Foie with a side of foie

Yup, it's another food post, but I couldn't resist. I had to go to Barcelona for a conference recently and had the most incredible dinner at the hotel my group stayed in (http://www.hotelcalasanz.com/en/index.htm). Check out the menu for an idea of the kind of place it is.

Since there was a large group of us we had a tasting of several tapas style appetizers and the choice of pan fried plaice or sirloin steak for a main course. I chose the steak, but that's getting a bit ahead of myself.

The first thing they brought out was a glass of Bach Cava Brut Reserva. It was a very light sparkling wine with some pear, apple, and a little bit of sour gooseberry. An excellent apertif, though I didn't need much to get my appetite going as I hadn't had anything but a sandwich and some chips all day and it was past 9:00 at night at this point.

While we were still finishing off the Cava they started bringing out the different tapas. First were some small croquettes of potato and cured ham lightly fried to golden brown. The meal was definitely off to a good start as Spanish croquettes are one of my more recent favorite foods.

Following the croquettes were roasted baby artichokes with Belotta ham and a sliver of foie gras on top. These were really tasty, though the foie gras got a little lost in the smokiness of the artichoke and ham.

After the artichokes there were ravioli filled with cep (porcini) and truffled foie served with light cream sauce. This was the dish that did the least for me. It was good, but nothing really distinguished itself.

Next were some grilled octopus with a little melted cheese and lots of paprika. Some lightly fried potatoes formed the base for the octupus. This is one of my favorite Catalonian dishes. The octupus is chewy but not rubbery, and the paprika adds a bit of spice that brightens up the dish.

The last tapas were slices of foie gras with a paper thin slice of apple on top. The apple was bruleed which added a wonderful caramel sweetness to offset the richness of the foie gras. Toasts were provided to spread the foie on and figs added another fruity component. This was just sublime and definitely the highlight of the meal for me. Luckily some of the group were not as adventurous as me so I took it upon myself to help them with their portions.

When the steak arrived I thought my arteries might jump out of my chest in protest. After all the rich appetizers, what was on the steak? Yep, you guessed it: a nice slice of duck foie perfectly browned. Roast carrot, potatoes and zuchinni accompanied the steak and were perfectly cooked. The steak could have been a little bit rarer for my taste, but the flavor was still excellent. It was seasoned to perfection and it restored my faith that it is possible to get good beef in Europe.

Throughout the meal the Rioja was flowing. The vintage we were drinking was a 2002 from Vina Herminia. It had enough age that the tannins were nicely soft and there were heavy notes of black pepper and cherry. It was very good. Unfortunately the duty free shop at the airport didn't have any.

Dessert, as if we needed it, was a molten chocolate cake. Cutting into the cake with a spoon and seeing that chocolate ooze out made any thought of restraining myself to a couple of bites go out the window.

I wanted to get pictures of all of this, but my stupid camera on my phone wasn't working for some reason. Oh well, the pictures probably wouldn't have turned out anyway. My food pictures never do.

Cheers,
Frog