The Food and Cookery of Malta and Gozo

HELEN CARUANA GALIZIA

THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO HELEN CARUANA GALIZIA WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY

DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI

Published by Midsea Books Ltd. Carmelites Street, Sta Venera SVR1724, Malta Tel: +356 2149 7046 Fax: +356 2149 6904 www.midseabooks.com

Copyright © Literary, Helen Caruana Galizia 2016 The right of Helen Caruana Galizia to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 Copyright © Editorial, Midsea Books Ltd, 2016 Copyright © Photography, Darrin Zammit Lupi, 2016 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the previous written permission of the author and/or rightful owners.

Photo credits The publishers would like to thank Crystal Palace, Rabat for the pastizzi image (page 191); Emanuel's Bakery, Qormi for the ftira image (page 192); Mario Sant of 'The Bee House', Għargħur for the bee image (page 270); and Stella Maris Butcher, Sliema for the sausages image (page 72).

First published in England 1997 by Prospect Books New edition printed in Malta 1999 Reprinted 2001, 2003 and 2006 This new edition 2016

Exclusively distributed by Miller Distributors Malta Produced by Mizzi Design and Graphic Services Ltd. Printed at Gutenberg Press Ltd, Malta ISBN: 978-99932-7-557-2

FOR ANNE, PENNY, NICO, JULIA, TOBY, FELIX AND ISAAC

& IN MEMORY OF MAY, VICTOR, MARY CLARE AND JULIAN FROM WHOM WE LEARNED MUCH ABOUT COOKERY IN GENERAL AND LIFE IN PARTICULAR

CONTENTS

FOREWORD IX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS XI PRONUNCIATION XIV INTRODUCTION TO THE 1999 EDITION XV MENU FOR A FAREWELL DINNER XVII WEIGHTS AND MEASURES XXIII INTRODUCTION XXV SOUPS 1 Beef broth 8 Soup with macaroni 9 Vermicelli soup 9 Chicken soup 9 Clear chicken soup 10 Turkey soup 11 Pigeon soup 11 Lentil soup 11 Chick pea soup with Swiss chard 12 Thick winter vegetable soup 13 Thick pork and vegetable soup 14 Minestra with tripe 14 Chicken or turkey carcass soup 14 Courgette soup 15 Widow’s soup 15 Fish and garlic soup 16 Tomato soup (1) 17 Tomato soup (2) 18 Semolina soup 18 Kusksu 19 Pumpkin soup 20

Cauliflower soup 20 Beetroot soup 21 FISH, SHELLFISH AND CRUSTACEA CLASSIFICATION OF FISH IN MALTESE WATERS 31 Dolphinfish pie 49 Fried dolphinfish in piquant sauce 50 Dolphinfish with wine and herbs 50 Lampuki fried in batter 51 Raw marinated lampuki 51 Fried dolphin fish with lemon 52 Dolphin fish tartare 52 Grilled garfish 53 Baked warty venus or date shells 53 Anchovy puffs 54 Grouper with piquant sauce 54 Pellucid sole (or transparent goby) fritters 54 Snails with green sauce 55 Snail stew 55 Salt cod stew 56 Salt cod with potatoes and onions 56 Salt cod fritters 57 Octopus stew 57 Turtle stew 58 Octopus salad 58 Baked tuna cutlets 58 Grilled tuna 59 Tinned tuna fish stew 59 Dentex with mayonnaise 60 Smoked dentici fillets 61 Grilled swordfish 61

v

Stuffed squid or cuttlefish 62 Cuttlefish or squid with a ricotta filling 63 Fish with cumin 63 Sephardic baked fish 64 Dentici froid aux rubis 64 Shellfish and crustacea 65 Lobster cocktail 65

MEAT, POULTRY AND GAME 67 Stuffed flank 73 Stuffed beef rolls 73 Grilled beef rolls 74 A single beef roll 75 Steamed beef 75 Boiled beef 76 Malta roast beef 76 Fresh ox tongue with tomato sauce 77 Braised ox tongue with wine and herbs 77 Little meat pies 78 Large meat pie 79 Larded silverside 79 Beef schnitzel 80 Garlic‑flavoured steak 80 Grilled beef on skewers 81 Maltese roast pork 81 Meat balls 82 Small meat pies 83 Large Minced Beef Pie 83 Smothered pork 84 Pork tongues 84 Gozitan pork and pumpkin pie 85 Pork endaube 86 Braised pork with pasta 87 Fricassée of meat balls 87 Baked meat loaf 88 Boiled meat loaf 89 Fried rabbit 90 Rabbit pie 90 Roast rabbit 91 Rabbit stew 91 Garlic‑flavoured rabbit 92 Curried rabbit 93 Stuffing for a chicken (1) 93 Stuffing for a chicken (2) 94 Braised Chicken with saffron 94

Stuffing for turkey 95 The Christmas meal 95 Walnut Balls 96 Braised quail 97 Quail pies 97 Braised pigeon or turtle dove 98 Pigeon pie 99 Pigeon Fricassée 99 Wild duck with piquant sauce 100 Casseroled woodcock, or plover 100 Roast lamb 101 Another version of Mediterranean baked lamb 101 Lamb fricassée 102 Brain fritters 103 Tripe pie 103 Baked tripe 104 Sweetbreads 104 Fried tripe 105 Fried liver with bay leaves and vinegar 105 Liver kebabs 105 Maltese sausages 106 Rummanija 107 Maltese Black Pudding 107 Low Fat Stew 108 A WORD ABOUT HORSEMEAT 109

VEGETARIANISM AND THE MALTESE DIET 111 Pasta and Rice 117 Macaroni in a pastry case 118 Baked macaroni 120 'Dirty' macaroni 120 Macaroni mould 121 Lasagna – The Maltese Version 121 Greek or Turkish style pasta 122 Pasta with ricotta 122 Baked pappardelle 123 Ricotta-filled ravioli 123 Bucatini with anchovy sauce 124 Spaghetti 'omelette' 124 Rice mould 125 Baked Rice 125 Baked rice with ricotta 127 Timpana of rice with artichokes 127 Indian Corn; Polenta 128

SAUCES FOR PASTA 129 Aubergine 129 Artichoke hearts and courgettes 129 Courgettes and broad beans 129 Cauliflower (or spinach) and garlic 129 Rocket 129 Mushrooms 130 Tuna and nut sauce 130 Sea Urchin Sauce 130 Zalza bil-gurbell 130 Roasted Vegetable Sauce 131 Cuttlefish or Squid Sauce 131 VEGETABLES 133 Stuffed artichokes 143 Turkish‑style artichoke hearts 144 Stuffed artichoke hearts 144 Artichoke hearts stuffed with chicken livers and pork 145 Stewed artichoke hearts with beans and peas 145.

Artichoke heart fritters 146 Jerusalem artichoke fritters 146 Stewed Jerusalem artichokes 146 Stuffed aubergines 147 Aubergine and peppers in a piquant sauce 148 Aubergine fritters 148 Aubergine fritters (2) 148 Sweet and sour aubergines 149 Aubergine mould 149 Aubergine tartlets 150 Grandmother's broad beans 151 Beans with garlic 151 Bitten beans 152 Haricots Verts with Onions 152 Bigilla 153 Cabbage leaves stuffed with ricotta 153 Cabbage stuffed with minced meat 154 Cabbage with bacon 154 Stewed Kohlrabi 155 Cauliflower fritters 155 Cauliflower stew 156 Courgettes or qarabagħli stuffed with meat 156 Stuffed gourd 157 Chayote 158 Qarabagħli or courgettes stuffed with Ricotta 159

Qarabagħli or courgettes with piquant sauce 159 Qarabagħli or courgette flower fritters 160 Casserole of qarabagħli or courgettes 160 Pumpkin stew 160 Curly endive 161 Stuffed Curly Endive 161 Beetroot 161 Stuffed sweet peppers 162 Peppers stuffed with meat and rice 162 Grilled peppers 163 Onions stewed in wine with fresh herbs 163 Spinach pie 164 Chard or Swiss Chard – Beta vulgaris ssp cicla.

165 Stuffed tomatoes (1) 165 Stuffed tomatoes (2) 166 Green pea pudding 166 Pumpkin fritters 167 Rich vegetable pie 168 Lettuce, beans and peas, stewed 168 Smothered potatoes 169 ‘Roast’ Potatoes on the hob 169 Potato Fritters 170 Grilled Potatoes 170 Dried beans with garlic and parsley 170 Caponata, Maltese style 171 A nourishing salad 171 Fresh raw salad 172 Wild Leek – Latin name Allium Amp eloprasum

172 BREAD 173 For the basic white loaf 184 Maltese Bread 185 Maltese Sourdough Bread 187 MALTESE FLAT BREAD, GOZITAN FTIRA AND OTHER PIES AND SNACKS 189 Gozo Ftira 193 Bread and Oil 194 Savoury Cheesecakes 195 Pastizzi, mark II 197 Small ricotta pies 197 Easter Pies 198 Large ricotta pie 199

vii

Small fried ricott a pies 200 Small fried brain pies 201 Maltese scrambled eggs 201 Ricotta 202 Small fresh cheeses 202 Dried ġbejniet 203 Peppered ġbejniet 203 Cheese cooked on the fire 204 Hard plain biscuits 205 Rusks 206 FRUIT, SWEET THINGS, SYRUPS AND JAMS 207 Sweet ricotta tart or cheesecake 209 Sweet ricotta pies 209 Date‑filled diamonds 210 Village biscuits 214 Maltais 215 Christening biscuits 215 Yeasted Sesame Seed Rings 216 Old-fashioned Rings 217 Sesame rings or figures of eight 217 Bitter almond macaroons 218 Crisp ricott a pastries 218 Almond and chocolate pie 219 Candied Peel 220 Crisp pastry ribbons 221 Lenten almond cakes 222 The Apostles’ Bread 223 Easter characters 223 Bones of the Dead 224 Marzipan sweets 225 Ċitrata 225 Treacle rings 226 Rich treacle ring 228 Chestnut Ring 229 Maltese trifle 229 Hot chestnut 'soup' 230 Pine nut cake 230 Angels’ bread 231 St Joseph’s fritters 232 Pawla Vella's cake 233 Chestnut tartlets 233 Rusk pudding 234 Bread Pudding 234 Hard spice biscuits 235

Maltese nougat 236 Mulberry ice‑cream 236 Mulberry Water Ice and Sorbet 237 Maltese Orange Water Ice or Sorbet 238 Burned Custard 238 Carob syrup 239 Quince Jam 240 Bergamot jam 240 Tomato jam 241 Seville Orange Marmalade 241 Tangerine marmalade 243 A small sweet for a great tenor 243

SAUCES 245 Fresh tomato sauce (1) 246 Fresh tomato sauce (2) 246 Fresh tomato sauce (3) 247 Piquant sauce 247 Roasted Tomato Sauce 248 Bright green parsley and garlic sauce 248 Sauce Maltaise 249 Russian sauce 249 Sauce to accompany vegetables or pasta 250 Viennese sauce 250 Sauce to accompany poultry 250 Sauce to accompany roast veal 251 The Cardinal's sauce 251 Lord Byron's sauce 251 Anchovy sauce 252 An everyday household sauce 252 The maid’s sauce 253 Cesare Borgia sauce 253 Mayonnaise 253 Light Cucumber and Parsley Sauce 255 Bechamel sauce 255 NOTES ON SOME EXCEPTIONAL FRUITS AND FOODS SOME OF WHICH HAVE BEEN WITH US SINCE CLASSICAL TIMES 257 FOOD SOVEREIGNTY 267 A WORLD WITHOUT BEES? 271 WHAT PRICE THE BLUEFIN TUNA? 275 Bibliography 279 Index 283

viii THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

FOREWORD

We all love to eat. Now, as in the past, what we can eat and who we choose to eat with depends on where we live and where we are in our society. Mediterranean people have always had the olive and the grape as a basis for their cooking. To these they have added such ingredients and spices as conquerors or traders have brought with them.

The Food and Cookery of Malta and Gozo by Helen Caruana Galizia is a new edition of The Food and Cookery of Malta co-authored by Anne and Helen Caruana Galizia which was originally published by Prospect Books in 1997, re-edited in 1999 and ran into yet another three reprints. It is important to point out that this book is not simply 'another' cookery book of Maltese dishes, but also a vivid description of the rapid changes in nutrition and food fashions.

The author, although very conscious of changing circumstances, influences, and developments in the culinary arts, tries hard and succeeds in providing us with the original Maltese recipes. While waves of different foods keep hitting us and our eating habits keep changing, this book does not shy away from the new culinary trends including vegetarian recipes. Of course it neither forgets the ‘traditional Maltese dishes’ that, above anything else, valued meat-eating, and which the Maltese migrants took with them beyond the shores of Mediterranean Malta. An example of an alternative recipe for vegetarians is imqarrun il-forn (baked macaroni) cooked with aubergines instead of minced meat. The author includes a chapter on ’Vegetarianism and the Maltese Diet’ and holds that the Maltese diet has always relied heavily on vegetables and makes good use of them throughout the seasons.

New trends, however, may have moved us away from what used to be considered as traditional Maltese foods, and are fast becoming part of our allegedly healthier lifestyle.

High-fibre diets, organic foods and biological foods, all masquerade as an integral part of ‘healthy’ eating.

Caruana Galizia also looks into important environmental issues such as overfishing, especially of the bluefin tuna, the introduction of new parasites from Asia and elsewhere, genetically modified products and their impact on our health, air pollution, the alarming decline in the bee population and the emergence of environmental groups. Zero kilometres remind us of the environmental cost of transporting food from far away thus

ix

she emphasizes the importance of making the most of local fruit and vegetables in season. Tastes have never been governed solely by nutrition. On the contrary, nutrition plays only a small part in the choice of our food. All cultures go to great lengths in choosing their preferred foods, and very often, ignore valuable food sources close at hand.

People will not eat just anything, whatever the circumstances. They identify with food in the same way as they do with fashion, speech, music, manners and the like. So, very often, decisions are based on ethnic, religious and class criteria.

Once foods become abundant and varied, fashion takes over. The lure of novelty in taking the fashionable option is often disguised as a concern in favour of nutrition. As with all fashion industries, food fashion thrives on change. It demands it. It yearns for it. The culinary industry will only survive when people are being constantly exposed to change and the incessant bombardment of books and TV/radio programmes on food, make the educated and literate middle-classes feel that they must keep up.

Conscious of this scenario, the author ensures that this publication is well-represented with the recipes which have, over the centuries, become popular in Malta. Her selection will not only give us a Euro-Mediterranean tour (Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, and North Africa) but it will also take us to Great Britain and across the Atlantic to the USA. This is a natural result of having so many ethnic groups living in a small global village.

One has to admit that, as Caruana Galizia points out, some of the recipes in her book have adapted to the local ways, and become part of the Maltese cuisine. Foreign foods which may have originally been associated with the upper classes of Maltese society, have now bridged the class chasms of our society.

Contrary to the past, when the upper and upper-middle classes did not do their own cooking, and where any knowledge of cooking was unthinkable, people now pride themselves on their ability to cook. Thus is-sinjura (and is-sinjur) have moved into the kitchen, and the snobbery of preparing something different and exotic with relative ease has moved with them. Along with this has gone a reverse snobbery, that of being able to prepare foods that were once associated with country folk, like Soppa tal-armla, (Widow’s Soup) or Stuffat tal-Fenek (Rabbit Stew). This change comes as a natural result of the rediscovery of our ethnic roots after years of denying them, and the lure of the regional and quaint.

The 'food-writing' industry dominates and succeeds because it is available to everyone. The staggering increase in the scale of food literature – especially magazines, and the living and lifestyle sections of newspapers - makes bibliographic coverage on food recipes a challenging feat. Similarly globalisation and the ever-growing cosmopolitanism of recent years have altered our perception of what makes a 'dish' Maltese food. Caruana Galizia is to be congratulated for capturing all this: trends in society, changes in the food industry, and the evolution of values in Maltese society.

For these reasons I consider this cookery book to be a very unorthodox contribution towards the traditional Maltese cuisine. I see it satisfying the needs of those interested in Maltese food recipes, those starting their new cookery journey, those wanting a culinary adventure both locally and abroad, and those who wish to get to know a society through its bon-vivants and their culinary excursions.

Professor Carmel Cassar Programme for Mediterranean Culinary Culture University of Malta Msida, Malta January, 2014

x

THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is the fourth edition of my sister’s and my original work, first published as ‘Recipes from Malta’ in 1973. Each edition brought us more generous help from more people and I wish to add a new list of names of all those who have helped me so generously over the last few years.

My first tribute is to my sister Anne, no longer my co-author but my one remaining sister who was my partner in crime when we started to put the first edition together.

We haven’t lived in the same country, at the same time, for many years and even when we first put ‘Recipes from Malta’ together she was in Malta and I was in London bringing up two little ones. However we worked well together in those non-cyberspace days, corresponding almost daily as we put the recipes together and checking the proofs on the few occasions when we were both in Malta. In a number of places I have retained ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ because Anne’s work is embedded in them. Her name is in shining lights and my debt to her, to say nothing of my affection, is immeasurable.

I wish to record the names of some of those who helped us with previous editions but who have since died. My parents May and Victor Caruana Galizia, my sister Mary Clare Manduca and her son Julian Manduca. My aunts, Lily Arrigo, Louise Caruana Galizia, Rosa Darmanin, Teresa Swan, Marcelle Caruana Galizia (née Mamo) and Mary Caruana Galizia (née Lupi). I also received help from Jacqueline Busuttil, Lucy Parnis, Roger Parnis, Duminka Farrugia, Teresa Farrugia, Dolores Meilak, Professor Emeritus Simon Roberts, Gemma Said, Frans Saliba (former baker at St Helen’s Street, Sliema), Pawla Vella, John Manduca and Ruth and Frank Williams. Mary Clare passed on the old Asphar recipe for an exquisite tomato jam and Mary (née Lupi) gave us her excellent recipe for Torta tal-Marmurat as well as for the kunfettura which is one of its major ingredients. Julian Manduca commented on vegetarian issues and also took the photos for the Prospect Books English edition of our book and the front cover of the 1999 and subsequent re-prints. Pawla Vella who cooked for my grandmother’s family for more than 50 years helped with recipes, technicalities and important details. You will find her own recipe for Marsala cake. It was Duminka Farrugia, most loved and part of our family for many years, who taught us, amongst other things, how to make perfect ravjul and mayonnaise (without the use of any machines).

xi

I also owe a debt of thanks for their help and encouragement, to three outstanding English writers – Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson (both of whom died in the 1980s) and Alan Davidson (who died in 2003). All three wrote extensively about the food of France and other Mediterranean and European countries. Such was the influence, power and pervasiveness of the British Empire it is not surprising that, at the end of WWII when food (and books) once again become available for Malta’s hungry people, we learned as much from these writers as from our own family and other Mediterranean works. Very special thanks are owed to Alan Davidson who generously commented on my drafts and made useful comments and suggestions and became a true friend.

My father, Victor, never lived to see even the first edition though, prior to his death in 1968, he had begun to help and advise us. It was he who inspired us with his expertise and enjoyment in preparing food for family and friends. He found cooking an ideal form of relaxation for an over-worked mind and I do too – particularly when the results are enjoyed by others. My mother May (née Asphar) taught us the foundations of good cooking, adding a Scottish touch which she gained when she lived for some time in Scotland in her youth. We were brought up on accounts of this memorable period of her life, the thrilling experience of picking fresh raspberries and mushrooms, learning how to churn butter and make exquisite pastry – all learned from the mother of her host family who, as we were told solemnly, ”had studied science.” May’s knowledge of traditional Maltese cookery came, not surprisingly, from her own mother and it is to them that I owe thanks for, among other things, our version of minestra, and for the addition of fidloqqom (borage) to soppa tal-armla.

Anne and I received the invaluable help of our paternal aunts, all superb cooks, who gave us detailed instructions and old family recipes.

Frances Bissell not only introduced us to our English publisher but was the first serious English food writer to discover and publicise good Maltese and Gozitan food.

This was particularly uplifting after many years during which British journalists drew attention to only bad examples of Maltese restaurant food, the kind that was not Maltese at all!

Since our 1999 edition, two people’s names also deserve to be in shining lights.

Maria Cassar and Ġużi Gatt enlightened me with their deep knowledge of old customs and contemporary practices, as well as giving me their own recipes. I cannot thank them enough.

I would also like to thank Grezzja and Ġuża Agius; Antonio Anastasi, Sally Azzopardi, Kelinu Bajada; Gillian and Evarist Bartolo, Marie Benoit, Darren Borg, Senior Agricultural Officer at the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, Margaret Brittain, Revd Dr Malcolm Brown, Sauveur Cachia, Teresa Cachia Zammit, Michael Calascione, Anthony Camilleri (the London Butcher at Birzebbuga), Ivan Camilleri, Lawrence Camilleri, Mark Camilleri, Vittorin Camilleri, Sue Camilleri Preziosi, Professor Carmel Cassar, Miriam Chetcuti, Dun Guzepp Cini, Madame le Juge Ena Cremona, Matty Cremona, Ileana Curmi, Professor Mary Darmanin, Francis Darmanin, Michael Darmanin; Renée Debono, Frank Fabri; Simone Foster; Martin Galea de Giovanni (and Friends of the Earth Malta); Victor Galea and the Ager Foundation, Anna Gatt; Arnold Grech (founder and former President of the Malta Beekeepers Association),

xii

THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

Katie and Humbert Grech, Monique Grech; Hugh Lillingstone, Michael Luke, Melvin Magri, scientific adviser to the Malta Beekeepers Association, the Malta Fishing Forum, Yvonne Mamo, Philip Manduca, Sylvia Manduca, Victor Manduca, Dr Simon Mercieca; Żeppi Mercieca (Ta' Kurun). Mr & Mrs Emmanuel Mifsud bakers at Birżebbuġa, Dr David Mifsud President of the Assocjazzjoni Maltija tal-Apikultura, Liza Mizzi (Ta' Gakbu) - an Għarb shepherd who used to make Ġobon tan-nar for her family and for sale; Caroline Muscat, Alexei Pace, Elizabeth Parnis, Dr Pamela Percy; Geraldine and John Portelli of MOAM, Rachel Radmilli, Dr John Refalo, Graciela Romero Vasquez, International Programmes Director at War on Want; David Ross, Dr Penny Ross, Helen Saberi (author of Noshe Djan: Afghan Food and Cookery), Esther Said, Feliċa Saliba (Taż-Żebbuġi), Valerie Salmond, Julian Sammut, Denyse Sanguy, Patrice Sanguy, Clara Tait, Lilian Tabone, Ronald Tanti, Manager at the Agricultural and Fisheries Statistics department at the Office of National Statistics, Astrid Vella and Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Francesca Vella; Dr Roger Vella Bonavita; Wietse van der Werf, Jeri Wagner, Dr Ann Williams and Rita Zammit I express thanks to Lawrence Pollinger Ltd and to the estate of the late Mrs Frieda Lawrence and to William Heinemann Ltd for permission to quote from ‘Sea and Sardinia’ by D.H. Lawrence. I thank the Hon. Mrs Caroline Mieczkowska for permission to quote from private correspondence between her grandfather Lord Grenfell and Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary during the period of Lord Grenfell’s governorship of Malta (1899-1903). I thank my friend Anna Evans for permission to quote from the work of her late father Professor A.J. Arberry. I thank the New York Times for permission to quote from their 28.06.08 edition (Pynchon on Malta).

I record my special thanks to Tom Jaine at Prospect Books, publisher of the English edition of our book and editor of the second edition of the Oxford Companion to Food, for permission to use two of the late Alan Davidson’s fish recipes from ‘Mediterranean Seafood’.

I thank my husband, Richard Tomkins, and my children for their enthusiasm, encouragement and support over many years.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xiii

PRONUNCIATION

The Maltese alphabet is composed of 5 vowels and 24 consonants. Diacriticals indicate the pronunciation of certain letters, which may vary depending on their position or their immediate neighbours in a word. ċ is pronounced ‘ch’ as in change ġ is pronounced ‘dge’ as in judge or, at the end

of a word, as ‘tch’ as in fetch g is hard, as in go għ when before or after the vowels a, o and e

results in a lengthening of the vowel sound, thus qarabagħli is ‘qarabaali’ għ before the vowel i changes the sound to ‘ay’

as in day, thus għira is ‘ay‑ra’ għ before the vowel u changes the sound to ‘ou’

as in soul or ‘ow’ as in bowl; thus bgħuda

(meaning distance) becomes ‘bowda’ h is not pronounced, as in heir or hour ħ is pronounced, as in hot or helpful q is expressed gutturally, like a strong glottal

stop or a ‘k’ far back in the mouth x is pronounced ‘sh’ as in ship z is pronounced ‘ts’ as in cats ż is pronounced ‘z’ as in freeze j serves as a consonental ‘y’ as in yellow

xiv

MALTESE COOKING TODAY*

'Then fry bacon ‑ good English bacon from Malta, a god‑send indeed.'

D. H. Lawrence

In the first version of this book, written in 1972, we wrote the following introduction: 'This should, perhaps, be entitled "In Defence of Maltese Cookery", for so much has been written and said about our cuisine (or the lack of it) by tourists, settlers and foreign journalists, that some explanation is called for. It is only recently that any demand has been made for Maltese food. We are an amenable people and very hospitable, and it has been the Maltese custom to make the foreigner feel at home, whether he is a serviceman stationed on the island or just a visitor, and to provide the food and drink which he misses while he is away from home. One has only to walk down "The Gut" to see countless restaurants offering eggs and bacon, fish and chips and tea to realize this. The larger, more expensive, restaurants have for years been supplying conventional international dishes like steak and roast chicken.

Where, then, is the real Maltese cookery? It is going on still as it has been for hundreds of years, in Maltese homes, and any visitor who has been invited to eat with a Maltese family will vouch for its goodness. When one considers the size of the island one realizes why Malta has never been a country of restaurants.

Most workers return home at lunchtime for the main meal of the day, followed by a siesta in the summer months. In the evening a light meal of eggs, salad or leftovers is prepared. The manual worker takes his lunch to the working site. This usually consists of half a loaf of our excellent bread, hollowed out and filled with tomatoes, oil, olives, anchovies or cheese, and accompanied by a glass of wine. His main meal is in the evening.

There has not been much need for restaurants until now, though one must mention that there are a few exceptions ‑ such as those in Valletta and the seaside resorts, long established and patronised by the Maltese and by foreigners for many years. * This is the introduction to the 1999 edition

xv

Now Malta has suddenly become one of the most popular tourist centres in Europe. Tourism must be its livelihood, and tourism makes many demands on a country and its people. They are watched and observed, photographed, analysed and interviewed ... Malta, with its long and troubled history of invasions and occupations is invaded once more ‑ but sweetly now ‑ by estate agents, tycoons, speculators and celebrities, and last, but not least, by thousands of holiday‑makers. Malta's character is changing: its landscape defaced by many concrete hotels, blocks of flats and so‑called “authentic” villas. The national food is one of the characteristics of a country which most tourists seek and Malta has failed to provide them with this, though the situation is gradually improving. A number of restaurants now attempt to provide a purely Maltese menu.

A few books on Maltese cookery have been published but none of them is comprehensive, and we have tried in this book to include all recipes which are typically Maltese. Because of Malta's closeness to Italy, 'pasta' has always been one of the staple foods of the country and we have not therefore included any recipes for Italian pasta dishes (like lasagne) as these may be found in many other books. Our recipes have been passed on from mother to daughter for generations but never committed to paper, and it has been a hard task to collect them.

The French occupation of the island, brief though It it was, left its mark. It is thought that the term ghad‑dobbu is a corruption of the French en daube. It is an amusing thought that the rather tasteless bread, similar to the wrapped loaf one so deplores in England, is known here as “French” bread. It is said to have originated during Napoleon's occupation when his troops refused to eat the local product and provided their own bread.

The most recent influence is, of course, the English one ‑ the traditional roast turkey is eaten at Christmas, followed by Christmas pudding ‑ but often preceded by our Timpana. Malta belonged to Britain for 150 years and it is not surprising that Maltese restaurant cooking has concentrated almost exclusively on English‑inspired dishes. It will be interesting to see what will have become of Maltese cookery in, say, a hundred years time, now that the island is independent.

We hope that this book will help to reintroduce Maltese cooking to the Maltese as well as to our visitors. No great claims can be made for our cuisine. It is essentially simple, not subtle, and its extent is limited, but the visitors who have sampled it have liked it, and we hope you will enjoy experimenting with these recipes.'

xvi

THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

MENU FOR A FAREWELL DINNER PARTY GIVEN BY A MALTESE FAMILY ON THE 23RD OF FEBRUARY 1888 We include this menu to give readers an idea of the kind of food the affluent classes considered appropriate for a celebration towards the end of Queen Victoria's reign and, in tune with those times, the menu was adorned with butterflies sticking out from the top and bottom corners. Only one course appears to be Maltese (and even that is of Neapolitan origin!)

POTAGES à la Reine Brunoise ENTRÉES Gâteau à la Napolitaine Ris de Veau aux champignons RELEVEÉS Dindon rôti Jambon Boeuf rôti à I'Anglaise RÔTS Cailles à la Royale Asperges, glacées ENTREMETS Boudin à la Victoria Pomme à la Napoleon GLACE DESSERT Our original work "Recipes from Malta" (of which this is a revised and thoroughly updated edition) was a considerable success and in print for more than 20 years.

Twenty four years later we have been encouraged to make some observations about the ways cooking and eating have changed.

MALTESE COOKING TODAY xvii

There have certainly been changes for the better but the reputation of Maltese cookery still needs to be defended. The restaurant scene has improved dramatically and a number of places have incorporated Maltese dishes into their menus. Italian cooking is much more in evidence both in our homes and in a few genuinely Italian restaurants since the range of locally produced and imported foods has grown.

The cuisines of various nationalities are well represented and this is a welcome development for the Maltese themselves who want to eat something other than Maltese or Italian food when they go out. Yet so many of the less expensive Maltese restaurants still excel in the art of offering British tourists, in particular, their favourite English dishes. The food offerings of The Gut are no longer, yet it seems to be a chronic case of "plus ca change. . ." The category of English visitor has changed (the British holiday maker having replaced the British serviceman) but the food which the popular tourist restaurant and cafe lures them in with is the same. "Chips with everything" is a common criticism of restaurants everywhere but, in Malta, not only do the chips themselves frequently disappoint, it is what accompanies them which can be so alarming ‑ tough, overcooked and mushy steaks, frozen imported fish, nondescript chicken teamed up with pathetic attempts at salad, bottled salad creams and so on. One expensive seaside restaurant (which has lost all its simple charm due to re‑decoration in a totally inappropriate style) has been topping its salads with nasty, bottled, pickled vegetables for the past 40 years!

There have been so many contributions to our cuisine ‑ not a surprising fact when one considers Malta's location and its social and economic history and the successive waves of dominations. How different from large countries, like France, where cooking and eating traditions evolved amongst the indigenous people over many generations , developing and perfecting their cuisines with relatively few outside influences. One could make a very wide and speculative generalisation about the sources previous to the recent British and current Italian/European ones.

Indigenous peasant food (for want of a better description) is characterised by frugality with irregular feasts of meat, game and fish when these are obtainable, always with vegetables as the main element. What people eat, anywhere, as their regular diet, is determined by their economic status ‑ yet all over the world certain dishes are loved by rich and poor alike ‑ in our case, minestra, for example, and ġbejniet freshly made from sheep or goats’ milk are highly regarded by every section of the population. Does poverty stifle culinary creativity? We believe it does. We have heard peasants remark "il fenek issajru hekk" (you cook a rabbit in this way) ‑ and sound quite surprised at the idea of cooking rabbit in a different way. After all, if one acquired a rabbit only very occasionally it would seem unnecessary to devise a different way of cooking it every time! Variety and adventure in food preparation also stems from regional diversity but our tiny islands can scarcely uphold regional differences. It is true that Gozitan cookery does present a few variations. Yet in the past there may have been different culinary practices until the early part of this century when cars and buses began to replace horse and cart. Before that time different villages boasted different dialects and vocabularies. Until recently it was nor uncommon to hear that members of the older generation never travelled outside the village of their birth or into which they had married. The festival of L'Mnarja might have been the only

xviii THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

exception. Some older people living in inland villages had never travelled from Gozo to Malta or vice versa or even seen the sea!

Another influence (characterised by all our pasta dishes, sweet and savoury pastry dishes, bigilla and other bean dishes) combines both North African and other Mediterranean traditions and customs which infiltrated directly or indirectly during the Arab domination of Sicily In 870 AD. Yet there are puzzling questions ‑ why, did only some Arab or North African foods take hold and not others? Why did we continue to import Halva (known as Helwa tat‑Tork) but not the savoury tahina which comes from the identical source and forms the basis of a number of exquisite Arab dishes? Tahina has now begun to be imported, but only through the health shop industry which has only a few outlets. Possibly, the strongest influences which differentiate our culinary traditions from those of our closest neighbours, were brought about by the chefs who cooked for the Knights and the French Knights in particular.

They will have brought with them the foods and techniques of their own langues ‑ in other words, the French provinces and are reflected to this day in our more elaborate meat and fish dishes, our buljut (from the French bouilli or pot au feu, ghad‑dobbu (from en daube), stuffat (from estouffat) and ħobi biż‑żejt almost certainly derived from the Provencal Pan Bagn. It is possible that the fondness for adding a proportion of chicory (cikwejra) to our coffee also stems from this French custom which continues in France to this day. Pamela Parkinson Large has offered us an imaginative description of what the Knights' dining tables might have looked like ‑ the food plentiful and brightly coloured, even sensual perhaps, to compensate for their vows of chastity ‑ "picture the huge tables, shining with silver, groaning and almost bending under the weight of elaborate fantasies; picture fish dancing over beds of gleaming saffron rice." We know that saffron had already been introduced to the islands by the Phoenicians but if the Knights indulged their passion for it, in the quantities claimed, this was, indeed, very conspicuous consumption since the toil involved in the picking and processing of the stamens of the wild crocus (crocus sativus ‑ family lridaceae) in order to produce minute quantities of saffron filaments is considerable. The Knights also believed strongly, however, in the properties of food as medicine. As Zeldin (p. 246) (see bibliography) tells us "they all confusedly reconciled war with care for the sick ‑ and gave Malta one of the world's most magnificent hospitals which cared for 700 patients ‑ their sheets changed whenever they needed to be, and their food as outstanding as the personal attention paid to them ‑ rice, vermicelli and herbs, meat, fowl of all kinds, fresh eggs, almonds and sweet biscuits".

The very sick were given only the very best and most delicate of foods, whilst those who were stronger had pigeon, game, potatoes and sausages. At one time 200 chickens a day were used just for soup. He adds that the Knights themselves had double portions and, in time, the interests of their institution took precedence over the patients' and the Knights forgot about their compassion.

So what of the Maltese cuisine now? How is it presented to the increasing numbers of non-British tourists? Does it matter? Must we continue, forever, to provide English cafe or pub food so many years after independence? If tourism must be an important element in our economy then the food offered to tourists does matter. It is

MALTESE COOKING TODAY xix

often argued that tourists are given what they demand. The late writer and historian, Ernle Bradford, once complained bitterly to one of us about a sandwich served to him in a Marsalforn bar. "Worse than British Rail" was his comment. The provider was asked why he couldn't have served crusty Maltese bread and he replied, with passion "This is what the tourists want!" Bradford would be pleasantly surprised now ‑ crusty rolls filled with tomatoes and olives are available everywhere and can be delicious. Should not the Maltese tourist board be taking the whole matter much more seriously?

Germans don't expect German food when they visit France or England. If good Maltese and other Mediterranean dishes were offered at varying prices would the British tourists go home? We doubt it. As long as food is of high quality, varied and well cooked, we believe that our British visitors would appreciate it much as they do when they visit other countries. At present, many French, German and other tourists must be quite baffled by the average tourist menu. Many of them are aware of our history and are prepared to communicate with us via the English language and to find numerous delightful examples of our recent colonial past such as British telephone boxes and pillar boxes, Queen Victoria's statue and so on; but what must they think of a seaside cafe in central Sliema bearing an Italian name and serving reasonable espressos and Italian cakes while simultaneously advertising "Curried beef, chicken and fish?" Even the British at home are now very knowledgeable about and enjoy genuine Indian food from different parts of the subcontinent. Surely it is not Malta's mission to perpetuate colonial flour‑thickened curries, made with stale curry powder, left over meat and a handful of sultanas? Another well known Valletta cafe‑ overtly Italian in style continues to serve those cotton‑wool sandwiches decorated with shredded lettuce and a silly slice of pale tomato as though to compensate for the bread's hideous appearance. A typical dinner menu for package tourists in the 1990s consists of packet asparagus soup, roast lamb, processed peas and a gateau decorated with ersatz cream. This is at a time when fresh peas and exquisite qarabagħli could be bought on every street corner and a number of reputable Maltese confectioners would have been glad to supply genuine almond cakes or kannoli. However, perhaps we miss the point ‑ it is possible that our visitors find these aberrations quaint and charming, in much the same way as block of flats in Sliema are named "The Elms" and "The Oaks" ‑ endearing perhaps, rather than quite ridiculous.

Let us sympathise with the providers ‑ mass tourism exacts certain standards ‑ perhaps many restaurateurs would like to make radical changes to their menus but dare not take the risk. Some critics maintain that many Maltese chefs lack imagination and even that they have little love of cooking. (Interesting to note, therefore, that the great English cookery writer Elizabeth David first grew interested in food "under the influence of a Maltese cook of dazzling ability" (Kininmonth p. 93). Owners are interested only in having a prime position and making huge profits. If chefs were to choose to make changes to their menus and expanding on the Maltese repertoire which is not large, they might consider selecting dishes and techniques from other Southern European, Mediterranean and North African countries to which we are culturally and/or ecologically close. Their traditions and practices would almost certainly have been absorbed by diffusion had Maltese history taken a different: turn.

Seaside cafes could be offering Maltese variations of couscous or the Turkish Imam

xx

THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

Bayildi as a matter of course along with Imqarrun fil‑Forn and Braġjoli. Cod and chips could vanish forever! That would be a welcome development.

There have been changes for the better. One can now order ħobi biż‑żejt as well as ham and cheese rolls ‑ yet hamburger and hot dog stalls now stand brashly next to the traditional qubbajt stalls at our festi. Restaurant standards may easily get lowered as staff shortages and semi-absent managers affect the finished product.

Regrettably too, in some restaurants, helpings become smaller as prices rise out of all proportion with other parts of Europe. Local fish of very good quality is often ruined by freezing, poor cooking, re‑heating and cheap oil. Ravjul are sometimes so thick you can't chew the edges. We must stress that these criticisms are aimed chiefly at tourist eating places. At the higher price restaurants some very fine cooking is taking place and superb fish dishes can be had.

We don't know what to say about Maltese wine. Would that the contents could approximate to the grandeur of the labels! We do, however, welcome the new range of wines made from imported Italian grapes under a local label, though they are costly when compared with similar products in France or Italy. Perhaps we can admit that our wines today have greatly improved since the days when it used to be said that there was one grape in every bottle.

Malta's health statistics are rather alarming ‑ we are one of the highest smoking nations in the world and it is said that we consume more soft drinks per capita than any other country except America. There is a very high incidence of diabetes and of certain types of cancer and extremely high blood lead levels. The Mediterranean diet should come easily to us and promote longevity and sound health but it has been overlaid by the dietary consequences of Empire. Perhaps we should remind ourselves of the advanced attitude to food and health and the relationship between them upheld by the Knights of Malta in their remarkable hospital.

Cooking in Maltese and Gozitan homes continues to be important to our way of life; recipes are handed down through families and the family meal remains an important occasion for communication and celebration. Now that many married women work outside the home ‑ as well as inside it ‑ some men are beginning to take a more active part in all aspects of home life, sharing in the care of children and everything else, including cooking. Homo Domesticus we salute you! We assure you that you will find cooking for your family a therapeutic activity, especially when we all take turns and no one person has to do it every day. To the growing generation of cooks of both sexes we probably have little to add to what they have learned from their own families, except it is worth remembering that good cooking has a value which transcends the food itself since people come together to communicate and make peace when good meals are shared.

We have waited in many grocery and greengrocery queues and heard comments about the increasingly high cost of living. Yet, for those who would make a determined effort to spend less (or nothing at all) on imported, poor quality packaged foods (why are grocers' shelves stacked with sliced processed cheese for example?), silly "convenience" foods, squashes and soft drinks and too many cakes, the quite considerable savings thus made should be directed towards good olive oil and moderate quantities of butter, good cheese, fresh coffee and fresh fruit and vegetables in season. Good cooking need not,

MALTESE COOKING TODAY xxi

as is often supposed, require endless hours in the kitchen ‑ the use of food processors combined with thoughtful organisation and advance preparation can be incorporated into a working day and fitted in with other activities.

Visitors who want to learn about our food will find the traditional Maltese loaf unsurpassable ‑ BUT we would like to see the baking industry producing a loaf identical in every way but incorporating a proportion of wholemeal flour ‑ say 30% ‑ for the sake of the nation's health. We have tried this and it works well. Fresh, dry and peppery ġbejniet are now more available than they used to be, locally produced pasta is good, but ricotta is on the whole disappointing. Our fruit and vegetables and fruit can be absolutely wonderful and it is noticeable that shoppers (mostly women) expect high standards and select their produce very carefully. Maltese people living abroad often remark that minestras and soups taste much better here despite the fact that identical vegetables are used in England. North America and Australia. Pastizzi remain of exceptionally good quality (despite poor ricotta) delicious and excellent value. The older generation still insists, however, that the quality texture and taste of meat has deteriorated.

In our previous introduction we remarked on the British influence being the most recent, but, as we've already remarked, the growing generation is more familiar with the Italian language than the post WW2 generation was. This is largely the influence of Italian television. We speculate that the Italian influence might gain ascendancy over time, whether or nor our islands eventually join the European Union. Yet even this is not certain since the impact of countless food programmes on cable television and the world‑wide web will also affect our traditions.

Commentators on our first introduction have pointed out to us that the hollowed‑out loaf (filled with a ħobż biż‑żejt mixture) wrapped in a cloth and sliced with a penknife at the time of eating ‑ so practical and filling for outdoor workers ‑ is now giving way to a more regular sandwich, The tradition has not died out altogether, yet one questions whether one section of society should continue to maintain ancient traditions and look picturesque in order that other sections of society and tourists can admire and photograph them!

Other readers have remarked that there is nothing "sweet" about the late 20th century invasion of our islands by estate agents, tourists, tycoons and indigenous developers (demolition fetishists). We were well aware of this at the time of writing and used the word "sweet" quite cynically. Tourism and high‑rise blocks are not quite weapons of destruction so, in that sense, the invasion is strictly speaking painless; but we cannot express our horror strongly enough at the attitude of successive governments and their refusal to stop the philistines who would turn Malta into a huge building site. When one considers that old buildings in ancient cities like Assisi have been eradicated by earthquakes and their loss mourned by the inhabitants, should it not make us think again that we are demolishing Malta's history and culture ourselves without the help of a single earth tremor!

Once again we will welcome readers' comments on this new edition and we hope that despite our well‑intentioned criticisms, readers will enjoy our recipes and that the young Maltese generation will find our book a useful addition to the knowledge that they have already gained from their parents and grandparents.

xxii THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

Weights and measures The following are the traditional Maltese weights, with approximate metric and imperial equivalents.

Maltese Metric Imperial

uqija 25‑30 g 1 oz

nofs qwart 100 g 3 1/2 oz

kwart 200 g 7 oz

nofs artal 400 g 14 oz

ratal 800 g 1 lb 12 oz

nofs wizna

2 1/2 ratal) 2 kg 4 lb 6 oz

wizna (5 ratal) 4 kg 8 lb 12 oz Another measure, kejl, is less frequently encountered these days. It used to be used to measure capers, beans, nuts and similar foods by volume. One kejla holds one‑tenth of a siegħ a measure for grain or land, of Arabic origin. There were three or more standard sizes of the kejla and since it was a receptacle it could be used for both solid and liquid measurement.

Ratal derives from a Baghdad weight rotles.

The term is used in a recipe Claudia Roden reproduces for Raghif Alsiniyyeh ‑ an extraordinary and luxurious pie described by the thirteenth‑century scholar Abd‑al Latif al‑Baghdadi in Kitab al‑ifadah wa'l-'tibar as well as appearing throughout the Baghdad cookery book which Professor Arberry translated. He gives ratl rather than rotles but the comparative weights he gives, from Dr Daoud Chelebi, are not the same as those we know for the Maltese ratal. Thus he gives I ratl = 12 uqiya I pint; I uqiya = 12 dirham, and 1 dirham 6 danaq.

Other measures still used in Malta are the carat (relating to gold), the term derived from the weight of a seed of the carob pod, and the dirham, from the weight of a silver Arabic coin, weighing one‑eighth of an ounce.

Weights and measures in the recipes below are metric. As Britain has now moved wholly to the metric system, to continue giving Imperial measure is only to slow the learning process. Broadly speaking, 25 g is the equivalent of I ounce and 450 g of 1 pound. A pint is 600 ml Quantities The bulk of the recipes are designed for four hungry people. However, many originated from the days when families were large and will often feed six.

MALTESE COOKING TODAY xxiii

Ingredients and technicalities Lists of ingredients in recipe books often make assumptions that may not be mirrored in the minds of their readers. We take it as axiomatic that readers will use the best quality ingredients, whether we have specified them or not. For instance, chocolate: use the best, with at least 60 per cent cocoa solids; or almond essence: don't have any truck with chemical substitutes. The same for natural products: use organic vegetables where possible, the best quality meat, the freshest fish. These things should not need repeating.

Where we have listed 'pepper' in the recipes, 'freshly ground black pepper' is intended. In the few instances where white pepper is preferable, the fact is recorded.

In like manner, when we specify grated Parmesan, we intend Parmesan cheese bought in the block and freshly grated.

In the many recipes that call for tomatoes, we have specified fresh produce. Often enough, tinned tomatoes are as good, even better than glass‑house, winter crops. The reader should feel free to substitute.

Although we may not have stated it at each turn, it is presumed that when we specify an oven at a certain temperature, we mean the oven to be pre‑heated.

Where we have hard‑boiled eggs incorporated into a pie or other dish, they should be boiled as lightly as possible (just so that they can be peeled) in order that they are nor baked to extinction the second time of cooking.

Most of our pies and pastry dishes are not blind‑baked. When the filling is inserted in the pastry case, it is wise to ensure it is entirely cold. Warm fillings cause the pastry to become soggy.

In our references to the Maltese vegetable marrow qarabagħli we have used the colloquial and modern written plural form which is given by the late Professor Aquilina.

xxiv THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

INTRODUCTION

‘Food and cookery are worthy of serious study because they represent one of the plotlines that tell the story of the history and structure of human society.’

Maxime Rodinson

Changes are taking place in the way Maltese and Gozitan people cook and eat, not only in our home cooking but in some of the new and innovative restaurants which have emerged. Malta joined the EU in 2004 and more foods from other parts of Europe are imported, replacing the old British Empire staples to which the older generation had become accustomed. There are one or two Italian or Sicilian salumerie and supermarkets too have begun to sell all the old Maltese favourite foods like fresh and dried ġbejniet, galletti, and bigilla all of which have become more popular than they were twenty or thirty years ago. Many small grocers’ corner shops still appear to thrive; so small that people and products jostle for space. Glass cabinets are stuffed with disparate items; packets of salt cod and marinated octopus squashed against loaves of bread, cakes and yoghurts, with the top of the cabinet sometimes covered in soft toys! The hamburger culture has also taken hold and whereas in large European cities hamburger bars are placed well away from the old historic parts of the towns, in Malta we have given them pride of place in the centre of our capital city - a World Heritage site; but they never fail to nudge out pastizzi and qassatat, excellent snacks which are part of our North African heritage and as popular as ever amongst people of all ages, especially young people who like them as a late night snack on the way home from parties.

There are other revivals and innovations taking place too: farmers’ co-operatives which welcome visitors and sell excellent pies and other foods : old family firms which are expanding their range of products, specialising in purely Maltese and Gozitan food. The most notable and welcome revival of all is that of the olive oil industry, which is described further on page 263.

However, our traditional salt industry, once an important export from our island seems to be in decline as more salt is being imported from Europe. Mellieha (derived from melħ, the Maltese word for salt) and other coastal areas have produced salt since

xxv

medieval times. Now there appear to be only two sea-salt companies remaining.

Islands have ideal conditions for salt production and other European countries have flourishing salt trades. Perhaps this is only a temporary decline.

Food is part of a society’s culture; the dictionary defines culture as ‘opinion or belief or custom handed down …from ancestors to posterity, especially orally or by practice’ (OED from Latin ‘traditum’ ) Yet the way a society cooks and eats is constantly moving and adapting; new ways merge with the existing ones so that, paradoxically, tradition is not itself static. It is only over several generations that a particular recipe gains the status of ‘traditional’ simply because, over many years we continue to like it.

Can ‘traditional’ food be invented, as one anthropological study has argued? The study goes as far as to suggest that the Maltese elite classes have invented a romantic picture of our cuisine which does not reflect what is actually being eaten and cooked by other Maltese people. This is not borne out by the evidence from our history and all we have learned over the centuries. Equally implausible is the suggestion that Malta needed to ‘invent‘ an identity when the islands joined the European Union. Traditional ways of eating may be more simply defined by the range of meals people eat regularly at home. More often than not it is much the same food that is eaten in the homes of grandparents, next door neighbours and friends. Many of our dishes (such as minestra) are loved by Maltese people of all ages and backgrounds. A recent potted report on Malta (in a well- known European daily paper) nominated stuffat tal-fenek (rabbit stew) as our traditional dish. Most of us would agree, but timpana or minestra could equally well have been chosen, or some other meal which has been with us for decades or even centuries. Some might argue that timpana is not Maltese at all but comes to us from Sicily, yet this does not take into account that Sicilian cuisine too is an amalgam of the same Arab and other influences as our own.

For the last 60 or so years our islands have become popular tourist destinations so that tourist websites and other media have entered the debate about what is Maltese traditional food. We have seen some inventions masquerading as traditional food, for example; fruit liqueurs, which never existed in the memory of people over 60, and ersatz ice-creams purporting to have come from the recipe of somebody’s grandmother. Cassar (2007 P 13) expresses his concern, stressing that it does a disservice to our islands to create ‘bogus’ cuisines – rather we should continue to research our own, rich culinary history. It has become the norm the world over to alter and adapt traditional recipes to the extent that they lose resemblance to the original dish. All kinds of inappropriate ingredients are added to pizzas and risottos for example. This shows a lack of respect for another society’s tradition especially when some of the ingredients used come from quite different parts of the world. If you are going to call something by its original name then the timehonoured original deserves to be adhered to. Yet, it is difficult to be too emphatic since intelligent cooks throughout the ages have elaborated on existing recipes, combining flavours from other cultures. It rather depends on what is added and how it’s done.

A small sample survey (Debono 12th July 2009) found interesting differences in the eating and shopping habits of younger people and those on a lower income, compared with more affluent and/or older ones. Many people have been won over by

xxvi THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

costly global cardboard -packaged cereals for breakfast, for example, while others like to start their day with good Maltese bread from a reputable baker.

Yet another survey by the Malta Standards Authority (18/01/11) found some encouraging healthy eating habits as well as some alarming ones. The consumption of biscuits, chocolate and processed meats, even at breakfast, is balanced out by that of a great deal of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads. Perhaps the most interesting finding in this survey was that a much higher proportion (18%) of Gozitan ( compared with Maltese) people grow and eat their own food. Not surprisingly the survey also found that pasta and bread remain the most popular foods in our diet.

Throughout history there have been movements of people, especially within the shores of the Mediterranean and if one reflects on the small area of land which makes up the Maltese archipelago and the centuries of occupation by conquerors and invaders, some of whom stayed for a considerably longer time than others, it is not surprising that our cooking reflects these different periods in our history. It may all be seen as a succession of transformations, with imposed systems of hierarchy, invading forces, captured slaves and religious movements which in turn learned, borrowed and adapted one another’s ways. At the end of the 14th century the West viewed Muslim and Byzantine civilisations as models to be imitated. The most emulated culture was that of Islam, considered superior to that of Christian and Latin Europe in that its production of commodities was larger and more varied. Explorers ventured into strange worlds and brought back new foods and pungent spices. Colonisers proudly introduced their own foods and cuisines from colder climes. One major and lasting change took place with the arrival of previously unseen foods from the New World – pumpkins, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers which we now regard as our own perhaps because they come from regions of the earth with climates not dissimilar to ours.

We know that Mediterranean people in ancient times suffered hunger and famines and that eating was for a long time a question of survival. Large swathes of land were uncultivated and there was piracy at sea. Mercieca (p 80) cites Quentin D’Autun’s ‘The Earliest Description of Malta’ (1536) describing the lack of cooking materials and how the poorest people had not even the simplest recipes for meat and fish, living mainly on bread, onions, peppers and perhaps a little fruit. (This was not the case only in the Mediterranean, it was the same for poor people in Northern Europe). Mercieca tells us that, even before the arrival of the Knights, rulers recognised that the hunger of poor people must be sated. ‘Lo sfamo’ was to be feared because of the risk of violent conflict – thus boats carrying wheat were sequestered, regardless of whether they were Christian owned or not, and rulers closed their eyes to commerce with the Ottomans.

Cassar (2) has shown how many of the ways we cook meat, fish, and vegetables today can be seen to resemble the customs of the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians, Greeks, Ottomans and Turks. Then came the influence of the Renaissance and the arrival of the Knights and so on into recent history. It is probable that the longer a period of rule the greater its influence on our ways of cultivating and cooking. For example, the period of Arab domination lasting over 200 years is likely to have made an enduring impact , to say nothing of the Arabs’ introduction of irrigation and of oranges and other fruits. For a long time Malta was part of the Catalan empire of the Kings of Aragon so that even before the Knights arrived in 1530, some European ways

INTRODUCTION xxvii

of eating appear to have been introduced. Much more research is needed to enable us to substantiate these claims but it is worth noting that Latin Europe, the Byzantine Empire and Islam were all, in turn, heirs of Graeco-Roman antiquity. For this reason culinary techniques (such as the bouquet garni – a tiny but important item) had the same origin in the ancient world (Rodinson p 204).

Cassar Pullicino (1961) believed that the period of the Knights and especially the 18th century saw the elaboration or almost complete transformation of the hitherto ‘traditional’ Maltese cuisine. He quotes a report to this effect sent by the Viceroy Count d’Alva to Philip II of Spain in September 1590 when he remarked that Maltese people fed mainly on bread. In 1637 the German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher accompanied Grand Master Lascaris to Għar Kbir near Buskett where a troglodyte community of about 177 persons (27 families) led a primitive existence in neatly separated tiny compartments within the cave. The Grandmaster prepared a sumptuous banquet, with the choicest meat dishes on one side and macaroni, cabbages and coarse fare on the other. The peasants spurned the meat but avidly devoured the common food to which they were accustomed. All over the world poorer people eat differently from rich ones except in the case of favourite basic dishes which are loved by everyone.

Does poverty stifle culinary creativity? Cucina Povera has shown this not to be so. If (for example) a poor family only occasionally acquires a rabbit it is likely to be cooked in much the same way as on the last occasion; but this would depend on what else is available to fire the cook’s imagination in the way of vegetables and herbs and other items, including wine; there are some distinct variations to be found in the way people in Gozo cook, compared with their Maltese neighbours; this comparison is the nearest to regional variation that we get, now that travel is no longer by horse and cart and village customs are disappearing. Yet Cassar reminds us that there was a continuous back and forth movement between the peasants who produced the food and the town cooks who made subtle changes and embellishments to simple dishes. By the early 19th century these changes were re-absorbed by the rural poor who in turn injected additions or variations to the recipes. It is this constant process of addition here, variation there, which we can call ‘traditional’. 164 years of British rule (including the part we played in the two World Wars) had a lasting effect in some of the staples which our great-grandmothers had no choice but to use in World War II. In a recent study on the factors which determine nutrition in Malta and Sardinia, Tessier and Gerber noted that the Anglo- Saxon influence now was reflected in the number of Maltese restaurants which continue to offer an English menu.

Much is written these days about the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet – but does it really exist? Certainly, in our islands, evidence of a diet rich in vegetables, fruit and pulses, with relatively little meat goes back a long way but many people still consume a great deal of meat and vast amounts of fats, sugars and sugary soft drinks and our health statistics, are alarming. This is quite a contrast to the approach of the Knights who took the medicinal properties of food very seriously and served their very sick patients only the very best and most delicate of foods while those who were stronger had pigeon, game, fresh eggs and nutritious soups.

In our first publication, Recipes from Malta (1973) we wrote that, as is often the way, the best Maltese and Gozitan food is prepared in peoples’ homes and that many

xxviii THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

visitors who have been invited to a meal with a Maltese family would testify to this.

It remains true – despite the wide range of restaurants and supermarkets and our custom of eating out with the family on Sundays. Many families still continue to cook the same seasonal dishes at home which their grandparents did and still take a great interest in choosing the food they buy to prepare the family meal. When we stuff a fish or an artichoke with parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs or prepare the onions and meat for a ‘stuffat’ we may not stop to consider that Greeks, Romans, Sumerians, Moorish or Turkish slaves would have carried out the same procedure centuries ago. Just as they borrowed from one another and made different ways of cooking their own, so have we. While in some ways culture is forever changing yet, in others, many of us still cook and eat in the same way as our earliest ancestors, bearing out the old French saying ‘plus ca change…’ and what we call ‘traditional’ is, simply the food we have grown to love and that we will pass on to our children.

One more word about cooking in general: why is it that one person’s braġjoli, ross fil-forn or aljotta tastes quite different from another’s? Why is it that you can give two people the same recipe with identical ingredients, the same utensils and everything else and yet end with two quite different results – one superb, the other middling – or worse? It may be that the simplest elements of cooking have not been learned – for example, how to cook onions till they are just soft, or what to do when you want them to be golden; how much water to add when making pastry or to a tomato sauce to get it to the right consistency? Find a friend who is known to cook well and just watch her or him go through the stages of a recipe – as with so many other things, the best way of learning is by watching and using all your senses (including tasting!) – taking note of how the sauce thickens or the onions turn golden. Cookery is in some ways like architecture – it must bring together both art and science.

To my readers I also owe an apology for the fact that all my research has been carried out using mainly secondary sources, and mostly in English and Maltese.

Despite being a Friend of the Malta National Archives I have not been able to actually use them since I live, most of the time, thousands of miles away and despite the wonders of the internet nothing can substitute for handling the actual paper sources.

Needless to say I am also fully responsible for errors or omissions.

INTRODUCTION xxix

xxx THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

xxxi

xxxii THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

INDEX

Acini di pepe, 19 Adopt a Vegetable, 208 Aljotta, xxix, 1, 16, 26, Almond cakes, Lenten, 222 Almond and chocolate pie, 219 Anchovy Puffs or fritters, 54, 57 sauce, ginevrina, 252 Angels’ Bread, 231 Arab domination, xix, xxvii, 81, 263, 265 Arberry, xiii, xxiii, 19, 106, 117, 197, 219 Artichoke, xxix globe, 143-5 stuffed, 143-6 Artichoke hearts, 55, 60, 98, 126-8, 133 and qarabighli, 129 sauce, 129 fritters, 146 stewed with beans and peas, 145 stuffed, 144 stuffed with chicken livers and pork, 145 Turkish style, 144 see also Jerusalem artichokes Artiċokks, fil-Kazzola, 146 Fritturi, 146 Assisi, xxii Aubergine, 103, 104, 120-1, 133 sauce, 129 stuffed, 147 piquant sauce, 148

fried, 171 fritters, 148 mould, 149-50 sweet and sour, 149 tartlets, 150 Awrata ‑ see Fish Table Bagħdad weights, xxiii, 197 Bakkaljaw, larinċ tal‑, 208, 264 Bakkaljaw, 33 Sfineċ, 57 Stuffat, 59-60 Balbuljata, 201 Basal għad‑dobbu, 163 Beans, (dried) with garlic and parsley, 170 Beans, broad, 19, 25, 129, 133-4, 145, 168, 193, 198-9 bitten, 152 with garlic, 153 grandmother’s, 151 Bebbux – biz‑zalza ħadra, 55 Stuffat, 55 Bechamel Sauce, 120, 121, 144, 245, 255-6 Beef, xx, 1, 68-9, 73-4, 79, 88-7, 91, 107-9, 118, 121-2, 125-6, 147, 156-7, 162, 165, 248, 253 broth, 8, 154 boiled, 76 pies, 78, 83 grilled, skewered, 81 olives (rolls), 73-5 roast, 76, 82 silverside, 79

schnitzel, 80 steak, with garlic, 80 steamed, 77 Bergamot jam, 240 Bigilla, xix, xxv, 153 Biscuits, xix, xxvii, 207, 225, 230, 237, 265 Bride’s, 215 Christening, 215 plain, 205 spice, 235 village, 214 (see also macaroons) Biskuttelli, budina tal‑, 234 Biskuttini tal‑għarusa, 215 tal‑lewż, 207-8, 218 tal‑magħmudija, 215 tar‑raħal, 214, 230 Bissell, Frances, xii, 51 Bones, All Souls sweet, 224 Borage, xii, 15, 16, 134, 266 Borka biz‑zalza pikkanti, 100 Bradford, Ernle, xx Braġjoli, xxi, xxix, 74-5, 154 Braġjolun, 75 Brain fritters, 103, 156, 160 Brain pies, small, fried, 201 Bread, French, xvi, Bread, Maltese, history of, xx, xxvii, 173-4, 177 Bread, Maltese, 185, 187, 194 Bread, flat, 189 Bread, and oil, 194 Bread pudding, 234 Brinġiel, mimli, 147

283

Agrodolce (sweet and sour), 149 fritturi, 148 forma‑tal, 149 pastizzotti, 150 biz‑zalza pikkainti, 148 British rule, xxviii, 91 Broad Beans, see beans Brodu bl‑imqarrun, 9 tad‑dundjan, 11 tal‑laħam, 8 tal‑qafas, 14 tat‑tiġieġa, 9, 10 Brydone, Patrick, 257-9 Bucatini with anchovy sauce, 124 Buljut, xix, 8, 76 Byron’s, Sauce, Lord, 251 Bżar aħdar, mimli, 162 mimli bil‑laħam, 162 mixwi, 163 Cabbage stuffed with meat, 154 stuffed, with ricotta, 153 with bacon, 154 Cake, Pawla Vella’s, 233 Calleja, Joseph, 243 Candied peel, 233-5, 215, 21920, 226, 229-30 Ċanga, ilsien, 77 bit‑tewma, 80 fil‑forn, bil‑patata, 76 (see also ‘laħam’) Caponata, Maltese style, 171 Capra, Fritjof, 115 Cardinal’s sauce, 251 Cassar, x, xii, xxvi-viii, 24, 55, 689, 76, 85, 111, 153, 174, 219, 224, 263, 269 Cauliflower, 13-15, 20, 49, 56, 67, 133, 135, 164 garlic sauce, 129 stew, 156 fritters, 155-6 Cavaliero, R, 111 Ċentinarja, 158 Ċerna, Zalza Pikkanti, 54 Cesare Borgia Sauce, 253 Chamberlain, Joseph, xiii, 258 Chayote, 158 Cheese, dried, xv, xxiv, 9, 14, 20, 69, 88, 95, 104, 120-1, 123-5, 128, 135, 144, 147, 150, 154,

157, 199 Fresh, xxi, 16, 202-4 peppered 203 (see also rikotta) Cheesecake, sweet, 209 Cheesecakes, 195-6 Chestnut ‘soup’ (sweet), 230 Tartlets, 233-4 Chick Peas, 12, 14, 19, 134, 171 Chicken, soup, 9, 10, 14, 93, carcass soup, 14 stuffings for, 93-4 Chicken, livers, artichoke hearts, with, 145 Ċiċri tal‑qatta, 134 Courgettes, 171, 121, 126, 129, 131, 133 Soup, 15 sauce, 129 stuffed with meat, 156-7 stuffed with rikotta, 159 stewed, 160 with piquant sauce, 159 flower, fritters, 160 Cucumber, parsley sauce, 255 Custard, burned, 238 Cuttlefish, stuffed, 62 Date‑filled diamonds, 210 David, Elizabeth, xii, xx Davidson, Alan, xii, xiii, 25, 31, 37, 40, 43-4, 46, 48, 64, 130, 262 de Bernières, Louis, 25, 111 de Boisgelin, 54, Dentex, 25, 34, 54, 60, 111 Dentiċi bil‑mayonnaise, 60 di Lampedusa, Giuseppe, 118 Dolphinfish, 26, 31 Piquant Sauce, 50 pie, 49 with wine and herbs, 50 fried with lemon, 52 tartare, 52 Dorado, 25-6 (see dolphin fish and Awrata) see also Fish Table Duck, wild; piquant sauce, 100 Dundjan, mimli, 95 Brodu tad‑, 11 Easter characters, 223 Eggs, scrambled (Maltese), 201

284 THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

Endive, curly, braised, 161 Stuffed, 161 Eruka, 134 Zalza, 129 Everyday household sauce, 252 Fabada, 14 Falda, mimlija, 73 Farrugia, Duminka, xi, 124, 253 Favetta, 13 Fażola bajda bit‑tewm/tursin, 170 Fenek, moqli, 90 torta‑tal, 90 bil‑curry, 93 bit‑tewm u bl‑nbid, 92 biz‑zalza, 91 Fenkata, 68, 69 Fidloqqom, xii, 134 Figolli, 207, 223-5, Fish, classification, 31-48 Fish‑general methods, Fish and Garlic Soup, 16 Flank, stuffed, 73 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 31 Forma tal‑imqarrun, 121 tal‑piżelli, 166 tal‑brinġiel, 149 tar‑ross, 125 Fritters, Anchovy, 54 artichoke heart, 146 aubergine, 148 artichoke, Jerusalem, 146 cauliflower, 155 courgettes flower, 160 pellucid sole, 54 pumpkin, 167 St Joseph’s, 232 Salt cod, 57 Fritturi tat‑qlub tal‑qaqoċċ, 146 tal-articokks, 146 tal‑makku, 54 tal‑moħħ, 103 tal‑fjur tal‑qarabagħli, 160 Frott, 207, 262 Fruit, x, xxi, xxii, xxvii, xxviii, 1345, 175, 187, 207-243 Ftira, 189, 193-4 Ful bit‑tewm, 151 Imgiddem, 152 tan‑nanna, 151

Fwied, moqli bir‑rand u l‑ħall, 105 qlub tal‑qaqoċċ bil‑, 145 fis‑seffud, 105 Galletti, 53, 105, 124, 127, 1467, 205 Gallina biz‑zalza, 100 Gamiem, 11, 98 Gandhi, Mahatma, 115 Gandoffli, tamar tal‑Baħar fil‑forn, 53 Garfish, Grilled, 26, 37, 53 Ġbejniet, xxv, 111, 134 moxxi, 198, 203 tal‑bżar, 204 Ġelati tat-tut, 237 Genesis, the Book of, 115-6 għad‑dobbu, xvi, xix, 106 basal, 106 ilsien, 77 lampuki, 50 majjal, 86 Għadam tal-mejtin, 224 Għaġin, Grieg jew Tork, 122 froġa tal‑, 124 bl’inċova, 124 bl’irkorta, 122 Għaqda Veġetarjana ta’ Malta, 111 Għasel, 207, 226, 256, 272 Ġidra, 8 Gourd, stuffed, 14, 107, 158 Gozo, bride’s biscuits, 215, 226 Gozitan pork and pumpkin pie, 85 Green Pea Pudding, 166 Green Sauce, 8, 55, 65, 76 Grenfell, Lord, xiii, 258 Grigson, J, xii, 107 Grouper, piquant sauce, 54 Ħarrub, ġuleb, 239 Ħaruf, fil‑forn, 101 Frakassija, 102 Ħass, ful u pizelli, 168 Henry Doubleday Research Association, 208 Hitler, Adolf, 115 Ħobbejża, 134 Ħobż biż‑żejt, 189, 194 Ħobż Malti, 173, 184-5, 187 Ħobż tal‑anġli, 231

Honey, Hymettus, 222 Hookham Frère, John, 258

Kusksu, 19 Kwareżimal, 207, 222

Il Ctieb tal Chcina, 104, 127, 245, 249, 251-2 Ilsien għad‑dobbu, 77 biz‑zalza, 77 llsna tal‑majjal, 84 Imbuljuta, 13, 207, 230 lmqarrun fil‑forn, 120 Imsell Mixwi, 53 Inċova, sfineċ, 54 zalza ginevrina, 252 bucatini with, 124 Indivja mimlija, 161 Straċċnata, 161

L-Imnarja, xviii Laham, brodu tal‑, 8 fis‑seffud, 81 bil‑panura, 80 fuq il-fwar, 75 pastizz tal‑, 79 pastizzotti, 83 ravjuletti, 200 zalza għal mal‑, 251 Lamb, roast, 101 Fricassee, 102 Lampuki, għad‑dobbu, 50 bil‑lumi, 52 torta tal‑, 49 bi-zalza pikkanti, 50 tartare, 52 Lampuki recipes, 49-52 Language, Maltese pronounciation, 185 Larinċ, kunserva tal­, 241 Ta’ Malta, 238 Lawrence, D. H., xiii, xv Lenten almond cakes, 222 Lentil soup, 11 Lettuce, beans and peas, 168 Liver, fried with bay leaves and vinegar, 105 Kebabs, 105 with artichoke hearts, 145 Lord Byron’s sauce, 251 Luċertu bbutunat, 79 Luke, Sir Harry, 64, 65

Jam, Bergamot, 240 Marmalade, 241 Quince, 240 Tangerine, 243 Tomato, 241 Jerusalem artichoke fritters, 146 Stewed, 146 Kaboċċa bil‑bacon, 154 mimlija bil‑laħam, 154 mimlija bl‑irkotta, 153 Kannoli, xx, 103, 218, 232 (I)kapuljat, torta tal‑, 83 Kapunata, 171, 135 Kawlata, 14 Kejla, xxiii Kininmonth, Christopher, xx Kirxa, torta, 103 fil‑forn, 104 moqlija, 105 minestra bil‑, 14 Klamari mimlijin, 62 Knights’ Hospital, xix, xxi Knights of Malta, xxi, 98, 126, 214 Kohlrabi, 8, 11, 13-5, 77, 98, 135, 155 Krema maħruqa, 238 Krustini, 235 Kunfettura, xi, 215, 219-20, 235, 240, 243 Kunserva tad‑tadam, 241 tal‑bergamort, 240 tal‑isfarġel, 240 tal‑larinġ, 241 tal‑Mandolin, 243

Macaroni, baked, 120 Dirty, 120 Mould, 121 in a Pastry case (timpana), 118 soup, 9 timpana, 118 Macaroons, almond, 218 Majjal, fgat, 84 fil‑forn, 81 għad‑dobbu, 86 ilsna tal‑ stuffat bl‑għaġin, 87 torta bil‑qaraħmar, 85 Makku, fritturi, 54 Mallow, 134 Marmalade, 233-4, 243, 241-2

INDEX 285

Tangerine, 243 Marmurat, Torta tal‑, xi Marrow, veġetable ‑ see gourd and courgette Marsala cake, xi, 233 Marsaxlokk, 24, 277 Marzipan sweets, 225 Mayonnaise, xi, 17, 26, 33, 51, 60-1, 65, 245, 253-5 Meat, marketing and consumption, 67-9 Meat Loaf, baked, 88 Boiled, 89 Meat Pies, large, 79 Little, 78 Meat balls, 82 Fricassée, 87 Minestra, xii, xxii, xxvi, 1, 13, 135, 155 Minestra bil‑kirxa, 14 Moħħ, fritturi tal‑, 103 ravjuletti tal‑, 201 Monson, W. I. , 67, 258 Moore Lappé, Frances, 115 Mqaret, 210 Mqarrun, brodu bl‑, 9 fil‑forn, ix, 120 forma tal‑, 121 maħmuġ, 120 timpana, 118 Mulberry ices, 236-7 Mushroom, sauce, 130 Nougat, 236 Octopus, Salad, 58 Octopus Stew, 57 Onions, stewed in wine, 163 Oranges, Malta blood, 249 Marmalade, 241, 243 Ottijiet, 217 Parsley and garlic sauce, 248 Pasta, Greek or Turkish, 122 with rikotra, 122 sauces, 129 Pasta rjali, 225 Pastard, fritturi, 155 stuffat, 156 Pasteur, Louis, 175 Pastizz tal‑laħam, 79 Pastizzi, xxii, xxv, 97, 189, 195-8 Pastizzotti tal‑laħam, 83

tal‑qastan, 233 Pastry ribbons, crisp, 221 Patata fgata, 169 Pawla Vella’s cake, 233 Pellucid sole fritters, 54 Peppers, stuffed, 162 Peppers, stuffed with meat, 162 Peppers, grilled, 163 Phoenicians, xix, 94, 126 Pies: almond and chocolate, 219 brain, small fried, 201 dolphin fish, 49 macaroni, 118 meat, large, 79 meat, little, 78 pigeon, 99 pork and pumpkin, 85 rabbit, 90 rice, with artichokes, 127 rikotta, small, 200 rikotta, small fried, rikotta, large, 199 spinach, 164 tripe, 103 vegetable, 168 Pigeon, braised, 98 Pie, 99 Pine nut cake, 230 Pikkanti, piquant (see sauces) Pixxispad, mixwi, 61 Plover, casseroled, 100 Pluviera biz‑zalza, 100 Pomegranates, 106-7, 258 Pork, and pumpkin pie, 85 and vegetable soup, 14 braised, with pasta, 87 en daube, 84 roast, 81 smothered, 84 tongues, 84 Potatoes, smothered, 169 Poultry, sauce to accompany, 250 Prinjolata, 230 Provençal, Pan Bagn, xix, 194 Pudina tal-ħobż, 234 Pulpetti, 82 tal‑majjal inbjank 87 Pulpettun fil‑forn, 88 mgħolli, 89 Pumpkin, fritters, 167 pie, with pork, 87 soup, 20

286 THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

stew, 160 Qagħaq tal‑għasel, 207, 226 tal‑ġulġlien Qagħqa tal‑kavatelli, 228 Qaqoċċ, mimli, 143 Qaqoċċ, qlub, 144 bil‑fwied u l‑majjal, 145 fritturi, 146 la Torka, 144 mimli, 143 stuffat, 145 Qaraħmar, fritturi, 167 Soppa, 20 Stuffat, 160 torta tal‑, 85 Qarabagħli, xx, xxiv, 13 Soppa, 15 zalza pikkanti, 159 stuffat, 160 mimli bil‑laħam, 156 mimli bl‑irkotta, 159 Qarabagħli, fjur‑fritturi, 160 Qara twil mimli, 157 Qarnit, insalata, 58 Stuffat, 57 Qassatat, xxv, 197, 207, 209 Quail, braised, 97 Qubbajt, 236 Quince jam, 240 Rabbit ‑ throughout history, 68 Rabbit, curried, 93 Fried, 90 garlic flavoured, 92 pie, 90 stew, 91 Ravioli, 123 Ravjul, 123 Ravjuletti bl‑irkotta, 200 tal‑laħam, 78 tal‑moħħ, 201 Rice, baked, 125 Mould, 125 timpana with artichokes, 127 with rikotta, 127 Ricotta, xxii, 1, 13, 15, 16, 19, 63, 86, 121-3, 127, 134, 153-4, 158-9, 195-204, 209, 218-19, 229-30, 232 crisp pastries 194 pies, small, 197 pies, fried, 200

pie, large, 199 Rocket, 134-5, 172 pasta sauce, 129 Roden, C, xxiii, Ross bl‑irkotta, 127 fil‑forn, 125 forma tar‑, 125 Rummanija, 107 Rusk, pudding, 234 Rusks, 206 Russa, zalza, 249 Russian sauce, 249 Saffron, xix, 17, 64, 94, 107, 120, 125-8, 166 St John the Baptist, 239 St Joseph’s fritters, 232 Salt Cod fritters, 57 Salt Cod Stew, 56 San Francisco sour dough, 187, Sauce Maltaise, 249 Sauces (see also Zalza) 245-56 Sauces for Pasta, 129-31 Sausages, Maltese, 106 Scott, Walter, 258 Scrambled eggs, Maltese, 201 Semolina Soup, 18 Sesame rings, 217 Sfarġel, kunserva tal‑, 240 Sfineċ tal-bakkaljaw, 57 tal‑inċova, 54 Shellfish and crustacea, 65 Silverside, larded, 79 Smid, 18 Snails, with green sauce, 55 Stewed, 55 Sopop, 1-21 Soppa tal‑armla, x, xii, 1, 15 tal‑għazz, 11 tal‑qaraħmar, 20 tat‑tadam, 17-18 Soups, 1-21 Spagetti Omelette, 124 Spinach and garlic sauce, 129 Pie, 164 Spinaċi, torta, 164 Steak – see Beef Stew, artichoke hearts stewed with beans and peas, 145 Cauliflower, 156 Courgettes, 160 Jerusalem artichoke, 146 Kohlrabi, 155

Lettuce, beans and peas, 168 make it Beef, low-fat stew, 108 Octopus, 57 Onion, 163 pumpkin, 160 rabbit, 91 Salt cod, 56 Snail, 55 tuna (tinned), 59 turtle, 58 Stuffat, origins tal‑bakkaljaw, 56 tal‑bebbux, 55 tal‑fekruna, 58 tal‑majjal bl’għagin87 tal‑pastard, 156 tal‑qaraħmar, 160 tal-qaqoċċ bil-ful u piżelli, 145 tal‑qarabagħli, 160 tal‑qarnit, 57 tat‑tonn taż‑żejt, 59 mingħajr żejt u xaħam, 108 see also għad‑dobbu Stuffed artichokes, 143 artichoke hearts, 144 artichoke hearts with chicken livers and pork, 145 aubergines, 147 cabbage with meat, 154 cabbage with rikotta, 153 courgettes with meat, 156 courgettes with rikotta, 159 cuttlefish, 62-3 endive, 161 flank, 73 gourd, 157 peppers, 162 Suflé, 229 Summien biz‑zalza, 97 Swordfish, grilled, 61 Tadam, kunserva, 117, 241 Mimli, 165-6 Soppa, 17-8 Zalza, 246 Tarja bil‑butir, 9 Teonge, Henry, 135 The Maid’s sauce, 253 Tiġieġa bil‑ħaxu, 93 Timpana, xvi, xxvi, 11, 117-8, 120 Timpana tar‑ross bil qaqoċċ, 127

Tomato jam Sauces, 246-7 soup, 17 stuffed, 165-6 Tongue, braised, 77 with tomato sauce, 77 pork tongues, 84 Tonn (see Tunnaċċ) Tonn taż‑żejt, stuffat, 59 Toqlija, 1, 97, 145, 165 Torta tal‑bajd u 1‑ġobon, 199 tal‑ħaxix, 168 tal‑irkotta, ħelwa, 209 tal‑ispinaċi, 164 tal‑ikappuljat, 83 tal‑Lampuki, 49 tal-majjal bil-qaraħmar, 85 tal‑Marmurat, 219 Transparent Goby fritters, 54 Treacle rings, 226 Trifle, 229 Tripe, pie, 103 Baked, 104 Fried, 105 minestra with, 14 Tuna, baked, 58 Grilled, 59 sauce with nuts, 130 (tinned) stew, 59 Tunnaġġ/Tonn fil‑forn, 58 Mixwi, 59 Tuoni e Lampo, 13 Turkey, stuffed, 95 Soups, 14 Turtle Stew 58 Valletta market, 153, 202 Valor ovens, 1, Veal, sauce to accompany, 251 Vegetable pie, 168 Sauce, 131 soup, thick, 13 Vegetables ‑ see individual names Veġetarjana, Għaqda, ta’ Malta, 111 Vegetarian Society, Malta, 111 Vermicelli Soup, xix, 9, Viennese sauce, 250 Visconti, Monsignor, 111 Warty Venus, baked, 53

INDEX 287

Weights and Measures, xxiii Widow’s Soup, x, 15, 19 Woodcock, casseroled Zafran, 94 Zlazi, 245-256 Zalza, alla Byron, 251 Bechamel, 255

Cesare Borgia, 253 għal mal‑ħaxix, 250 ħadra, 248 ħafifa, tal‑ħjar, 255 Maltaise, 249 pikkanti, 247 tad‑dar, 252 tal‑inċova, ginevrina, 252

288 THE FOOD AND COOKERY OF MALTA AND GOZO

tal‑Kardinal, 251 tal‑qarabagħli u l‑ful, 129 tas-serva, 253 tal‑tadam, 246 Zalzett ta’ Malta, 106 Zeldin, Theodore, xix Żeppoli, 232

Malta: a Mediterranean cuisine of hidden depths that sparkles with influences from all points of the compass.

TOM JAINE Food historian and Editor of the Oxford Companion to Food

Unmistakably authentic and a work of real interest.

ELIZABETH DAVID England’s greatest modern food writer

I have used the Caruana Galizia recipes all my life as did my mother before me. This delightful new compilation of Maltese recipes will ensure that the island’s best culinary traditions are passed on to the next generation thus safeguarding an essential part of our rich Mediterranean heritage.

SIMONE MIZZI Former Executive President, Din l-Art Ħelwa, National Trust of Malta

… the surprising conclusion to be drawn from this intensely researched work … is that it is the last piece in the jigsaw that is the Mediterrranean diet.

MICHAEL BATEMAN Independent on Sunday, London HELEN CARUANA GALIZIA was born, brought up, went to school and first learned to cook in Malta which remains her true home – although she has lived abroad for some time. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, worked as an educational adviser with mature students in London and also taught cookery to adults. She is committed to the Food Sovereignty Movement and is a member of “Slow Food” though these are by no means her only commitments.

She is one of the founder members of Flimkien għall-Ambjent Ahjar. (Together for a Better Environment) and is also the author (as Helen Tomkins) of “Mr Lewisham: A Life of Les Stannard” published by Lewisham Pensioners’ Forum in 2001.

ISBN 978-99932-7-557-2

9 789993 275572