A New Spanish Star : Restaurants: The chef at Spain’s latest three-star spot is creating a new Catalan cuisine out of old traditions. Here, he creates a menu based on groceries available in the U.S.

Santi Santamaria, the young, neatly bearded chef/proprietor of the restaurant called El Raco de Can Fabes in Sant Celoni, some 30 miles or so north of Barcelona, is one of the best chefs in Spain--and one of the few in the country creating a genuinely original contemporary cuisine.

That’s my opinion, of course, but the Guide Michelin agrees. For several years, it had awarded him two of its coveted stars; this year, it gave him a third--elevating him to the very firmament of European gastronomy.

El Raco is an attractive place . . . inside, at least. Set in the former manger of an 18th-Century farmhouse in what is now a rather plain little town ( El Raco de Can Fabes means “The Corner of the Fabes House,” Fabes being either the name of the family that once owned the house or an alternate spelling of the Catalan word faves , meaning fava beans), it is rather plain outside. Its interior, however, is exquisitely rustic-elegant in decor, with beamed ceilings, fieldstone walls, tile floors, sconces made from weathered roof tiles and huge sprays of fresh flowers set here and there. The table settings are superb, and the service--under the direction of Santamaria’s wife, Angels Serra, with an enthusiastic young sommelier named Joan-Carles Ibanez recommending the wines--is nearly flawless.

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Santamaria himself is a self-taught chef and an ardent Catalanista who happens to express his cultural and political affinities through his food. He is obsessively proud of the raw materials he finds in the Catalan countryside and on the nearby Catalan coast, and he has a vast knowledge of the region’s traditional cooking.

At the same time, though, he has assimilated classical French technique and is a master of post-Nouvelle presentation. Typical Santamaria dishes are rascasse fish in warm cuttlefish-ink vinaigrette with semolina pastry; strips of sauteed pig’s ear with asparagus and a sauce of sesame and mustard seeds; confit of rabbit loin with snails and espardenyes (a kind of sea slug much prized on the northern Catalan coast); scallops and baby goat chops with wild mushrooms and thyme; fresh goat cheese from nearby Montseny with beets and an artichoke vinaigrette; and the like.

He is also capable of fashioning special menus that are nothing less than exotic. For instance, an herb-and-spice menu he served last year included such dishes as monkfish with ginger oil and lime-flavored pasta and a thick fudge-like chocolate mousse anointed with dabs of curry sauce. (He notes that, historically, Catalan cooking has always used multiple spices.) What he is attempting to attain, Santamaria once told me, is “a kind of marriage of Catalan cuisine and French technique, with flavors that were very much my own.”

With all that in mind, it occurred to me a few months ago to pose Santamaria a challenge. I asked if he could create a menu based on raw materials that were typically Catalan but yet easily found in the United States--one that would be representative of his own sophisticated cuisine and possible for the American home cook to reproduce. I asked, in other words, whether there were a way for him to offer at least a taste of his fine cooking to those who had not visited his restaurant.

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At first he laughed. “But when you say ‘typical Catalan ingredients,’ ” he protested, “I think at once of live snails, the tripe of salt cod, espardenyes . . . I don’t think you can find these things easily in an American supermarket.”

I agreed. You probably can’t. Some fresh mountain herbs, wild mushrooms, and certain local vegetables also might pose problem, we decided, as might some kinds of wild game and some uniquely Catalan sausages.

Going through his vast repertoire of dishes, though, we finally agreed on the following selection, which I was then fortunate enough to sample, as prepared by Santamaria’s right hand, chef Xavier Pellicer, under the master’s supervision.

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Pure, simply cooked, depending for its flavors on the quality of the raw materials, this is an assortment of vegetables popular in Catalonia--prepared not in the usual overcooked Spanish style, but still bright in color and slightly crisp.

ASSORTED VEGETABLES WITH ROASTED EGGPLANT AND SWEET RED PEPPERS (Barreja de Verdures amb Escalivada)

4 sweet red peppers

2 Japanese eggplants, halved lengthwise

Olive oil

Salt

4 very small onions, peeled

6 stalks green asparagus, trimmed and peeled

6 stalks white asparagus, trimmed and peeled

6 small carrots, trimmed and peeled

1 small cauliflower, separated into florets

6 ounces fresh goat cheese with herbs

Freshly ground pepper

Rub sweet red peppers and eggplant halves with olive oil and salt to taste. Wrap in foil and seal tightly. Roast at 325 degrees 45 minutes. Unwrap vegetables and allow to cool. Peel sweet red peppers, remove seeds and ribs and cut into thin strips. Peel eggplants and cut in half lengthwise.

While peppers and eggplants are roasting, separately boil onions, white asparagus, green asparagus, carrots and cauliflower in salted water until al dente. Then immediately plunge into cold water. Drain. Set aside.

To serve, arrange roasted pepper strips and eggplant halves on each of 4 plates, then arrange remaining vegetables in slightly mounded form on top. Using spoon dipped in warm water, place 2 to 3 spoonfuls of goat cheese on each plate. Season vegetables to taste with additional olive oil, salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

232 calories; 248 mg sodium; 20 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 1.49 grams fiber.

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Two ingredients much loved and often used in Catalan cooking--shrimp and wild mushrooms--are paired in a most surprising way in this unusual dish: The “ravioli” are made not of pasta dough but of thinly sliced and pounded pieces of shrimp itself, which form the translucent, delicately colored wrapping for a mushroom mousse. This turns out to be a time-consuming dish to make, but not a particularly difficult one--and it is guaranteed to dazzle anybody’s dinner guests.

The dish should be warm, but the shrimp should not be cooked through. Santamaria suggests an alternate method of attaining the proper temperature: Reheat the puree and the porcini-flavored oil just before assembling the dish; this will cook the shrimp to the right point.

SHRIMP RAVIOLI WITH PORCINI OIL (Raviolis de Gambes amb Oli de Ciurenys)

40 medium to small raw shrimp

1 pound fresh porcini, shiitake or cultivated brown mushrooms, trimmed and brushed clean, or 3 ounces dried porcini, soaked 15 minutes in warm water

1 small onion, finely chopped

Olive oil

1 bunch chives, minced

Salt, pepper

Carefully peel raw shrimp. In several batches, place shrimp, at least 3 inches apart, between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Gently pound with mallet or back of small heavy pan until very flat, thin and translucent. Leaving shrimp between sheets of plastic wrap, freeze 2 hours.

Finely chop 2/3 of mushrooms and cook in pan over low heat with onion and 1/4 cup olive oil about 1 hour. In food processor or food mill, puree mixture. Set aside.

Slice remaining 1/3 mushrooms and place in top half of bain-marie with olive oil to cover. Cook slowly about 1 hour. Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Set aside. Reserve mushroom cooking oil.

Remove shrimp from freezer and gently peel off plastic wrap. Place 4 shrimp on each of 4 broad, shallow bowls or large dinner plates. Put 1 spoonful of mushroom puree in middle of each shrimp.

When shrimp have thawed but are still cold, cover each shrimp with another shrimp and gently but firmly press edges together to form “ravioli.” Chop sliced mushrooms finely and scatter around “ravioli.” Drizzle with mushroom cooking oil, then scatter plates with chopped chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place each plate under broiler 3 minutes or bake at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. Dish should be warmed, but shrimp should not be cooked through. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

224 calories; 182 mg sodium; 106 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 25 grams protein; 1.1 grams fiber.

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A gloriously simple presentation of monkfish, easily adaptable to many other kinds of fish, this dish announces its Catalan character vividly with its forthright use of garlic and tomatoes, both of them made slightly sweet and slightly salty.

MONKFISH FILLETS WITH GARLIC AND TOMATO CONFIT (Llom de Rap amb All i Tomaquet Confit)

4 very ripe tomatoes

2 sprigs fresh thyme

5 bay leaves

10 cloves garlic

Olive oil

12 pearl onions, peeled

1 1/2 pounds monkfish fillets or other firm white-fleshed ocean fish

Salt, pepper

Peel tomatoes and cut each in halves lengthwise. Gently squeeze out seeds and excess moisture. Place tomato halves, thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 2 garlic cloves and olive oil in pan with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Cook over very low heat 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch remaining 8 garlic cloves and onions in separate pots of boiling water 5 minutes each. Drain. Cook garlic and onions in separate pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each over very low heat 20 minutes, watching carefully to make sure they do not brown.

Season monkfish fillets with salt and pepper to taste. Saute quickly with 1 tablespoon olive oil in non-stick pan, adding garlic and onions at last minute.

Salt and pepper tomato halves and place 2 on each of 4 plates. Place monkfish fillets on top. Garnish with garlic, onions and 1 bay leaf. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

297 calories; 112 mg sodium; 34 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 21 grams protein; 1.13 grams fiber.

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Crema Catalana is the Catalan version of creme brulee, complete with caramelized sugar topping. Santamaria transforms the dessert completely, turning it into a light, orange-scented mousse, with the merest hint of crackly burnt sugar as accent.

CREMA CATALANA ‘MY STYLE’ (Crema a la Meva Manera)

1 pint milk

1 stick cinnamon

Zest 1 lemon

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup cold milk

1 package gelatin, dissolved in 1/4 cup cold milk

3 egg whites, beaten until soft peaks form

1 cups whipping cream, lightly beaten

4 ripe oranges (blood oranges, if possible), peeled and separated into sections

4 sprigs fresh mint

Bring milk, cinnamon and lemon zest almost to boil in large saucepan. Reduce heat to medium. In small bowl, combine egg yolks and little of hot milk. Stirring constantly, gradually add egg yolks, 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch mixture to remainder of hot milk. Stir until well dissolved. Bring almost to boil again. Add gelatin mixture to hot milk. Strain.

Fold beaten egg whites into milk mixture and then fold in whipped cream. Pour mixture into 4 (1/2-cup) flan molds. Let cool to set.

Unmold custards onto 4 plates. Arrange orange segments around each in crown shape. Sprinkle remaining sugar on top of custards. Quickly sear sugar to caramelize with bottom of small, very hot iron pan or special branding iron designed for making creme brulees. Garnish each serving with 1 sprig mint. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

534 calories; 145 mg sodium; 298 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams protein; 0.65 gram fiber.

Note: Alternative method to caramelize topping--scatter 4 teaspoons sugar onto piece of very lightly buttered foil into 4 round shapes same size as cremas. Place foil under very hot broiler until sugar caramelizes. Then carefully lift each round of sugar off foil and position on top of custard.

* Handpainted pottery pictured on this page and on cover by Talavera at Silver Skilletin, Del Mar.

* Food styling by Donna Deane and Mayi Brady.