Islas Baleares Food

The Islas Baleares are known as the Balearic Islands outside of Spain, but one thing that isn’t so well known to those outside the islands is just how delicious the food is. It is prepared in the Mediterranean tradition with plenty of olive oil, fresh meats and vegetables. However, each of the four islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera) has put their own spin on Spanish cooking over the years, and it has become worthy of recognition. Let’s look at some of the signature dishes of Islas Baleares food.

Sopa Balaer, or Balearic soup, is a deceptively simple dish which makes a great starter. It is prepared by frying vegetable is olive oil until soft, then adding the stock and seasoning. Once that is tender the next thing to do is mash the vegetables and add diced sobrasada. Typical vegetables are cabbage, potatoes, carrot, and pepper. Onions and garlic are essential.

Polo con Langostinos combines chicken and prawns to create a distinctly Catalan dish. The sauce really makes the dish, and is thickened by using a picada of ground, toasted almonds and crumbled butter biscuits. After this cayenne and cream are added to the sauce. As long as you have fresh chicken and prawns then you are on to a winner. The precise ingredients to make a delicious picada are: 4 butter biscuits, 25 grams of toasted almonds, 15 grams of butter, a clove of garlic, and some fresh parsley.

Another specialty of islas Balearas is the cheese. On Formentera and Ibiza they make the cheese from goat’s milk and sheep’s milk, and usually add paprika. The cheese made from cow’s milk is nothing special really, and is known for being low in salt and creamy. On Formentera they curdle the milk with thistle, and then manually compress and dry salt the cheese. It takes a month for the cheese to mature, and if you can get your hands on it, is very tasty. The use of l’herba de formatjar to make the milk curdle is said to give it a very distinctive taste. The thistle juice is added by wrapping it in a tea towel and then dipping it in the curdling pot for a few minutes before removing it. After this the cheese-making pot is covered, and the milk is left to curdle. By keeping the milk at between fifteen and twenty degrees centigrade it ensures that there is sufficient heat for the curdling needed to make Formentera cheese to take place.

More info at: http://www.formenteraguide.com