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

Many years ago I lived in the south of France. After a long day in the kitchen I would literally have to survive on Gauloises , café noir and Pastis , but on the occasions the sulky, sullen French Chef would let me escape the hot, steamy kitchen for an hour or so in the afternoons, I’d head straight to a tiny, little food stand down the road that served the most amazing sandwiches I’d ever tasted…the “Pan bagnat”.   Literally meaning wet bread, all you have to do is cut a small, round loaf or a ciabatta in half and scrape out most of the inside. Fill this with chopped tomatoes, spring onions, peppers, olives, capers and anchovies and drizzle with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar. Replace the top and serve. It's basically a Nicoise salad in a roll and it was utterly delicious. A simple salad Nicoise is still one of my favourite summer recipes. Even today there still seems to be so much debate about what actually constitutes a true Nicoise salad. According to Niço...

Over 100 delicious Mediterranean recipes! ORDER NOW! Classic Mediterranean food through a modern lens. From sun-drenched shores to cool, lush valleys, the unique climate of the Mediterranean has long been associated with delicious, simply prepared food abundant with flavour. In recent years these remarkable ingredients have been utilised by the region's best chefs to create a cuisine that builds on the history and traditions entrenched in the areas food and reinterprets them into something new: A Modern Mediterranean cookery.  In this book, Marc Fosh, the Michelin-starred chef behind Palma de Mallorca's Restaurant Marc Fosh, takes us on a tour of the bountiful produce of the Mediterranean and shows us how to harness its flavours in new and exciting ways. Organised into 18 chapters by key ingredient; covering everything from tomatoes, garlic, almonds and olive oil to octopus, chorizo, saffron and truffles, the book is a love letter to the Mediterranean and ...

They might look intimidating, but artichokes are simple and delicious. Ok, I know they can be a little fiddly and they do need a lot of care and attention to prepare, but once you’ve got the hang of it becomes easy and you’ll wonder why you never bothered to prepare and cook them before. The artichoke has a long and interesting history. For many years, although it was cultivated and eaten in Italy, it was unknown in France. During the 17th century it was thought to be an aphrodisiac and women were not allowed to eat them! Fortunately,

Winter can sometimes feel like the least generous season for cooks, a barren and lean time of year as we wait patiently for spring to arrive with all its rich bounty and colourful, sprightly ingredients to entice us back into the kitchen. It is, however, the perfect time to indulge in old fashioned, heart-warming dishes designed to keep out the cold and revive flagging spirits and jaded palates during gloomy winter’s days.

Menu Natural at Marc Fosh Restaurant It’s hard to believe that the humble cauliflower is now deemed to be trendy and so much in vogue that the once-unfancied brassica has usurped kale as the hipster vegetable of choice. But is it really that surprising? For a vegetable it’s endlessly versatile and makes a great centrepiece. You can sauté it and blend it to add smoothness in sauces and a creamy texture to soups, but I love to simply roast it. Roasting isn't usually the first cooking method you think of for cauliflower but the results are quite delicious. It can be cut into thick slices and tossed with a little olive oil or butter, some fresh herbs and finished in the oven or roasted whole. It may just be a regular, humble, garden cauliflower, but there's something really exciting about seeing it come out of the oven whole. I often flavour

Who doesn't start the New Year pledging to begin a new healthier lifestyle? I do it every year. This year I’ll undoubtedly promise myself again that I will join a gym, eat more vegetables and salads, lose a little weight and try to go jogging at least 3 or 4 times a week and…undoubtedly it won’t happen! Annually we all make New Year resolutions in an attempt to start afresh and turn over a healthy new leaf and not surprisingly eating a healthier diet and losing weight generally tops the list of most people. But here's the cold, hard truth about New Year's resolutions: They don't work. While we believe these resolutions will make us better people once the calendar flips from December to January, the truth is that most of them are forgotten after a week or two. Miss a day at the gym, or skip a 1,000-word daily quota on that novel you

Tis’ the season to be jolly, eat turkey, Brussels sprouts, mince pies, and shuck a few oysters. Oysters are one of those great celebration ingredients. In season during any month that has an ‘R’ in it, September to April, oysters spend the Summer fattening up their plump little selves for their long Winter’s hibernation making them sweeter and crisper than at any other point in the year during the chilly winter months. In many countries around the world such as France and Spain, oysters feature prominently in celebrations for Christmas and New Year’s and between 50% and 70% of all oysters eaten are shucked and slurped up between these two holidays. The Olivar market in Palma has been in a period of transition over the last few years