NAVARRA GOURMET

Closing circles

Oriol Rovira “Els Casals”, in Sagàs-Berguedà

“My cuisine is holistic, but not restrictive”

Everything leaving the kitchens of the Els Casals Restaurant at Sagàs-Berguedà has been raised and supervised by its owner and chef, Oriol Rovira. He personally grows and picks everything required, and also raises all the animals he needs. All this, in order to "close the circle".

“We don't make anything outlandish, instead our cuisine is based on the land". With the aid of his five brother and mother, they plant wheat, barley, rye and chickpeas, which they use as a base for the cattle feed. In this way the pig and cow fodder is plant-based.

Their fowl are also home-raised (poulardes, chickens and pigeons, amongst others) with autochthonous breeds which are naturally and extensively raised, at a natural pace. Likewise, the pigs are home-bred and are individually prepared and marketed, "as this is the only way to have absolute control over the produce".

“Our cuisine is holistic, but not restrictive. We don't close the door on other products. If a dish would be enriched by an oyster, we add one", he explained. In Oriol Rovira's opinion, this ought to be the normal way to work. However, this does lead to difficulties when preparing the restaurant's menu. For example, the chef couldn't find any mountain celery due to the snow this year, and had to remove this dish from the ones to be prepared at the congress. "However, we are constantly adapting in order to use ingredients growing wild", he explained.

Oriol prepared a salad "of today", because "in the spring, what's here today, is gone tomorrow", with chicory, home-produced pork belly and St George's mushrooms, "the spring mushroom par excellence".

His second recipe was based on a tomato picked in September and home confited, "fresh but preserved", with an oyster, spring vegetables, baby leeks and spring onions, elder flowers and basil, all in a salad.

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