Rosa Blanca Cooking Workshop
The summer evening felt delicious and the sea was calm in front of our retreat home. The sun was setting on the other side of the island, as we gathered to cook together around the table. We had planned to prepare Mallorcan Coca, which is an olive oil and flour base flatbread that doesn’t puff. The seasonal produce on our table is all locally sourced, along with ingredients like northern anchovies from Olasagasti, and hoppy beer by Rosa Blanca…
We were hosting a group of 10 guests in Formentor, on the northern part of the island. Every corner of the garden overlooking the sea was mesmerizing and the flow of the evening took us aorund the table to drink some beers and cook together.
The traditional Coca de Trampó is everywhere on the island, from nooks in small villages, the so called ‘forns’, to fancy bakeries in Palma. Every cook has a different recipe, and I cannot resist trying them every time…
I had learned to make coca from different friends on the island, and I decided to teach guests how to craft their own version of ‘Coca Mallorquina’ so they could recreate it at home. We gathered roasted peppers, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, pears, and all kinds of salts, herbs, and olive oils…
The first step was to prepare the ingredients carefully. We roasted the peppers in advance, then peeled them and cut them in strips. Same with the eggplant, the zucchini. The onions we and pears were sliced, while some of us mixed the dough.
2-3 parts of flour, 1 part of oil, 1 part of water… mix until you have a consistent dough, and let sit. It shouldn’t stick to your hands too much and shouldn’t crumble from dry.
Meanwhile slice and prepare all the other ingredients. And when you are done, and the dough has sat for 15 minutes, you can start rolling the dough lengthwise, until you have a thin pastry onto which you can place ingredients and toppings to your taste, lay flat on a baking tray and cook at 200˚C for 35 mins or until all baked.
