Maltese food

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O.T.  MALTA

    I will be in Malta from later today (Monday) until Sunday.
   For those keeping a scorecard of the past 12 months:  Texas, Hawaii,
Alaska, New Zealand, China, Korea, Tibet, Mongolia, Galapagos, Ecuador, Cuba,
Bahamas, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Malta, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Turkey.
   I cancelled Iran.  I was thinking about Bali--people told me that it was
the safe part of Indonesia, and was cheap right now.
   Unlike, say, Tibet, Malta is a place I might want to live.  It'll be an EU
member in a year.  You can travel all over Europe and Africa from there.
   It's very clear from what I've been through that New York is not my home.
   I would hate to leave David Shulman.  I remember when he went into the
hospital a year ago, and was waiting for 20 hours in the emergency room.  I
wrote to the New York Post about this hospital disgrace, but nothing was
printed.  Last Friday, the Post published a photo of David Letterman sitting
in his car in traffic.  Even fans on alt.fan.letterman didn't understand why
this was news.
   That's New York in a nutshell.

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MALTESE FOOD

LONELY PLANET--MALTA
by Neil WIlson
Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications
1st edition--August 2000

Pg. 59 box:
_The Fenkata_
A _fenkata_ is a big, communal meal of rabbit, usually eaten in the
countryside.

Pg. 59:
   The traditional Maltese snack is the _pastizza_, a small parcel of flaky
pastry filled with either ricotta cheese or mushy peas.  A couple of Pastizzi
make for a tasty--if somewhat high-fat--breakfast or afternoon filler.
   Another traditional snack, much loved by Maltese children, is _hobz
biz-zejt_, slices of bread rubbed with ripe tomatoes and olive oil until they
are pink and delicious. (...) _Ftira_ is a bread baked in a flat disc and
stuffed with a mixture of tomatoes, olives, capers and anchovies.
   You will  either love or hate _gbejniet_, the small, hard, white cheese
traditionally made from unpasteurized sheep's or goat's milk.  (...)
   One of Malta's favourite sweetmeats is _mqaret_, diamond-shaped pastries
stuffed with chopped, spiced dates and deep-fried.  _Qubbajt_ is Maltese
nougat, flavoured with almonds or hazelnuts and traditionally sold on festa
days.

Pg. 60:
_Soppa tal armla_  The so-called "widow's soup" is traditionally made only
with ingredients that are either green or white.  Basically a vegetable soup,
it contains cauliflower, spinach, endive, and peas, poured over a poached
egg, a _gbejniet_ and a lump of ricotta cheese.

_Minestra_  Minestra is a thick soup of tomatoes, beans, pasta and
vegetables, similar to Italian minestrone.

_Timpana_  A rich pie filled with macaroni, cheese, egg, minced beef, tomato,
garlic and onion, timpana is a Sicilian dish not dissimilar to Greek
_Pastitsio_.

_Aljotta_  This is a delicious fish soup made with tomato, rice and lots and
lots of garlic.

_Ravjuletti_  This is a Maltese veriety of ravioli (pasta pouches filled with
ricotta, parmesan and parsley).

_Bragioli_  These are prepared by wrapping a thin slice of beef around a
stuffing of breadcrumbs, chopped bacon, hard-boiled egg and parsley, then
braising these "beef olives" in a red wine sauce.

_Fenek_  Fenek--rabbit--is _the_ favourite Maltese dish, whether fried in
olive oil, roasted, steweed or baked in a pie.

_Torta Tal-Lampuki_  The local fish speicalty is _torta tal-lampuki_, or
_lampuki_ pie.  Lampuka (_Coryphaena hippurus_)--plural _lampuki_--is known
in ENglish as dolphin fish, dorado or mahi-mahi.


BLUE GUIDE: MALTA AND GOZO
by Geoffrey Aquilina Ross
London: A&C Black
5th edition, September 2000

Pg. 22:
   First, try the _hobz_, Maltese bread.  It is truly
praiseworthy--delicious, crusty and flavoursome.  If you enjoy Italian
_bruschetta_ try the Maltese version called _hobz biz-zejt_ (bread dribbled
with oil, rubbed with halved tomatoes and sprinkled with salt, pepper and
herbs; capers are optional); there's nothing finer.
   Look out for _timpana_, a macaroni pie made with minced meat, aubergines,
eggs and ricotta cheese wrapped in a case of flaky pastry.  Or
_ros-fil-forn_, which is much the same as _timpana_ except rice is used
instead of pasta.
   Then there's _bragioli_ which are rolled slices of beef that have been
stuffed and _torta tal-lampuka_, a fish pie.  (...)
   Then there are _gbejniet_.  (Pronouncing this is easier than it looks:
Jib-bay-nee-it.)  (Pg. 23--ed.)  This is a popular local cheese made from
sheep or goat's milk and is enjoyed either soft and new with a salad or
allowed to harden and enjoyed with _galletti_, Malta's delightful plain,
crunchy biscuit.


THE ROUGH GUIDE TO MALTA & GOZO
by Victor Paul Borg
London: Rough Guides Ltd.
First edition published November 2001

Pg. 257:  Cheapest of all foodstuffs are the _pastizzi_--pockets of puff
pastry filled with ricotta or mashed peas, sold by specialized kiosks on city
streets and in cafes.

Pg. 259:  Bulky and cheap bread-based snacks include the popular _hobz
biz-zejt_, a roll filled with capers, olives, basil, mint, tomatoes and tuna
or anchovies and drizzled with vegetable oil; and _ftira_, a roll of flat
bread, usually grilled and filled with a variety of ingredients of your
choice...
   Maltese specialties include _gbejniet_--sheeps' milk mini cheese, which
are dried and pickled in pepper, vinegar and salt as _gbejniet bil-bzar_, or
eaten soft as _gbejniet friski_.
(...)
_fenkata_...
_bragioli_...

Pg. 260:
_lampuki_...
_Octopus_...
_Amberjack_...
Another Maltese specialty is _aljotta_, a soup based on (Pg. 261--ed.) fish
stock, with marjoram, tomatoes, onions, garlic, lemon juice and vinegar.

(I didn't get to the cookbooks.  I have to run!--ed.)