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

Sun-drenched vegetables such as peppers, courgettes and artichokes hold a very important place in Mediterranean cookery, but for me, the plump, elongated, gleaming aubergine is the most versatile of the bunch. There are many varieties of aubergines: long and round, with colours ranging from violet, black to blue and white. The Chinese were the first people to cultivate the aubergines in the fifth century; it was then introduced into Spain, Italy and from there onto southern and eastern parts of Europe. At one time, fashion conscious ladies used a black dye made from their skins to stain their teeth! The Aubergine goes under a variety of names including the eggplant, apple of love, garden egg, and guinea squash

It’s a difficult question in these cost conscious times. For restauranteurs like myself, it’s a tough decision to make, as costumers generally demand good price, quality menus and profit margins are being continuously squeezed. Personally, I think that it has many benefits for which it’s worth paying for. It is produced in non-intensive ways that avoid synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. It prohibits routine antibiotics and growth-promoting drugs and safeguards and nurtures our most precious asset - the soil. For me though, the main benefits are that organic ingredients generally taste better and for a chef obsessed about flavour, thats all the reason I need. So, is the question of cost, and the fact that organic food is perceived as expensive unfair? And where are the best organic ingredients to be found in Mallorca? We would like to hear your opinion.

If chocolate ever went out of fashion, and if it did, nobody bothered telling me, it is certainly back with a vengeance now. Over the last few years there has been somewhat of a chocolate revolution happening in Spain with several, forward-looking companies springing up and selling amazing designer chocolates full of weird and wonderful combinations and off the wall flavours such as black olive, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese. Names such as the Chocolate Factory, Cacao Sampaka, Chocovic and Enric Rovira, with their high quality products and modern, sleek packaging have helped, once again, to make Spanish chocolate makers the envy of the world. Once known as ‘the food of the gods' in Aztec culture, the story of chocolate really began with the discovery of the Americas when Columbus returned in triumph and laid before the Spanish throne a treasure trove of strange and wonderful things. No one could ever have imagined how important chocolate and their bitter cocoa beans w...

The world's appetite for tuna appears insatiable and tuna populations worldwide are in serious decline. At both of our restaurants we have decided to remove tuna from our menus while we debate a sensible way forward in an attempt to understand the problem better and look at viable alternatives. It is a difficult decision for any Restaurant as Tuna remains a very popular item, but we feel strongly that something has to be done. We encourage comments and look forward to the views of our cliental and anyone who is passionate about this controversial issue. The End of the Line is a powerful film about one of the world's most disturbing problems - over-fishing. The End of the Line :: Home Page Shared via AddThis

A couple of years ago, I had the great pleasure to meet and cook with an Inspirational Chef called Greg Malouf in the wonderful setting of Hangar 7, Austria. Greg is of Lebanese heritage but was born and raised in the Australian City of Melbourne. He is viewed not only as one of the most influential and innovative cooks in Australia, but also as the originator of his own style—modern Middle Eastern cuisine. I think Greg was born to be a cook. Even as a child he was fascinated by his family’s refrigerator, which was filled with exotic specialties. He was even more impressed, however, by family meals, which his mother and grandmother spent days preparing and at which Arabic cuisine was celebrated in all its opulence and variety: refined tajines (one-pot dishes), substantial meze (appetizers), spicy meat dishes and off course, all those wonderful sweet pastries. I have always loved Middle Eastern cookery and I find the spice mixes and flavour combinations incredibly intoxicating. ...

Walk into any food store these days and you can’t help but be amazed at the amazing array of weird and wonderful salts on offer. Be it grey, pink, white or blue, from rocks, deserts, tidal flats, mines or barely accessible mountain ranges in the Himalayas, common salt is diversifying, going up market and becoming chic once more. One of the trendsetters in this new designer salt movement is a Mallorcan company called “Gusto Mundial Balearides”, formed by the very talented Katja Wöhr. They have been hand-harvesting Flor de Sal in the "Salinas de Levante" salt pans next to the beautiful beach of “Es Trenc”, since the beginning of 2003. Flor de Sal (known as “Fleur de Sel” in France) is the very first layer of salt crystallizing on the surface of the salt marshes. It is achieved by a traditional extraction method originating from the French Atlantic coast. The salt obtained is 100% natural and it reaches your palate without having suffered any alteration During the long ...

On a hot summer’s day, there is nothing more refreshing than a cool slice of melon or watermelon. With their wonderfully aromatic fragrance and cool flesh, they are one of the glories of summer market stalls. Melons vary enormously in size, skin texture and colour. They all have a high water content that makes them refreshing, but they can be a little disappointing if eaten either under- or over-ripe. A ripe melon should have slight 'give' to the skin, and at room temperature the perfumed aroma of the fruit should come through the skin. If the fruit is under-ripe it tends to be rather bland and lacking in sweetness; an over-ripe melon has a fermented, slightly unpleasant taste. All melons are believed to have originated in India and have been cultivated since ancient times when the aptly named watermelons were traditionally offered to thirsty travellers. They grow well in warm climates, and many varieties such as honeydew, cantaloupe and the oddly named “Piel de...