June in Gozo

Malta

The last chance to enjoy that cool breeze…

June in Mediterranean countries is a truly wonderful experience, as summer slowly begins to settle, the sun shining on farming lands, allowing fruit and vegetable crops to flourish and thrive. The month of June marks the end of spring and the beginning of summer, fruit and vegetables are definitely not scarce. The agricultural biodiversity of North Africa, Sicily and Malta, especially in June, provides perfectly ripe fruit and vegetables, with crops thriving and ready for harvest, enjoying these delectable products on their own or incorporated in delectable dishes is guaranteed to make your summer days refreshing and nutritional.

Green Beans We start to see the local green bean show up at produce shops in june, sometimes imported and sometimes local,

June heralds the begining of the Eggplants, Aubergine or Brunjil which is one of the most abused vegetables in a restaurants’ repertoire I think! — I know I’m not going to make any friends like that .. But when ever I’ve been offered these things, they have been breadcrumbed and deep-fried in acrid oil, the sponge like texture of the aubergine does the cook no favours, but for me the turning point was when I was introduced to ‘burnt’ aubergine, cooked over an open flame, it was like another creature.. Smokey, delicious, garlicky and with nine hundred Maltese Galletti and maybe some whipped Gbejniet — heavenly indeed!

Although promised all year, June to October is its true season.

Figs or bajtar ta’ San Ġwann is the first of two seasons of local figs, with the second happening about six or so weeks after wards… and they go by the name ‘tin’ or ‘farkizzan’, plagued with a nasty beetle, the last few years has caused this wonderful and ancient fruit to struggle, but the first burst of flavour offered by this plump delicious, fruit is well worth seeking out a good supply, personally I like them lightly baked [ not for too long ] with some home made marscapone.

Lemons wherever you are in the world, whatever cuisine you cook, the ubiquitous Lemon is never very far away, whether its preserved Lemon from the North African coast, Lemon tart from the refined kitchens of France or Lemon Granita from our lovely neighbours in Sicily ? It’s an essential kitchen tool, apart from the Lemon tart I have to say my favourite use of a Lemon is as an acidulator in marinating fish. It’s not really within the remit of Gozo Kitchen to be talking about Panamanian Ceviche, as it would be a bit of a stretch to claim it as a Mediterranean influence, but blimey, you should try it, the Sicilians make a ceviche with orange and its very good indeed, but personally i prefer the ‘St Clements’ approach, a bit of each … with thinly sliced white fish, some chilly fresh dill and very thinly sliced shallot…

They are their best between the months of February and May,

Saddled Seabream or Kaħlija : My uncle Charlie used to take me fishing, roughly near where the Gozo ferry is currently located. I was a young lad and never really had the patience for it, I think it was the smell of his bait bucket, it was, well.. just … ‘wrong’, it was as if fermented cheese had been mixed with fish guts and left to mature from one year to the next… That was my first introduction to Kaħlija, he would whip them out of the sea as if the had some kind of ‘lemming instinct’ and quite often he would light up his frying pan then and there and cook dinner… at which point he had my interest!

He would light a few sticks in a ‘divet’ put an old wire rack over the fire and grill the fish after cleaning them, he would only bring a lemon and some Maltese bread maybe some olive oil if he was feeling flush and that was dinner. great man my uncle charlie.

“The Saddled Seabream is caught in Malta using relatively sustainable methods and therefore fish for tomorrow recommends it for consumption.”

https://www.fishfortomorrow.com/quickfish/saddled-seabream

Meat it’s that time of year again in Sicily, Wild Boars hunts are taking place on our nearest neighbouring island. Which inevitable means that some carcasses will [hopefully] end up with us.

Generally Pigs in Sicily and obviously Wild Boar are raised in an environment where they can roam freely, more often than not they are fed leftovers and waste from cheesemakers, or remnants of a farmers lot, maybe even sometimes nuts and berries, This gives the pork from Sicily a rather more dark looking meat with an intense, deep and rich flavour, bordering on sweet, some of the very best pork I’ve been lucky enough to get hold of has come from cheesemakers, who fed them oats, vegetables and apples from the floor of their orchard, mixed with whey, and honestly you have to taste it to believe it…