By Christine Salins.
Last year we brought you news of The Catalan Kitchen, by Melbourne-based Emma Warren, who considers Catalan cooking to be Europe’s least-appreciated regional cuisine. Now Warren has turned her attention to the islands off the coast of Spain with the release of Islas: Food of the Spanish Islands (Smith Street Books, $49.99).
Warren moved from Australia to Spain in 2001 and immersed herself in the world of Catalan cuisine, splitting her time between Mallorca and Barcelona. She learnt to cook professionally there and learnt to speak both Spanish and Catalan.
Back in Australia, she helped set up the kitchen at the Spanish Club in Melbourne’s Fitzroy.
Islas is quite possibly the first comprehensive cookbook to capture and celebrate the cuisine of Spain’s Mediterranean islands: Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
With influences from the Spanish mainland regions, Catalania and Valencia, and from further afield including Sicily, Sardinia and the south of France, the cuisines of the four islands are in manyways familiar and in other ways unique.
Warren takes the reader on a culinary journey through villages, homes, beaches and hillsides sharing traditional recipes and cooking secrets along the way. Alongside information on local ingredients and dishes, there is stunning photography of the food and landscapes.
Each chapter in Islas celebrates a different landscape – think mountains, coastlines and humble villages. This recipe for Duck Breast with Roasted Cherries comes from the mountains and takes Warren back to her time in Mallorca when she first ate cherry jam and worked at The Sea Club under a chef who was a Jamie Oliver protégé.
Duck breast with roasted cherries
Serves 4
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 duck breasts, fat scored
500 g fresh or frozen cherries, pitted
40 g butter, melted
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
zest and juice of ½ orange
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
½ teaspoon white pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan-forced.
Heat half the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan and place the duck breasts, skin side down, in the pan. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes, until the skin is golden and blistering, then turn over and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes, until golden and sealed. Transfer to a wire rack, fat side up, with a roasting tin underneath.
In a large bowl, toss the cherries with the butter, vinegar, orange zest and juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Transfer to a large baking dish and roast for 10 minutes.
At the same time, place the duck and the roasting tin in the oven and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until cooked through to your liking, then remove and set aside to rest for 6 to 8 minutes.
Slice the duck breasts into four pieces and serve on a bed of the roasted cherries.
From: Islas: Food of the Spanish Islands, by Emma Warren. Published by Smith Street Books, $49.99.
