What would we do without sauces in the kitchen? Probably deprive recipes of flavor. These basic preparations are so important that recently the Taste Altas guide has published a ranking to establish which are the ten best in the world. And, surprise, because a Catalan sauce has crept in among them: samfaina, which occupies number 10.
The first place in the ranking went to tzatziki sauce, one of the most popular in Greek cuisine, made with yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and numerous herbs and spices such as dill, mint or parsley. The second, amatriciana, a sauce originally from Amatrice (in the Lazio region, Italy), and the third, muhammara, a pepper-based cream that apparently comes from Aleppo (Syria), although its origin is still disputed with the Lebanon.
According to the dictionary of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, samfaina is a “stew that is usually served as an accompaniment made with pieces of pepper, tomato, eggplant, onion and zucchini.” Although there are also those who omit this last ingredient. The spread of this recipe (the word samfaina was written for the first time in the 18th century and comes from samfonia, from the Latin symph?n?ia (symphony)), is due to the great Manresa chef Ignasi Domènech, considered the father of modern Catalan cuisine. He used it to accompany dishes such as cod or chicken.
Nowadays it is also used to accompany rabbit, lamb, tortillas, snails, and even fish such as tuna or bonito. In fact, according to the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, samfaina is synonymous with”poti-poti”, defined as disorder.
Samfaina is the first cousin of other Mediterranean dishes such as ratatouille nicoise, which has tomato, garlic, peppers, onion, zucchini and eggplant. However, the main difference is that the last dish is usually flavored with herbs such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, fennel or tarragon. Samfaina is also close to Manchego ratatouille, which does not contain eggplant but does contain zucchini. We show you its recipe below.
* This recipe has been extracted from the Corpus de la cuina Catalana, the recipe book of the Instituto Català de la Cuina.
