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

Sweet Spanish kitchen at Easter   Bunuelos   Fiestas and religious festivals have traditionally been associated with an assortment of pastries, sweets, cakes and biscuits. Some are flavoured with almonds' pine nuts, honey, cinnamon, and orange blossom water reflecting their Arab, Moorish roots, while others are doughnut style pastries fried in oil such as roscos, buñuelos and the extremely popular churros, which are served with hot chocolate for dunking.   Although the giving of chocolate Easter eggs is more popular today that it ever has been in Spain, it took them a long time to really become popular. That said, of all the symbols associated with Easter the egg, the symbol of fertility and new life, is the most identifiable. The customs and traditions of using eggs have been associated with Easter for centuries. Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring and were used in Easter-egg rolling contests...

  I absolutely love the smell of a goose roasting in the oven at Christmas. I know it’s a little fattier than turkey and chicken…but the upside is it has so much more flavour and it’s also a very nutritious meat, rich in both iron and protein. I guess the reason most people don’t cook goose more often at home is because it has a reputation as being a difficult bird to cook perfectly. The truth is it is a little more challenging; you can't cook it too little because if it's not cooked enough, it can be as tough as old boots. And you can't cook it too much either, because it also tends to dry out very easily. So how should you roast your goose?   At home I take the bird out of the fridge the night before, as you need the skin to be as dry as possible if it is going to crisp up properly in the oven. It’s important to remember that all types of goose are fatty, and to get as much of this fat out as possible, you need to prick the breast and thighs with a s...

  One of the most popular dishes in any typical Spanish tapas bar is a Russian salad, known here as “Ensaladilla Rusa” or more simply as just plain old “Ensaladilla”!   It’s a common dish prepared all over the country and every traditional Spanish cookbook has an ensaladilla recipe in it somewhere. I’m a huge fan of ensaladilla and it became one of my favourite Pinxos some years ago when I lived in San Sebastian, where it was often topped with a fresh, tender langoustine and served with crunchy little breadsticks called picos.   It obviously has its roots somewhere in Russia or in Moscow to be more exact. Apparently it was a Belgian chef called Lucien Olivier who invented the original, classy version of a potato salad, while working in the exclusive Hermitage Restaurant where it was known as salad Olivier. Unfortunately, the secretive Olivier took the original recipe to his grave, but food historians think that it was probably topped with expensiv...

  OK, Iet’s be honest. The British may not have the kind of culinary heritage that legends are made of, but there are a few exceptions and we do probably have the ultimate show-off beef dish in the guise of Beef Wellington…a butter-soft, ruinously pricey cut of beef fillet smothered in a rich, potentially even truffled mushroom mixture, spiked with madeira wine and topped, in its most glorious incarnation, with a decadent slab of foie gras. Apparently it goes back to Waterloo, and no, the dish was not named after an ABBA song; it is however believed that it got its name from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. It’s a dish that has graced the tables of many of restaurants the world over, and it isn’t going anywhere any time soon!   This week we’ve been cooking Beef Wellingtons for our Fosh Food at Home delivery service and I really think that nothing symbolises a special occasion like a perfectly pink ...

  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.   Stewing and braising are the basics of good home cooking. Rich comfort food with robust flavours in the shape of pot roasts, casseroles, hot pots and stews, cooked slowly to create memorable dishes with big flavours that are also kind on the purse strings. One of my all time favourites is braised oxtail.   As a kid, my grandmother would often cook oxtail stew and I still have fond memories of sitting around her small dinner table enjoying all those incredibly, intense flavours. I totally understand that with its bony, somewhat ungraceful lo...

  You could be forgiven for thinking that Spain’s rice dishes start and end with the ever-popular paella. However, the influence of rice on Spanish cookery is undeniable and there are many interesting and varied dishes throughout the whole of Spain featuring rice where it is paired with meat, fish, shellfish and vegetables and rice is also widely used to thicken stews and soups.   Valencia produces virtually all of the rice in Spain and it has been grown in the Albufera region of Valencia since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its production spread north along the Mediterranean coast to the Delta Del Ebro and south into Extramadura and Mallorca.   Here in Mallorca, our local rice is known as “Arroz bombeta” from the S'Albufera in the municipality of Sa Pobla. Rice production in this area is still harvested in a traditional way and it was first planted here in way back in 1800. In the 50s and 60s of the 20th century, its production was almost a...

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