Pa amb tomàquet (literally bread with tomato in Catalan) is a typical preparation of Catalan cuisine, that consists of bread - optionally toasted - with tomato rubbed over and seasoned with olive oil and salt. Sometimes garlic is rubbed on the bread before rubbing in the tomato. In many Catalan restaurants, the tomato mixture is pre-made and is brushed on the bread. This is to meld the ingredients better, so you taste the mixture, not the individual tastes one after another.

Samfaina is an exuberant vegetable mixture widely used in Catalan cuisine as a sauce or base for meat, fish and fowl dishes. It’s a succulent vegetarian dish that you can eat as a first course or side dish too.

I eat it often as it is delicious, healthy, and in fact easy to cook. It adds a bright touch of color to meals too.

Traditionally, the Catalan ratatouille recipe includes onion, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. And as usual, there seems to be as many variations as households.

Fideuà or Fideuada, from fideu, catalan for “noodle” is a typical dish of Northern region of Spain. It originated in the 1960s in the city of Gandia when noodles were used instead of rice in the popular dish paella.

There are many variations of it with different ingredients, but it is usually made with seafood and fish, and optionally served with allioli sauce.