P
Spanish · Penedès, Catalonia
Xató: Catalan winter salad
Xató is a winter salad from the Penedès and Garraf coasts of Catalonia — a carnival dish traditionally eaten during the Carnival season (February) based on salt cod and/or salted anchovies, chicory or frisée, black olives, and a sauce identical in technique to romesco but with its own regional variations in nut and pepper ratios. The xató sauce is the essential element: toasted hazelnuts, fried almonds, ñora peppers, garlic, tomato, and vinegar blended to a thick, rust-coloured sauce that coats the greens and fish in equal measure. Every village in the Xatodrome (the designated xató region) claims the definitive recipe. The competition is ancient and ongoing.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the xató sauce
3
ñora peppers
soaked in hot water, skin scraped, seeds discarded
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
50 g
50 g
blanched almonds
fried in olive oil
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
garlic cloves
fried in olive oil
Your own market
1
2 tbsp
red wine vinegar
Your own market
100 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
added slowly while blending
Your own market
1 tsp
fine sea salt
Your own market
For the salad
300 g
salt cod
properly desalted, skin and bones removed, torn into pieces
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
8
salted anchovies
rinsed and patted dry
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
frisée, escarole, or young chicory
leaves separated, washed and dried
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
100 g
black olives
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Desalt the salt cod: submerge it in cold water and refrigerate for 24–48 hours, changing the water every 8 hours. The flesh should yield gently under pressure and taste mildly of salt, not brine. Drain and pat dry; remove any remaining skin and bones.
2
Soak the ñora peppers in hot water for 30 minutes until fully softened. Drain, slit each pepper open, and scrape the inner flesh away from the skin with a spoon, discarding the skin and seeds entirely. The scraped flesh will be deep red-brown and paste-like.
3
Set a dry heavy pan over high heat. Place the whole tomato directly on the pan and char on all sides until the skin is blackened and blistered and the flesh beneath has softened and collapsed. Remove and set aside; do not peel.
4
In a small pan, warm a film of olive oil over medium heat. Fry the garlic cloves until golden on all sides, then remove. In the same oil, fry the almonds until pale gold, then remove. Toast the hazelnuts separately in a dry pan until the skins blister and the nut inside is golden. The kitchen should smell of warm roasted nuts before you proceed.
5
This is where the dish lives or dies: combine the scraped ñora flesh, fried garlic, fried almonds, toasted hazelnuts, charred tomato (skin and all), and vinegar in a mortar or blender. Work to a rough paste. With the motor running or the pestle moving in slow circles, add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream until the sauce emulsifies to a thick, rust-coloured consistency that coats the back of a spoon. Some texture — visible fragments of nut and pepper — must remain. A smooth purée is a failed xató sauce.
6
Season the sauce with salt and, if needed, a little more vinegar. Rest it for at least one hour before serving — overnight is better. The colour will deepen and the flavours consolidate.
7
Arrange the bitter greens across a wide platter or individual plates. Lay the pieces of desalted salt cod and the rinsed anchovies over the leaves. Scatter the black olives. Spoon the xató sauce generously over everything so it coats both fish and greens in equal measure. Serve immediately.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Salt cod from a single premium cure, desalted over 48 hours; hand-scraped ñora flesh from peppers sourced from a specialist; cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil from Catalonia or Aragon; stone-ground in a mortar throughout.
02
Estate — Good-quality salt cod from a fishmonger, properly desalted; dried ñoras from a Spanish grocer; a reliable extra-virgin olive oil; sauce made in a blender with restraint to preserve texture.
03
Market — Supermarket salt cod, desalted as directed; jarred or vacuum-packed ñora peppers; standard extra-virgin olive oil; frisée from any market stall with genuine bitterness.
04
House — Canned or fresh cod substituted for salt cod (flavour depth reduced); dried sweet peppers used in place of ñora (character substantially diminished); pre-washed mixed bitter leaves; blended sauce with unavoidable smoothness.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Desalted cod yields under gentle finger pressure and no longer feels rigid or crystalline at the surface.
◇Sight. The tomato skin is fully blackened and the flesh beneath has visibly collapsed before it is removed from the pan.
◇Smell. The fried almonds and toasted hazelnuts release a warm, roasted fragrance before they are removed from the heat.
◇Sight. The finished sauce is thick, rust-coloured, and holds a spoon's impression — fragments of nut and pepper are still visible throughout.
◇Where it lives or dies. The xató sauce must emulsify to a thick, textured, rust-coloured paste — if it is blended smooth or fails to coat, the dish loses its defining character entirely.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance