Clara Simó: "Living with a Catalan teacher is not easy"

Today we will have meatballs with potatoes, which with the basics I have in the freezer are quick to make and ideal for days, like today, when we have a lot to do before lunch.Will the girls give you a hand?

— They are experts at making the dough and the balls for the meatballs. But they will also cut the potatoes, which they can already do.

Why should different generations work in the kitchen?

— Because it is part of our essence, of our tradition. Before, we all lived in the kitchen, among pots and sofritos, but now we don't. I believe that sharing the gastronomic history of my family, and of our lives in general, with my daughters gives them a richness and knowledge they cannot obtain in any other way. Furthermore, the most important topics emerge in conversations in the kitchen.

Have your daughters ever told you "Mom, leave us alone, we want to do it ourselves"?

— Yes, and I love it. From time to time we set up days where only they cook. And don't think they make muffins and cookies, eh? They make vegetables, meat or fish, desserts and drinks. As a teacher, I think it's key to work on the autonomy of children and adolescents at home.

The kitchen is a good place to learn to be patient, polite, organized, meticulous.

— They are very much like me, my daughters. In the kitchen, they are passionate, creative, and detail-oriented. They seek a balance in what they cook. You see the excitement in their eyes and the smile, above all they laugh a lot. It makes me happy to see them at the stove, I don't worry at all.

What virtues do you try to pass on to your daughters while cooking?

— Above all patience, meticulousness, love and humor. It is also an ideal way to teach that, sometimes, even though we try hard, things don't turn out as we want. We make many mistakes and it's okay, we try again.

Before, when you went up the stairs of a building, you would find the smell of stews.

— I make stews every week. They are the quickest dishes to make, if you have the basics in your pantry. The slow-cooking cuisine has been misunderstood.

Explain to me how to make upholstery.

— You only need foresight. On Sunday people cook for the whole week, but they make dishes directly. What I would recommend is that they prepare the basics: a good amount of broth, a proper sofrito, and picada. With this you can make any homemade dish and it will take you very little time! You can also make a stew at night, while you watch a series, and it tastes better the next day.

You are a Catalan teacher.

— Living with a Catalan teacher is not easy. It means: constant correction –in a good-natured way– and your mother saying things that other mothers don't say. I hope all this serves to raise women with a solid and correct mother tongue. Sometimes I see my daughters correcting things to their friends and it makes me laugh a lot. Love for the language is as strong as love for cooking.

What do you find most difficult about being a mother?

— The fact of thinking that you have to be very attentive to the children so that they don't go astray. As for fights, discussions, outbursts, conflicts, etcetera, I try to take it all with good humor, thinking that it is not against me, but against the world in general, because they don't understand it.

What do you do when you can't anymore?

— Going to the psychologist always helps. But, if not, at home I work a lot on sincerity. If I can't take it anymore, I stop and express to them what situation I'm in. They are very empathetic and resourceful, so we quickly find a way to turn things around. When I have to self-manage bad vibes, I bake bread to relax or make a fried onion base to cry with reasons.

Tell me an anecdote related to cooking.

— In the kitchen, we've accidentally cracked eggs on our faces. Bread and dough have fallen on us after 24 hours of preparation. We ate a paella directly from the floor because it was four in the afternoon and it was a shame to throw it away, even though it had fallen. Now, when my maternal grandmother died, my daughter was a year and a half old and, at the cemetery, while the gravedigger was stirring the mortar mixture to cover the tombstone, the little girl started singing “remena, remena nena”, because at home, whenever we stir a pot, we sing this song.