THE SUN-SOAKED PLATE...Mediterranean recipes for family and friends

I have a confession to make. Some years ago I caused a major incident on an airplane and very nearly got kicked off for upsetting other passengers. Luckily for me, we were already 10,000 feet above the ground and there was no going back. No, I had not been drinking; no I didn’t get into a fight. I was traveling alone and I did not have a single conversation with anyone. It was my hand luggage that did all the talking!

Someone once said, “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate”, I couldn’t agree more… The fact is that very few people fail to realize the charms of chocolate and it is probably one of our most popular ingredients. Indeed many food scientists have reported chocolate to be the single most craved food and sales of chocolate worldwide continue to soar. We Europeans eat a staggering 40 percent of all chocolate produced in the world. The top five countries are Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Germany and Norway, according to the world Atlas of Chocolate.

Often regarded as poor man's shellfish, mussels are cheap and plentiful I love mussels. They are great value for money, entirely sustainable and have a wonderful gutsy flavour with an amazing aroma. After cooking you are also left with an intense cooking liquid that offers up the most incredible taste and that, is just the half of it. Mussels are also a good source of vitamin B12, zinc, folic acid and omega 3. Spanish Mussels, along with clams, appear in just about every seafood dish you care to imagine from the ubiquitous Paella to the various fish soups, stews and calderetas all along Spain’s vast coastline.  In the sheltered bays of the Spanish Atlantic coast, mussels are commercially grown hanging from ropes attached to stakes in mussel farms. The constant exchange of water through the ebb and flow of the tide encourages the build-up of plankton, the mussels' main

Ceviche is all the rage these days and Peruvian/Japanese restaurants are quickly moving from the next big thing to omnipresent, trendy “cantinas” springing up all over the place.   So why have we fallen in love with this Peruvian icon and why has this spicy marinade become the most fashionable taste in town?

--> Flavoured salt is sometimes all you need to bring a dish to life and making them is easy with a food processor. You can process dried herbs such as thyme, rosemary, fennel, juniper or lavender with sea salt to flavour anything from grilled steaks to lamb cutlets. Salt flavoured with spices such as cardamom, cumin, coriander and saffron also make great addition to any kitchen. The combinations are endless and they make great presents…personally, I love lemon salt with grilled or fried fish! Lemon salt 2tbsp *grated lemon rind 8tbsp sea salt flakes In a food processor or blender, pulse the lemon peel until finely chopped. Add the salt and pulse several times to combine well. *you can substitute the lemon rind for orange or lime. MEDITERRANEAN HERB SALT 1tsp dried rosemary 1tsp dried thyme 1tsp dried oregano 1tsp dried sage 1tsp summer savoury 10tbsp sea salt flakes In a food processor or blender, pulse the herbs until finely chopped....

Goujons of Sole with Dill-Caper mayonnaise and lemon salt Ingredients                   serves 4 For the goujons 4 large Lemon sole fillets (skinned) 70g Plain flour 150g white breadcrumbs or Panko 2 large free-range eggs 250ml sunflower oil A good pinch of paprika Salt & freshly ground pepper For the dill mayonnaise 200g Home made mayonnaise 2tbsp chopped dill 2tbsp capers 1tsplime juice Salt & freshly ground pepper For the dill-caper mayonnaise: Put the all the ingredients of the mayonnaise in a blender and blend to a puree. Cut the sole fillets in half lengthways, and then slice each fillet half into about four long strips on the diagonal. This will give you eight goujons from each fillet.

Every time I visit a Spanish city I always try to visit its food market or ‘mercado’ as its known here in Spain.  Every town seems to have at least one market and cities will often have two or three. You could argue that the heart of any Spanish city is its central market. Recently I found myself in Barcelona and I was excited to visit the famous “La Boquieria”. This market has a worldwide reputation and I really enjoyed my first visit nearly 20 years ago. I have to say that this time I found it extremely disappointing and nothing more than a sad tourist trap with every stall filled with diced fresh fruit & juices on ice for the amateur Japanese photographers to take away. It made me realise just how good our “Mercat de L’olivar” here in Palma really is and I truly believe we are blessed with one of the best markets in all of Spain.

I am reading two books at the moment with two very different views on the organic food debate. One is extolling the virtues of choosing organic because it is produced in non-intensive ways that avoid synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, arguing that is prohibits routine antibiotics and growth-promoting drugs and safeguards and nurtures our most precious asset - the soil. I can buy into that and believe every word. Then I read from the other book that claims that the multi-billion euro organic food market is, for the most part, a gigantic con, and its willing victims are the affluent middle classes who see it as just a trendy lifestyle choice.

--> Like most cooks I tend to become incredibly obsessive about certain ingredients and at times, I must admit that I have a tendency to overuse them and throw into almost every recipe that I’m creating. Over the last couple of years I’ve fallen totally in love with Ras el Hanout, a prized Moroccan spice mixture that can contain up to 100 different spices and is traditionally used to flavour couscous, rice, meat and vegetable dishes; like garam masala, the mixture of spices in ras el hanout depends on the maker and the spices available, but may include cardamom, cayenne, aniseed, nutmeg, mace, ginger, galangal or even dried ground rosebuds.

Fresh Apples rightly have a good claim to promote health. They contain Vitamin C, which aid’s the immune system and helps reduce cholesterol. They are low in calories, prevent tooth decay and they are also rich in flavonoids, known for their antioxidant effects. Apples have been around for over 4,000 years ever since the Iron Age and were first cultivated in Egypt. There are many mythological associations, with the apple in the Garden of Eden being the most

--> Ingredients          serves 4 3 pears 3 granny smith apples 150g caster sugar 3tbsp water A pinch of powdered ginger FOR THE CRUMBLE 100g unsalted butter, chilled 100g plain flour, sifted 100g demerara sugar 80g ground almonds Pinch of salt Heat oven to 190C/Gas mark 5. Peel and core & chop the pears and apples. Place in a medium-sized pan; add the sugar, water & ginger. Cook over a medium heat until the fruit starts to soften and releases its juices, about 10 mins. Spoon the mixture into 4 individual ovenproof ramekins, or 1 large baking dish.