Escalivada is a grilled vegetable dish from Catalonia, Spain, that’s simple and flavorful.
It’s usually cooked over hot charcoal until the vegetables are tender, sweet, and smokey, but it can also be done inside the house using the broiler in the oven (griller).
Escalivada is a dish from Catalonia, Spain, made with peppers and eggplant in the most basic version of the recipe, but other ingredients, like onion wedges or thick slices of tomato, can also be added. Use a combination of yellow, orange, and red peppers to make it even more colorful.
Similar to ratatouille, escalivada is a delicious, easy-to-make recipe that’s sure to become a new comfort food.
If you’ve never tried or even heard of Escalivada, this article is for you.
Keep reading to learn more about the history of this traditional Spanish dish and get the recipe to try for yourself!
What Is Escalivada?
Escalivada is a warm salad of grilled vegetables. The most typical of all salads in Barcelona and Catalunya are made with mainly eggplants, sweet red peppers, tomatoes, sweet onions, olive oil, salt, and garlic. The defining feature is the smoky flavor of the roasted vegetables.
While escalivada is usually served as a side dish alongside grilled meats and fish, it’s also good as a tapa (a Spanish finger snack) served with coca, a Catalan flatbread.
History of Escalivada
Farmers from the Pyrenees mountains are thought to have created the first escalivada, which was cooked while the livestock were out on the meadows.
Although escalivada is most commonly eaten as a side dish nowadays, it can also be served as tapas, a warm salad, or as a fish complement.
Best Escalivada Recipe
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make an escalivada:
- 2 aubergines, poked all over with a fork
- 3 red peppers with pointed ends
- 6 vine-ripened tomatoes
- 1 quartered red onion
- A handful of thyme sprigs, fresh
- 4 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 tablespoon (14.79 ml) olive oil
- 2 tablespoon (28.3 g) salt
- 50 grams (1.76 oz) almonds, whole
- 1 teaspoon (4.93 ml) of lemon juice
- 25 grams (0.88 oz) basil leaves (roughly torn or chopped)
Method
Here are the steps to make an escalivada:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) fan/200°C (392°F)/gas mark 1 6.
- Place the whole aubergines, vine tomatoes, red peppers, onion, garlic, thyme, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon (4.2g) of salt in a large roasting tray and toss everything in the salt and oil with your hands.
- Place in the oven for 1 hour, tossing in the almonds for the last 10 minutes to toast.
- Take the tray out of the oven; the vegetables should be browned all over and mushy when poked.
- Save the garlic and set aside the remainder of the vegetables while you whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and another teaspoon of sea salt with the roasted garlic that has been squeezed out and crushed.
- Remove the inedible tops and stems with a knife and fork, then roughly rip the softened veggies apart.
- Toss in the basil and the dressing, then thoroughly combine. Serve warm, with crusty bread on the side.
As an alternative method, cook vegetables on a grill for 15-30 minutes.
When cooking over an open flame, keep a close eye on the food and turn it often to prevent burning. When the vegetables are tender, set them aside for about an hour to cool.
Once cool, peel off vegetable skins and slice into strips. Toss with remaining ingredients and serve.
Summary
Escalivada is a traditional Catalan salad believed to have originated from farmers in the Pyrenees mountains.
Consisting of grilled vegetables and olive oil, Escalivada should be served warm with some bread on the side.
The ingredients needed are aubergines, red peppers, vine-ripened tomatoes, red onion, thyme sprigs, garlic cloves, and olive oil.
Sources
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.