Mallorca’s delicious rustic cuisine is undergoing a revival. We travel to the rural town of Sineu to attend a cookery course and learn some new techniques

Early morning and the seafood stalls at Mercat del’Olivar, Palma’s bustling fresh produce market, are glossy with fish and crustaceans: lobsters and crabs waving claws and antennae; langostinos in colours from baby pink to scorched orange and a dizzying selection of fish, including shark, sardines, grouper and hunks of blood-red tuna belly. Much of it has obviously just been caught – the fish are still flipping and twitching on the ice.

Within a decade elBulli has reached legendary status in culinary circles for Ferran Adrià’s daring and inventive cuisine. Only a privileged few each year will find out why.

“Ferran has prepared a personalized menu for you.”

This is how the dining room managers begin when they introduce the menu at elBulli, judged the world’s best restaurant a record four times by prestigious Restaurant magazine. Rather than choosing for themselves, each guest is served a tasting menu of between twenty-eight and thirty-five dishes. The menu has an uninterrupted flow, but it can be divided into four separate acts, each with its own character.

Pricey with John Radford

2004 El Puntido, Viñedos de Páganos
Price £23.05
Stockist: Gerrard Seel,  01925 819695,  www.gerrardseel.co.uk
I was lucky enough to visit the winery at El Puntido in 2003, just as its second vintage was maturing in the casks, and it was impressive. It has been created by Marcos Eguren, whose empire includes Sierra Cantabria and Señorio de San Vicente in Rioja, and a Vino de la Tierra bodega in Castilla y León. The Egurens have been involved in wine for a very long time: another branch of the family runs Bodegas Heredad Ugarte in Laguardia, about 5 km away from the village of  Páganos.
The winery is an interesting mix of traditional and modern, with small ‘tinas’ (oak vats) among the stainless steel tanks, and Marcos’s idea was to make a local style of wine from vineyards surrounding the bodega, in the Basque style. The wine is all-Tempranillo, with 18 months in new French oak to bring out the brightest fruit and give it the most savoury ‘cloak’, with four months ‘on the lees’ before the wine is racked off into clean barrels, to get every last vestige of flavour from the grape skins. Subtle, perfumed but mineral nose which hides a big tannic punch on the palate but with massive locked-in fruit. The 2004 is drinking splendidly and (a word to the wise) I’ve just had a sample of the 2005, and it’s even better.

Spanish food has always been influenced by its trade with the many countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean region is shared by many countries that may be physically and culturally different and yet show similarities, not least in terms of their food. They enjoy an abundance of produce, ripened under sunny skies in the fertile soils that surround the sea.

Tuck into modern tapas for an experience that’s fresh, fun and full of flavour

Small eating is becoming a big deal. No longer do we have to sit down to a three-course meal whenever we eat out. Instead, more and more restaurants are offering a menu of ‘small plates’, from which we can mix and match as we please.

Little bites of food amuse, stimulate and excite the palate. They give both the cook and the diner an opportunity to experiment with a variety of different ingredients, and there is always something to suit everyone’s taste - perfect for people who can never make up their mind!

Spain’s food culture is a heady mixture of historical influences, from Arabia to America

The history and religion of Spain are visible on the plate. What we eat often says much about who we are and in no country is this more obvious than in Spain. Ingredients, cooking methods, and many of Spain’s most famous recipes all have an easy-to-trace and fascinating past.

The Moors invaded Spain in AD 711, and stayed for nearly 800 years. The Moorish influence is still evident today. From the Moors came new crops, including sugar, spinach, aubergines and mint, and new culinary methods such as cooking in sealed clay pots and the use of wood burning ovens. The meat skewer and kebabs arrived, and frying with olive oil and preserving in vinegar (escabeche) were both Arab practices, the latter eagerly adopted by the locals for preserving surplus fish.
The spices brought by the Moors included cinnamon, cumin and nutmeg and the magnificent golden saffron. They enjoyed sour-and-sweet (agridulce) mixtures and anise bread.

Traditional Spanish fayre meets Asian refinement in these exciting and tasty recipes from the kitchens of the Ó restaurant.

At the heart of these recipes is a fusion between Asian and European flavours where simplicity meets sophistication. Flavour and presentation combine to create wonderful recipes with the simple elegance of Asian cooking and the straightforward rusticity of Spanish fare.

Eggs are a perennial favourite for suppers in Spanish households, and can be used in a huge variety of ways, from the simple frittata to enriching a complex main dish or a delicate custard. Before battery farms became ubiquitous, eggs provided a vital source of income for poorer families, who may have rarely had the chance to eat the eggs themselves as all their produce went straight to market. Thankfully eggs are cheap and plentiful nowadays, even the organic, free-range kind that have the best flavour.Buying eggs in Spain.