Two gourmet plans for Autumn
fter a busy summer, it is time to revel in the onset of autumn. Sant Antoni has programmed several initiatives for the new season with some attractive activities. Two of these are culinary adventures and they are sure to whet the appetite of many residents and visitors.
Jornadas Gastronómicas Ibiza Sabors
The Ibiza Sabors will be holding its Food Festival again this year. This year, from 4 October to 4 November the autumn gastronomic event will feature local products from land and sea such as red mullet, pork, sobrasada and carob. All this produce is at its best at this time of year and ready to be enjoyed and savoured. The season for red mullet has begun as the species approaches the coastal waters and has reached its ideal size; not only that, but autumn is traditionally the time when pigs are slaughtered, and every bit of the animal is made use of, with preparation of all kinds of products such as sobrasada; and also the carob harvest is reaching its end, a fruit that has been subject to revival in recent years as it is a traditional ingredient in many preparations. This is also the time of year for stews and soups, casseroles and all those recipes that were put to one side during the heat of the summer months.
The Ibiza Sabors Food Festival includes tasting menus based on all these ingredients costing €25 (excluding drinks), with bread and Ibizan oil as an appetiser. The island’s wines are recommended to go with the meals.
The Sant Antoni restaurants taking part in this year’s event are Restaurante S’Marí, Es Rebost de Can Prats, Zebra Steak and Grill and Restaurante Grill Sant Antoni.
The menu at S’Marí includes a choice of starters, with cold mango and avocado cannelloni and marinated salmon served with a light mayonnaise with lime and coriander, or coca -a savoury pastry- with roasted peppers and pickled red mullet. As a main dish, choose from a casserole of squid stuffed with sobrasada and pork tenderloin with foie gras, fig sauce and crunchy toasted sweet corn kikos. For dessert, pears in wine from Can Maymó, saffron and flaó (cheesecake) ice cream or carob fritters with custard cream.
Es Rebost de Can Prats offers red mullet soup or farmyard chicken croquettes, cheese and sobrasada for starters, and for mains, a choice of rice with green beans and pork ribs (minimum 2 persons) or cod steak with spices. For dessert, choose from carob and melon sponge macerated in lemon and mint.
The starters at Zebra Steak & Grill are spicy patatas bravas with roasted sobrasada crumbs and garlic mayonnaise, or a crisp filled with red mullet and vegetables with tzatziki sauce, and as a main course, either a crunchy farmyard chicken thigh with curry sauce and almonds, or cannelloni filled with ham, slow roasted in a wood-fired oven, served with seasonal vegetables. For dessert, yoghurt ice cream with Ibizan honey and nuts, or carob panna cotta with blueberry preserve.
As starters, Restaurant Grill Sant Antoni offers a choice of sobrasada croquettes, goat’s cheese, walnuts and Ibizan fig jam, or autumn salad with quince and apple. For the main course choose between sofrit pagés or a tentacle of charcoal grilled octopus served on Galician potato mousseline. For dessert there is a choice of chocolate brownie made with carob flour and vanilla ice-cream or Can Blay flaó.
Restaura’t Sant Antoni
And as if this tempting array of dishes weren’t sufficient, from 1 November to 4 December, Sant Antoni will also be holding the Restaura’t Sant Antoni Gastronomy Competition with a long list of local restaurants offering elaborate menus with a fixed price full of creativity and prepared with quality local produce. This year the festival leitmotiv is the spoon, the main utensil in so many of the recipes that the professional cooks and chefs of Sant Antoni will be preparing as one of the main attractions to enjoy in what promises to be a great autumn. This year there are some innovations that will make the event an even more exciting prospect.
This is just a small sample of what the district has prepared for gourmets and lovers of good food. For more information, it is best to visit the website which lists all the municipal restaurants, as well as information on gastronomic events, local produce and some interesting articles on this theme.
