Recipe: Calçot & Romesco Puff Pastry

Calçot season is here and, while leaving the city for a stroll in one of Catalunya's charming villages followed by a gut-busting calçotada meal is definitely on my to-do list, I'm always looking for ways to enjoy calçots and romesco sauce right here at home. I thought a simple puff pastry tart was a good place to start.

This straightforward recipe takes about an hour and 15 minutes to prepare. If you cook the calçots and sausage ahead of time, putting it together only takes about 15 minutes, and then 30 minutes to bake.

For the romeso sauce, you can follow our recipe to make your own, or buy it already prepared.

INGREDIENTS

• ½ manat of calçots (half a bunch, or about seven)
• olive oil
• romesco sauce
• 100 g goat cheese
• 100 g uncooked botifarra sausage (about 65 g cooked)
• 1 refrigerated puff pastry dough*
• 1 egg (optional)
• arugula to garnish

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 140°C.
2. Clean calçots. Be sure to trim off most of the green tops and clean them well—dirt tends to hide in between the green leaves. Cut in half lengthwise. (I like to clean and roast the whole bunch in one go and then save the other half of the roasted calçots for another tart—or for calçot croquetas later in the week.)
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place calçots on the paper and brush with olive oil. Roast on convection setting until just tender, about 15-20 minutes. You don't want to let them get too browned, as they will cook more when you place them on the tart.
4. While roasting the calçots, cook the botifarra and then slice it.
5. Take the puff pastry out of the refrigerator to let it warm up slightly so that won't break or tear when you unroll it.
6. Slice the goat cheese.
7. Unroll the puff pastry and place it and the parchment paper it is rolled in on a baking sheet. With the point of a sharp knife, gently score a 1-2 centimeter border around the edge. Make sure you don't cut all the way through the dough.
8. Preheat oven to 160°C.
9. Spread about 40 g of romesco sauce on the pastry, avoiding the border.
10. Place the cooked calçots on the sauce, and then add the sliced sausage and cheese.
11. Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush the border of the pastry with the egg.
12. Bake on the convection setting for 25-30 minutes in the lower half of the oven. If the top isn't as brown as you like, increase the heat and place the oven on the broil setting for a few minutes—but keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn!
13. Serve topped with arugula and more romesco sauce on the side.

*You can easily make this a gluten-free dish by using a gluten-free puff pastry. Not every store carries them, but Mercadona usually has gluten-free puff pastry available.