UPDATE: Cava has permanently closed.
Andorra is a tiny little country nestled between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains. Escudella is often referred to as Andorra’s national dish. Typically eaten in winter, this dish is a big meaty hearty stew. We wanted to try traditional escudella and found the perfect place to make it for us, since it isn’t a readily available menu item in Toronto: Cava at Yonge and St. Clair. This restaurant invites diners to “Just Let Us Cook For You” and you should let them. Look at what came to the table leading up to the main star of the dinner…
Escudella means bowl and it is traditionally cooked up for family gatherings like a Christmas feast. It’s a huge stew prepared as a one-pot winter meal, with a variety of vegetables and a selection of different meats such as veal, meatballs, chicken, pig snout/trotters, and delicious butifarra sausage which is a very juicy pork sausage that is an important part of Catalan cuisine. Even though it was a beautiful mild April evening, we were very happy to see this steaming hot stew arrive at the table. It was perfect.
It was served with lovely vegetables that were a crisp and fresh complement to all that hot, juicy, delicious meat.
It never fails to amaze me how even after eating an enormous amount of savoury hearty food, you can still have room for something sweet, like churros con chocolate.
Thanks Andorra… you inspired a wonderfully creative meal and thank you Cava for doing the research into the dish and making it for us. 1560 Yonge Street.