Monday, September 13, 2010

Culinary Destination: Mallorca, Spain

This past week Drew and I went on a hiking excursion in Mallorca, Spain for a few days. The views were breathtaking and the contrast of the terrain makes this destination the perfect place to unwind, eat healthy and stay active. The timing couldn't be better! Our visit was the best remedy for the colds we caught right before the autumn weather change in Berlin. The island offers an abundance of native olives, almonds, tomatoes and goats! Overall we weren't impressed with the cuisine, once we found out that much of the seafood is frozen and imported - so no Paella for me. However, we did enjoy the coques de verdures (a pastry with vegetables) and Drew loved the Gató, which is a sweet almond based pastry. The olives were fabulous, the goat cheese was right on target and the wine was aromatic and delightful. We spent our nights in a rented apartment amongst great friends, which was comfortable and enabled us to have most of our meals at home with local ingredients. The days were spent exploring the mountainous coast, hiking, swimming and trekking through old towns and olive groves. We covered the western region of the island - Port de Sóller, Deià and Sa Calobra. It felt like we were on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean with a few altered scenes including donkeys and olive trees. We wandered along many overgrown hiking paths and detoured a few times into local backyards which were made up of olive groves, desert vegetation a few friendly territorial goats. The waters were crystal clear and the glimmering sparkle in the waves was so inviting. OH BTW - Although privado means private we learned that is is just a suggestion (mostly for the goats) while hiking through the mountains...


Upon our return to Berlin, I was inspired to make my own coques de verdures but it pretty much came out like a vegetable tart - either way, it was tasty!

Mallorcan Vegetable Tart:

Dough (by hand):
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
2/3 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
1/2 cup chilled water

Vegetables:

6 Cherry Tomatoes
½ Red Onion
1 clove of garlic
1 jarred red sweet pepper
2 jarred artichoke hearts
2 black olives - I threw in a green one too for color
1 tsp. Parsley
½ tsp. black pepper
1 tbs. olive oil (Spanish for the theme & to support their economy)

Tart Dough

Step 1: Dough Preparation

To create the dough (by hand) mix flour, salt and paprika together in a bowl. Add in the soft butter and knead it into the flour mixture. Once the dough begins to flake add the ½ cup of chilled water. Mix through kneading the dough into a ball.
 

Step 2: Chill
Form the dough into a ball and wrap it around with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a half hour.
 

Step 3: Roll
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out as 2 flat discs.

Vegetable Preparation

Step 1: Chopping
Chop up the cherry tomatoes draining them of their juice and seeds. I sliced mine. Chop up the artichoke hearts and jarred red pepper and drain them of excess juice. Chop up the olive and mince the red onion and garlic.

Step 2: Assemble
Take the flat disc of dough and lay it on a pizza stone or glass baking dish. Place vegetables in the center giving them a good mix together to spread the flavor. Fold over the perimeter creating a crust that overlaps the edge of the vegetable center. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle parsley and black pepper on top.

Step 3: Bake
Bake the vegetable tart at preheated 375 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or until golden brown. I usually keep my eye on the oven until the crust is a nice golden color so I think it was around 12 minutes...but keep your eye on the oven...my landlord rung the doorbell so I lost track of time :)

Step 4: Serve

Plate and serve with some fresh olives and Spanish wine.

1 comment:

  1. Love the Mallorca pictures! Man I cannot wait to go to Spain someday.

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