issue â„–
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the ultimate food platform
july 2017
editorial
To all my friends that settle for skimmed milk, to all my friends that struggle with pizza, to all my friends that never freely enjoy a gelato, to all my friends that ask what’s in the hors d’oeuvres before they try one: this is for you. Then again, it’s not just for my friends, it’s an issue dedicated to all the lactose intolerant individuals reading this. Well, mostly dedicated. In that respect, seeing how hard it can be to make a single dairy-free issue of this magazine is cause enough to empathise with all of you that need to lead a dairy-free life. I mean, ouch. Besides our usual smorgasbord of regular features (The Fictionalist’s Guide riffing on the grapefruit in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hunter S. Thompson’s superhuman debauched breakfasts, our monthly spread with a picture of an ingredient and some mildly relevant quote plastered on, etc,.) we feature a local blog by Nikki Manduca (Gram for Gram), which is hopefully the first of many such features. We covered a furniture-giant’s rather clever marketing campaign (The IKEA Meal Plan, the poster you can eat.), Fran Borg Costanzi talks about fungi (The Magnificent Mushroom, speaking of which, did I ever tell you the one about a mushroom at a party?) and Mantas Stočkus shares with us his experience at Valletta’s Old Theatre Street Taproom. We looked into a little something-something about third wave coffee (eponymously The Third Wave), and a few recipes — some are even from Marvin Ebejer at Radisson Blu. Somewhere in there is a cathartic essay on ordering deliveries to eat and its woes. Danny Coleiro returns (Grawlix, the Sea, and Three Easy Recipes) with a real howler, and in case you’re wondering what a grawlix is… read on. Of course, we have our cover story, illustrated for the fifth time by Kriss Zammit Endrich. This wouldn’t be the dairy free(ish) issue if we didn’t do something to give a voice to our lactose-intolerant brothers in arms, we have a nice little spread on all the little annoyances that come with being lactose intolerant because sometimes we need to cry over spilled milk. To all of you that will never enjoy a café crème like Hemingway did, a salute from us at Cibus.
THIS PUBLICATION IS BEING DISTRIBUTED AS PART OF:
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole, or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed in Cibus are not necessarily those of the editor-in-chief or publisher. All reasonable care is taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the editor-in-chief and publisher cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in articles, advertising, photographs or illustrations. The editorin-chief is not responsible for material submitted for consideration. Executive editor Jamie Iain Genovese (cibus@timesofmalta.com) Publisher Allied Newspapers Ltd. Printing Progress Press Co. Ltd. Production Allied Newspapers Ltd. Design Krista Bugeja Advertising Sales Marisa Schembri (tel: 2559 4216; marisa.schembri@timesofmalta.com)
Contents 4
LOCAL 4 THE THIRD WAVE
What’s both barely present in Malta as well as referred to as ‘third wave’?
RECIPES 22 HAPPY DAYS 26
Gooseberry and elderflower yogurt ice
SALMON CEVICHE
Chilled cucumber soup, citrus marmalade,
27
30
pickled radishes, dill crème fraiche
DUCK CROQUETTE
Shallot puree, cauliflower shavings,
30
mustard-mango gel
WAITER, THERE’S A FISH IN
MY CURRY
40
This fisherman’s curry is a great catch
STIR-FRIED BROCCOLI WITH COCONUT
This quick spiced vegetable dish is inspired by the fresh
45
flavours of south India and can be made with all greens
2 CIBUS | jUly 2017
TUNA LASAGNE
10 FEATURES 10 IKEA COOK THIS PAGE
Ikea, though as yet not colonising our colonial-historyrich island, isn’t slowing its march in the slightest overseas. As part of a promotional stint by their Canadian kitchen section, IKEA has started
16
producing ‘meal plans’ for people to follow using, of
12
12
course, IKEA branded foods.
THE MAGNIFICENT MUSHROOM
Mushrooms are a peculiar ingredient to add to a meal when you think about it. Fungus is commonly linked to
16
mould, foot ailments, poison and psychedelia.
FICTIONALIST’S GUIDE: FEAR AND
LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
21 DAIRY-FREE BABY FOOD 28 GRAM FOR GRAM
Featuring local blogs and grams, here’s one such
32
example, for your pleasure.
40
28 36
SIT AND BE
DELIVERED
36
GRAWLIX, THE SEA,
AND THREE EASY RECIPES
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42
SIMPLY ‘TAPROOM’ THINGS THAT ANNOY
THE LACTOSE INTOLERANT
46
32
REDISCOVERY
CIBUS | jUly 2017
3
LOCAL
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THE THIRD W
D WAVE
LOCAL
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY
jamie iain genovese
f you answered ‘feminism’ or ‘coffee’, you’d be correct. Lot Sixty One is an enterprising young business just off the corner of merchant and old Theatre (can we even refer to valletta streets like that? it’s a grid, right?) and is to my knowledge the first third-wave coffee shop in malta. Third wave coffee refers to a stage of maturation in the coffee world, an evolution from the humble beginnings of coffee as a commodity to that resembling an artisanal foodstuff — not unlike wine. Chemex, aeropress, v60; vroom! The names for these filter coffee methods of brewing might illicit images of big muscle cars or powerboats but in truth they great way of turning ethiopian, Kenyan, or Costa Rican coffee beans into distinguishable beverages. The ethiopian beans are somewhat lemony and light, the Kenyan beans are nuttier or cacao like, and the Costa Rican… i wasn’t sure, but ‘fragrant & spicy’ came to mind. it’s strange, to be sure, telling coffee apart from flavours that don’t come from milk or syrups. For the most part, it’s out of a mediterranean stubbornness and disdain for dairy (and this is the dairy-free[ish] issue) that i stick to my espresso, my caffè. But Lot Sixty One does that, and does it well, while also employing a plethora of other brewing methods. This is core to who they are. i met with Clayton Xuereb, to tell me more about the business he started in malta with adam Craig: the maltese branch of coffee franchise Lot Sixty One, as part of a tree that reaches to amsterdam and across the atlantic to new York. Clayton first started studying coffee in milan, and returned back to malta on hiatus. “adam was on holiday in malta, and he just rang me up on my phone and he asked me some questions, then asked to meet. i met him the next day and he was interested in me; to continue studying coffee with him in amsterdam. i went up to amsterdam, two or three times, and i got my diploma.” He gestured at a wall with varying certifications, evidence of his studies.
CIBUS | jUly 2017
5
LOCAL
[We] choose which farms to use; we import a small amount of coffee from a farm, we roast it, we try it out
They are, right now, offering coffee to local establishments with a few, free, courses on how best to use the beans, to brew the coffee. “I believe if you have a good product and you want to share it with people you want to train people to use it well enough to use the coffee. We try to keep the whole circle to ourselves and do it the right way but it’s useless to giving out coffee if the end product isn’t good.” After all, there are numerous steps to preparing coffee. From harvesting, to roasting, to grinding, to brewing and serving. Lot Sixty One control all but the first step entirely, which they can only influence by choosing which beans to get from which farms in the world. “[We] choose which farms to use; we import a small amount of coffee from a farm, we roast it, we try it out, we see if it’s good then we place an order for a whole year. We have, at the moment, coffee from Brazil, Kenya, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ethiopia. Adam is in Amsterdam at the moment, he’s making a second roastery there, while I’m setting up everything here.” “Planning world domination,” I joked. “We hope so!” In the middle of the roaster was this big behemoth of a machine, stainless steel with a large, heaven-facing mouth and a wide breadth, almost like a hippopotamus. “It’s a Giesen — a roaster. It takes up to 15kg a roast, a roast usually takes between 14 -20 minutes in total, after letting the machine warm up, of course. In the roasting process, we try to keep the flavour of the farm. What am I saying? If, for example the Brazil [coffee] that we have here, the farm [that it comes from] has cacao and nuts on it, we’re trying to keep, by roasting it to perfection, the cacao and the nuts—we’re trying to keep the flavours inside the bean.” 6 CIBUS | jUly 2017
LOCAL
And keep they do, smelling the evenly roasted beans; all AAA grade Arabica beans, as hard as they are to get due to their need for a higher altitude climate. I could already recognise the differences between the Ethiopian beans, which were lemony, and the Brazilian beans, which was darker and indeed, nuttier and more like cacao. A big part of this, as was explained to me, was the roasting. Roasting coffee beans is like cooking a fatty steak, you don’t want to overdo it or dry it out, you want to lightly cook it so that the fat releases, but doesn’t lose flavour. If the beans get too dark, the inside too hot, you will taste charcoal more than char, the ash more than the bean. These beans are packaged and sold, in brown paper bags with gold emboss, and sport a little Maltese cross on the label. Something for home-brewers to try, maybe. There are plans for the shop to expand to St. Julian’s, sometime in September, and at some point, appliances and tools to help the home brewer out. As the saying goes, the rising tide lifts all boats, and this third wave might just do that. 8 CIBUS | jUly 2017
FEATURE
IKEA
T
he premise is simple, sheets of paper not too unlike the kind you’d find at child-friendly restaurants in the 90s that would come with crayons, only in lieu of dinosaurs or media-enterpriseowned cartoon characters there are illustrations of ingredients with the measurements required. Like an assembly menu of a meal. The fun part of this, that takes it past a simple cooking mat, is that the sheets are meant to retain the ingredients, be rolled, cooked, and then enjoyed. Which is definitely the sort of thing you’d expect from a furniture tycoon, but the sort of thing you would hope something like the Internet would have facilitated altogether, hundreds of gastronomical minds thinking about how to get people comfortable with recipes. Somehow, it took a creative at Leo Burnett Worldwide to come up with a design like this. Besides the sheer value derived from novelty and intrigue, with just enough usefulness to gain retention (the magic word to any advertising executive), there is a possible boon that the consumer might, unexpectedly, enjoy. Cooking is very much not baking; chemists could make great bakers, and the execution of a baking recipe depends almost entirely on how strictly one can abide by the recipe. Cooking, however, requires a more intuitive approach. I somewhat irk at exact measurements in recipes but I can see the appeal; still, cooking is generally more fun if you use sensual milestones. I 10 CIBUS | jUly 2017
know how unreliable that sounds, but you should feel better using a ‘pinch’ of salt or a dash of paprika than ‘1 tsp’. The way the ‘poster that you cook’ would help with this is that it gives a visual representation of the ingredients from the get-go. It could, I predict, help people using it get an understanding of what a ‘pinch’, ‘dash’, ‘splash’ would look like. Of course, the way people learn things is one of the bigger questions in philosophy and social sciences. We’ve made leaps and bounds over the centuries, to be sure, but there’s always a variable to tinker with. And tinker, this cooking-poster does.
FEATURE
Fill in the blank recipes printed with food safe ink on cooking parchment paper. CIBUS | jUly 2017 11
FEATURE
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FEATURE
Mushroom THE
MAGNIFICENT
WORDS BY
fran borg costanzi
M
in terms of mushroom production in Europe, it is believed ushrooms are a peculiar ingredient to add to a that they were first cultivated by accident in the midmeal when you think about it. fungus is seventeenth century on a farm in the vicinity of Paris. it was commonly linked to mould, foot ailments, poison noted by the farmers that fungi had begun to grow on and psychedelia. thinking of fungus as a delicious discarded compost and manure. this was the birth of the component of steak sauce is slightly bizarre. as a child, the mushroom industry. their popularity quickly only associations i had with mushrooms were spread to England and gained prominence the giant pillowy ones in alice in when gardeners realised that they were cheap Wonderland or the polka-dotted mushroom and easy to grow. in the beginning of the houses in the smurfs. it was not until i was nineteenth century, mushrooms were dragged along to a family lunch when i was The Ancient Greeks introduced to the netherlands and within eight years old that i discovered the wonder were a bit warier of about eighty years, the industry exploded with of the fungus. Prior to this occasion, my idea mushrooms. They massive amounts being cultivated in the marl of mushrooms was that they were dry, chewy approached the fungi mines of Limburg. by the early 1900s, they and a needless addition to a meal. i could not with caution and were still only made available to the elite. have been more wrong. the first taste of uncertainty believing However, since then, their cultivation has those button mushrooms seasoned with that they were magical increased profoundly and nowadays, the parsley and garlic was a flavour revelation and and poisonous netherlands is the third largest mushroom i have since tried to include mushrooms in as producer in the world after the Us and china. many recipes as possible ever since. in ancient Egypt, mushrooms were considered to be the ‘plants of immortality’ and were reserved for pharaohs and their dining companions. it was believed that mushrooms were created by set, the god of storms, when he fired lightning bolts coated in the seeds of mushrooms at the Earth’s surface. the ancient greeks were a bit warier of mushrooms. they approached the fungi with caution and uncertainty believing that they were magical and poisonous. it is also claimed that ancient greeks used fungi in their rituals to generate alternate states of consciousness.
the best place to grow mushrooms is in a dark, cool and moist environment. the easiest mushrooms to grow at home are button mushrooms and take all of four weeks to begin to sprout. You should start off with a six-inch deep tray filled with mushroom compost that has been inoculated with the fungal spawn. sounds appetising already. the key to their prevalence is the regulation of the soil temperature. initially, the temperature must be kept at around twenty degrees celsius then lowered to about 14 degrees after three weeks.
CIBUS | jUly 2017 13
FEATURE
the soil should be kept moist at all times by spraying it with water and covering it with a damp cloth. once the crop is fully formed, the mushrooms can be cut with a sharp knife at the stem. Harvest lasts a solid six months so that’s a whole lot of mushrooms! When it comes to my favourite mushroom dishes, i am spoilt for choice. a classic, simple but divine dish is creamy mushroom soup. i like using Porcini mushrooms because their flavour is especially potent. the soup is made of mushrooms, garlic, cream, onions, chicken stock, celery, thyme and parsley. the creaminess mixed with the strong aromas of the mushrooms, onions and garlic make for an exceptional palatal experience. i also enjoy grinding up a rasher of bacon once it’s done and sprinkling it on the top to enhance the flavour. this dish is ideal because it can be served as a starter and a main course depending on how greedy you want to be when you’re divvying it up for your guests. Less for them, more for me. if you’re a pasta lover like i am then a plate of Portobello mushroom penne is the kind of thing you would leave the beach early for (i have actually done that). the mushrooms combined with garlic, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, a drizzle of oil, pepper and thyme is a simple concoction but it ticks all the right boxes. i particularly enjoy this pasta dish because it never goes out of season. the mushrooms and garlic add the heaviness that is typical of a Winter dish but the tomatoes and oil spruce up its freshness for the summer months. While the previous courses have been fit for vegetarians, i, personally, love my meat-based proteins. it could be my Maltese heritage talking but nothing quite does it for me like a homemade chicken and mushroom pie. Pies might require a little extra effort but they are all-rounders. they can be prepared for a family gettogether, a day at the beach, a house-warming party for a new neighbour and on each occasion they will be received with appreciation and a broad smile, no matter how terrible the contents. a pie has a familial feel to it will always make you seem like you care for the person you are serving it to. the chicken and mushroom pie consists of, quite obviously, chicken and mushrooms along with onions, milk, butter, nutmeg, garlic, parsley and a few other components. it might not be suitable for those who are lactose intolerant but speaking for myself, i would and have risked the indigestion for a slice of this scrumptiousness. Last but not least is the delectable steak Diane with mushroom sauce. this one is particularly appealing to my taste buds. served with a medium-rare piece of meat, the mushroom sauce is made 14 CIBUS | jUly 2017
with Dijon mustard, brandy, double cream, Worcestershire sauce, butter, garlic and onions. it might not be the healthiest of sauces but it is exactly the kind of topping you should add to your steak on your cheat day. the outcome of this combination is a perfect symbiosis between the tender, juicy meat and the creamy, alcohol-infused, flavourful sauce. it also compliments a number of other proteins too. adding it to chicken and pork goes perfectly. to be honest, you could probably pour it over a nugget of coal and it would taste amazing, albeit a bit crunchy. Mushrooms are extremely versatile, they are the Kevin spaceys of the food world. their unusual texture is what gives them character, their malleability in terms of flavour is what makes them so easy to include in a recipe and their nutritional value is the cherry on the cake. so, as strange as it may seem to combine food and fungus, it results in a beautiful amalgamation. it’s like pineapple on pizza*- an odd notion but absolutely delicious in practice. a serendipitous discovery if there ever was one. one i will appreciate till i’m old. Editor’s note: This is controversial, but I’ll allow it.
FEATURE
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FEATURE
FEAR AND LOATHING
IN LAS VEGAS PHOTO BY JAMIE IAIN GENOVESE
ou g*****n honkies are all the same.’ By this time he’d opened a new bottle of tequila and was quaffing it down….He sliced the grapefruit into quarters…then into eighths…then sixteenths…then he began slashing aimlessly at the residue.’
especially true here. A description of him, read out in any factual manner, might only make him out to be thinner than he was; like the legion that emulate his persona for the political ideologies they share. Thing is, he’s a product of his time and environment, and it was only by his expression, and not descriptions of him, that he can be known — more so now than before his passing in 2005.
Hunter S. Thompson was one of those unexpected 20th century I cannot even recommend you try breakfast like this man did, and legends in the making. A weird nut that rode his own groove into his described breakfast ritual does include grapefruit, for fear of journalism with the founding of gonzo journalism through the what wreckage an examination of my now landmark piece: The Kentucky Derby is Decadent conscience would reveal. I was, for a hot second, and Depraved. Lots of words start coming out of the very afraid of having to try it out myself and take ether when you try to talk or write about the man: pictures — but Michael Hafford of Extra Crispy ‘eccentric’, ‘political’, ‘firearms’, ‘Fear & Loathing’, had undergone the displeasure for us. Well, ‘drugs’, and all the other things that almost became a There’s no recipe here, except for the (obviously illegal) cocaine. part of his brand. He’s the kind of man you’d describe not unless you’d need as a ‘vivid personality’, a description which is correct, help cutting a For the demented, here’s the breakfast regime: if a little docile. His writing is unapologetic, controversial, riddled with detail and memorable turns of phrase, and fuelled by discourse on morals. I could draw a comparison between him and grapefruit in the sense that both are bitter if beneficial, reminders of exotic flavour and the kind of thing to shake the sleep off of you for breakfast. But it’s all too trite.
grapefruit and I’m not clever enough to try and parrot his voice
There’s no recipe here, not unless you’d need help cutting a grapefruit, and I’m not clever enough to try and parrot his voice on a piece about him to get real meta with. It just wouldn’t work. And I suppose hanging the lantern on this is a kind of plea to let me off the hook, a miserable one at that. But commiserate with me, the guy was nuts, he would openly admit that himself. The only way to describe him is to observe him and though that might be true for a lot of people, it might be
“I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast. In Hong Kong, Dallas or at home—and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed—breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of Key lime pie, two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert… Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours and at least one source of good music… All of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked.” CIBUS | jUly 2017 17
BABY FOOD
d o o f y bab
E E R F DAIRY
S
ometimes, premature births result in a temporary diminished ability, or temporary inability, to produce lactase. In extremely rare cases, a baby could be born lactose intolerant and remain so. This, however, isn’t altogether likely. Coming to any definitive conclusion, however, should be done with the paediatrician. (the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board, n.d.) Still, say you want to be able to know what to look for based on the extremely remote chance that your baby actually is lactose intolerant, what do you look for? Well, true to the concept of cause-and-effect, you would observe cramping, bloating, diarrhoea (a powerful trifecta if I ever saw one), within thirty minutes to two hours of drinking breast milk or eating dairy products like cheese and yoghurt (is this is a good place to remind readers that babies shouldn’t drink cow’s milk before their first birthday?) Thing is, lactose intolerance in young children is a tricky thing, there are always supplements and non-dairy sources of food that can provide the sustenance needed for healthy development, however the best piece of advice this magazine can give you is the same advice we could give had a nutritionist or doctor written this piece: check with your child’s health care provider, their paediatrician. Parents may worry about over-consulting on every little change in their child, but no magazine should substitute a doctor’s place in healthcare. Talk to your doctor, read the labels, and give your child the best. These are things, hopefully, a magazine shouldn’t need to remind people of. CIBUS | jUly 2017 21
s y a d y p p a H ower yogurt ice
Gooseberry and elderfl
INGREDIENTS 400g gooseberry 200g golden caster sugar 3 tbsp elderf lower cordial 500ml pot Greek yogurt 150ml whole milk
METHOD Tip the gooseberries and sugar into a pan with 2 tbsp water. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat and simmer for a few mins to soften the berries. Remove from the heat, carefully tip into a food processor and whizz to a purée. Add the elderf lower cordial and whizz once more. Taste to check that the purée is sweet enough and has enough elderf lower f lavour – this is especially important as the f lavour will be diluted by the yogurt, so it needs to be quite sweet. Mix the yogurt and milk until smooth, then add the purée and mix again. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine. Churn until frozen – this will take a couple of hours. Pour the frozen yogurt into a container and freeze for at least three hours.
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INGREDIENT
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INGREDIENT
t u n o oc c e h t n i e m i l e h t t Pu
' p u h t o b m e ' k n i r d d n A ilsson Harry N
CIBUS | jUly 2017 25
RECIPES BY
Marvin ebejer, essence at radisson blu resort & spa, Golden sands
OPEN FROM TUESDAY-SATURDAY
7PM-10PM
Salmon Ceviche Chilled cucumber soup, citrus marmalade, pickled radishes, dill crème fraiche HOME-CURED SALMON: 1 salmon side • 250g salt • 375g demerara sugar • Bunch
PHOTOS BY MARK ZAMMIT CORDINA
of dill chopped and marjoram •4 star anise • 1 tbs black peppercorns •1 zest of lemon • 1 zest of lime • 1 zest of orange • 1 tsp coriander seeds Cover well all salmon with the salt-sugar mix and leave curing for 24 hours CHILLED CUCUMBER SOUP: 5 cucumbers peeled and deseeded • 1 tbs mascarpone • 190ml fresh cream • 110ml milk • 1 pinch xanthan gum powder • 15g salt Slice cucumbers into a bowl and add salt to remove excess water for 10 minutes. Then rinse well and drain. Place drained cucumbers in a blender with fresh cream mascarpone and milk, liquidize until very smooth. Strain through a fine strainer and chill.
INGREDIENTS
CITRUS MARMALADE:1 pink grape fruit • 2 lemons • 4 oranges • 1 lime • Plus zest of 2 lemons, 2 oranges and 1 lime • 400ml water • 5g powdered pectin • 200g caster sugar Peel the grapefruit, lemons and 2 oranges removing the white pith, then finely slice all of the fruit including the unpeeled oranges and lime. Put the sliced fruit in a pot on medium heat with the zests and 320ml of the water, lower the heat and simmer for 35 mins, stirring regularly. Leave fruit to cook well. In another bowl mix the pectin with 2tbs of sugar and leave to stand for 5 mins. Gradually whisk the remaining 80ml of water into the pectin-sugar mix and then stir into the fruits. Cook slowly for another approx 30 mins until temperature reaches 102 degrees C, stirring frequently. Transfer to food processer and pulse for 30 seconds. PICKLED RADISHES:300g radishes sliced • 200ml white wine vinegar • 100g brown sugar • 150ml mirin • Ginger juice • Bay leave • 5 Juniper berries • 10 black peppercorns Bring mixture to the boil, remove from heat, cool down and add finely sliced radishes. DILL CRÈME FRAICHE: 250ml crème fraiche • Juice of 1 lemon • 3tbs fresh chopped dill Mix all ingredients together
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Duck croquette Shallot puree, caulif lower shavings, mustard-mango gel DUCK CROQUETTES: 1 whole duck
INGREDIENTS
FOR BRINE: 50g sugar • 125g salt • 1 star anise • 3 juniper berries • 5 pink peppercorns • Fresh thyme FOR COOKING PULLED DUCK:1 onion finely chopped • 1 carrot finely chopped • 1 celery stalk finely chopped • 1 garlic clove minced • 1ltr chicken stock FOR BREADING THE CROQUETTES:300g f lour • 4 eggs • 300g panko bread crumbs Mix all brine ingredients together, put in a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Leave to cool and immerse duck in it leave it in the brine overnight or 8 hours. Remove from brine and braise the duck with chicken stick for 3 hours at 150 degrees C. Pull duck meat from bones. In a small pot cook the vegetables in some of the duck fat from the braising dish until tender. Add the pulled duck and chicken stock and cook until almost all stock is reduced. Leave to cool down. When cool form the croquettes and leave to set. Beat the eggs. Then Bread the duck croquettes passing through the f lour, eggs and panko bread crumbs.
heat and blend well in a food processor. Pass the shallot paste through a fine strainer. MUSTARD-MANGO GEL: 100g mango puree • 1tsp English mustard • 2g Agar Mix all in ingredients together and simmer in a small sauce pan for about 5 mins. Leave to cool and set. When set blend in a food processor until smooth.
SHALLOT PUREE:10 shallot baked with skin on for 1 hour at 160degrees C • 50g unsalted butter • I sprig of thyme • 50ml Ruby port When shallots are cooked remove and discard skin. Put all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook gently for 20 mins. Remove from
CIBUS | jUly 2017 27
FEATURE
GRAM FOR
Gram NATURALLY NOURISHED BY
What’S thIS Blog aBoUt? The blog is about becoming the best version of yourself, inside and out. it’s an ongoing cycle. When you nourish yourself with good food, you feel better, more energetic, your skin glows, your mind changes even, and you project yourself in a way which is just inviting. However, food isn’t all that counts. it’s a part of it — health is about so many factors. From food, to exercise, hygiene, skin care, mindfulness and perspective, attitude, drive and even confidence. The blog includes recipes, places i have been to around the world with where i’ve eaten and what i recommend, what products i use to help my body’s skin, hair, and nails etc. There’s tips on how to eat healthy on the go, reading food labels, and the benefits of the foods you eat. it’s largely plant based, and environmentally friendly which is something that i find to be super important. What’S Important to yoU? it’s important to me because i want to create an awareness of all the things the media might not. The false advertising, food label standards, sometimes even what we grew up learning from school about nutrition. That a “fruit juice”
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Nikki
which we might believe is healthy is not actually good for you. Packaged goods like this are filled with tons of sugar and additives, more than we might expect. What are a CoUple of thIngS yoU have learned SInCe StartIng oUt? Starting this blog has really opened my own eyes and led me to feel a deeper connection with the planet we live on and the species we share with it. So many animals are becoming extinct because of our own selfish needs and it’s up to us to change it. i really encourage a plant based diet because it can save so many lives, our own and those of animals especially concerning issues on rain forests, climate change, and natural resources. The more demand there is for a sustainable plant based diet, the less people will consume dairy, meat, eggs and other environment-demanding foods, which encourage large conglomerates to change their strategy, which some companies have already done.
FEATURE
CIBUS | jUly 2017 29
a s ’ e r e h t , r e Wait y r r u c y m n i fish y is a great catch
This fisherman’s curr
INGREDIENTS Juice of 1 lemon 750g boneless, skinless firm white fish, cut into pieces 1tbsp vegetable oil 1 cinnamon stick 4 whole cloves 4 green cardamom pods ½ tsp whole black peppercorns 10 fresh curry leaves 2 onion, chopped 3 green chillies, finely chopped 1tbsp grated ginger 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 6 tomatoes, chopped 1tsp turmeric ½ tsp chilli powder 2tsp ground coriander
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METHOD Stir the lemon juice and 1 tsp salt into the fish pieces and set aside. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the whole spices and curry leaves, cook for three to four mins, then add the onions. Fry until the onions are soft, then add the chillies, ginger and garlic. Tip in the tomatoes and the remaining spices and cook, uncovered, on a low heat for about five to eight minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the spices sticking and burning. Pour 150ml water into the pan, bring to a simmer, then add the fish. Cover with a lid and cook for another five minutes. Serve with rice.
PROMO
NOW UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
The area can still boast of crystal lagoon water and a private sandy beach. The approaches, in their original state, are built on rocky crests and surrounded by cultivated farmland. A spacious private parking area provides ample space for the numerous patrons whom, over the past years, have appreciated the good service of the actual restaurant. Visitors have now been accustomed to specialised dishes of seafood, besides the facilities for swimming, sun bathing and a variety of water sports. Having the area and all these facilities, the lido is ideal for any occasion, function, party and activity that team building companies and incentive groups require. They also organise outdoor catering such as BBQs, beach parties and more, for any number of persons. The lido is open all year. Operated by Barcode. For reservations call on 79520469 or 21520469.
FEATURE
SIT AND BE
DELIVERED
I
t crept in slowly over the years. From eating out on special occasions, to Sunday lunches and then almost overnight, Saturday evenings became weekly trips in bumper to bumper traffic on a tiny circuit of an almost never ending loop until the car is squeezed into a space finally vacated by what must have been a pushchair (or a Smart). And then to stand in line, glaring at those who, by virtue of having set out in blazing afternoon sunshine to beat the crowds, are now sitting there ignoring the black looks and 32 CIBUS | jUly 2017
taking long pauses as they gesture animatedly – knife and fork in each hand – while their pizza is going nowhere fast. Oh and there’s the black forest still to plough through. And coffee. I’ve often wondered on this strange national pastime, many a Saturday, as I observe people going through this routine. I have to say, it’s not my idea of a night out. But then again, nowadays I tend to be of the ‘night in’ school of thought. Well actually the most thought that goes into
FEATURE
cupboards. Ahem. I pounce on one at the bottom of the pile. ‘We haven’t ordered from here in a while!’ After half an hour on the phone and getting nothing but a busy tone it dawns on us that there is something wrong. The reason why we hadn’t ordered from there for some time becomes apparent. The place had closed down.
that is as to which delivery menu to pick out of the stack in the kitchen drawer which has been dedicated to just that: menus. ‘What do you feel like?’ comes the dreaded question. ‘I don’t know. Where are we ordering from?’ ‘That depends. On what you feel like.’ And so on. And so forth. I go through the pile, making a mental note to put away the ones we have about six of (I’m still trying to work out why restaurants attach a menu with your bill; what do they think you ordered off?). But that will wait until I spring clean the kitchen
Now the problems start. Because by now I have really worked up an appetite for that particular dish which only that restaurant made. This is going to require some serious rewiring. Let’s see what inspires us. Back out comes the pile (and another mental note to chuck out the menus of the places that had gone out of business; squashing the guilt that they did so because you were a lapsed customer, after having raised their hopes unrealistically by being constantly on the phone with orders to them when they first started out. No. It is NOT your fault. Maybe the health authorities had something to do with the closure. That dodgy tummy? Remember that?) CIBUS | jUly 2017 33
FEATURE
By now it is getting late. And you have joined the equivalent of bumper to bumper traffic and parking-searching of eating in. You are queued on the line, and then queued in the pile of pizza cartons and polystyrene containers with foil peeping out that are waiting to be delivered by the guy (invariably) in the helmet and dare devil driving stunts. ‘I’m afraid it will be an hour to ninety-minute wait,’ comes the dreaded greeting. You pretend to confer with your other half but quickly utter a ‘That’s ok,’ trying your best to sound disappointed in the hope that the person taking your order somehow takes pity on you and switches orders. But in truth there’s no way your hunger will let you start the process again with yet another outlet. That’s it then. Might as well get started on the wine, and the film, while we wait. It’s been an arduous decision-taking process. ‘So, what did you order anyway?’ ‘The usual.’ ‘Oh? You too?’ Well THAT was an hour well spent... And you sit there, sipping the wine and nibbling to stave off the worst of the hunger pains. And before you know it, the closing credits are rolling. Wait, your befuddled brain (you’re two glasses down) is trying to tell you something. You nudge the other half who has missed the ending. ‘What time did we order? Should we give them a ring to check?’ Of course, as luck would have it, we call just as the delivery person would have left. ‘He’s on the way.’ Invariably. Always. Without fail. We have impeccable timing. Aha. But that’s only when we order from the same place. Occasionally we do trawl the menus for a no carb, no fat, no fries, no plastic junk fest. (Seriously. I do that.) We come across a new place. ‘Do you deliver?’ ‘Yes ma’am we do. What is your address?’ And let the fun begin. ‘Can you spell that, please?’ ‘M...’ ‘N?’ .‘No. M. For.... um... mummy...’ ‘I see. And S?’ ‘F.’ ‘S?’ ‘No. F. F for f***’. ‘I see. And B?’ ‘D....’ ‘Just text your address to the driver and he’ll put it in the GPS.’ Finally. Of course, half an hour later you receive a call from the driver. ‘Could your street be listed differently in the GPS....?’
34 CIBUS | jUly 2017
Ah yes, the joys. Of setting out the cutlery, the drink, the exact amount to pay the bill. Including the tip. Well apart from that one guy who insists on hauling me out of the house, round the corner (it’s a one-way street) as I hug myself shivering in a cold evening while he finishes taking a call from the comfort of his car. Surely that doesn’t deserve a tip, I debate hurriedly to myself, making mental calculations in a panic as I try to give the right amount AND make the deduction for the amount he would have been tipped with? I give up. Let the guy have his tip. Maybe it will entice him to bring the food up next time. Because of course. There will be a next time. Maybe today actually. This meat is taking ages to defrost. I could always cook it tomorrow. I wonder if that healthy place does deliveries. Let’s see. Do we have a leaflet? But what do the others feel like...?
‘What time did we order? Should we give them a ring to check?’
FEATURE
GRAWLIX, THE SEA, AND THREE EASY RECIPES WORDS BY
DANNY COLEIrO
T
hat’s more or less what he said, anyway. I’ve left out the grawlix because they tend to make a paragraph look messy, but feel free to insert your own before and after ‘Margaret Thatcher’, with a couple more in between. Also, feel free to google ‘grawlix’ if you have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s a wonderful word which I feel doesn’t get the attention it deserves. I could, of course, just tell you what it means myself, but I’m not going to because I was heading off in another direction completely. So, where was I? Oh yes... I’m eight-years-old and about to move to Malta permanently. I receive this earth-shattering news with a casual shrug and a raspberry sound effect of indifference, and wonder out loud what’s for breakfast. “Malta”, says Dad, patiently, “is the small island I come from. Also, ‘permanently’ means ‘forever’. And, because eight-year-olds are incredibly selective when it comes to what is heard and what is actually listened to, I latch on to the words ‘small island’ and ‘forever’, the penny drops, and I go into ‘Defcon 3 — Pre-Tantrum Mode’.
36 CIBUS | jUly 2017
were in England. Everything I knew was in England, and I didn’t want to leave just because dad had a problem with grawlixing Margaret grawlixing Thatcher. Besides, and more importantly, I was terrified of the sea. My only memory of a beach at that point in my life was a day-trip to the Isle of Wight. The sky was grey and sullen, the sand was grey and intrusive, and the seaweed was grey and grabby. As for the sea... the sea was grey and angry and out to get you... pushing you around while the seaweed grabbed your ankles and the sand shifted under your feet and the sky frowned down angrily, darkening the day into a donkey ride of depression... The beach was a big bully, basically. Long story short, I didn’t want to go and live on a small island forever, because small islands are completely surrounded by the sea, and forever is a very, very long time. So, no way. Not happening. Which is why, when we landed in Malta a few weeks later, in June, I was in Defcon 2 - ‘Never Talking to You Again and I Hate Everyone Because It’s Not Fair’ Mode.
“You can go”, I say slowly and firmly, because that’s how I’d heard adults speak when they really meant it, “I’m staying here with grandad”.
Just in case you’re beginning to wonder, by the way... yes, there is a recipe in here somewhere. Three, actually. I’m just trying to figure out how to get there.
Even at eight, I knew this was highly unlikely, but I had to try, because I really, really didn’t want to go to Malta. My life was in England. My friends
Where was I? Oh yes... it was June, it was hot, and we went to the beach and... I loved it. Nothing was grey. The sky was celeste and the sand was gold and
FEATURE
the seaweed wasn’t there and the sea... the sea was big and blue and breathing, a gentle giant waiting to wash away the sweat and the sun’s smothering swelter and scorching suffocation... Long story short, I’m still here. There’s nothing quite like living in a country where it’s pretty much summer for six months of the year and the beach is never more than ten minutes away. Thirty-six years have gone by, and yet the pull of the sea still turns me back into a gobsmacked eight-year-old standing on the shore, watching the rise and fall and only just beginning to realise how lucky he is. In summer, everything moves in slow motion. I find myself losing my train of thought and getting distracted all too easily as my brain wanders off to lie on the sand with a good book and a cool drink. I start waxing lyrical about the taste of salt and the smell of burnt chicken and sun protection factor fifty, and the sound of surf foaming across rock pools. I write articles which seem to be going nowhere fast, full of phrases like ‘where was I?’ and ‘long story short’, and sentences which are appallingly abundant in inappropriate alliteration... In summer, I start looking for shortcuts. It’s way too hot to take the long way ‘round, so everything becomes a plan to get me from A to B, or rather, to the C, as quickly as possible. I try to take the shortest routes in every thing I do... text messages are reduced to letters of the alphabet, conversations become ‘hi and bye, walk and talk’, work becomes a necessary nuisance, an interruption between one day at the beach and the next. And, of course, these shortcuts extend to food too. Cooking becomes something that needs to be done because we’ll get hungry if we don’t. Man cannot live on ħobż biż-żejt alone, although there are worse ways to go. And... oh look... we’ve reached the recipe part at last. I knew it would pop up sooner or later. Yes, alright. Later. Pasta plays a large part in our summer fare, mainly because, once the water’s boiled, it takes approximately nine minutes to cook, and I refuse to make an accompanying sauce that takes longer than that to put together. It can be done, you know.
And here’s how... The kids like ravjul, and who can blame them? While they’re cooking, just for a change from the usual tomato sauce, I open a can of artichoke hearts, drain them, and put them in a jug with a healthy dose of olive oil. I then add salt, cracked black pepper, chilli flakes to taste and a handful of parsley. To finish it off, I throw in a good quantity of grated parmesan, and blitz the lot with a hand-held blender. Once it’s been reduced to a paste, I mix in a carton of fresh cream. By now, the ravioli are cooked. Drain them. Mix in the sauce - no cooking required - and voila! Bob, as they say, is your uncle. No? Okay then... My wife likes swordfish, and who can blame her? While waiting for a pot of penne to cook, I fry some garlic in a decent amount of olive oil, then add a load of swordfish, roughly chopped into chunks, and a hearty splash of white wine. Two minutes later, I add a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, cracked black pepper and a ladleful of the pasta water. Simmer for a few minutes, then toss in some black olives. Finally, plop a slab of butter into the sauce, and stir the lot into the drained pasta. Serve as soon as the butter has melted. Delicious, and Bob’s still your uncle. Me, I like brie, and you can go right ahead and blame me, if you like. Before you do though, you might want to drop some penne into a pot of boiling water. While you wait for that wonderful al dente moment, fry some sliced zucchini and red bell pepper in olive oil in a pan. Then swap them for some chopped bacon, and fry that off too. And, of course, you can never go wrong with some chilli flakes (unless your hand slips and you end up adding half the jar, in which case you can go very wrong. Try not to.) Drain the pasta, mix in the peppers and zucchini, and finish it off by stirring in a nice big triangle of brie until it melts away into the pasta. Garnish with parsley and enjoy, whether Bob is your uncle or not. And there you go. Three mouth-watering pasta dishes, all of which take less than fifteen minutes to make. Which gives you plenty of time to get to the beach. Or look up ‘grawlix’. Up to you. Long story short... I’m done. Now... where was I? CIBUS | jUly 2017 37
FEATURE
SIMPLY WORDS BY
‘TAPROOM’
Mantas sakas stočkus
Imagine yourself walking in Republic Street, the main artery of the city of Valletta. The parliament, the converted ruins of The Royal Opera House, National Museum of Archaeology, St John’s Co-Cathedral and the statue of Queen Victoria will pass by your right and left side.
t
hese are just a few of the many giants on whose shoulders stands the image of Valletta. But the blood in their veins is pumped by the places where people can gather, communicate, unwind, share and discover. And there is so much to discover, especially when you grasp a scent of rebirth in the city’s hospitality industry. At the top of it surfs a place that the word ‘posh’ suits explicitly well. The place is located in 53a, Old Theatre Street. A small, grey sticker reading ‘Taproom’ on a window is the only indication, together with the Director’s chairs outside: a feature which stands out on its own in the whole street, that you came to the right place. Simplicity starts to show itself from the first encounter. On its doorstep, a waiter wearing a white, longsleeved shirt, black trousers and a proper apron greets you with a fresh smile. It feels like you are one’s first customer. Now it’s your turn to decide: to stay or not to stay. There is no push or persuasion; there is no need for that because the waiter can wait. A little bit. Inside, your eyes automatically turn to the wall covered in black-and-white pictures. Most of them have a feature linked 38 CIBUS | jUly 2017
with the sea: sailors, harbour, ship, lighthouse and women. There was something else but the women in the pictures were too attractive. Blue-half-moon sofas covered in dimmed, green light, a bulky-wooden table at the back of the place and the square-black-and-white tiles looks inappropriately appropriate. Everything falls under the concept of a tiny chaos and fits in it perfectly. Suddenly, you feel finding yourself being in the one of the Paris Brasseries. Background music doesn’t help to lose the impression. Slow-rhythm jazz misguide your mind completely. Immediately, after seated, you hear sounds coming from the kitchen which is half-exposed to the people sitting in the area. Giving one the chance to see how the ordered meal is prepared from scratch. Sounds; like sharpening a knife on steel, the oven timer going off, the clanking of dishes, pots and pans, ingredients being grated and knife hitting the cutting board tickles your ears when you are reading the menu. The same as the kitchen, the bar area is fully open to the people. You can see how the waiter is preparing a drink, hear the shatter of ice when liquid hits it, the pop of a wine bottle and fizzing bubbles in a glass.
Meals are brought in white plates. Doesn’t matter if it is a starter, main course, or dessert each of it looks like a small piece of art. For instance, few dashes of a sauce on the edge of a plate together with slightly roasted fresh fish of the day makes for a tasteful view to appreciate. Then you try it, to find out if the expectation matches the reality. It does. Food melts on the tip of your tongue while drinks refresh your throat before another story. Everything is served without an interruption into your conversation, without an unnecessary action or sound. Soon you realise that each table has a ‘Reserved’ sign on it. Apparently, it is the only way to get a place after 7 pm. Only the bulky-wooden table at the back doesn’t have one. You can think it stands there only for the big groups of ten or more people but instead you get a pleasant surprise: a couple whispering something to each other, a Madame having a glass of white wine, three friends having a good laugh and a man reading a book. It is the first time you see something like this, as normally people try to avoid strangers around the same table. But here, it feels like more than welcomed. After the last told story it was time to go. The price in the bill doesn’t shock you. The level of the service is adequate to the prices in the menu. Although it is not a cheap place. Outside, a gentle-sea breeze coming from Manoel Island side greets you. In the meantime, the waiter disappears behind a white framed door with the new customers. The only though in your mind, walking up Old Theatre Street, is to recommend this place. Share with a person who is looking for something more. A place where quality, price and service leaves a customer pleased rather than being ripped off, a place where one can enjoy the fruits of higher cuisine in the heart of Maltese Islands.
RECIPE
40 CIBUS | JUly 2017
St
ed ri -f ir
This quick spiced vegetable dish is inspired by the fresh flavours of south India and can be made with all greens INGREDIENTS
occoli wi t h br c o c o n u t
6 tbsp vegetable oil 3½ tsp mustard seed 3 tbsp fresh or dried curry leaf a pinch chilli f lakes 4 red onions, thickly sliced 100g ginger , shredded 800g thin-stemmed broccoli , cut into bite-sized pieces 100g/4oz fresh or frozen grated coconut or 3 tbsp desiccated coconut juice 2 limes
METHOD Heat the oil in a large wok or saucepan set over a medium heat. Toss in the mustard seeds followed by the curry leaves (if you are using dried curry leaves add them later on with the broccoli) and chilli f lakes. Swirl everything around until the leaves stop spluttering, then add the onions and ginger and fry for 3-4 mins over a high heat. Stir in the broccoli (and dried curry leaves if using) and continue frying over a high heat until just tender, stirring all the time. Scatter over the coconut (if you are using desiccated coconut, soak it in hot water for 5 mins before tipping into a sieve, draining away any liquid, and adding to the pan at the end of cooking), stir to mix and sharpen with the lime juice.
CIBUS | JUly 2017 41
FEATURE
42 CIBUS | jUly 2017
FEATURE
On dessert
“We have dessert” ... “ooo yay” ... brings out cakes full of buttercream frosting, tiramisu, and other desserts drowning in cream.
On choice
Menus at restaurants... it’s as if they don’t know they can make pasta without cream or cheese.
On two pieces of bread…
Sandwiches at cafes always come with cream cheese, cheese, butter, or some other dairy.
On counter-offers On the medium On the birthday party On the pity-party
What’s on the menu and not with dairy...is definitely tomato based.
Frying in butter! Always having to ask a friend or waiter if “X” is fried in butter
Can’t even go to a party without missing out on more than half the food there.
Plus, you always feel really uncomfortable because the host or whoever always feels bad because there isn’t much you can eat, or they stay assuring you that something will come… eventually. CIBUS | jUly 2017 43
PROMO
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE
A simple phrase worth a million moments… “The best things in life are free.” It’s easy to say. Quite a bit harder to believe. But once you sit back and count up all the tiny experiences you have each day: jam-speckled smiles over breakfast toast, an unexpected text message from an old friend, crisp-yet milkdrenched cookies and a bedtime story followed by some well-deserved ‘me’ time. You realize how true the phrase can be.
Schär want you to live in each happy moment without restriction, that’s why, for decades they've been dedicated to helping people think less about gluten so they can savour more of life’s best things. Because it's the free things in life that we consider to be the best.
ENJOY EVERY MOMENT WITH SCHÄR. A good day starts with a good breakfast. It then follows with a good range of gluten-free products at any time. Variety is important for the people at Schär. They've also included classic regional dishes in their glutenfree range so you can delight your taste buds from breakfast to dinner and never miss out on variety. Loads of tasty products: • for when you're at home or out and about • for those dedicated to healthy eating and those who like a treat • for perfectionists and gourmet diners • for athletes and inventive cooks Schär offers the most vast and tempting choices in the world for anyone who follows a gluten free diet. At Schär we have divided our huge glutenfree and sacrifice-free product range into five areas, so we can be sure to meet your needs. Find out what's on offer below: Bakery: different types of bread Bontà d’Italia: pasta, pizza and ready-made Mediterranean dishes Snacks: be tempted to nibble on a sweet or savory snack Creative Kitchen: flours and doughs for creative cooking On the Go: travelling that's made-to-measure to fit your needs including purchase advice. Distributed by VJ Salomone. Tel: 2298 3205 Email: consumer@vjsalomone.com | www.vjsalomone.com
RECIPE
TUNA LASAGNE INGREDIENTS 16 sheets of lasagne 400g tinned tuna 2 cloves of garlic 1 onion 1 courgette 200g mushrooms 500g fried tomato puree Borges Olive oil seasoned with garlic Borges Extra Virgin Olive oil For the béchamel sauce: 40g f lour 500ml milk 80g butter Salt and pepper Nutmeg • 100g grated Emmental cheese
METHOD Chop up the onion and gently fry over a low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. Add the diced courgette and the chopped mushrooms. Cook over a medium heat until the mushrooms release their water. Add the fried tomato puree and cook for about 3 minutes so that the ingredients mix together. Strain the tinned tuna, add to the tomato-andvegetable sauce and hey presto! you’ll have your filling ready. Boil the sheets of lasagne following the cooking instructions on the packet. TO MAKE THE BÉCHAMEL SAUCE: Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the f lour and leave to cook for about five minutes. Slowly add the warm milk, stirring all the while. Add the salt and pepper and cook until it starts to thicken, which should take a few minutes. Arrange the lasagne in layers in an ovenproof dish as follows: Start with a layer of béchamel sauce on the bottom, then a sheet of lasagne, followed by a layer of filling. Continue with alternating layers of sheets of lasagne and filling and then finish off by covering it all with béchamel sauce. Bake in the oven at about 180 ºC for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top to give it a gratin finish.
NUTRITIONAL TIPS: Garlic and Borges garlic olive oil add a touch of health to the dish since garlic contains multiple properties (diuretic, antibacterial, digestive, antithrombotic and anticarciogenic).
CIBUS | jUly 2017 45
FEATURE
Rediscovery WORDS BY
46 CIBUS | jUly 2017
Bettina Cassar
FEATURE
a
nd now the week has gone. it’s one of those all too familiar sunday nights. travelling from Malta back to London to face another working week. a ftira packed in my backpack, a hand luggage stuffed with galletti and a teary car ride to the airport. My emotions don’t seem to get used to this (although thankfully my fiancé is very stable and doesn’t seem phased by my brief bout of self-pity). He pops a kiss on my cheek and tells me that my tears are awfully salty and then keeps driving.
the elation that got us walking our picnic onto the nude beach accidentally, the prude in me cringing for half a second before easing up, picking up our things and hiking on all the way round the cliff face.
Mysteriously, my scales display a reading two kilos heavier than the week before and i’ve tasted more than a handful of cakes and homemade meals in this short visit whilst also earning myself a few stripes of sunburn. the sea was gloriously fresh, the time we had together felt like honeymooning and the community i found myself in welcomed me home immediately. it feels like an eternity ago that i was in London sipping a cider with my colleagues. Before the slow Malta-touristing tempo and the long family dinners. Before the girl group catch ups and birthday meals. Before the crazy reunions with aunts and uncles singing at the top of their lungs after a few drinks.
the thrill of stopping to buy cheap wine on the way home to accompany our nerdy animation film marathon.
the innocent indulgence that got us accidentally spending much more money than we had budgeted for on the daily special that had no price on it.
the laughs that came when beer on the sand became a night creaming up mosquito bites that exploded on the white englishman’s body.
as quickly as the trip approached it was gone. Wedding dress shopping and imqaret. a romantic dinner and a bottle of wine. some night time cuddles followed by a morning of gardening. Lunch by the sea and then some time in a chapel. suddenly over. My tourist eyes off, i dragged myself into work the next day. a few days later a Maltese band visited. i took them around the University i work at; i walked them through my regular streets and shared with them what’s become normal to me now and watched them take it all in. With the eyes of children, they were awed at the equipment in the studios, the simplicity of each rehearsal room, and the beauty of a decked-out gig venue. they enjoyed every pub, experienced english food and transport, and didn’t care too much about sleep or luxury. “Pinch yourself woman. You’re lucky,” i told myself. But it got me questioning what eyes do i see my world in? i wonder when i lost the fascination. at which point did i become too used to my blessings to see them? When did a glorious sunday roast become just another meal? When did a heart-warming nourishing minestra become just a bad smell? When did a fresh ħobża kbira (with tomatoes and olive oil) become a quick tenminute supper and no longer a taste of a carefree childhood summer? When did i lose the eyes that saw everything as an adventure? When did challenges lose their excitement and become mountains too daunting to face? Five years down the line in my relationship, with our wedding and marriage on the horizon, i wondered... when did we lose that initial buzz?
i’m guilty, i confess, to forgetting how blessed i am. Our days are numbered and each new morning is a gift. For me, these past few months have been a season of rediscovering. rediscovering beauty in the people around me; in the day-to-day routines; in simplicity. When i visit home, i become a traveller, keen to taste everything just once more - painfully aware of what i’ve missed and extremely thankful for what i have. i’m on a journey to becoming truly present and grateful wherever i may find myself. to rediscover beauty. in a slow restful morning reading a book with a mug of tea; in the wild flowers that grow on the side of the road; in a mouthful of a cold watermelon. Let’s always be on the lookout. CIBUS | jUly 2017 47
PROMO
AMANDO
AMANDO: the new range of dairy free ice creams from Sammontana with Almond Milk. Sammontana Amando is made from almond milk, a typical ingredient of Italian pastry which is natural, inviting and able to enhance the creamy texture of the ice cream and the taste of all the other elements of the recipe. Three references are available: Amando Vanilla, Cocoa and Hazelnut Tub; Vanilla ice cream with almond milk decorated with lean cocoa cover and hazelnuts. Amando Vanilla and Peach Tub; Vanilla ice cream with almond milk and peach. Amando Sticks in 3 flavours: Vanilla ice cream with almond milk coated with Peach sorbet, Red Fruits sorbet or Green Apple and Kiwi sorbet. Available in main health shops and convenience stores.
PASCUAL BIFRUTAS
Pascual Bifrutas is a complement for your diet to make you feel completely fine through its unique texture and its mixture of fruits. Bifrutas milk and juice is a functional drink made out of Pascual authentic skimmed milk and the best fruits which provide an unmistakable flavour and are a natural source of vitamins A, C and E. Vitamic A is essential for normal bone growth while Vitamins C and E builds antioxidants that protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals and delays ageing. Pascual Bifrutas range includes Tropical, Mediterraneo, Pacifico and Ibiza available in 1L, 330ml or 200ml. Follow us on Facebook to find out more: www.facebook.com/PascualMalta
TRADITIONAL MALTESE PRODUCTS, NOW ALSO GLUTEN FREE!
Inspired by local treats, Golden Harvest now proudly boasts a new Gluten Free range that brings together genuine ingredients and a fresh approach, to make the first freshly baked, 100% batch tested, Maltese Gluten Free variety. The star of the show is the White sliced loaf and Buns which are also Lactose free; ‘Pastini talLewz’, ‘Qaghaq tal-gunglien’ and ‘Pasta Frolla’, made with Pure Almonds. By producing it in a controlled environment, followed by thorough testing, the company can guarantee a safe and delicious product to everyone. Available from all leading supermarkets, or directly for our store in San Gwann, The Bakery Shop, which now also accepts POYC vouchers.
NEW PLASMON X-KIDZ
Plasmon presents a new range of delicious smoothies suitable for children from 3 years upwards. From passion fruit, strawberries, mangos, apricots and bananas, the x-Kidz smoothies are a yummy blend of healthy fruit. Using only ingredients grown at the Plasmon Oasi, these smoothies are presented in a convenient squeezie pouch that’s perfect for toddlers on-the-go. They are ideal to pop in lunchboxes, or to enjoy as a fun fruity snack in between meals. New Plasmon x-Kidz are made from 100 per cent fruit with no added sugar and loads of vitamin C goodness. Plasmon X-Kidz multipacks are available in all three fruity flavours. For more information, contact the Plasmon team on 2258 8600 or visit the Facebook page: Plasmon (Malta). 48 CIBUS | jUly 2017
WHOLE EARTH SPARKLING DRINKS
Whole Earth love making the kind of food you love. The kind with nothing but nature added. All six flavours of Whole Earth lightly sparkling drinks are certified organic, with no added sugar, artificial colours or flavours. Ginger: A fiery hot sensation balanced with fruit juices. Elderflower: A delicate, delightfully unusual drink. Blended elderflowers with sparkling water and fruit juices to get the taste just right. Lemonade: Bring back the taste of childhood with this organic take on an old favourite. Cola: An organic take on a classic drink, combining uplifting cola-nut and zesty lemon. Cranberry: What could be more refreshing than cranberry juice made with organic fruit? Apple: a drink we loved in our childhood, back better, and certified organic.