cover image Taste of Malta: A Hippocrene Original Cookbook

Taste of Malta: A Hippocrene Original Cookbook

Claudia M. Caruana. Hippocrene Books, $24.95 (250pp) ISBN 978-0-7818-0524-7

Caruana adroitly handles a lot of material, including many unfamiliar recipes, in this comprehensive cookbook on the specialties of Malta, an island south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. The collection combines recipes from modern-day Malta with those passed down by Maltese immigrants in the U.S., and Caruana's own memories of her grandmothers' cooking are charming. Maltese cuisine is not well known here, but by all appearances it should be. Snacks like Broad Bean Paste and Maltese Cheesecakes are like a cross between Italian and Greek cooking, while Chestnut and Cocoa Soup and Kohlrabi Fritters go farther afield. Caruana presents several versions of Malta's signature dishes, such as the baked rice casserole known as Ross fil-Forn that can be made with ground beef, sausage, cheese, eggs or a combination of those ingredients. Interesting casseroles and baked dishes abound: Artichoke and Rice Pie, and Artichoke Hearts with Pork and Chicken Liver Casserole. A few recipes (Snail Sauce, Stewed Pigeons) feature hard-to-find ingredients, but most of these are home-style dishes, and Caruana provides variations where appropriate. Sidebars on topics such as Malti (the language of Malta, a Semitic tongue written in the Latin alphabet) and the Knights of St. John round out this solid introduction to an intriguing cuisine. (June)