Tour of Europe: Malta's meal

The cuisine of Malta shows strong Sicilian and English influences as well as Spanish, French, Maghrebin, Provençal, and other Mediterranean cuisines. Having to import most of its food, being located along important trade routes, and having to cater f Foreign dishes and tastes were absorbed, transformed and adapted.  The traditional Maltese stewed rabbit (fenek) is often identified as the national dish (but we are not having rabbit.)
or the resident foreign powers who ruled the islands, opened Maltese cuisine to outside influences.

During my research on Malta, I kept finding recipes for “marrow” in my search. Well, I’m not too keen on eating the stuff from the inside of a bone, but I wondered … Then I discovered that a “marrow” is a vegetable – also known as courgette (in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand) or zucchini (in North America, Australia, Germany and Austria). Like courgettes or zucchini, marrows are oblong, green squash, but marrows have a firm rind and a neutral flavor, making them useful as edible casings for mincemeat and other stuffing. Aha!  Stuffed Zucchini! 

Marrows for sale in the U.K.

To be served with Pastizzi, golden pastries that are loved all over the country.  They are a puff pastry that are stuffed with cheese or a curried pea mash.  They are enjoyed at any time of day and found on nearly every corner.  Some say pastizzi is one of those foods that simply says “Malta”.  They are often enjoyed with friends and cup of coffee or tea. 

Imqaret is a remnant of the Arab world which was left behind in Malta. Dates, citrus and spices are encased in a pastry and then deep fried.  Imqaret is derived from the Arabic word for “diamond”. These pastries are usually cut into diamond shapes before deep frying (or baking, in our case) but can also be cut into rectangles.

Malta's meal

Menu:  Qarabaghli Mimli Bl-Irkotta, Pastizzi, Imqaret 

Outcome: Since we could not find marrows here, we had stuffed zucchini and all of us really liked it ... there were NO leftovers!  At first, I thought it was a little odd to put onions and potatoes in the pan, but it made sense later when the zucchini halves had a nice little bed to rest on, and they didn't tip over.  The sauce that everything baked in was quite tasty as well.  We had the pastizzi on the plate and although these were very good on their own, so light and fluffy, they were even better when we used them to sop up the sauce from our plates.  Very delicious stuff.  We talked about making this again later this summer when the zucchini are much larger.  I'm thinking filled with meatloaf mixture, taco meat, or even sloppy joe mixture. Mmm.  
When we made the imqaret, well, we may have cheated a little bit.  The recipe called for making your own dough ... but we already had a can of crescent rolls in the fridge, so ... we used them! The girls wanted to help, and who will ever turn down willing helpers?  They unrolled the crescent roll dough on a cookie sheet, then they pressed the perforations together to make a solid large rectangle of dough, then they spooned the filling down the middle and folded the long sides over the filling.  Then they brushed the loaf with olive oil and we baked it, then cut it into slices (rather than deep frying).  The filling was spiced perfectly -- the girls said it tasted like "Christmas" and "Spring" and I was thinking it was like mincemeat.  Either way, quite tasty.

Next up:  Paula chose England!

Qarabaghli Mimli Bl-Irkotta (Stuffed Marrows)

Ingredients

• 4 - 5 onions, sliced
• 6 - 7 medium sized potatoes, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp. thyme
• 5 medium oblong marrows (light green courgette or zucchini) cut length ways in half with the middle flesh removed (keep the flesh)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped parsley (plus some more to garnish)
• 3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• Nutmeg
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 4 Tbsp. tomato paste
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350F.
2. In a large casserole dish place the sliced onions at the bottom. On top of the onions place the sliced potatoes and crushed garlic.
3. Mix ½ cup stock and 2 Tbsp. tomato paste. Pour over the potatoes. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper and a few Tbsps. olive oil.
4. In a bowl mix the ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, egg, salt and pepper and 2 pinches of nutmeg. Dice the set-aside flesh of 2 of the marrows and add this to the ricotta mixture.
5. With the ricotta mixture fill the marrow halves. Place the marrows on top of the potatoes and sprinkle some more olive oil.
6. Cover with foil and bake 1 hour.
7. Mix the remaining stock and the remaining tomato paste.
8. Remove the dish from the oven and remove the foil (save this). Gently pour over the stock mixture onto the marrows and potatoes (do this gently so as not to disturb the ricotta mixture).
9. Cover with the foil again and place in the oven for a further 50 minutes. Check to see if the marrows are cooked through – if so, remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
10. Garnish with some more parsley and serve.

    

    Our stuffed zucchini

Pastizzi (Ricotta Pastries)

Ingredients

• 2 sheets puff pastry
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl (except the puff pastry) and set aside until ready to use.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Thaw puff pastry (or, thaw before starting, depending on your brand’s instructions). Cut 3″ circles using an overturned glass or biscuit cutter.
4. Fill each circle with a teaspoon of the ricotta mixture. Fold one side of the circle into the middle, then the other, folding over at the top to seal. Then, pinch each end to seal.
5. Place the pastizzi on a lined baking sheet, and bake 20 minutes until the dough is puffed and golden. Cool on a wire rack and serve immediately.

   

   freshly baked Pastizzi

Imqaret (Date filled pastries)

Ingredients

• 400 grams pitted dates, chopped
• Zest of lemon, orange and clementine
• 1 tsp. lightly crushed aniseeds
• 1 tsp. aniseed liqueur
• Juice of 1 orange and 1 clementine
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cloves
• For the pastry:
• 415 grams flour
• 100 grams butter
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. lightly crushed aniseeds
• 160 ml water
• Vegetable oil
• Icing sugar to finish

Directions

Imqaret, almost finished when I remembered to get a photo!

1. Prepare the pastry by mixing the baking powder and flour together. Add in the aniseeds and mix well. Rub in the butter with the flour mixture by hand until the resemblance of fine bread crumbs.
2. Slowly add in the water and mix with a knife until the dough starts to form.
3. Knead for a few minutes and leave to rest while you make the filling.
4. Add all the filling ingredients into a small pot and cook on a stove pot for about 20 minutes until the consistency is smooth. Cool for about 30 minutes.
5. Cut the pastry into 6 pieces. Roll one of the pieces of pastry into a rectangle shape of approximately 5” x 20”.
6. Take ⅙ of the date mixture and spread along half of the pastry (across 2 ½” x 20”) but make sure to leave some space along the edge to be able to fold the other half of the pastry.
7. Wet the edges with water. Fold the other half of the pastry over the pastry with the date mixture and seal the ends.
8. Cut along the mixture diagonally to form 11 diagonal shapes. Repeat for the other pieces of pastry.
9. If baking, with a pastry brush, brush the imqaret with the vegetable oil.
10. Place into a preheated oven of 350F for about 18 minutes, turning over half way.
11. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve on their own or with ice cream.