It is commonly held that pizza, the iconic flatbread baked with a variety of ingredients, and all other pizza-like food items, originated in Italy. The famous all-around fare, as a result, is embodied in other cultures as well, with variations in the dough recipe and toppings, but still echoing the elemental simplicity of the form. Spain, for example, has its own local version of pizza served as part of popular tapas in Barcelona and other popular culinary hotspots in the country. Tapas are small appetizer foods, finger delights, or canapés, some of which are best served hot and others cold. As the LA Times’ Regina Schrambling points out:
“My host, a writer and obsessive cook recently from Barcelona, Spain, had prepared his interpretation of coca—a dish he had found everywhere there: a flatbread with caramelized onions, red peppers, summer squash, and Spanish sausage. The dough, enriched with seriously good olive oil, had been too sticky to transfer to his pizza stone, though, so he had turned the coca into what he joked was a Catalan calzone with the filling folded inside. It wasn’t pretty, but it tasted fabulous.”
A coca flatbread looks a lot like a slice of pizza, and is therefore frequently described as the Catalan form of Italian pizza, without the tomato or cheese. Spanish coca is also cooked differently; it is not served oven-hot, but rather at room temperature.
Coca’s most common toppings range from the simple, like strips of red pepper and olives, to more varied or spicy types such as Coca de recapte (meaning anything available in the cupboard is thrown onto the dough). Sometimes, tuna or sardines in olive oil in cans are added to vegetable toppings. Coca is enjoyed for its variations of seasonings according to local culture, and coques (plural) are enjoyed at their savory best during local festivals and celebrations.
Coca dough is cooked in different ways. It is often baked open and sometimes closed (folded). It can also be sweet when reinforced by eggs and sugar, along with additional sweet ingredients. Coca can also be savory; with bakers using only the best olive oil, along with topping pairs of vegetables and meat or fish. The almost inexhaustible topping variations contribute to the differences in the distinctive flavors between cocas baked from different Spanish regions.
Although fairly easy to cook at home, authentic tapas in Barcelona, including coques, remain the best experience in the homeland. Ziryab wine fusion and tapas bar offers organic coca bread for you to try, toasted with olive oil, garlic, and tomato and served along with a middle eastern sister tapa. For people looking to experience Barcelona and other tourist attractions in Spain, relaxing at a local pub like Ziryab for its delicious tapas, paired with the right cocktail, will put a memorable highlight to your visit.
(Source: Coca: It’s Spanish for Pizza, LA Times, January 23, 2008)