and was much better, but it is still a wonderful meal. We love it!

Ingredients 

2 curly endives

120g salted cod, previously soaked in water for a few days, shredded

120g of tuna, flaked  

10 anchovies fillets 

80g  Arbequina olives 

Ingredients for the sauce:

100g roasted almonds, 

100g roasted hazelnuts, 

the pulp of a scalded romesco pepper (nyora or ñora) 

1 slice bread, soaked in vinegar

1 head roasted garlic

1 fresh red chilli (optional)

2 tomatoes, roasted

250 - 300 ml olive oil

salt

1/4 cup vinegar, to taste

white pepper 

2 tsp paprika, to taste. 

Preparation:

To make the sauce:

Preheat oven to 200C, fan forced.

Soak the endives in cold water.

Put the tomatoes, chilli and garlic head on a baking tray. Rub with a bit of olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 20 - 30 minutes.

If you have raw almonds and hazelnuts, put them in another baking tray and roast for about 15 minutes. 

Soak the bread with some wine vinegar in a small bowl.

Remove from the oven and when cool to the touch, remove as many peels as possible. Put them in a food processor. Process until they resemble sand.

When cooked, peel the tomatoes, chilli and squeeze the garlic cloves. Add to the nuts.

Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the food processor and process until well mixed. Taste and add more salt, paprika and vinegar according to your taste.

* If you have a Thermomix, you can do the following:

Put the almonds and hazelnuts in the bowl. Chop 20 sec/speed 8. With the spatula, lower the ingredients to the bottom of the glass.

Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and mix 10 sec/speed 5. 

Once finished, put the sauce in a bowl and reserve. 

In the meantime, drain the endives well and spread on a large serving dish. Add a little bit of the sauce and mix well.

Decorate the dish with shredded cod, tuna, anchovy fillets and Arbequina olives. Add a bit more of sauce on top, and serve with the rest of the sauce on a bowl.

Serves 4-6