Ibiza’s typical food

They say the best way to describe a place is savouring its flavours. Every home has its own way of preparing its own recipes depending on family traditions and geographical location.

Today I want talk about some of the typical dishes of the traditional cuisine of Ibiza (and by extension of its neighbour Formentera). If you have the chance do try some of them during your holidays.

Being an island, recipes made with fish and sea food abound in Ibiza and two tasty traditional fish dishes can be found:

Guisat de peix: Said to be a variety of the Mediterranean fish kettle, it is a delicious seafood stew with potatoes, topped with aioli. Fish usually consists of groupers and sometimes emperor, rooster and prawns are added and cooked in a clay stewpot.

Peix sec: Fish that was seasoned with spices and left out to dry in the sun in fishermen’s boats. Nowadays it is used, roasted, as a main ingredient in salads.

Inland you can find dishes based not on fish but on barnyard produce:

Sofrit Pagès: Typical stew of farmers, made with local produce or whatever was at hand like lamb, chicken, spicy sausage, potatoes, garlic, bay leaf, almonds, etc.

And of course, there’s no self-respecting traditional cuisine without sweet dishes and desserts:

Orelletes: A biscuit made of eggs, flour, aniseed and sugar. With a peculiar shape similar to an ear, hence its name “small ear”.

Flaó: A cake made with eggs and cheese baked in a wood oven. Spearmint gives it a distinctive flavour.

Greixonera: A dessert I also recommend made with day-old buns and “ensaimadas“. With a pudding texture and an exquisite cinnamon flavour.

Panellets: Another typical sweet made with almonds (a predominant ingredient in the fields of Ibiza), sugar, eggs and pine nuts.

There are many more dishes and recipes that are part of the Ibizan cuisine such as Salsa de Nadal, Rubiols, Macarrons, Borrida de Rajada …

Formerly these dishes were only cooked at certain times of the year or family gatherings like Christmas, carnivals, the Holy Week… Today you can find them in any restaurant serving typical food in Ibiza.

What do you think of these typical dishes of Ibiza? Will you try some of them?