Catalonia 17: SAMFAINA The Third Sauce! 🌞

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SAMFAINA

Néstor Lujan has called samfaina “a kind
of baroque sofregit. " (It too is based on onions,
after all, and is often cooked down to a mar-
maladelike consistency.) He has also said that
it is, to the Catalan mind, “the most important,
unique and incorruptible dish which Catalan
cuisine has brought to gastronomy.” That sam-
faina (also sometimes known as xamfaina,
sanfaina, and chanfaina) is, for all practical
purposes, virtually identical to the ratatouille
of the Cote d’Azur doesn’t necessarily gainsay
the Catalan opinion. As noted earlier, the Cata-
ans once held sway in that part of France—
and, in the absence of extant Provengal or
Nigoise cookbooks from medieval and Renais-
sance times, who is to say that the Catalans
didn’t bring the dish to French shores in the
first place? (Especially considering the early
popularity of the eggplant in the paisos cata-
Jans and the fact that the Catalans were using
tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini widely before
their French neighbors were.) Samfaina is, in
any case, a quintessentially (post-Columbian)
Mediterranean specialty—and one that invari-
ably brightens any table at which it appears.

Samfaina

TO MAKE 6-8 CUPS

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 pounds onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds Japanese eggplant, skin
on, cut into I-inch cubes
1 pound zucchini, skin on, cut into 1/2-1-inch cubes
8 medium tomatoes, seeded and grated or peeled, seeded, and
chopped
1 1/2 pounds red (if possible) or green bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and
cut into strips as for Escalivada
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a cassola or Dutch oven and
add the garlic, onions, eggplant, and zucchini.

Stir well so that all vegetables are coated with
oil.

Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes on
low heat. Uncover and turn heat up slightly,
cooking until the liquid has evaporated. Stir
occasionally

Add the tomatoes and peppers, reduce
heat, and simmer uncovered until the liquid
has again evaporated and the vegetables are
very soft

Season to taste

Note: If you are preparing samfaina for use as a sauce, cook
longer, adding water if necessary, until the mixture has
attained a marmaladelike consistency, and the vegetables
have lost their form.

From "Catalan Cuisine" by Colman Andrews

A ratatouille by any other name!