Escalivada (Catalan Roasted Vegetable Salad)

Escalivada is proof that some of the best dishes come from doing almost nothing to good ingredients. Eggplant, red peppers, and onions go into a hot oven whole, skin on, until they collapse and blister, then get peeled, sliced into strips, and dressed with nothing more than good olive oil and garlic. That’s it. That’s the whole recipe, and it’s better than dishes with three times the ingredient list.

It comes from Catalonia, further north and east than the Spanish recipes I usually cover here, but it earns its place next to my other Spanish dishes for the same reason it earns its place on any table: it’s unfussy, it’s better the next day, and it makes vegetables taste like they mean it. If you’ve made the Spanish tomato toast (recipe on the site) or Patatas bravas (recipe on the site) from this site, this is their quieter, smokier cousin.

We make big trays of this in August when the farmers market is drowning us in eggplant and peppers, and it stretches across a week: on toast, alongside grilled fish, folded into an omelet, or just eaten straight from the fridge standing at the counter, which is how I most often eat it.

Escalivada Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutes · Cook time: 45 minutes · Total: 1 hour · Servings: 6 · Calories: ~110 per serving

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants
• 3 red bell peppers
• 2 medium onions, unpeeled
• 2 ripe tomatoes (optional)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 garlic clove, minced, or 1 clove for rubbing
• Salt, to taste
• Splash of sherry vinegar
• Anchovy fillets or fresh goat cheese, for serving (optional)
• Crusty bread, for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Place the whole eggplants, peppers, onions, and tomatoes if using directly on a baking sheet.
2. Roast, turning once or twice, for 40 to 50 minutes, until the skins are blistered and charred in spots and the vegetables are fully soft. The peppers and tomatoes will likely finish before the eggplant and onions; remove each as it’s done.
3. Transfer the roasted vegetables to a bowl and cover tightly, or wrap in foil, to steam for 15 minutes; this makes peeling much easier.
4. Peel the skins from the eggplant, peppers, and onions, and remove the pepper seeds. Slice everything into thick strips, discarding any tough cores.
5. Arrange the strips on a platter. Season with salt, drizzle with olive oil, scatter the garlic over, and add a splash of sherry vinegar.
6. Top with anchovies or goat cheese if using, and serve at room temperature with crusty bread.

Recipe Notes

• Roasting the vegetables whole, skin on, is what gives escalivada its smoky depth. Don’t be tempted to peel and chop before cooking.
• This is even better made a day ahead; the flavors deepen in the fridge overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.
• For extra smokiness, grill the vegetables over charcoal instead of roasting, especially in summer when the grill is already going for something else.
• Good Spanish olive oil and sherry vinegar are worth seeking out for this dish since there’s nowhere for their flavor to hide.