Ingredients For 4 people: 1 kg calçots (type of large spring onion) Salvitxada or romesco sauce Necessary tools: Grill Preparation time: 15 minutes Difficulty: Easy About calçots: Eating calçots is one of the truest experiences you can have of traditional Catalan gastronomy. It is a sweet onion with a much narrower bulb and is grown following traditional practices. In fact, it is produced largely manually and for a good part of the year. The calçot season runs from November to April, but the best months to eat them are January, February and March. This product offers a wide range of possibilities in the kitchen, but grilled calçots are the star dish. The popular calçotades are social feasts that bring together families, friends or work colleagues during the winter months. They are gatherings to share moments around this very popular dish. Instructions Preparing grilled calçots is very simple, but you have to take into account some small details to get it just right. First, pay attention to the size of the onions to ensure they cook evenly. For example, the Calçot de Valls Protected Geographical Indication, a quality mark endorsed by the European Union, establishes that the white part of the calçot must be between 15 and 25 centimetres long and have a diameter of between 1.7 and 2.5 centimetres at 5 centimetres from the root. But the main key lies in the fire. Calçots are cooked on the barbecue with an open flame. Place them on a grill next to each other. After 5 to 7 minutes, turn the grill over to cook the part that has not been exposed to the flames. After a quarter of an hour, the calçots should be cooked. To be sure, you will see that the onions start to ‘sweat’, which means you can now remove them from the fire. The outermost layer should be completely charred, so you will have to remove it to eat the rest. Before doing so, however, we recommend wrapping the calçots in newspaper for a few minutes to keep them warm. Calçots are eaten directly with salvitxada or romesco sauce. The embers from the fire where we cooked them are usually then used to cook meat and toast bread. If you have leftover calçots, you can always use them to make other dishes, such as omelettes or croquettes. And if you don't have space to have a barbecue, you can also cook them in the oven. Presentation of the dish and recommended dressings There is no secret to eating calçots. They are usually served directly on the newspaper they are wrapped in or on a large plate. In many restaurants they also serve them on a tile, because it helps keep them warm. Take the onion by the tip of the leaves and pull the other to remove the most charred layer. Then, dip the calçot in the sauce and eat it directly, lifting it above your mouth. It's a simple gesture that has become a ritual. Enjoy the truest experience of our cuisine in the countryside and in good company. Other related recipes you can prepare Romesco sauce Escalivada