In a tiny village in Spain

SOMEWHERE between eating our way through Barcelona and reservations at El Bulli, my friend Claudine and I ended up in the kitchen of an early 18th century casa de poble, “or house in the town,” chopping wild asparagus and grilling up rabbit.

Although we had thought El Bulli would be the culinary highlight of our trip to this part of Spain, it was at Las Nenas, a sleepy stone inn in the village of Jafre, that we slowed down enough to appreciate what the Catalan countryside had to offer. A simple dinner that we helped prepare, of grilled paprika-tinged chorizo, fresh rabbit and lamb with romesco sauce, vegetable rice and crema catalana, was a profound introduction to a way of eating and cooking that was so connected to the land.

The owners of Las Nenas, Katy Ross and Martha Kroncke, are transplants from California who previously worked at several Bay Area restaurants and taught at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Now they live in this tiny town of about 350 people with their dogs and cats and a well-stocked kitchen where guests are invited to cook.

Claudine had found the place on Craigslist during some last-minute travel planning, and though we were looking forward to cooking as tourists, we hadn’t expected to learn so much from one simple meal.

Jafre is in the Baix Emporda district, surrounded by green pastures, peach orchards and pine forests. Directions to the inn from the main road were, basically, “turn left at the phone booth (the only one in town) and drive up the hill.” Las Nenas, with its charming courtyard and three guest rooms, is across the street from a church whose bells ring every 15 minutes in a throwback to the time when the farmers didn’t have watches.

“We like the simplicity of Catalan food, and we love the freshness of all the ingredients here,” said Kroncke, who is also a chef at a restaurant in the nearby village of Colomers. Many of the ingredients in their kitchen are local products. Eggs, purchased at a tiny market (part of a family home nearby), are from a town resident’s chickens. Pine honey is from the local beekeeper. Trucks come through with that morning’s haul from the fishing boats. For our dinner, there was chorizo from the butcher a few doors down and rabbits bought from neighbors (Kroncke explained that many locals raise them in hutches in their garages).

Dinner plans

ON our way one day from the nearby Greek and Roman ruins of Empuries, Claudine and I followed a yellow sign reading Formatgeria that led us down a dirt road to the yard of cheese maker Salvador Vado of Formatges Artesans de Parlava. There, a millstone from his family’s old olive oil press served as makeshift lawn furniture, and Vado said that in the summer he planned to turn his yard into a restaurant, where he would cook for locals and tourists.

We returned to Las Nenas with more than a few rounds of cheese and I snacked on goat’s cheese with a wine-soaked rind along with local butifarra negra, or blood sausage. Then the four of us crowded into the small kitchen with its arched alcove and courtyard view and set to cutting up leeks and green garlic and grating tomatoes for making the sofregit (Catalan for sofrito) that would serve as the base for the paella-like vegetable rice. Traditionally, a sofregit is made with long-cooked onions and tomatoes, but we were using what was on hand -- leeks and garlic instead of onions. And though the rice dish isn’t particularly Catalan, Kroncke said she likes to make it when the wild asparagus is available, foraged from the nearby forests or from the roadside.

The favas were small and tender, and when I started to peel the beans from their outer shells, Ross told me, “They never peel favas here.”

“Yeah, that’s a Frenchy thing,” Kroncke said.

We made a rich romesco sauce to go with the grilled meat, smoky with ancho chiles and slightly sweet with almonds. “Every woman has her own version of it,” Kroncke said. It’s traditionally made with a small, round chile called a nyora (but anchos work well) and served with grilled meat and especially grilled spring onions called calcots.

Once the lamb and chorizo and rabbit had finished cooking on the outdoor grill, which Kroncke had fired up with cherry wood, we sat down for dinner with a couple of bottles of red wine from the nearby vineyards of Capmany.

For dessert: crema catalana, a light custard spiced with cinnamon and made freshly fragrant with lemon peel, luscious but not too heavy. The light custard is poured into cazuelas, shallow terra-cotta dishes, and like creme brulee, topped with a caramelized sugar crust. It’s Catalonia’s ubiquitous regional dessert. And unlike at El Bulli, no one had to explain how to eat it.

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Grilled rabbit, lamb and chorizo with romesco sauce

Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes, plus about 1 hour marinating time

Servings: 6 to 8

Note: Adapted from Katy Ross and Martha Kroncke of Las Nenas in Jafre, Spain. Fresh rabbit is available at select Bristol Farms and by advance order at Bob’s Market in Santa Monica and Bel Air Prime Meats in Los Angeles. Spanish chorizo for cooking and piquillo peppers are available at Spain Restaurant in Los Angeles, Surfas in Culver City and La Espanola in Harbor City.

Romesco sauce

2 ancho chiles

1 egg

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 cup olive oil

1 cup roasted piquillo peppers

1/4 cup finely ground toasted bread crumbs

1/2 cup ground toasted hazelnuts or almonds, preferably

marcona, or a combination

1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika

2 pinches of dried oregano

Salt

Cayenne pepper

1. Hydrate the ancho chiles by soaking them in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes. Remove the chiles from the water, seed the chiles and set aside.

2. In a food processor, add the egg and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. With the processor running, very slowly add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream. Once about half a cup of oil has been added and the mixture has thickened, pour in the remaining 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Continue to add the rest of the oil in a steady stream. Remove the mayonnaise to a bowl and set aside in the refrigerator.

4. In a food processor, grind the piquillo peppers and the hydrated ancho chiles in a food processor.

5. Fold the pepper-chile mixture, the bread crumbs, nuts, paprika and oregano into the mayonnaise. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

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Grilled rabbit, lamb and chorizo

1 (about 2 1/2 pounds) fresh rabbit, cut in 8 pieces

6 to 8 lamb loin chops (about 2 pounds), 1-inch thick

1 pound Spanish chorizo (not dry cured)

1/2 cup of olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon (2

tablespoons)

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed

Salt

Pepper

1. In a large bowl, toss the rabbit, lamb and chorizo with olive oil, lemon juice and mashed garlic. Allow to marinate for at least one hour.

2. Heat a grill to medium-high heat, or until the coals are gray if using a charcoal grill. Lightly season the rabbit with salt and pepper. Place the rabbit on the grill. Cook until the juices run clear -- about 15 to 20 minutes -- turning frequently.

3. After the rabbit has cooked 10 minutes, start grilling the lamb and chorizo. Lightly season the lamb with salt and pepper. Grill the lamb about 2 to 3 minutes on each side until medium-rare. Grill the chorizo, turning occasionally, until heated through and slightly charred, about 6 to 8 minutes total.

4. Serve the grilled meats with the romesco sauce.

Each of 8 servings with 1/4 cup romesco sauce: 928 calories; 54 grams protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 75 grams fat; 21 grams saturated fat; 206 mg. cholesterol; 818 mg. sodium.

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Sofregit-vegetable rice

Total time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Servings: 6

Note: From Katy Ross and Martha Kroncke of Las Nenas. Bomba rice can be found at Restaurant Spain and La Espanola. Any short-grain Spanish rice will work as well; a selection is available at Surfas.

2 medium onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup olive oil

3 tomatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds)

2 large pinches of saffron

2 cups short grain rice, ideally Bomba

1/2 cup dry white wine

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup favas (about 1 pound), out of pods and peeled

1/2 cup fresh English peas (about 8 ounces), shelled

1 cup asparagus (about 10 spears), cut into about 2-inch pieces

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 piquillo peppers for garnish, thinly sliced

Lemon wedges

1. In a large, heavy, ovenproof casserole, make a sofregit by cooking the onions and garlic in the olive oil very slowly over low heat until tender and golden but not browned, about 40 minutes to an hour.

2. Cut the tomatoes in half and grate them by pressing the fleshy side against the medium holes of a box grater. Discard the skins. After the onions are tender, add the grated tomato and saffron and cook slowly for 10 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains in the sofregit. Add the white wine, stock, favas, peas, asparagus and salt.

4. Bring the rice mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the stove top and bake, uncovered, until stock is absorbed and rice is cooked, about 20 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Decorate with the piquillo pepper slices and serve with lemon wedges.

Each serving: 415 calories; 8 grams protein; 50 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 19 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 52 mg. sodium.

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Crema catalana

Total time: 45 minutes, plus several hours chilling time

Servings: 6

Note: From Katy Ross and Martha Kroncke of Las Nenas, who make their version in small cazuelas, earthenware baking dishes (see Cookstuff, far right). You can also use gratin dishes or ramekins that hold at least two-thirds of a cup.

4 cups milk

2 sticks of cinnamon

zest of 1/2 lemon in large strips

2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons, divided

7 egg yolks

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat with the cinnamon and lemon zest until it starts to simmer. Remove from the heat and set the pan aside to infuse for 30 minutes.

2. Mix the cornstarch and half-cup sugar in a separate bowl. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks.

4. Return the saucepan to the stove top and, over medium heat, bring the milk mixture back to a simmer. When the milk is hot, add it little by little to the egg yolks, then return the mixture to the heat, and stir in the sugar blend.

5. Place on medium heat until the mixture is thickened, about 3

minutes.

6. Remove the zest and cinnamon, and pour the mixture into cazuelas or small gratin dishes, about two-thirds cup per portion. Chill thoroughly until set.

7. When ready to serve, sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar in an even layer over the crema and torch until burnt, or place the cazuelas on a sheet tray under the broiler until the sugar starts to turn dark brown, about 8 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Each serving: 261 calories; 8 grams protein; 34 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 10 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 255 mg. cholesterol; 75 mg. sodium.