Oven Poached Dentici

Dentici is a fish I think my mum would like.  For some reason she's not into the fishier side of fish anymore... i guess tastes change..  So no lampuki for now (unless they're in pikkanti sauce or aljotta, and we dont' actually cook it when she's home hehehe).  I'm totally going back to my bugibba flat in a coming weekend if that means i get to eat lampuki hehehe :)

seasoned and ready to wrap and poach/bake

Aljotta (Maltese fish soup) made with lampuki aka mahimahi

This is a broth based soup, and has 2 distinct parts to making it.  The first is the stock, which is a very simple fish stock.  The second is where this actually gets its name from, which is the soup base consisting of lots of garlic (aglio!) onions, tomatoes and very importantly, marjoram.

Don't be fooled, all that delicious rice and bits of fish are in the bottom.  this is a delicious soup!! :)

Lampuki with Salsa Pikkanti

The title translates to "Dolphinfish with a piquant sauce" - this is one of my favourite Lampuki/mahi mahi dishes :)


It's a dish traditionally served cold, as far as i know.  I've always eaten it cold anyway, it's a great way to use up leftover lampuki (or as mum/nanna used to do, deliberately buy extra so we could have this the next day).

lampuki!!

They are in season, my beloved fresh caught fishies :D

Also known as mahi mahi (hawaii), dorado (in spanish), dolphin fish (as they jump out of the water like dolphins), and well loved all over the planet for great recreational fishin and eating....

I love these fishies, and hopefully will be having a few recipes featuring them in the next month or so.  They are high in the omega fats (as are all oily fish), great seasonal eating, and have very sustainable stocks, unlike much of the fish on the market nowadays.  Also.. CHEAP!  They are amongst the fasted growing fish in the sea, sometimes growing 7 cm in a week! :O  they are also short lived, and are reproducing constantly.  This really helps them in the "sustainable fishing" argument, as a fish that doesn't take long to reach edible size, reproducing in great numbers, and don't live past 2 or so years anyway.... :D  yay!  OH and the fishing methods around malta haven't really changed since roman times (palm fronds to attract the fish to the shade, and nets to catch them)..  win :D

Tonight we're having some of the leftover fish (from last night's bbq) with "zalza pikkanti", which is essentially a thick tomato sauce loaded with marjoram, mint, olives and capers, and of course... garlic.  this is served at room temperature, not warm, and is great to cut through the oiliness of the fish.  I would recommend it to anyone who doens't like the oiliness of lampuki :)

Mmmm :D

Plans of what to make with them:

Lampuki pie.  my favourite!! :D

Plain floured and fried, served with lemon.. aweosme.

aljotta (to follow!)

With Zalza Pikkanti (recipe and pics to follow also!)

and... i think i'll try something completely different, maybe look up how they eat it in hawaii/caribbean and try it like that.  i reckon it would be nice with some kind of tart fruit, or a recipe with coriander... possibly even a dry curry based thing.. we'll see....  :)

Pretty fishie also - when we see them in the market, most of the yellow golden hue has left, as this only happens when they are alive.

pic courtesy of http://www.interklasa.pl/portal/dokumenty/ue013/jedzenie/smaki.htm

Baia Beach

I know I don't normally review restaurants etc, however I felt that I must mention a lunch we had the other day :)

We discovered this little beach club at Armier Bay, in the north of Malta. As far as I know it only recently opened, it's called Baia Beach Club. Fantastic little place, what attracted us was the pretty white and blue decor, the fact that it's not crowded (a true rarity on a Saturday at a Maltese beach in summer!) and that it had that little touch of class that girls' days at the beach truly deserve :)

Sarah and I got there around lunchtime, so we decided to have a proper lunch at the restaurant before going down to settle on our luxury sun-beds!

And what a lunch it was! I am a huge fan of simplicity mixed with excellence, and both the dishes we ordered were a perfect example of this! The kitchen is run by a Tuscan chef who's also opened his own Michelin star restaurant (more info on their website)

I ordered Linguini with Vongole (clams) and zucchini, and Sarah ordered a Calamari salad with roast potatoes.

Fettucini with Bottarga, artichoke hearts and grouper

I went to Rome at the start of June this year, and apart from friends and sightseeing, of course food was a huge part of it! :)

Went out one night to Via del Portico d'Ottavia, to a Kosher restaurant in the old Jewish Ghetto. Their speciality is fried things, and our starters were amazing!

Had zucchini flowers filled with fish, in batter, as well as other random and delicious fried veggies... nom!

My main course was fish (grouper) and zucchini flower pasta, however someone else had egg pasta with artichoke hearts and bottarga.. and it sounded amazing! Inspired by this, I thought i'd make egg pasta with grouper, bottarga and artichoke hearts (The artichoke hearts were lovingly collected by my parents when they were in season, then frozen in batches to make awesome pasta and risotto - respek!)

Found some nice fresh grouper steaks - 2 were plenty for a pasta dish for 4 - they are a little pricey and really you can use any nice white fish, but Grouper (or Cerna in Maltese) is awesome. so milky and delicious! :D

must say, it did look better before i stirred it in.  but the taste was sublime!

Spaghetti Vongole e Langoustini

On the way home from the beach the other day, we stopped at the fish shop. They had clams (Vongole) and I thought I'd love to try cooking them. I'd never cooked with them before, but spaghetti vongole is one of my favourite dishes, and i figured “how hard can it be”? The answer is “bloody easyl” by the way :D they also had langoustine (like baby lobsters), so we bought 2 per person, however as tasty as they were, I don't think they were needed. Next time I will either make a “frutto di mare” or just use some clams alone.

Pasta with Zucchini, Porcini and Shrimps

Pasta with Zucchini, Porcini mushrooms and shrimps.

This idea came to me when my dad and I were deciding what to have for dinner. Had Zucchini, plenty of them to use, and wanted to empty out the freezer also, and had Prawns. I'd also spied a jar of porcini mushrooms in the cupboard teeheehee... and so it was born!