Catalan cuisine is a caldron full of prawns and monkfish simmering in rich broth on a butane stove in the galley of a fishing boat off the Costa Brava port of Palamós… –Colman Andrews
Authentic Catalan Experience
Experience Catalan food and wine with a private chef. The setting is a tranquil village barely inland from the stunning Mediterranean coast. The village is located in a bountiful comarca (county) whose valley floors and soft hills carpeted in cork and olive trees soothe the soul. Your hotel is a beautifully converted luxurious village townhouse from the 15th century in Madremanya, a quiet village near Girona.
Your instructor for the week is Vicenç, the hotel’s chef, whose restaurant specializes in Catalan cuisine with a contemporary twist. All wines accompanying the meals will be chosen by the hotel’s sommelier. Your private cooking classes will be enhanced by wine tasting sessions in the hotel, giving you the opportunity to discover new Spanish and Catalan wines.
The Empordà
The cooking school/hotel will be the base for explorations of surrounding medieval villages, authentic local restaurants, an olive oil mill, the Wild Coast of Catalonia, and area wineries (DO Empordà). See our recent blog post The Costa Brava in Spain.
The region is ideal for slowing down. Without making too much effort, you can go for walks or bicycle rides (bicycles supplied at the hotel) in the countryside or drive to the beach (17 miles) and walk along the costal walkways. The medieval villages in the area are fascinating to explore, as are Girona, with a 13th-century call (Jewish Quarter), Figures, where the Teatre-Museu Dalí is found, and Cadaqués, a beautiful costal town where Dalí’s house is now a museum, All are a reasonable distance (15 minutes – 1.5 hours) from Madremanya.
Catalan Cuisine
Catalan cuisine is intimately tied to the land and seasonal products. Some of our Cooking Programs in the Empordà highlight these harvests. In November when the great bounty of bolets (wild mushrooms) and trufas (truffles) comes in, they appear in the kitchen in Madremanya. And in February the coastal region celebrates the sea urchin with festivities and dishes featuring this rare but delicious creature.
Catalan cuisine is characterized by the wide variety and incredible freshness of its often local, traditional ingredients. Ingredients commonly used include prawns, shrimp, squid, sea urchins, salt cod, anchovies, wild game, sausages, veal, free-range duck and chicken, rabbit, peppers, tomatoes, wild mushrooms, artichokes, eggplant, rice, and broad beans. The northern Catalan cheese landscape is diverse featuring artisanal goat’s and cow’s milk cheeses, some produced in a single village.
The cuisine is centered around four principal sauces: alioli, sofregit, picada and samfaina. After learning to make these sauces you will go on to incorporate them into a number of Catalan dishes. Typical dishes include suquet, a Catalan bouillabaisse, an enormous variety of fish and shellfish, escalivada (roasted vegetable salad), mar i muntanya (surf and turf)–pairing lobster or prawns with chicken or rabbit–escudella i carn d’olla (Catalan stew), pa amb tomàquet, and esqueixada.
Transport
We provide transport for all program excursions and to Girona on the morning of departure. Ask us about arrival to the hotel from Girona or Barcelona. You may choose to rent a car in Girona for further explorations during your free time. We can help with car rental as well as indicating activities of interest and routes.
Bicycles are provided at the hotel free of charge for the scenic rural bike paths from the hotel. There are walking paths starting near the hotel as well.
Itinerary
7 Days/6 Nights
Madremanya
Day One
Arrival at your charming village hotel. Tapas and cava (Catalan sparkling wine) will be served before dinner, and you’ll meet Vicenç, your instructor for the week. Vicenç will make a dinner consisting of a specially designed menu of regional in-season specialties, featuring dishes such as Coca (a Catalan type of pizza) topped with Minorcan sheep’s milk cheese, roasted vegetables, and anchovies from L’Escala, Squid with artichokes and green beans, or Grilled duck breast with a raspberry and redcurrant sauce, followed by, perhaps, crema catalana and a local sweet wine, Garnatxa d’Empordà.
Medieval Villages and the Costa Brava
Day Two
After breakfast we explore two medieval villages of the region. We visit a local cheesemaker or a winery and then venture to a small coastal town on one of the most famed stretches of Catalonia’s exquisite Costa Brava (Wild Coast). We have a splendid lunch in a famed restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean. After a walk along the camí de ronda (seaside path) or a stroll along the beach, we return to the hotel for a rest or a swim in the outdoor pool. In the evening we have our first cooking class and a tour-of-Spain wine tasting session led by Mònica. the sommelier.
Conxa’s Cooking and a Fish Auction
Day Three
Today’s cooking lesson will take place in Palafrugell in the home of an outstanding local cook, Conxa. After shopping together at the daily outdoor market for ingredients, Conxa will share secrets of Catalan home cooking. In this hands-on class you prepare dishes such as faves a la catalana (Catalan style beans), esqueixada (salt cod salad), mar i muntanya (surf and turf), or canalons (cannelloni). A fish auction takes place that afternoon in the port town of Palamós as the fishing boats unload their catch. We return to the hotel to rest. Dinner in a traditional Catalan restaurant in Ullastret, a nearby medieval village.
Girona’s Market and Cooking
Day Four
Today you will visit Girona’s fantastic food market with Jaume, the owner of the hotel and a renowned chef of the Empordà, buying the ingredients for your cooking class at the hotel. Dishes prepared will vary according to the season, and will feature fresh local produce, seafood and meats. After your four-course lunch paired with local wines, the remainder of the day is free to take a walk or a bicycle ride (many pleasant routes in the area), lounge by the pool, or explore the region. Dinner at the hotel.
Catalan Seafood Cooking
Day Five
Today your cooking class will focus on preparing Catalan-style fish and seafood soups, stews, and rice dishes. After a luxurious lunch and a very Spanish siesta, or a leisurely paseo, you are free to visit Girona with its medieval call (Jewish Quarter), Figueres with its Dalí Museum, or simply explore the inland or costal villages of the area. Dinner on your own. We will give you restaurant recommendations for Girona or surrounding towns.
Biodynamic Winery With Grilled Lamb
Day Six
The Empordà Denominación de origen wineries have experienced a quiet revolution of late, experimenting with grape varieties and modernizing their methods. We will visit a biodynamic winery near the coast and have a winery lunch of lamb chops grilled over grape vine cuttings. After lunch we visit an olive oil mill and have a tasting of oils from Arbequina and Argudell olives.
Once we are back at the hotel our chef will treat us to a cooking demonstration which may be of Catalan or Spanish dishes, traditional or modern–as we prefer. Dinner at the hotel with local wines and cava brings our gastronomic week to a delightful close.
Farewell
Day Seven
Breakfast in the hotel, followed by departure. Transfers to Girona provided.
What We Include:
* Accommodation for 6 nights
* Daily breakfast
* 5 lunches and 5 dinners with wine
* 4 cooking classes
* 1 cooking demonstration
* Olive oil tasting
* Wine tasting
* English-speaking guide and cooking instructors
* Winery visits
* Visit to artisan cheese producer
* Olive oil mill tour
* Transport for group excursions
* Restaurant gratuities
* Epicurean Ways apron and Gourmet Gift Bag
Not Included:
* Airfare to/from Spain
* Meals not specified
* Car rental, if chosen
* Accident/baggage/trip cancellation insurance