One of Laura Veraguas' creations for Bonfire
It is rare for a hotel to bet on a complete cast of female chefs to be the protagonists of its proposals. It's weird and it shouldn't. But when it's done, it's absolutely gratifying. It is even more so when it comes to entrepreneurs and promising young people who know how to do things well and differently. This summer it was done by the W Barcelona hotel, setting its sights on gastronomy with a program that is allied for two months with Iolanda Bustos, Laura Veraguas and Carlota Claver.
Moving the embers of his Fire restaurant to the edge of the pool with The Bonfire, in the area of the hotel known as wet-deck , W Barcelona adjusts to the demands of hot summer nights while keeping the chef Carlotta Delicato in charge, who during the months of July and August will share her kitchen with these three professionals. The Bonfire began last week, just on the day of San Juan to take advantage of his idyll with the bonfires in which the seasonal product , in contact with the land, its producers and the roots of those who cook them is what prevails.
At the W Barcelona, the Wake Up Call festival will take place between September 21 and 23.
Delicatto sides with her in the letter with a wild sea bass flambéed or a spectacular tomahawk , a stuffed spider crab and a perfect crème brulée; uniting water, sea and land with the energy of fire and opening the way to the biodynamic chef Iolanda Busts , based in the Empordà, which returns to the hotel on July 8. Her proposal is lively and colorful surprising with a mix of herbs and flowers with crispy leek, blue cheese, walnuts and ratafia vinaigrette. Flowers and buds are her specialty and with them she demonstrates that vegetable cuisine is absolutely delicate and capable of competing with that of animal origin. Or rather, playing at the plate with her, as she does in her cold tomato and watermelon tartare braised with cod and nasturtiums.
Iolanda Bustos' tartare for The Bonfire
Laura Veraguas , for her part, she escapes from her most personal project, See Waters , to take the lead on July 22 and August 5. Her obsession is the plant world and this time she faces it with her day-to-day dynamics, the one that is nourished by products that come from a natural, ecological and local farming system. "With these dishes he wants to communicate the magic that exists in the respect for time. In the selection of the producer of the product and in the technique. The time that everything requires and how simplicity is capable of highlighting a product to the fullest", shares the chef .
yours is a grilled gazpacho and "the tomato", as well as a esqueixal cod with red pepper, black garlic emulsion and lemon oil. "Behind these products there are people and in the end it is the interrelation between them that I seek to reflect with these dishes," explains the Catalan from a kitchen in which floors They will always have first place. "They are the maximum example of life. Respecting them in the elaboration so that they arrive almost alive on the plate for me is a sign of love towards the human being and towards our environment. And on a structural, organoleptic, form and beauty I think they have an infinite record that I consider to be much more potent than animal proteins," she concludes.
On August 19 and September 2, Charlotte Claver –owner of the restaurant La Gormanda, in Barcelona– bids farewell to this summer initiative with a salad of smoked rain and citrus mayonnaise. "The lluerna is a very fine deep-sea fish that I cook in a charcoal oven with rosemary and dried thyme", she tells us about a menu in which she season she provides with radishes, lettuce and a vinaigrette that is prepared with the juice of the fish and confit cherry tomatoes."As a main course, she throws on the table a tasty galeras rice with black sausage and green asparagus. "I love cooking rice dishes, making a good sauce and good broth... a picada with chup chup and affection".
Galley rice with black sausage and green asparagus by Carlota Claver