CHEF ON TOUR José Pizarro scouts out the best food the Balearics have to offer
A chef knows exactly how to track down the best markets and local produce. Good Food joined José Pizarro in the Balearics to find out more
José Pizarro is in his element at Mercat Nou in Ibiza Town. The London-based chef owns three restaurants: tiny tapas bar José, the flagship Pizarro in London Bridge and José Pizarro in the City. An expert in Spanish cuisine, documented in his recipe books Basque and Catalonia, as well as his native Extremadura, he’s eager to discover and cook with ingredients typically grown on or caught off the Balearic Islands.
This vast indoor market is an authentic shopping hub, busy with locals rather than tourists, but everyone is welcome. A playground for foodies, there are colourful heaps of peppers, huge bulbs of fennel, globe artichokes and gourds of all shapes and sizes. Heritage tomatoes are everywhere, as are tomates de colgar (hanging tomatoes), the pith and flesh of which are used for the pa amb tomàquet (bread rubbed with tomatoes) that is often eaten for breakfast. It’s easy to stock up on ingredients to cook or pack to take home with you: olives, oils, fresh and dried herbs, rubs for barbecuing and cheese and meats of all kinds including, for those with an adventurous palate, tripe. It’s also the place to pick up a slice of or whole flaó, Ibiza’s very own cheesecake, filled with mint and soft cheese.
José weaves his way through the fish section, choosing the best from each one – prawns, crab, squid and local varieties roig (red scorpion fish) and raones or loritos (a pretty striped fish). He finds sirvia (white fish) so fresh it can be sliced and eaten raw. Later, he creates a carpaccio with it, dressed with chilli, lavender flowers, arbequina oil and Flor de Sal d’es Trenc black olive salt. Once José has stocked up on seafood, rabbit, veg and figs, it’s time for a beer in the market’s adjoining bar. He discusses menu plans with mixologist Stuart Bales, who decides on the best cocktails to pair with it.
Ibiza now attracts food tourists as well as clubbers. You’ll find a range of fantastic restaurants all over the island, from hippyesque vegan cafés to meat-heavy grills. Even the glam beach clubs, where you can hire a sunlounger for the day, take their food seriously. There are five bodegas on the island producing red from grapes including tempranillo and syrah, and whites from macabeo, chardonnay and malvasia. The Ibizkus name is the one you’ll most likely see on wine lists. The Spanish love affair with gin tónica, served in huge copa glasses with boulders of ice, is still going strong.
Back at the villa in the hills of Sant Joan de Labritja, José fires up the Josper, a combined charcoal grill and oven. He prepares a rabbit dish with lemon and rosemary, tortilla, rice with clams and calamari, and grilled lettuce and peppers. Later, sipping a Gin Mare and tonic spiked with rosemary, he explains the tortilla recipe was inspired by his first stop in the Balearics, Palma in Mallorca, where he visited Munar, artisan producers of sobrasada (embutidosmunar.com). What this spicy local sausage lacks in beauty it makes up for in taste. Munar’s black pigs (porc negra Mallorq) are fed on five types of grain, and figs in the summer, for up to 12 months, mostly living outside. Then the meat is mixed with salt, pepper and paprika and cured on site. Similar to Italian nduja, sobrasada is soft, spreadable and best eaten simply with bread and honey. It also adds a smoky kick to soups and sauces. José liked the tortilla de patatas y alcachofas at Palma’s Tast Club (tast.com), and created his own version of this thin, still-runny omelette (see recipe, right).