Let them eat....Entaña with wild garlic flowers

On the strength of the garlic flowers yesterday I decided to do steak, potatoes, rocket, tarragon oil and wild garlic flowers for lunch. The first time I had steak like this (without the garlic flowers) was at the Eagle in Farringdon some time ago. I was completely blown away by it. Rare steak rested for a minimum of 15 minutes sliced over warm boiled potatoes and rocket and finished with tarragon oil. A sort of poor man's steak frites with Bernaise sauce. Poorer possibly but in no way inferior. The addition of the garlic flowers is unnecessary but not wanton.

Let Ibiza eat....Squid and saffron risotto

They had squid and saffron risotto for lunch.

I have just cooked myself a wild garlic omelette. Hesus Cristo that is some good shit. I sliced the bulb thin and fried it quick in some olive oil, then made the omelette with a touch of parsley, a grind of pepper, a rub of Maldon and a microplaning of parmesan. Then I put its flowers on top. Goddamn.

ODDCAST COOKING COURSE IBIZA- Romesco sauce: Rougher Dan Ruff Edit

Ibiza Catering Recipix - Romesco Sauce

Calçots - from la Grande Bouffe Catering Ibiza

Calçots

Where to begin? Calçots, coming form the word calçat meaning shoe, are a Catatlan obsession. You only need to drive round Catalunya at this time of year to see the popularity of these glorified spring onions.There are signs for them everywhere. Everywhere. Glorified? Yes. But with good reason. Them is awful good.

What are they? They are spring onions that are left in the ground past the normal cropping time and as the shoot grows the almost certainly chain smoking farmer covers it with earth so the stem gets whiter and longer. So this goes on until it is closer in size to a leek than a spring onion.

One of the great things about living in Spain is they celebrate life. When it is the Saint’s day of the village they have a week of parties with massive paellas for hundreds of people, appalling live acts, great live acts, local dances and loads of eating, drinking, kids running around and they finish off the week's celebrations with half the local government's budget going up in smoke in hugely over the top fireworks displays.They have pig killings where the whole family and neighbours get together to kill the fatten pig and then turn the whole animal into sausages. When a fish runs through the local waters at a particular time of the year they are to be seen on every menu. Valencia nearly burns itself to the ground every year. Bull running.

Calçot time is no exception. Large numbers of people get together, light fires, make sauces, get their bibs on and gorge. Some places specially built for calçot gourging have troughs in the latrines instead of hand basins cos it is such a messy business. They are so messy because the calçots are actually placed in the fire so the outside becomes burnt and you have to hold on to it to get the inside prize bit out. Once out, you stick it in the Calçot sauce, tip your head back and lower the thing in. So you get your hands filthy handling the calçot and your face and chest filthy with the sauce dropping all down you as you try to get the calçot into your mouth.

When they are burnt enough they are wrapped in newspaper to let the steam finish the cooking and then they are served in roofing tiles. In the words of that black guy who gets shot at the beginning of Warriors – “CAN YOU DIG IT?’ A roofing tile as a plate – now that is style.

The sauce is a version of Romesco and much blood is spilt every year in arguments over who makes the best sauce. Fortunately I’m good with a knife.There is a place in Catalunya that has a competion each year for the best sauce. The funny thing about this competion is you are only allowed to use specific ingredients. There is no room for artistic/culinary interpretation and mixing of ingredients. Good thing probably, given the horrors that are produced when chefs decide to get ‘creative.’

Let them eat....Duck, pear and pinenut salad

Last Friday

Let them eat....My wife

I couldnt make it today because I hurt my back lifting spring onions so Annie cooked for them instead.

This afternoon we went picking wild things en famille. We got rocket, aparagus and chard. The rocket is unbelievably peppery in flavour and has a very thick leaf. it is best used mixed in with other leaves as can be a bit full on on its own. Having said that tonight we will have the rocket unmixed accompanying the below omelette. Its little white flowers are a delight as well.

The asparagus is thin and spindly and a bitch to pick as it growns out of either prickly bushes or spikey bushes. I boil it and have it in a soft omelette with parsley and a bit of parmesan. An omelette and a glass of wine - she really got that right.

The chard is big leafed and thin stalked. I'm going to make a fresh pasta lasagne of it. This is incredibly labour intensive but the result is breathtaking.

There is something really right about picking wild food.

Ibiza Catering recipix - Oven potatoes

Let them eat....Quails in the Wilderness

Exodus Ch 16 v 13 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 

Yeah yeah, sure but then what?

Exodus Uncut – And then the children of Isreal went out and found sticks and fire wood and laid a fire. God said  unto Moses “Wait until the wood has burnt out its flames and is glowing red and then barbecue the quails on kebabs sticks until crisp on the outside and succulent within. Serve this with Allioli as I have instructed you.”

 

If its good enough for Moses and the Israelites then its good enough for staff lunch.

We had it with Allioli of course but also oven potatoes and leeks that had been steamed then griddled. Superb.

 

 

Keywords: Ibiza Catering Weddings 

Catering Ibiza Style - Recipix - Allioli

Let them eat....Fish soup with rouille

Give yourself enough time to make this excellent soup. It is not complicated it just takes a little longer than a normal soup. The result is worth it though. It has a full body and complex flavour and it makes you look as though you know what you are doing. You can make it with cheap frozen prawns as they will be pureed so it dont matter. You can serve it as a soup or as a stew with fish and shellfish poached in at the end. It is a very special soup as it is but if you make a rouille and crostini to go with it you probably will get to bypass purgatory.

 

 

Rouille is very similar to Aïoli but with added ingredients. The classic Nicoise version is garlic, olive oil, egg yolk, salt, cayenne and saffron and is the sauce served with Bouillabaisse. My version today had those things plus anchovy, lemon juice and zest, ñora pepper and guindilla (tiny little dried chillis). If you are a purist feel free to hunt me down and kill me. You put a large spoonful of it on your crostini and in your soup and you stir and you love it. 

 

Fish Soup: For 6 (Make double as it freezes real good)

 

2 onion chopped

2 carrot chopped

1 leek chopped

3 sticks celery chopped

sprig 'o' thyme

bay leaf

toasted saffron

1 star aniseed

olive oil

bit of butter

Sweat these mothers together with lid on till them awful soft and starting to brown.

 

500 g shell on (ultra important) frozen prawns.

75g tomato puree

Turn up the heat and add these and brown further

 

splash 'o' brandy

splash 'o' Noilly PRAT 

splash 'o' Pastis

On full volume add these, ignite and cook out

 

good drink 'o' white wine

1 tin 'o' chopped toms

Reduce heat to medium. Add these and cook down a bit

 

2 litres liquid preferably fish stock

Add these. Bring to boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 mins. Puree with a handwhizzer (Braun 600 watt with metal stem is excellent as are ALL the attachments) and pour through sieve using handwhizzer to help it through. Be sure to use a high sided container in which to pass the puree through the sieve, as this can be messy. Season and voila.

 

Optional - further fish and shellfish to be poached at the end just before serving. Monkfish and really big nice fresh prawns is good.

 

Above is a photo of Rouille. Make as Allioli (Catalan version of Aïoli, see recipix) but add saffron et al at the beginning with the garlic.

 

Croutons - slice good rustic bread thin and lay on baking tray. Lightly oil (olive of course) them and bake at 125ºC for 20 mins.

Dessert: Orange caramel upside down cake. Think -  the B52s track Cake off Mesopotamia

 

 

 

Keywords: Ibiza catering weddings parties party

Ibiza Catering Recipix - Puy Lentil Salad

Let them eat....something

The music installation people arrived today. There are 4 of them and they will be staying for 3 weeks. That is a hell of a sound system they are putting in. 4 of them. 3 weeks. Ibiza.

 

Today was one of those getting going days. Not very inspiring, though lentil salad was delicious.

 

The menu:

Sweet potato falafels with yoghurt and coriander

Grilled leg of lamb

Steamed carrots and broccoli

Puy lentil salad

La Grande Bouffe Catering in Ibiza bring you Recipix - Pork and Clam Stew

This is to accompany the Oddcast posted here on February 3. Eat and be merry.

Let them eat....Baked Ratatwat

The film Ratatouille is an utter travesty. The premise is absolutely revolting. I dont give a good goddamn about how well it is made, its attention to detail its blahblahblah. It is disgusting. A fucking rat in a kitchen. Who the fuck thought of that? "Hey, I've got a great idea for a movie. You know the word ratatouille has got the word rat in it? Well, we make a film about a rat that is also a chef." Jesus Christ. "Hey, you know the word tenuous? Well,  we take out all the letters and put in some new ones and come up with TWAT." Christ.

 

Anyway.....

 

Lunch. Spag bog. Except I didnt have any spaghettis so used penne. For me the trick of so many dishes is cooking the onions long enough before putting in the other ingredients. Lid on. Sweat sweat sweat. Till nice and brown and sweet and soft. So did this with the onions, garlic and some rosemary. For about an hour. This is not a long time, this is minimum. They can take all the sweating you can give them. Add meat and cook out until ALL liquid has evaporated. The better quality meat, the less time this will take due to the animal not being pumped full of water and crap to increase body weight. Then add wine, white or red, and cook that out until almost all gone too. Then add chopped tomatoes, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours if you can. You can add some tomato puree (more on this another time) which seems to take it to another level of intensity. 

 

Cook penne as per instructions, drain, then "grated cheese, if required, should always be sprinkled on the pasta before the sauce." This from The Silver Spoon p 287. So I did just that and a bit "o" beurre too cos couldnt resist. Dish in itself. You could very easily just put the sauce away and use another time. But I didnt, I stirred in some sauce and it was delicious. 

That cheese into pasta first was news to me when I first read The Silver Spoon but goddamned if the Eye-ties werent right. 

 

Oh yeah and now for the ratatouille. Try saying "ratta twatta twatta twatta, twatta touille" Once you get the hang of it it rolls of the tongue nicely. 

 

I made a chocolate cake for pudding. Yesterday I roasted some organic hazelnuts specifically for a cake today. One of the now jobless staff "lost" them. "Lost" them in his mouth. So I had to improvise. God arent I great? Yeah. So I made a cake with almonds instead of hazelnuts and used them to take the place of the flour. I have been meaning to try this for a dog's age. Really good. Much more fragile than with flour so beware but worth it.

5 eggs and 100g sugar whisked to a ribbon. Fold in 100g ground almonds then 200g chocolate and 100g beurre melted together in microwave at half power for 2 minutes, stirred, then a further minute. I love this method of melting chocolate. If anyone tells you microwaves give you cancer ask them if they drink Diet Coke. The chances are they will say yes so you can tell them to shut up and stop talking such shit.

 

 

Let them eat....Entraña

Drunk.

Entraña is an Argentinean cut of beef. Very rare in UK but now easily found in Spain. It comes from the inside of the ribs and there is thin entraña and fat entraña. Gimme fat. Anytime. It is scorned upon in much the same way oysters were, monkfish was and mackerel still is. Public opinion is great cos it means we can still get really good things at a normal cost cos public opinion says its rubbish.

Entraña is best grilled and rested . It isnt the most tender cut but we are carnivores and we are supposed to chew. To masticate. That's what our molars are for. Not for chewing gum. And our incisors are for ripping that flesh away.

It needs to be grilled rare and then rested for a minimum of 15 minutes. Then it really loosens up. The flavour is dark and bloody and because it is a long piece of meat you get better chunks. You dont really get sirloin this thick. When you slice it cut across the grain.

I dont know the English name and cant find it. In French I believe it is onglet but am not at all sure.

I made a green sauce with Colman's English mustard instead of Dijon (Spider Dijon). Good kick to help with the chewing. Mustard, capers, anchovies, gherkins, cider vinegar, olive oil, parsley, chives

They had this with a warm potato salad with green beans, Brebis (a flat, square goat's cheese but similar in flavour and texture to brie), Veigadarte (superb, unusual, artesan soft goat's cheese from Leon going under the guise of queso fresco but quite unlike any other queso fresco I have tried), olive oil, salt, chives and parsley.

Boil the potatoes (reds) in their skins. Peel when just cool enough to handle. Boil green flat beans (perona) sliced thinnish on the diagonal, drain and add to the potatoes. Add the rest and mix. Double good.

Let them eat....Thai curry

Stealing is great.

I ate in the excellent Leon for the first time this Christmas. Leon is a new(ish) fast food restaurant chain in London. It is revolutionary, it must be, the press say so. Actually whatever the press may say it is really good and it is really new. Fast food without sandwiches; really good salads; lots of super foods  - broccoli, almonds, seeds; daily soups; interesting takes on what have become normal foods. Take falafels for instance. I love falafels. I love eating them and I love making them. I first came across them whilst drunk in Barcelona for several years. They weren't there when I arrived in 1986 then all of a sudden they arrived. A few years later and there seems to be nothing but falafel joints. Apart from the excellent Irishish pubs to cater for all the Irish Catalans. Or the tourists. Falafels are good late night food. Of course they are good during the day too which brings me back to the beginning of this. Leon are doing interesting takes on stuff and falafels are a good example. Instead of the classic chickpea or even better and more easily digested dried broad bean they make them out of sweet potatoes and they are really good. I thought I would nick the idea and do them myself. I immediately fucked up by misreading or misremembering sweet potato for butternut squash. They sound similar and are both orange. Sort of. So I started by sweating some peeled bnut squash in a tiny bit of olive oil with some smoked paprika. When it had disintegrated and become a mush I cooked it for a while longer until it dried out some more. Then I added some salt, coriander leaf, ground coriander and fennel seed, pureed it and made them into falafel shaped things, rolled them in sesame seeds and baked them in the oven at 120ºc with fan for 20 minutes. Them was delicious but that aint why stealing is good. Stealing is good cos I happened to be making a coconut Thaiish curry at the time and I wondered what it would be like if I stirred some of the falafel mix into the curry. I'm glad I wondered cos the result was delicious. Butternut squash prepared in this way is excellent for thickening highly spiced sauces making them richer and velvetier without having to reduce the crap out of them or to add some other less desirable thickener. Presuming that you want a slightly thicker, richer, velvetier sauce. Which you may not. Anyway.......

Apart form this discovery today's lunch was a total cop out.

Thai curry with Jasmine rice. 

Spinach with ginger, chilli and garlic.

Delicious, but then sugar is.

Let them eat.....Hearty soup with Phat Pappardell

Better day today. I gave them gravadlax (again), and then a really big soup with cabbage, beans, bacon with homemade pasta and rough croutons. 

There is a mammouth pasta machine in the house and I have been looking forward to getting it out. The pasta machine. I love making pasta but it has to be worth is cos dried pasta is so good. Lasagne, parcelly things like ravioli and in this case phat pappardelle, that sort of stuff is worth it. Spaghettis? Forget it. Anyway, the Eye-ties will have a name for the pasta I made today and there will be plenty of chefs who know what its called but je suis not one of them. This was big fat ribbons of not fully rolled out egg pasta. I rolled it down to 3 on the marker. 

First thing to do is get the beans on. I cooked some borlotti beans following Harold McGee's initially bizarre way of cooking beans - in hardly any water WITH salt. This is weird. I have always thought (though crassly never tried any other way) loads of water and ABSOLUTELY NO SALT. I put in a chilli, some garlic cloves and some sage as well as a good glug of olive oil. A really good glug. These cooked with the lid on topping up with water until done. (If you got an oven on, cook them with whatever is in there as well. Works nice).

After the beans were on get the onions sweating. I sweated some with garlic, rosemary, green bacon (panceta salada), a chilli and bay in some olive oil for a long time till them onions was sweet. Then I added onion, leak and celery. 

Whilst this was sweating I made the pasta. 1 egg to 100g flour (if you got Italian OO flour, use it) and some salt. As you kneed it (I use a kenwood to start and then finish by hand) add more flour or a drip of water depending on its dryness or stickiness. Wrap it and put it in the fridge. Please do not "pop" in the fridge. Just fucking put it in the fridge. Jesus.

Leave it there for 1/2 hour or so. Then roll it out by hand or with a pasta machine (do the initial roll, fold, quarter turn a few times before rolling it out thin. Once it is a thickness/thinness that you think will be nice in a soup cut it into fat ribbons. 

When all the onion, leak etc base is soft add a tin 'o' chopped tomatoes and stock. When beans are cooked add them with any remaining licor. (I find the beans are best if you leave them for a few hours or a day before using them as the licor becomes unctuous but I didnt have time). Make sure there is enough liquid to cook the cabbage, spinach and pasta that has to go in. Then 20 minutes before you have to serve it add the chopped cabbage. 10 minutes before add the spinach and 5 minutes before add the pasta.

At some point during all the above I found 5 minutes to rip up some ciabatta, toss it in some olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper and make some croutons in the oven.

I already had some pesto made. 

The result of all this is a really hearty, healthy soup that is lifted out of the ordinary by the pasta. The pesto and croutons help too of course but they are pretty much mandatory with this kind soup. 

Let them eat.....who cares?

Bad day today. Long time man feels bad. Can't write nothing worth reading so here is a recipix. St Valentines Massacre Day coming soon so clean your shooter. Apparently this is what the victims ate before the Big Adios. 

Roast tomato, roast fennel, goats cheese and goats queso fresco tart.

Avocado, coriander and maravilla salad with jerez vinegar dressing.

Gravalax of salmon trout.

Sunday morning coming down

Yeah right. I wish. Sunday morning marinating chickens more like. But for a good reason. Was invited to go see Robbie's new bit of land with shack that will be converted into a palace fairly soon. The weather has been spectacular recently so had a barbecue. Had meats and stuff but the real revelation was grilled leeks with salt, pepper and olive oil twice wrapped in a silver foil with a little water inside. Basically steamed leeks of course but oh man so sweet and the bbqiness comes through to a point. It goes without saying that it has to do with the superb quality of the leeks from Can Paradas, the island's main organic producer. They are small, they are sweet, they are tender.

Can Paradas opens to the public twice a week on tuesdays and saturdays I believe and is up near San Miguel. It is where Sultan (I swear that is is name) gets his stuff for the Flying Aubergine. Fortunately they have fridges with their produce on sale in the better supermarkets all over the island. My local one in Jesus is Can Pascual. Good place for loitering. Amongst other things. I'll go on about Can Pascual and the Pasa Supermarket Group another time. You may wait with baited breath. Anyway.......

I went looking for asparagus trigeros (wild thin asparagus) cos they seem to be everywhere at the moment but of course none there goddammit. Perhaps to compensate there are loads of olive, almond, orange and lemon trees. The view across the valley also helps to make up for the lack of them. Anyway I complained bitterly on and on to Robbie and he seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. 

blahblahblah

Let them eat....Alfredo Garcia

I always like to name my little porkers. Not the ones I'm rearing, I dont have the wherewithall, but the ones I'm eating. And I always call them Alfredo Garcia cos then I have film going through my head all day. I once met a guy called Alfredo Garcia. Imagine that. To be on a continual Peckinpah loop. All day. Every day. Anyway........

Bad day today. Kids not feeling good. Flat battery in the motor. Again. Got to the villa early so I could slow roast Alfredo and get some emailing done. Didnt get nothing done and Alfredo didnt have long enough in the oven. Nice but not fall of the bone. Had to pick kids up from school early and bring them to work cos they was ill, issit.

Suckling pig, roast potatoes, apple allioli and boiled cauliflower

Chocolate souffle

Take the suckling pig  and open up belly. Cut through spine with either a cleaver or a strong knife so you can flatten it out basically spatchcocking it. Rub ribcage with olive oil, salt and pepper and the fill with as many sage leaves you can get your hands on. Roast at 100ºc with fan for 4 - 6 hours  and turn up to 200 for last hour. When it is time to turn up for the last hour add peeled, sliced oiled and salted potatoes.

Whilst Alfredo is in the oven peel, core, slice and fry an apple in some butter and them put it in the oven to intensify. Peel and crush  2 -6 garlic cloves with a little salt and 2 yolks. Pound. Puree. In the mortar. Then add the cooked apple and puree as well. Then start adding up to half a pint of olive oil working as if it were a mayonnaise. You should end up with apple allioli. This is a very Catalan sauce. It can be done with pear or quince  and sometimes honey is added. It is a wierd sauce but an excellent one. Much of Catalan cuisine can be just that - wierd but excellent: Nut mixtures used to thicken sauces; salt cod with honey; black pastas (see Catalan Cuisine by Colman Andrews, an absolute gem.) This sauce is an excellent companion to pork particularly if it is slow cooked and is not a million miles away from English apple sauce. It is even better with membrillo (quince cheese as it is madly translated ) but I didn't have any, but I did have some apple so I used apple, alright? Jesus.

For the souffle. Melt 200g chocolate with 100g beurre. Whisk 5 eggs with a bit of sugar until it ribbons. Fold in the melted chocolate and pour into greased ramekins. Bake at 200ºc with fan for 10 mins.

A worrying thought: If you ignore the head and trotters suckling pigs bear an uncanny resemblance to children. Not a train of thought to get carried away with.

Let them eat....Day off. Let them feed themselves

Let Them Eat......Chicken Pie

Chicken and leek pie with lard pastry crust. Man oh man oh man oh man. God I love it. 

I roasted 3 chickens (meal for 12+) on a bed of vegetables with a bit of wine, a pool of water and some bay and thyme. When they were cooked I took the meat off the bone and made stock from the carcasses and further vegetables.

I then made a veloute (butter, flour, stock) by browning a roux (butter and flour) then adding this rich stock. Meanwhile I sweated some of Sultans fantastic sweet leeks in some olive oil,thyme and a spash of wine. When they was soft I added them to the veloute along with the chicken (the legs following the muscles and the breasts into 5 - 6 chunks/strips. Season. Voila.

Whilst some of this was going on I made pastry for the crust. A digression folows:

When I first started cooking I learnt an infallible way to may shortcrust pastry everytime in large quantities. Whilst this is great for larger scaled cooking it has been a hinderance to small pie for four cooking. If I wasnt making 3 kilos I wasnt making no kilos. And this aint no good. So.......unbelievably I have actually started doing something about it ie making smaller amounts. God how boring sorry. Anyway......the resulst is that I have not only been making smaller amounts more regularly but also different kinds. LARD!!!!!!!!!!!! God lard is good. Not only is it excellent as a sunblock, in the bedroom, on hinges, it is also excellent in cookery. Particularly in pastry. It makes it irrisistably crumbly yet moist (?) in the mouth. So this crumbly yet moist crust goes on top of chicken pie base that makes you want to cry. At this point I season the pastry with rock salt on top. I usually put it in the mix but I was once making pastry with only rock salt available and didnt want it to fuck it up as I rolled it out so I added it on after. That was one of those blessed discoveries. Try it. Him crucnchy. Him nice.

I then baked it and then ate it. Tears of joy streaming down my cheeks (face cheeks). The Lord loves a good pie. I gave them mashed potatoes and spinach as well.

On a down note though I found one of the 5 pepper grinders in the kitchen had not been refilled by the staff. 

Let them eat.....red mullet - Staff Food in Ibiza

Red mullet as in the fish not dutch haircut. Very fresh, very bright eyed. They are a strange fish - firm flesh but falls apart easy. Strong tasting to the point that they are one of the the only fish that can take parmesan and it actually work. Red mullet and pesto is a classic dish from somewhere. Italy probably.

To continue on yesterday's subject of Ibiza's limited yet excellent produce you must know about the avocados. They are incredibly good. Surpass even ones that the taco benders grow down in Old Mexico. Mexico lindo. They are mainly the Haas variety, small, black with warty hard skins. There is a richness, silkiness and depth of flavour that makes outsiders seem bland even if they are reasonably good. They are on a par with the excellence of the Ibiza red potatoes. Killer.

Bombardino rigate (as mentioned yesterday) with chilli, garlic and anchovy. Killer.

Avocado, oak leaf and pinenut salad with sherry vinegar dressing.

Red mullets (salmontes) a la plancha. See photo. 

Let them eat.....cauliflower soup - Staff Food in Ibiza PLUS recipix

A total coup today. My culinary day began by finding cochinillo (little darling baby pig) at €20 a piece in my local butcher. I bought one for me and the boys and ordered 2 for wednesday for the staff. I am trying not to think about how it is possible to have such a thing at such a price. I also got a couple of legs of lamb for today. Boned them. If you know what I mean. Anyway..........they also had the new De Cecco Specialità Regionali pasta back in stock. It comes in packaging like the pappardelle but is not egg pasta. This pasta is out there. Dark blue. In boxes. Find it.

When I got up to the villa Sultan (that is actually his name) was there with his organic vegetables virtually tripping out of the box they were so fresh. Spinach like I have never had. Leeks so sweet even mes enfants will eat them. Big dark green broccoli. Tight bright white cauliflower etc it goes on. Sultan set up The Flying Aubergine 655 070 078 delivering organic vegetables around the island. The produce of the island may be limited in variety but what does come out of the ground is second to none and it is of course even more so with organics. It is a goddamn shame that there is no organic meat on the island. I suggested to my butcher a while back that the organic movement was, sooner or later, coming to ibiza. His reaction?   "over my dead body. " 

On of the cool things about working in this sort of place is that I can say to the gardener "You there... Come here." Then I can tell him what herbs I would like him and the rest of his team to plant for me immediately regardless of cost. 

So anyway today....

For lunch - cauliflower and pimenton soup with cauliflower croutons (see recipix) and leftover polenta croutons. 

Leg 'o' lamb marinated with rosemary, garlic and lemon zest a la plancha. Basmati rice and spinach. 

I love making soups. If anyone tells you to lightly fry onion and whatever then add liquid and boil until it is cooked - kill them. Sweat that mother gently until it is cooked through and add the hot stock right at the end then blend. Whilst doing this I effed about taking photos and thinking about stuff and just before lunchtime (2pm) I realized I hadn't got any sauce to go with the lamb. It didnt need any cos there was goodly amount of juice come out of the resting meat but who cares? I blended some cooked spinach with anchovy, garlic, gherkins capers and olive oil. Very good. Completely unnecessary unfortunately since they were having spinach anyway but like I say, who cares?

ODDCAST COOKING COURSE - Pork and Clam Stew. Rough Edit

Learn how to cook really good food in 30 seconds flat

The best pizza on Ibiza most of the time

Carpe Diem in Jesus has got to be one of the best restaurants on the island. Its been flying since it opened nearly two years ago. There have been lots of changes but essentially it is the same as when it opened - really good simple Italian food at very good prices. The pizzas are thin and big and some of the specials are exactly that.

I bought 3 pizzas there on saturday to take away. I ordered them and was told it would take about 20 minutes which I think they overstated by about 15 minutes. When I picked them up there were 4 waiting for me. An extra one cos the pizza chef had had a really late night and fucked up the last one so had to do it again. I got both the fuck up and the good one. God knows what they were talking about. They were both identical. They have a lot of late nights in there.

Recipix by La Grande Bouffe Catering Ibiza - lentil casserole