TASTE&FLAIR SEPTEMBER 2022 ISSUE No149

Welcome G

ood seeds bear fruit, and so it is with Taste&Flair. Every feature in each issue begins with the seed of an idea. This month, Michael Diacono picked out pistachios, this season’s culinary must-have. The small green “smiling nut”, so-called because its shell cracks open as it ripens, is currently in vogue among diners, bringing jewel-like colour and crunchy flavour to any dish to which it is added. Claire Borg chose tomatoes, richly ripened by summer sunshine and bursting with flavour, for a series of homely recipes cooked with passion. For our in-house food feature, we scooped up late summer fruit – some of the last green and black figs home-grown with care by a farmer on land his family has worked for generations, luscious peaches and nectarines, and indigenous black grapes harvested at the start of the annual vendemmia. Megan Mallia took inspiration from the sea and summer skies and dips into the history and symbolism of the colour blue. Our architecture and interior design features have a very different look but share a common theme – the stone-built family townhouse. One is a home in Zejtun that has been restored by an ex-patriate couple, drawn to its traditional look and detailing and its garden with mature trees. Another is a townhouse in Sliema that has been divided internally into two separate residences. Our feature takes a look inside the flat on the upper level, a contemporary family home tucked away behind a traditional façade. We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together. We’ll be back in October with the 150th issue of Taste&Flair.

If you missed any issue of Taste&Flair and want a copy, we may be able to help so please do get in touch with us by email, Messenger, or on Instagram.

Corinne

Water Lilies, Claude Monet, 1906

Recognisable in an instant, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies perfectly capture the beauty and fragility of nature. The artist’s series of approximately 250 water lily paintings of his garden in Giverny, France, has found homes around the world. This one is now part of the Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson collection at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Publisher

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation 56 Melita Street, Valletta VLT1122, Malta

Editorial Board

Paul Caruana Galizia Andrew Caruana Galizia Matthew Caruana Galizia

Executive Editor Corinne Vella

Editorial Assistants Megan Mallia • Amy Mallia

Art Director Ramon Micallef +356 9949 1418 ram@box-design.net

Advertising Manager & Editorial Contributor Sean Ellul +356 7921 0705 sellul@independent.com.mt

Advertising Assistant Christine Mifsud +356 21 345 888 ext 138 cmifsud@independent.com.mt

Production Manager André Camilleri

Production Assistant Conrad Bondin

Prepress

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Printing Print It

All communication about Taste&Flair magazine should be directed to Corinne Vella at corinne.vella@gmail.com

No part of any issue of Taste&Flair may be reproduced without the written prior agreement of the publisher.

Distributed with The Malta Independent on Sunday*. The Malta Independent on Sunday is published by Standard Publications Ltd - Tel +356 21 345 888

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Last of the Summer Fruitphoto by Corinne Vella. See feature on page 24.

New Chicken McMuffin

Enjoy foodie feasts with a twist

When mealtimes are feeling same old, same old, when everyone in the family is craving something a little different, when the thought of another takeaway in front of the TV feels downright uninspiring, it’s time to shake things up with a reservation at Fra Martino restaurant in St George’s Bay.

This summer Fra Martino has introduced not one, but two fantastic buffet nights, which have steadily become highlights on the local culinary calendar. Each buffet offers a mouth-watering foodie feast with a surprising twist of flavours and a level of cooking that’s a definite cut above the rest. It’s a guaranteed great night out with plenty of delicious food options to suit all tastes and ages.

On Friday evenings, get ready to loosen a belt notch as the restaurant’s gorgeous poolside terrace comes alive to a lavish spread that celebrates the rich, authentic flavours of Malta. Across four abundant food stations, you can pick and choose from an assortment of traditional grills and dishes including tender braised beef olives cooked in red wine, succulent garlic-fried farmhouse rabbit, and pan-fried swordfish with capers and olive crush. That’s not to mention a delicious

at Corinthia St. George’s Bay.

smorgasbord of octopus salad, golden roasted veg, timpana, and more for starters and sides. For dessert, sample traditional treats such as ricotta kannoli, zeppoli, imqaret, and more.

And if you’re looking to give your BBQ nights a colourful spin, then ease into the leisurely tropical charms of Caribbean cuisine on Saturday nights. Watch on as Fra Martino’s firstrate chefs fire up the grill to prepare a flavour-loaded feast under the stars that showcases Caribbean cooking in all its glory. Tuck into seafood curry with red pimentos, beef kebabs marinated in ginger and black pepper, and grilled king prawns. Plus, there are many other tasty and exciting authentic dishes to try, such as raisin and apple slaw, jerked beef salad, chicken tossed with pineapple—there’s simply nothing quite like it on the island.

On both nights, you can opt for a table in the restaurant’s cooled indoors or al fresco with views of the pool deck. Free

parking, stellar service, and live entertainment ensure it’s a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that’s ideal for all the family.

Maltese and Caribbean nights take place between 7.00 pm and 10.30 pm on Friday and Saturday respectively. Prices from just €33.50 per person and €16.75 per child up to 11 years old. Children up to the age of five eat free of charge with every paying adult. Diners also enjoy free parking at the Corinthia St George’s Bay car park. n

Make the most of what’s left of these wonderful open-air buffets at Fra Martino, which come to an end in September. As places are extremely limited, guarantee your poolside table under the stars and avoid disappointment by making your reservation on +356 23700000 or framartino.stgeorges@corinthia.com

Ripe

RED TOMATOES

Summer tomatoes are plentiful and bursting with flavour. Claire Borg cooked up and photographed the pick of the crop.

There are lots of way to use tomatoes, from soup and sauces to pesto. Don’t skimp on the ingredients. Use the best that you can find.

Needless to say, pizza topping is something of a personal preference, but this is what I love, especially in the warmer months.

YOU WILL NEED:

home-made tomato sauce fior di latte mozzarella or a good, but dry, mozzarella a few tablespoons of Parmigiano Reggiano, grated very finely sliced pancetta fresh rosemary halved cherry tomatoes pepper olive oil

Pizza Dough

makes 3

I bought a raw ħobża tal-Malti from the local baker and used that as a pizza base, but you can make your own. Sourdough works splendidly too, or even a good quality ready-made pizza base. However, if you prefer to make your own, here is a quick pizza dough recipe.

YOU WILL NEED:

500g flour

250ml water 50ml olive oil 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon sugar 10g of yeast

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until a dough starts to form and then knead it for ten minutes longer. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set it aside until the dough doubles in size.

2. Knock back the dough to remove any air bubbles and weigh it. Divide the dough into 3 parts of equal weight. If you are making smaller individual pizzas, cut and weigh the dough again to ensure each piece is of equal weight.

3. Roll each piece of dough into a small ball and sprinkle it with semolina. If you are using it within 2030 minutes, cover it and let it rest at room temperature. If you plan to use it later, cover it well and let it rest in the fridge until 40 minutes before using it.

4. While the dough reaches room temperature, preheat your oven at the highest possible temperature. If you are using a pizza stone, you will need to allow 45-60 minutes for it to heat up properly.

5. When the oven is almost ready, prepare the pizzas. Roll out the individual pieces on a floured surface until you have even-sized discs. Use a ladle to scoop some tomato sauce onto the surface of each dough disc then add the other toppings. Drizzle the pizzas with olive oil and add a scrunch of pepper. Bake in the pre-heated oven until the base is crisp and the topping is nicely done. Serve immediately.

Cherry tomato and pizzapancetta

Sauce for Pizza and Pasta

The sauce can be refined by running it through a fine sieve. You could save the pulp to make tomato bread. I only sieve my sauce if I want to use the pulp to make bread. If not, I blend the sauce really well and serve it with a rustic finish.

YOU WILL NEED:

2 kg mixed tomatoes (I used heirloom, round and cherry tomatoes) 2 medium onions

1 big handful of fresh basil leaves a spring of fresh thyme 10 cloves of garlic olive oil salt and pepper a knob of butter  1 glass of white wine

1. Wash and quarter the tomatoes and peel and slice the onions. Place them on a baking tray, add the garlic and half the basil, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and roast the mixture in a hot oven (set on 200°C) until blistered and soft. This will take about 30 minutes.

2. Transfer the mixture to a heavybottomed pot, add the white wine, thyme, butter and the remaining basil and let the pot simmer for an hour, covered, on a low heat.

3. Blend the cooked sauce until smooth and run it through a fine sieve for a smooth finish. Season to taste.

Supplì

Supplì or Arancini? Supplì come from Rome and Arancini some from Sicily. Usually, the difference is that in the supplì the rice is cooked with tomato sauce and the filling is mozzarella. In arancini, the rice is white or cooked with saffron so it’s bright yellow and the filling is meaty, mixed with peas and sometimes also with cheese.  The shape of arancini is teardrop, while supplì are round or oblong. We love both. So, to celebrate tomatoes, we made supplì, with tomato rice and a cheese filling. They are sometimes called “supplì al telefono”, because as the supplì is fried the cheese melts and when the rice ball is cracked open, a long string of cheese connects them like an old-fashioned telephone cord. The rice mixture can be made a day ahead. Finished supplì will keep in the fridge for two days.

Makes 12

YOU WILL NEED:

400g carnaroli or arborio risotto rice

200 ml white wine

800 ml tomato and basil sauce

400 ml boiling water

1 chicken or vegetable cube dissolved in the boiling water

4 tablespoons butter

150g parmesan cheese, grated pepper and salt to taste

12 cubes of mozzarella (pizza style) 250g flour 6 eggs 400g bread crumbs vegetable oil for frying (I needed 2 litres)

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan and add the rice. Toast the rice for about 3 minutes. Add the white wine and cook until it is all absorbed. Mix the stock cube into the boiling water until it dissolves, then add the tomato sauce.

2. Add the tomato sauce water to the rice a little at a time and let it cook until it is absorbed before add more. Keep adding and stirring and cooking until you’ve added all the liquid, it has all been absorbed, and the rice is cooked.

3. Turn off the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the parmesan and stir well. Season, if needed. Spread the rice mixture onto a large surface or large tray and let it cool down completely, then weigh it and divide it into 12 equal portions.

4. Take a portion of rice into the palm of your hand and press it open. Place the mozzarella in the centre and wrap the rice around it to form a ball. Use your hands to smoothen the rice ball. Next, roll it in flour, then in beaten egg and then in breadcrumbs. Repeat this process with the rest of the rice mixture.

5. Heat the oil to 170°C and fry the supplì in batches until they turn golden. Make sure the oil is not too hot or the supplì will become dark on the outside and the mozzarella won’t melt.

6. If you want to make these ahead, just before serving, reheat in the oven to make sure they heat all the way through and that the cheese melts.

Dehydrated Tomato Pesto

Serves 4

I own a dehydrator, so I dry my own tomatoes at 70°C for 12 hours. For this recipe, I used big juicy heirloom tomatoes and also cherry tomatoes. Basically, I dried what I had and used it. If you don’t have a dehydrator, use sun dried tomatoes in oil, making sure they are not salty. If they are, reduce or omit the anchovy fillets and use the oil from the tomatoes instead of adding more olive oil.

YOU WILL NEED:

50g almonds, ground or whole, not toasted

1 cup of dehydrated tomatoes

1 large tablespoon tomato paste (kunserva)

3 anchovy fillets 75g extra virgin olive oil 35-40 basil leaves

2 cloves of garlic ½ teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)

4 tablespoons water 40g grated pecorino cheese

1. Blend all the ingredients together until you have a smooth paste.

2. If not using the pesto immediately, store it in a jar with a little more oil to cover the surface. It will keep well for 2-3 days if left in the fridge. If you want to store it for longer, it is best to keep it in the freezer.

3. To serve, mix it with cooked pasta of your choice, add more dehydrated cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves, and serve warm or cold.

Tomato Pulp Bread

Makes 1 large loaf

The tomato pulp used here should be of a very thick consistency. If it is not, the dough could be a bit sticky and soft. You can either add more flour to reduce the stickiness and firm up the dough, or else bake the bread in a loaf tin to stop it spreading while it bakes.

YOU WILL NEED:

500g strong bread flour

11g yeast

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ teaspoons sugar

100g tomato pulp (leftover from the soup or tomato sauce)

250ml warm water

20ml olive oil or melted butter

1. Take 1 tablespoon of the flour, mix in the yeast and add 100 ml of the warm water. Stir well and let the mixture rest for ten minutes.

2. Put all the other ingredients into the bowl of your food mixer, then add the yeasted water. Using the hook attachment, set the mixer on a medium speed and knead the dough for 10 minutes.

3. After kneading, remove the hook attachment, cover the mixer bowl with a damp cloth and set it aside until the dough doubles in size. This will take 1-2 hours. Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back and let it rest for 2 minutes before shaping it into a smooth rounded loaf.

4. Place the loaf onto a lightly floured baking tray and cover it while it proves for a second time (20 to 30 minutes). Preheat the oven to 220°C.

5. Now, dust the loaf lightly with flour, and score it gently with a razor blade or a very sharp knife. Place the dough tray in the oven and let it bake for around 45 minutes. You’ll know when it’s done when you tap the underside of the loaf and it sounds hollow. Remove it from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.

Caprese on Tomato Bread

Caprese salad is carb-free, but there’s nothing to stop you adding it to a thick slice of tomato bread. Serve the bread topped with sliced buffalo mozzarella, basil leaves, sliced tomato and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Healthy eating is vital to our health and does not need to be expensive. There are several things that one can do to eat healthy on a budget.

It is important to plan meals as this saves time and money in the long run. Checking what is already available at home and making a shopping list is also a good strategy to purchase wisely and avoid food waste. Reduce food waste by checking expiry dates and making sure to use items with the nearest expiry date first. Freezing leftover food, cooking in batches, and chopping and freezing fruit and vegetables for later use is also an efficient way to save money and reduce food waste. It is important to avoid shopping on an empty stomach as this may affect the quality and quantity of food bought. Keep in mind that in supermarkets, the more economical products may not always be at eye level and may be designated to a particular area.

It is worth exploring local food markets as fruit and vegetables bought directly from local farmers are usually better priced, especially seasonal

produce which tends to be less expensive and more readily available. It is best to buy loose produce such as apples or oranges instead of packaged produce to avoid overpurchasing.

Good quality frozen fruits and vegetables can also be part of your shopping list and are convenient to have as nutrient retention remains quite high even after the freezing process. Canned legumes such as chickpeas or lentils may also be convenient and healthy choices to add to recipes. It is important to read the can label and to choose low-salt versions.

These simple changes to the way we source and choose food is key to affordable healthy eating, and it is a great motivation to get back in the kitchen and take control of our health!

Superintendence of Public Health

Pasta with Pancetta, Pecorino and Peperoncino

Serves 2

YOU WILL NEED:

2 cloves garlic

150g finely diced smoked pancetta fresh chilli to taste olive oil

4 tablespoons grated pecorino pepato

400ml tomato sauce

240g pasta of your choice (I prefer bucatini or spaghetti)

1. Peel and lightly crush the garlic with the side of a knife. Gently heat up a large pan and add the olive oil, garlic and pancetta. Cook the pancetta gently, making sure the garlic does not burn.

2. Next, remove the garlic, then cook the remaining mixture on a high heat until the pancetta crisps up a little, then add the chilli and the tomato sauce.

3. Cook the pasta until al dente and add it to the sauce. You might need to add some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce a little. Add the pecorino cheese, mix well and serve at once.

Tomato and Dill Soup

Serves 4-6

YOU WILL NEED:

2 kg of tomatoes (I used the very big heirloom ones and also smaller ones)

2 onions

6 cloves of garlic olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon kunserva

1 vegetable stock cube

700 ml boiling water

½ a glass of white wine

1 handful of fresh dill salt and pepper to taste

½ a teaspoon of sugar

1. Put the butter into a heavybottomed pan and let it melt gently. Add some olive oil and stir. Add the dill stems and onions and cook them gently until they soften.

2. Add the garlic and the roughly chopped tomatoes, stir, and cook them over high heat for about 10 minutes. Add the white wine and let the mixture cook for another few minutes. Next, add the boiling water, tomato paste and crumbled stock cube. Stir the pot, cover it and let it simmer gently for an hour.

3. Blend the mixture and run it through a fine sieve, saving the tomato pulp (you can use it to make tomato bread later). Adjust the consistency of the soup, either by cooking it to reduce the volume or topping it up with a little more liquid to loosen it. I prefer my soup to be of a thicker consistency, but this is a matter of taste.

4. When the soup is ready, season it with salt, pepper and sugar to taste, then add the remaining very finely chopped dill and ladle it into serving bowls. Serve this garnished with a sprig of fresh dill.

LAST OF THE

Summer Fruit

“No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

Epictetus

Photography: Corinne Vella

Mini-pavlovas with figs and walnuts

Serves 6

YOU WILL NEED:

3 eggs an equal weight of caster sugar ½ teaspoon cornflour

6 green or white figs

3 tablespoons toasted walnuts, chopped 12 tablespoons single cream acacia honey

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C.

2. Weigh the whole eggs and then weigh out an equal amount of caster sugar. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Set the yolks aside and whip the egg whites in a clean bowl until they stiffen.

3. Add the sugar a teaspoon at a time, whipping the mixture for 10 seconds after each spoonful. Add the cornflour and keep whipping the mixture until it is completely stiff and glossy.

4. Line 3 baking trays with non-stick paper and divide the meringue mixture into 6 equal portions (2 per tray) and use the back of a spoon to spread the mixture into evenly-sized rounds, each with a small hollow in the middle. Bake the meringues in the preheated oven for an hour, then allow them to cool down in the closed oven.

5. Just before serving, wash and pat dry the figs and slice them up, leaving the skin on. Whip the cream till it stiffens. Place the meringues on dessert plates and spread the tops with cream. Arrange the fig slices over the top, scatter with toasted walnuts, drizzle with honey and serve immediately.

“To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.”

Elizabeth David, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, 1986

Prosecco Peaches

George du Maurier, 1894

Serves 6

YOU WILL NEED:

6 large peaches

750ml Prosecco juice and zest of 1 orange 300g + 1 tablespoon caster sugar

5 lemon verbena leaves 12 tablespoons single cream

TO GARNISH: mint leaves

1. Lightly crush 5 lemon verbena leaves with 1 tablespoon of sugar and let it stand overnight.

2. Wash and halve the peaches and remove the stones. Place the unskinned peaches cut side down in a large cooking pot.

3. Pour the prosecco into a separate pan. Add the sugar, orange juice and zest. Stir the mixture over a low heat until the sugar dissolves completely.

4. Pour the liquid into the peach pot and place a heat-proof plate over the peaches to weigh them down. Quickly bring the pot to a boil and then turn down the heat and let the peaches simmer gently for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the plate, and set the pot aside.

5. When the syrup has cooled down completely, remove the peach skins and transfer the peaches and syrup to a bowl. Cover the bowl and store the peaches in the fridge until 20 minutes before serving.

6. Whip the fresh cream till it begins to stiffen. Remove the verbena leaves from the sugar and fold the sugar into the cream a little at a time.

7. To serve, place two peach halves on a dessert plate with a scoop of lemon verbena cream. Drizzle some of the prosecco syrup over the peaches, scatter them with mint leaves and serve immediately.

“An apple is an excellent thing - until you have tried a peach”

A journey into the world of

and wine

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a light lunch

YOU WILL NEED:

4 nectarines

2 balls of burattina di bufala 300g Parma ham baby purple basil leaves fresh parsley leaves extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice freshly ground black pepper

1. Wash, halve and destone the nectarines, and slice them up with the skins on. Toss the nectarine slices with the lemon juice and arrange them on the serving dish.

2. Trim the fat off the Parma ham and roughly roll up each slice into a ‘rosette’, and add them to the serving dish

3. Drain the burattina and use your hands to rip it into chunks and dot them among the nectarines.

4. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the salad, scatter with purple basil and parsley leaves, add a scrunch of black pepper and serve at once with crusty bread.

Nectarine Salad

“Talking of Pleasure, this moment I was writing with one hand, and with the other holding to my Mouth a Nectarinehow good how fine.”

John Keats, in a letter to his friend Charles Wentworth Dilke

Roasted grapes with honey

YOU WILL NEED

1 small bunch of grapes toasted almond flakes

Maltese wild thyme honey Greek yogurt

Break up the bunch of grapes into individual stems. Wash the grapes, and pat them dry. Spread them out in a roasting tray, drizzle them with wild thyme honey and roast in a hot oven for a few minutes, until they start to crease. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt scattered with toasted almond flakes.

Fig galette

“if God had not created honey, figs would be thought much sweeter”

Xenophanes, (fragment 21B38)

Serves 4

YOU WILL NEED:

10 black figs

320g soft goat cheese

10 sprigs fresh thyme leaves

1 small bunch of parsley, cleaned and finely chopped 40g toasted almond flakes, crushed extra-virgin olive oil zest of 1 small, unwaxed lemon zest of 1 small orange

1 tablespoon lemon juice

FOR THE OLIVE OIL PASTRY: 120ml olive oil 400g plain flour

1 pinch of crushed sea salt 100ml cold water

TO FINISH: 1 egg, beaten

TO SERVE: Maltese wild thyme honey

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, sprinkle in a pinch of crushed sea salt and stir with a fork. Drizzle in the olive oil a little at a time while stirring continuously with a fork. The mixture will clump together at first and will then begin to resemble large bread crumbs.

2. Add a little bit of the cold water and use a wooden spoon to work the dough together. Keep adding water and stirring the mixture until a dough begins to form.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it is smooth. This will take a few minutes. Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge to chill for an hour.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Dice the soft goat’s cheese and place it in a clean mixing bowl. Wash the herbs and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Finely chop the parsley leaves and stems, pick off the thyme leaves and add the herbs to the mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, lemon and orange zest, and crushed almond flakes and stir all the ingredients together thoroughly. Cover the bowl and store it in the fridge till needed.

5. Trim and wash the figs and pat them dry and cut them into slices 3mm thick. Store them in a covered bowl until needed.

6. When the pastry’s properly chilled, preheat the oven to 220°C. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll it out gently into a 40cm circle. Olive oil pastry tends to break but patch it up as you go. Wrap it lightly around a rolling pin and transfer it to a baking tray lined with non-stick paper.

7. Use the tip of a sharp knife to lightly score a circle 4cm from the edge of the pastry. Scoop the cheese filling onto the pastry and spread it out evenly within the circle. Place the sliced figs over the top in an overlapping layer to ensure the cheese remains covered as the fruit shrinks when it cooks.

8. Fold the pastry edge inwards, pinching it together and brush it lightly with beaten egg.

9. Bake the galette in the preheated oven until the pastry turns golden (around 45 minutes). Remove the tray from the oven and let it stand for 15 minutes. Then transfer the galette to a serving dish, drizzle it with wild thyme honey and serve it immediately.

Lovely Lampuki Potato Cakes

Fishcakes are a perfect blend of convenience and flavour. Make them from scratch or treat them as a way of using leftover fish and mashed potatoes. Now that lampuki are in season, you could try a delicious spin on the typical canned tuna kind. We used freshly chopped dill and parsley, but any fresh-tasting herb would work just as well. Coriander lends a particularly lovely taste. The mixture can be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge.

Preparation and cooking: 65 minutes Serves 4

YOU WILL NEED:

8 medium potatoes, peeled and diced a splash of milk

1 tablespoon of butter salt and pepper, to taste 400g freshly grilled lampuki fillets, skinned, boned and lightly mashed with a fork

1 small onion, peeled and very finely chopped 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped dill or any fresh herb of your choice a sprinkling of dried herbs 1 or 2 eggs

150g– 200g of plain flour, for coating olive oil (not extra-virgin), for shallow-frying lemon zest

1. Boil the peeled and diced potatoes in a pot of salted water until soft enough to mash. Drain them, then put them into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add a tablespoon of butter and a splash of milk to the potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and mash the mixture until you have a smooth-to-chunky mash.

3. Add the mashed lampuki, dried herbs, chopped dill, some lemon zest and finely chopped onion to the bowl with the mashed potatoes.

4. Break one of the eggs into the bowl and mix until everything is well combined. If the mixture is too stiff, add as much of the second egg as you need for the mixture to become pliable without turning soggy.

5. Line a tray with baking paper and sprinkle it with a bit of flour. Pour the rest of the flour onto a plate. This is to coat the prepared fishcakes.

6. Using a tablespoon as a rough measure, scoop out a heaped portion of the fishcake mixture, then roll it into a ball with your freshlywashed hands. Flatten the ball into a patty, then coat the fishcake lightly all over with the flour and place it on the lined baking tray.

7. Repeat with the rest of the mixture, placing each uncooked fishcake on the prepared tray as you go along.

8. Chill the fishcakes for at least an hour to stiffen them (this step may be skipped, but frying the fishcakes will then take a little bit of patience), then shallow-fry them in a pan with a little bit of heated olive oil, turning them once, until each side is golden.

9. Serve on their own garnished with lemon zest or with a fresh salad on the side.

Cooking: Mandy Mallia • Photo: Megan Mallia

Trends and fads in cooking are ever-changing as much as they are in the fashion and design world. Ingredients go in and out of favour often, some never to return, while others ride the popularity waves. This summer, pistachios seem to be the flavour of the moment so I decided to make them the star of this feature.

Serves 4 as a starter Preparation and cooking: 20 minutes

RECOMMENDED WINE

“A cool and zingy Sauvignon Blanc such as a mineral-style Sancerre from Loire valley, or, if you prefer a more tropical accent, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc would also work beautifully.”

YOU WILL NEED:

320g linguine

1kg fresh clams (vongole)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 small cloves of Maltese garlic, peeled and finely chopped 1 teaspoon finely chopped capers (optional)

chili to taste

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

½ bottle dry white wine

175g crushed pistachio nuts

1. Discard any clams that are open and wash the rest well under running water. Keep the clams cool while you prepare the cooking pot and sauce.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.

3. Meanwhile, heat the extravirgin olive oil in a large pan that has a tight-fitting lid. Add the garlic, capers (if using) and chilli. Stir fry the ingredients for just a minute or two to flavour the oil, then toss in the clams, turn the heat up very high, and stir. Add the parsley and wine to the pan and cover it.

4. Put the linguini into the boiling pot. When the pasta is ¾ cooked, drain it and transfer it to the pan with the clams. Stir the linguini into the sauce and let the pot simmer for the remainder of the pasta’s cooking time.

5. Add the pistachios and mix well before plating and serving.

Linguine with fresh clams and pistachios

The quality of the ingredients is key to the fine simplicity of this dish

FACTS

The pistachio tree is native to Central Asia and was introduced to Europe by the Romans. It was first cultivated in Western Asia, eventually reaching the Mediterranean via Iran. However, the jewel-like seeds do not appear to have been brought to the region in any significant quantity before medieval times.

In culinary terms, the edible part of the pistachio is a “nut” but in botanical terms it is a seed. Technically, the fruit of the pistachio tree is a drupe; that is, a fleshy fruit containing a seed in a shell. Drupes such as apricots, peaches, and plums are enjoyed for their juicy flesh and the shell-covered seed is discarded. With pistachios, it is the opposite: the fleshy outer part and the shell are discarded and the seed is eaten.

The Pistachio tree is biennial, producing a heavier harvest in alternate years. The tree usually begins to fruit when it is in its fifth year but takes several more to begin producing seeds in significant quantities. A single mature tree could produce roughly 50,000 pistachios (50kg) over a two-year cycle.

Pistachios have long been an important crop in Iran, which is among the largest producers along with Turkey, Syria, China, and Australia. The world’s leading producer is the USA which began commercial production in the mid-1970s. Each year, it produces several hundred thousand tons of the “smiling nut”. 99% of its annual output grows in California, generating some US$1.6 billion for the economy of the sunshine state.

Pistachio and coffee-crusted tuna

I like to serve this with a salsa cruda made with chopped summer tomatoes, cucumber and onion, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh mint, and basil. The coffee adds a smoky flavour to the tuna while the nuts give an obvious crunch and also add an earthy taste.

Serves 4 Preparation and cooking: 30 minutes

YOU WILL NEED:

RECOMMENDED WINE

“A light, yet powerful and earthy Beaujolais Cru, such as Morgon. On a hot summer’s day, I also recommend chilling the wine for 15 minutes before serving.”

4 tuna loin steaks, approximately 300g each extra-virgin olive oil, to brush sea salt pepper

2 tablespoons freshly ground coffee 150g crushed pistachio nuts

1. Heat the grill. Brush the tuna steaks lightly with extra-virgin olive oil on both sides and season them lightly with salt and pepper.

2. Dust the tuna liberally with coffee, then press the steaks into the crushed pistachios to coat them.

3. Cook the tuna on the grill for just a minute on each side so that it remains rare. Tuna is quite terrible and dry when overdone, so be careful not to overcook it.

4. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon to heighten the flavours.

Lamb polpette on beetroot hummus with a pistachio crumble

There

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking: 60 minutes

“If you can get your hands on a good quality Sicilian Nerello Mascalese, Etna Rosso, it would pair perfectly. Alternatively, a new world Pinot Noir would also work incredibly well.”

FOR THE BEETROOT HUMMUS

300g cooked beetroots, chopped roughly

1 tin chickpeas (400g) juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tahini salt and pepper

FOR THE CRUMBLE

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

2-3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped 200g pistachio nuts, chopped sea salt flakes

FOR THE POLPETTE

800g lamb mince

175g fresh breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1 handful parsley, finely chopped

1 handful coriander, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds chilli salt and pepper flour to coat extra-virgin olive oil to fry

1. For the hummus, place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend it to make a paste. You might need to add just a drop or two of water to loosen the mixture.

2. For the crumble, dry fry the seeds for a minute then add the chopped rosemary and pistachios. Fry the mixture for another minute, tossing continuously, then season it with salt and set it aside.

3. Prepare the polpette by mixing all the ingredients together and forming it into balls. I prefer smaller 4cm sized meatballs. Roll these in flour then shallow fry them in extra-virgin olive oil till they turn golden brown.

4. Serve the polpette on a bed of hummus topped with the pistachio crumble. A drizzle of salsa verde works very well with this recipe.

are lots of full flavours with punch here. This is a real treat for the taste buds.

Roast pumpkin with onion, pomegranate and pistachio nuts

This salad is a perfect accompaniment to plainly fried fresh lampuki which are just coming into season. It’s best served at room temperature, rather than piping hot from the oven.

RECOMMENDED WINE

1. Set oven to 190°C. Cut the pumpkin into small 2cm thick slices. Place these into a large bowl together with the sliced onion, then dress with the extra-virgin olive oil.

2. Add the pomegranate molasses and sumac, and season with salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture gently, then transfer it to a large baking sheet.

3. Roast the pumpkin for 30 minutes, tossing once during cooking.

4. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and place it onto a serving dish. Let it cool to room temperature, then garnish it with the pomegranate arils, chopped pistachio nuts, and the leaves from the fresh thyme sprigs.

Pistachio ‘Pesto’

My youngest son George would prepare this in the pestle and mortar my wife and I gave him last Christmas, patiently crushing away, extracting all the oils slowly from the basil leaves. The result is always silky smooth. It goes without saying that this sauce is delicious served tossed in pasta, but I like to serve it on toasted crostini with drinks before lunch or dinner. For serving on crostini, I prefer a more chunky finish which can only be obtained by the blade of a food processor.

RECOMMENDED WINE

8 Preparation: 15 minutes “The best quality Gavi you can find. The tangy and refreshing nutty finish works perfectly. Alternatively, a good quality Pinot Grigio will also work like a charm with the strong flavours.”

fresh basil leaves

pecorino romano

pistachio nuts

extra-virgin olive oil

of ½ lemon

and pepper 1. Place all the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor and pulse till you get a rough finish. 2. Store the mixture till needed under oil in sealed jars in the fridge or frozen in small batches.

Pistachio Pannacotta with candied pistachio nuts

I love pannacotta, but it has to be just set and wobbly so that it barely keeps its shape when removed from the mould. For this recipe, use a good quality pistachio paste. You can find this easily at good delicatessens.

Makes 8

Preparation and cooking: 20 minutes + overnight setting

RECOMMENDED WINE

YOU WILL NEED:

500ml cream

“A well-chilled Moscato D’Asti would pair seamlessly here.”

200ml full fat milk

150g sugar

100g pistachio paste

3 gelatin leaves

FOR THE CANIDED PISTACHIOS

200g sugar

150ml water

200g pistachio nuts

1. Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cool water to soften them.

2. Heat the cream and milk together with the sugar. When it starts to boil, remove the pan from the heat and add the pistachio paste. Stir it in well.

3. Use your hands to squeeze the excess water out of the gelatin then stir it very quickly into the still hot cream. Pour the liquid into 8 dariole moulds. Set them aside to cool, then transfer them to the fridge to set, preferably overnight.

4. Place the sugar and water into a heavy bottomed pot and bring it to the boil. Using a sugar thermometer for reference, bring the syrup up to 135°C. Then, working quickly, toss the nuts into the mix. Remove the pan from the heat at once and stir the mixture very fast to coat the nuts in the sugar, which will harden quickly.

5. Turn the candied nuts out onto a lightly oiled tray and let them cool down before storing them in an airtight box.

6. To turn out the pannacotta at serving time, dip the moulds very briefly into hot water then overturn them onto serving plates. Sprinkle the pannacotta with candied pistachio nuts and dust with icing sugar to finish.

WINE CLOSURE UNCORKED

The ceremonial opening of a bottle of wine is one of the pleasures of fine dining. But does the screwcap spell the end of the cork?

Andrew Azzopardi explains the merits of wine stoppers.

Call me crazy but I love that faint noise of air being released when a cork is carefully extracted from the bottle. I might even say it’s romantic. It’s all part of that perfectly followed ceremony where the sommelier shows you the wine, carefully cuts the foil around the bottle’s neck and then removes it without leaving any residue. The cork is slowly removed using the trusty old waiters-friend corkscrew and is placed on the table right next to the bottle so that the guest can inspect it (or keep as a souvenir). The sommelier then proceeds to pour a small sample of wine into the guest’s glass for him (or her) to decide if the wine is without fault. The guest usually swirls, sniffs and sips the wine and politely nods at the sommelier, indicating that it is in pristine condition. However, for the past 20 years, a growing number of wines are bottled under screwcap or even glass. Does this mean that the wonderful wine-opening sequence will forever change?

Unlike fish, fruit or vegetables which are best eaten as fresh as possible, many premium wines get better with age. Winemakers know this and have been working to control the aging process in a bottle with the aim of developing consistent, long-term results. Due to the reaction between fruit acids and oxygen, aging wine in the bottle reduces the tartness in high acid wines and softens the tannins in bold red wines. Further still, anaerobic conditions, where no oxygen enters the bottle, causes a wine to develop unwanted aromas of burnt rubber or rotten eggs, which can only be removed by allowing a small amount of oxygen to come into contact with the wine.

Thus, the wine closure is the key to allowing the wine to mature to its full potential. The wine stopper controls how much oxygen seeps into the wine each year and is clearly an

extremely important decision in the bottling process. Referred to as oxygen transfer rate (OTR), the seal chosen controls the rate of development of the wine and effectively its quality at any defining moment. In other words, if a super-premium wine that has the potential to age for 30 or more years is sealed off with a closure allowing a high OTR, the wine will spoil way before the 30 years, stopping the wine from ever reaching its potential.

A high-grade natural cork allows in about one milligram of oxygen per year. That sounds like a little, but the cumulative amount is enough to break down the sulphites added by the winemaker to preserve the wine within a two or three-year period.

The most common wine-bottle stoppers nowadays are natural cork, technical cork (a cheaper form made of cork particles), synthetic cork, screwcap and, more recently, glass. Till around 20 or 25 years ago, natural cork, harvested from the cork oak tree, was the only option. During the 1980s, there was a period of decreased cork quality which caused many new world winemakers to change to screwcap. Cork taint or trichloroanisole (commonly referred to as TCA) usually affects around 1% to 2% of all natural cork closures. It is created by a chemical reaction in the bottle and typically causes aromas of wet cardboard. Due to this rather high percentage, most restaurants choose to let the customer taste the wine before pouring. It’s not to check whether you like the wine you chose, but to confirm that no TCA is present.

Synthetic corks, made from polyethylene, have improved considerably. They guarantee that wine will have no cork taint and they have a very controlled rate of oxygen transmission,

“I’m not the only one who loves the beautiful sound when opening a wine bottled under cork.”

DZ Photography

albeit a tad higher then natural cork. They have become quite popular on wines that are meant to be drunk within 3 to 5 years and have greatly reduced the chance of a spoilage.

Screwcaps or ‘Stelvin®’ capsules have become the popular choice in Australia and New Zealand and for good reason. The inside of the screwcap consists of a plastic liner that seals the lip of the bottle. The technology of this liner has improved considerably over the years such that the rate of oxygen transmission is now said to consistently mimic the OTR of natural cork, all while guaranteeing no chance of cork taint. This in itself is a fantastic selling point for screwcap options, but if we would say that they are also cheaper, you probably wouldn’t believe me. So, the question is, why aren’t all winemakers choosing screwcaps over natural cork?

There are several opposing views, but you’d be hard pressed to find a professional sommelier who thinks screwcaps are not good enough closures for top quality wines. Till a few years ago, there was some worry that really mature wines that have been bottled under screwcap would somehow be negatively affected, but this is quickly being proven wrong by big, premium brands such as the Californian cult wine Bonny Doon, premium-quality New Zealand producers such as Craggy Range, Cloudy Bay and Kumeu River wines which have all be rated in the high 90s by several wine critics. Braunel & Johnson from premium wine producers ‘Dusted Valley’ in Washington USA states “Imagine a world where all wines are sealed with screw caps and someone comes along and tries to sell you on using tree bark?” asks Johnson. “It’s

more expensive, a percentage of corks may fail, quality is inconsistent, but it looks good. Would you really consider switching?”

The more “old world” regions in France, Italy and Spain do not seem to have the same mentality and natural corks still reign supreme there. Renowned French winemaker André Lurton had experimented with his Bordeaux whites and reds under screwcap in the mid 2000s but ended the experiment in 2015 and went back to natural cork. After ditching the screwcap, technical director Vincent Cruège had openly agreed with Master of Wine Jancis Robinson that screwcaps offer the best option for aging white wines, and yet he admitted that the wines under screwcap are a much harder sell. “Screw caps still have a difficult image in France, although technically we still believe in them. The French market will accept them for wines with a short turnaround time, ”he’d told the wine writer Jane Anson in an interview. Cruège adds that there simply isn’t enough education on why screwcaps can also work for higher quality wine.

I guess, after all, I’m not the only one who loves the beautiful sound when opening a wine bottled under cork and I cannot imagine the lack of romanticism if I were to be served a mature Château Latour bottle under screwcap. But this might simply be nostalgia and typical resistance to change, even though science tells us otherwise. All said, natural corks biodegrade easily, making them more environmentally friendly. In effect, their popularity is now in synch with the times. n

Andrew Azzopardi is a wine specialist certified by the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a professional sommelier who thinks screwcaps are not good enough closures for top quality wines.”

Everything, including the kitchen sink!

The kitchen is the beating heart of any household. It is the room in which we spend most of our time at home and where we make some of the happiest memories with our loved ones.

The kitchen is the source of a family’s nourishment, the place where long conversations are had, and guests welcomed. It is difficult to overstate the importance of choosing the right kitchen for your home, and nobody understands this better than Joinwell.

With over 75 years as one of Malta’s foremost furniture suppliers, the team at Joinwell has perfected the art of kitchen design and installation, offering clients an unparalleled experience through a wealth of knowledge leading to a selection of expertly designed kitchen spaces that combine artistry and practicality.

Joinwell’s showroom is stocked with a vast selection of kitchen styles and finishes including kitchens by top international brands Häcker and Arrex Le Cucine.

Häcker, one of Germany’s leading kitchen manufacturers, prides itself in producing modern fitted kitchens of the highest functionality, durability and design. Arrex Le Cucine is an Italian brand with over 40 years’ experience which specialises in building kitchens using the most innovative solutions and the latest technology.

Both brands have a vast selection of styles to choose from, but what sets Joinwell apart from the rest is the fact that they operate their own factory here in Malta. This allows them to offer clients a level of customisation that others simply cannot.

Whether it is adding tailor-made functionalities to the customer’s specifications or adjusting kitchens to fit perfectly into the available space, Joinwell’s team of professionals is always on hand and ready to guide you through the whole process, from the design phase right up to installation.

A kitchen can have all the latest accessories and appliances, but if it isn’t installed with necessary care and expertise, it can quickly turn into a nightmare. At Joinwell, every single kitchen is personally installed by a member of its specialised joinery team, which receives regular training both in-house as well as by the brands they service. This means you can rest assured that your kitchen will be up and running in no time, to the highest standard.

Joinwell also offers a broad selection of built-in appliances by Blaupunkt to complete your kitchen. Blaupunkt is a German supplier of high-quality appliances that harmonise and communicate with each other for a unique kitchen experience.

As a one-stop-shop for all your needs, Joinwell is the perfect partner to see you through the process of choosing your dream kitchen. n

Both brands have a vast selection of styles to choose from, but what sets Joinwell apart from the rest is the fact that they operate their own factory here in Malta.

BEHIND THE FAÇADE

A contemporary flat transformed into an elegant family home

Interior design: Sandy Bonnici Interiors Project management & finishes: GRF Contractor Studio Photography: Brian Grech

Single-level living has its attractions, particularly when it enjoys its own entrance directly from the street. This elevated street-level flat started life as a stone-built townhouse that was eventually divided into two independent units behind its original façade. Entering from the street makes you feel that you are walking into a house, but the space inside has the practical feeling of an apartment. “It has its own typical Maltese wooden front door which we painted and restored, bringing it back to its full glory. We like to maintain and restore traditional features as we feel they give a sense of individuality to a project,” says Sandy Bonnici, the designer commissioned to finish the interior.

The entrance has been given a contemporary twist with a custom-made “antiporta” in black steel and glass that runs all the way up to the ceiling, replacing the wooden-framed one. The new inner door maximises the natural light that filters in and emphasises the generous height of the entrance hallway. A grand antique brass lantern complements tall, wall-hung antique mirrors, giving the space a strikingly unusual and luxurious feel.

“We like to maintain and restore traditional features as we feel they give a sense of individuality to a project.”

ArchitecturalandDecorativeCollections

The customised library unit in the hallway incorporates plenty of storage, a feature of Sandy Bonnici Interiors. The architectural lighting is by Elektra.

“Using wooden floors throughout can really transform a space as it brings in a natural element”

On the entrance floor, a combination of polished Bianco Carrara Michelangelo and Bardiglio marbles create a chequered pattern. The white Carrara marble follows through on the staircase, eventually meeting the natural oak herringbone parquet flooring that runs throughout the property. “The client was very keen on using wooden flooring throughout the apartment,” Sandy Bonnici says. “Here in Malta we tend to use wood more often for specific rooms rather than throughout a property. Using wooden floors throughout can really transform a space as it brings in a natural element and gives a warm and cosy feel to the overall look of the finished space.”

A library unit designed and customised for the hallway is set with back panels upholstered in suede and embellished with touches of brushed brass in the wall lights above the shelving. The unit incorporates plenty of storage space, a feature that is always at the forefront of Sandy Bonnici’s design plans for private homes. A few statement pieces were selected and thoughtfully placed to create visual impactornaments, lamps, vases, and flowers are positioned so that each piece feels correctly placed and proportionate.

The main living area was designed as a large entertainment loungespace that feels luxurious yet liveable for a young family. The comfortably deep lounge sofas were designed for the space and custom-made. Heavy wallto-wall curtains are mixed with soft broken-white sheers, bringing warmth and texture to the room. “We focused on using natural linens and cotton fabrics and an earthy colour scheme,” Sandy Bonnici says. “We popped in a few patterned cushions to add a bit of playfulness but really kept the tones muted and timeless.”

The natural oak bespoke TV unit contributes to the room’s contemporary classic feel. It’s positioned between the existing structural openings onto the main entrance that have been enlarged to draw in natural light and offer a glimpse of the grand entrance from the living area. The opening has been sealed off with clear, frameless glass for safety and to stabilise the interior climate control.

“We focused on using natural linens and cotton fabrics and an earthy colour scheme”

brief for the style of kitchen was very clear from the start,” the designer says. “My client always dreamt of having a typical British colonial style kitchen, so this was always the design direction for this room.” The kitchen was designed to fit that brief while also looking streamlined and understated with little visual clutter. There is beauty in its simplicity. The cabinetry is spray-finished in light dove grey and combined with a crisp white marble top and touches of polished nickel in the hardware. The palette is subtle and soft, creating an elegant overall look. In the combined dining area, a British country table is paired with contemporary dining chairs. A large painting occupies most of the wall alongside the table, creating visual impact and cleverly concealing access to a service shaft.

“The

“My client always dreamt of having a typical British colonial style kitchen, so this was always the design direction for this room”

Light dove grey, crisp white marble and polished nickel create a soft and subtle look in the kitchen. Appliances are from Oxford House

In the master bedroom, the design focuses on a customised upholstered large double bed fitted with beautiful, crisp white and grey satin cotton sheets and topped with lots of cushions. Storage is maximised, using up every niche, including a bespoke beaded fitted wardrobe and mirrored shoe cabinet. The care taken in the design of the furniture is visible in the detailing of the joinery and carefully sourced and selected hardware.

“We kept to a soft colour palette using velvets and cottons in creams and greys, my personal favourite colour scheme for a bedroom,” Sandy Bonnici says. “A bedroom should be a place where one can walk in and feel a sense of calm away from our busy day-to-day life. The other two bedrooms were designed for two young girls who love the idea of colour and pattern. The fabrics were a great way to add bold colours and floral patterns creating a vibrant playful colour scheme which stimulates creativity and play.”

The soft colour palette of the master bedroom flows into its ensuite bathroom where a white marble-honed floor has a pleasant feel underfoot and is combined with soft grey ceramic tiling, giving the room a luxurious feel. “For bathrooms, we like to create a timeless overall look,” Sandy Bonnici says. “A bathroom cannot be tweaked so you must get it right on installation. When designing, everything is selected thoughtfully so that it will age well and the home owners will not need to redecorate in a few years’ time.” The finishing touches here are well thought out using the right combination of materials and intricate detailing: the metal finish on the water mixers, niches to hide away products, statement mirror lights where it’s possible to install them.

“The care taken in the design of the furniture is visible in the detailing of the joinery”

In the guest toilet, the wet wall paper mural is combined with Bianco Royale marble and brushed brass accents in the mixers, hardware and wall lights, creating a bold statement and overall glamorous look. “This was one of my favourite rooms in the property,” Sandy Bonnici says. “We were so happy with the way this room turned out.” One senses that the same can be said for the rest of this delightfully elegant home. n

Brass, marble, and illustrated wallpaper add a touch of glamour to the guest bathroom. The wet wallpaper and bathroom fittings are from Satariano.

“This was one of my favourite rooms in the property”

LACE HOUSE

Architectural design: Model Project team: Simon Grech, Dawn Fearne, Andrea Zerafa Project Management: David Grech Façade restoration and wooden apertures restoration works: V&M Contracting Ltd. Construction, plastering, painting, plumbing and electrical works throughout the house: BSE (Building Services Engineering)

Photography: Alex Attard

The window lintels and balcony corbels of Lace House are carved with the sinuous forms of acanthus leaves, a symbol of rebirth.

At the heart of Żejtun, Lace House stands out in a bank of other buildings of much plainer appearance. The turn-of-the-century townhouse is home to expatriates who fell in love with the Maltese Islands and decided to move their lives here. After looking at several properties all over Malta and Gozo, they found their dream home online while in South Africa. They hopped onto a flight back to Malta, visited the house, and found it had all the elements they were looking for, including a garden and enough space to fit in all that they love: cooking, books, film, and their three dogs.

q A graceful internal staircase sweeps up the full height of the two-storey house, all the way up to the roof terrace

uThe religious theme of the facade sculpture continues indoors where acanthus leaves form the ceiling rosette in the hallway and decorate the faux corbels that frame the cherubim beneath the moulding.

The house is well-proportioned with high ceilings and a graceful sweeping staircase. Its fair-faced stone façade is elaborately decorated with intricate ironwork on the open balconies, front door gate, and door fanlights. The window lintels and balcony corbels are carved with the sinuous forms of acanthus leaves, a symbol of rebirth. At the centre of the façade, a traditional wooden Maltese balcony rests on corbels sculpted in the form of lions and griffons. [One could read rather a lot into the meaning there. In Christianity, the griffon is symbolic of the dual nature of Christ: the eagle, lord of the sky, recalling Christ’s divine nature and the lion, lord of the earth, recalling Christ’s humanity.] In the back garden, at the centre of the far wall and on the axis that leads straight from the front door, a weather-worn stone statue stands in a nymphaeum. To the right –most appropriately, given the name of the town – stands a mature olive tree.

q A standalone bath is a luxurious touch in the high-ceilinged bathroom.

A library room now accommodates a collection of books, one of the home owners’ passions.

Top left and right: A new kitchen needed to be installed to upgrade the house to contemporary needs.

Above left and right: the central part of the house is now flooded with natural light, thanks to the new roof extension.

The house was in good structural condition but hadn’t been lived in for quite a while and needed restoration and upgrading to make it better suited to contemporary life. The new owners had strong ideas of what they wanted to see in their new home. They wanted to maintain its authenticity, keeping it as close to the original as possible, and to preserve its historical memory and importance. They wanted to bring in as much light as possible and knew that they didn’t want aluminum apertures. They needed to build a proper kitchen and wanted to extend the habitable spaces, adding an open balcony on the floor above the loggia at the back and turning the rooftop into a terrace – the perfect vantage point for watching the annual fireworks display.

The team at Model proposed a variety of possible intervention schemes, including a very contemporary style. “Ultimately, the owners settled on a subtle style of intervention which borrowed from the existing house,” says Simon Grech, who led the project team at Model. “The general ideology was to intervene with an architectural language that was silent and direct with a reduction of architectural elements and materiality using a basic palette of stone, steel and concrete,” he says. “The interventions we carried out include rationalising the back façade with the construction of two back wings of the property formed by small rooms, restoring the symmetry of the back elevation.”

q The balcony added to the second floor was designed to echo the arcade of the loggia on the floor below.

u The nyphaeum at the far end of the back garden is positioned on the central axis of the house and is immediately visible upon entering.

The original cement tiles have been refreshed and retained.

The back door to the garden now opens onto a tiled yard, flanked by the symmetrical vertical extensions. On the first floor, the loggia enjoys shade from the intense sunshine, the triple arches of its arcade echoed in the metal railing of the open balcony on the upper floor. At roof level, a recessed volume was constructed to complement an existing volume divided by an existing staircase to the upper roof. The end result of the restoration process featured among the entries to this year’s MASP awards. The house now offers contemporary comfort but has been left as authentic as possible, where old and new are clearly identifiable while blending into a harmonious whole. n

Żejt iż-Żejtun

24-25th September 2022

Żejtun lives up to its historic name with an annual festival celebrating the start of the olive harvest and the pressing of the season’s olives. The events will take place in the centre of Żejtun in the area from the Local Council’s office in Saint Angelo Street to the area around the parish church dedicated to Saint Gregory, running along the eponymously-named street, past Lace House where the owners will set out a stall, and into the neighbouring square. This year’s edition, which coincides with Żejtun ’s 225th anniversary, will be held on 24-25 September. The festival starts 7.30pm with a defilé from Carlo Diacono Square to Republic Square in front of Saint Gregory church, where there will be the ceremonial blessing of the harvest gathered by children and initiation of the season’s olive pressing. There will be stage and street performances by band clubs, international folklore dancers and traditional Maltese għannejja, a concert of organ music in the parish church, free access to heritage sites, displays of traditional crafts and farm animals, food tasting and market stalls offering artisanal food products. But the undoubted star of the festival is the olive and its green gold, which visitors will be able to sample for free and buy by the bottle. Access to the festival is free. Parking space will be available in Toni Zahra Street.

p A new recessed volume added to the roof level extends the living space of the house.

u The backgarden with its mature trees, overlooked by a loggia, was one of the features that attracted the current owners to the house.

HEAVENLY HUE

Notes on the origin and meaning of blue

Language imbues colour with connotation. Throughout history, blue has been steeped in fascinating symbolism. More recently, there’s “feeling blue”, “singing the blues”, and the proverbial “once in a blue moon”. Yet, it is the visual colour that fascinates. Megan Mallia dips into its captivating history.

Texts from classical antiquity suggest that the ancient Greeks’ and Romans’ conception of blue was not quite the blue that comes to mind today. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, for instance, refer to a “wine-dark sea”, which has sparked an intriguing debate. The interpretations are many. Some put it down to the wine of the time actually being blue, the effect of diluting it with alkaline groundwater as wine was not drunk neat. Others argue that wine-dark sea could have been the result of a red marine algae outbreak, or possibly the linguistic result of congenital colour blindness in Homeric characters. Another explanation points to the issue of language: maybe Homer’s non-use of a word specifically denoting “blue” was simply due to an absence of a name for that particular colour.

The ancient Greeks’ words for hues close to blue included glaukos and kyaneos, but they were exactly that – close to blue, though not truly blue. In his book Blue: The History of a Colour, Michel Pastoureau describes the terms as follows: “During the classical era, kyaneos meant a dark colour: deep blue, violet, brown and black … [and as for glaukos ], rather than denoting a particular colour, it expresses the idea of a colour’s feebleness or weak concentration … [like] water, eyes, leaves, or honey.”

It is curious to think that,

surrounded by clear skies and the Mediterranean Sea, the ancients did not see blue as a colour. Yet, in many ways, blue or hues “close to blue”, were prized by civilisations across the world. Take the Aztecs, for example. One of the iconic artefacts of the Aztec civilisation is the pectoral mosaic in the form of a double-headed serpent. What makes the ornamental breastplate particularly stunning is its colour: a dazzling “close to blue” turquoise. Thousands of miniscule pieces of the semi-precious turquoise stone, each a different shade of the luscious blue-green, are arranged on the surface of the carved wooden structure, mimicking the scales of an actual serpent. For the Aztecs, snakes were symbolic of regeneration, and with good reason – snakes shed their skins as they grow. That this pectoral mosaic was crafted in turquoise made it doubly meaningful, because the semi-precious stone – though valued for its colour no more than jade – was evocative of water, growth, and the dazzling plumage of the quetzal whose feathers were worn by priests on ceremonial occasions.

On the other hand, lapis lazuli – literally, “blue stone” – is a deep, intense blue and was valued for millennia for its apparent mystical properties, an enchanted status that put it on a par with gold and silver. Where gold was seen as the flesh of the gods because it never tarnished

2.

1. Madani lapis lazuli from Badakhshan province, Afghanistan - Björn Wylezich

2. The Virgin in Prayer - Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato c. 1640-1650, The National Gallery, London

So costly was ultramarine that it was traditionally reserved for representations of Christ and the Virgin Mary.

and silver their bones, lapis lazuli was their crowning glory, their hair. Sumerians and ancient Egyptians fashioned lapis lazuli into headdresses, jewellery, and amulets, and it was used for the funeral mask of the “boy king”, Tutankhamun. Why lapis lazuli gained such mystical status is not known for certain, but the classicist R. Drew Griffith believes it is because the dreamy deep hue and celestial streaks of the stone mirrored the heavens and night sky, the home of the gods: “brilliant by day, and deep blue flecked with stars by night”.

Blue was a colour that wasn’t quite of this world, hard as it was to find it occurring naturally in solid form. Back when artists’ pigments were made by hand in an apothecaryesque manner, the rare stone was ground to a fine powder to produce ultramarine, the blue of all blues, a pigment considered more precious than gold. Its name, derived from the Medieval Latin ultramarinus, literally means “beyond the sea”, a Euro-centric ode to lapis lazuli’s faraway origins in the mines of Sar-e-Sang valley in the Badakhshan mountains in northeast Afghanistan, from where it was brought to Europe by traders sometime in the sixteenth century.

Sumptuous and radiant, ultramarine enriched paintings visually and, being very expensive, its presence would well have heightened the artwork’s value in the eye of the beholder. So costly was ultramarine that it was traditionally reserved for representations of Christ and the Virgin Mary and artists used it sparingly – most artists, that is, with the exception of Johannes Vermeer. The Dutch painter had a penchant for pricey pigments and was no less parsimonious when it came to

ultramarine. He used it liberally, mixing it with a range of colours to produce the nuances of light for which he is famed. It is in the brilliant blue skirt of The Milkmaid at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, and in the soft cornflower blue headscarf of Girl With a Pearl Earring, at Mauritshuis in The Hague.

Derived from a treasure from a land afar, the difficulty of sourcing ultramarine may explain why famous artworks remain incomplete. When Michelangelo returned to Florence, possibly to procure the block of marble that was being offered by the authorities for a statue of David, his painting entitled The Entombment was famously left unfinished. The empty space on the painting’s right is believed to have been intended for the Virgin Mary, whose mantle would have needed nothing less than ultramarine. A lack of the precious colour is the reason for another of Michelangelo’s works, The Manchester Madonna, having been left incomplete.

One can only wonder what these artists would have made of International Klein Blue and the eponymous artist Yves Klein’s blue monochrome works, which rely heavily on the lavish use of ultramarine. That being said, there is a big difference between natural ultramarine and the synthetic version: no two strokes of the natural kind are the same. Made as it is from mineral deposits, lapis lazuli-derived ultramarine catches and refracts the light in a way no artificial pigment could ever be expected to do. Yet, even though blue has now lost its mystical aura, the colour has not lost its magical appeal and its presence in artefacts and works of art from times when it truly was a heavenly hue remains captivating. n

3. Bacchus and Ariadne, Titian, c. 1520-1523, The National Gallery, London

Lapis lazuli from Jundak Mine, Afghanistan - Björn Wylezich

Aztec double-headed turquoise serpent, British Museum,London

Ultramarine pigment

Hues “close to blue” were prized by civilisations across the world.

SAINTS, SYRUPS AND DIAMONDS

Notes on the carob tree

by Megan Mallia

Ceratonia siliqua, the scientific name of the carob tree, derives from the Greek word kerátion, meaning “small horn” –a reference to the dark curved pods the tree produces. But besides its Latin label and more commonly used name, the carob is also known as “St John’s Bread”. This is the case in many European languages, not only English. The story goes that St John the Baptist survived on the sweet flesh of carob pods while in the desert.

Historically, the carob did not just sustain a saint. It has, of course, been fodder for animals throughout history, but it has also provided sustenance for whole populations in troubled times. During World War II, in the Mediterranean, the pods were a force against famine because they were abundant, cheap and nutritious. Rich in calcium, sucrose, protein and various minerals, they could be ground into flour or turned into syrup. In Crete, for instance, thousands of families owe their survival during the German Occupation to the carob tree, possibly the reason why the carob is sometimes dubbed the island’s “black gold”.

Carob was treasured in harsh times, but it was also used as a measure for treasure. Today the term “carat” is used to describe the weight –and by implication, the value – of a precious metal or gemstone. That term derives from the Greek word kerátion and genus of the carob tree, Ceratonia. “Carat” is simply an allusion to the ancient practice of weighing precious metals and stones against carob seeds, which have a uniform weight of approximately 0.20 grammes – one seed equals one carat.

The carob hasn’t lost its appeal today, though it is less a matter of survival or of estimating a gem’s worth. Carob’s appeal is now largely culinary and rooted in tradition. Malta produces ġulepp (carob syrup), which is added to desserts or mixed with hot water to be had as a soothing drink guaranteed to chase away the cruellest cough. There are also karamelli tal-ħarrub, those small sugary squares resembling brown glass that are savoured during Lent. More widely, a mix of carob powder and syrup is often used as an alternative to chocolate because of its cocoa-like flavour.

The carob tree is evergreen and native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It can reach a height of fifteen metres, and, although it is a flowering species, its flowers lack petals, which lends them an uncanny resemblance to the sea anemone. Carob is rather easy to grow. Next time you come across drying pods on a tree, collect a couple and sow the seeds in empty milk cartons, which provide both depth and easy storage. Leave these in a partially sunny patch and make sure to keep them watered. With a little care and patience, you may have your own Ceratonia siliqua in little time.

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