Anna Sultana's Stuffat tal Fenek (Rabbit Stew, Maltese Style)

As beef is to Texas, rabbit is to Malta.

Back in 1952, after we had moved from Corona to College Point in Queens - a borough in New York - Pop set up a few cages of rabbits in our garage.

The rabbits did what rabbits do.

After a while Pop needed more cages.

As a result, we had lots of rabbit meat to eat.

Ma had a few favourite recipes for preparing the rabbits Pop raised.

Her Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid (Rabbit with Garlic and Wine) was often served for Sunday dinner.

For old time’s sake we also prepared it when my parents visited us when we lived in British Columbia in the ’70s.

That was an amazing surprise.

Somehow or other, Pop had found some rabbits.

Like I said, rabbits are important to Maltese.

Another favourite recipe was Ma's Fenek fil forn (Roasted Rabbit).

It's a simple recipe, which works just as well with stewing fowl.

Ma also cooked Stuffat tal Fenek (Rabbit Stew).

Rabbit is now available in the frozen food section in stores.

Why not surprise the family with something a little different?

Hints:

This recipe also works with a stewing hen.

You can use either frozen peas or a can of peas, undrained.

                        Stuffat tal Fenek

Peel and quarter

2 onions

6 carrots

2 cloves garlic

Cut a rabbit into small pieces.

Flour the pieces and place in a large bowl.

Pour into a dutch oven 

1/4 Cup olive oil

Over medium heat fry the rabbit pieces until browned on all sides.

Add

1 Cup dry red wine

Simmer for 5 minutes.

Place the fried rabbit and wine in the large bowl.

Place in the same dutch oven

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

the prepared onions and garlic

Fry until golden.

Add

the fried rabbit pieces and wine

2 ounces tomato paste

4 ripe tomatoes, halved

the prepared carrots

1 bay leaf

Add enough water to cover the rabbit pieces.

Bring to a boil.

Add

8 ounces peas

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Simmer gently for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with spaghetti or any other favourite pasta.

Polenta is also good.

Anna Sultana's Turtle Stew, Maltese Style (Chicken Stew or Rabbit Stew)

I've been reading Yann Martel's Life of Pi.

It's an amazing book and was the source for an incredible movie.

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, it's about a shipwrecked boy and a Bengal tiger trying to survive for 227 days while lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean and the boy's efforts to get food.

It's always about food.

Chapter 70 was about butchering a turtle.

Not the easiest thing to do in the best of circumstances.

Quite an adventure for the boy, Pi, who was trying to survive on a raft.

The tiger, Richard Parker, was resting comfortably in the life boat.

Sometimes life is just like that.

Anyway… back to the book and the turtle.

Chapter 70 is not for the squeamish.

Twitching muscles, spurting blood, exposed fat, guts and bones - let alone the separated head that kept on gulping for air and blinking its eyes - are not great to read about just before tucking into a meal.

After reading that chapter I'm amazed that anyone ever thought turtles would be something good to kill, cook and eat.

I mean, someone must have been very hungry to attempt the deed.

Turtles do put up quite a struggle.

And they do know a few tricks to protect themselves.

Ma had told me about eating turtle in Malta.

Turtle was the stuff of family tales, like the lampuki and the octopus.

Something one couldn't easily find in New York in the 1950s.

Or in the north end of Winnipeg.

Well, one eats what one can get.

And if you can get some turtle, you might like to try this stew.

If you can't get the turtle, well, it's an interesting recipe to read.

And the recipe works with rabbit or stewing fowl, too.

At least that's the way I remember having it.

                        Turtle Stew

Clean and wash

sea turtle, about 2 pounds

Cut into small pieces.

In a dutch oven heat

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Add

the prepared sea turtle

Fry a few minutes.

Add

3 large onions, sliced

Fry until golden.

Add

1/4 Cup tomato paste

Stir the tomato paste into the onions.

Add

3/4 Cup water

1/4 Cup raisins

1/4 Cup olives, chopped

2 apples, chopped

4 chestnuts, chopped

1 Tablespoon capers

1 green pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon mint

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Cup red wine

Simmer gently for 1  1/2 hours, or until the pieces of turtle are tender.

Add more water (or wine), if needed.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve hot with crusty bread.

The stew also goes well over pasta.

Carmela Soprano's Osso Buco a la Bucco / Braised Veal Shanks (Braised Rabbit in White Wine)

For the most part, I like The Sopranos Family Cookbook.

Artie's Mia Cucina chapter is about his training and his own creations.

It's also a laugh riot with my local butcher.

In May I  tackled Artie's Quail Sinatra-Style.

More or less.

I used cornish hens.

Nobody from the mob dropped by.

And it turned out fine.            

Okay... this recipe calls for veal shanks.

Right.

In this neighborhood I'll never taste real Osso Buco a la Bucco.

My local butcher laughed and directed me to the rabbits.

As a Maltese, I could handle a rabbit.

And I can always use another rabbit recipe.

I cut the rabbit into serving pieces.

Since the rabbit was bigger than the veal shanks, I doubled the other ingredients.

Worked fine.

And I had leftovers for another meal.

If your butcher has veal shanks, thank your lucky stars.

And stop gloating.

                         

       

                        Osso Buco a la Bucco       

       

Serves 4

Spread on a piece of wax paper

1⁄4 Cup flour

Dredge in the flour, shaking off the excess.

4 meaty slices veal shank, about 1 1⁄2 inches thick

In a Dutch oven melt

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Add the veal.

Sprinkle with

Salt and pepper

Cook until browned. Turn the slices and sprinkle with

Salt and pepper

Scatter around the meat

1 small onion, finely chopped

Cook until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes.

Add 

1/2 Cup dry white wine

Cook, scraping the bottom of the pan. 

Stir in

1 Cup peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes or canned Italian tomatoes

1 Cup chicken broth or meat broth

Bring to a simmer.

Partially cover the pan and simmer, basting the meat occasionally, for 1 1⁄2 hours.

If there/s too much liquid, remove the cover and allow the liquid to evaporate.

About 5 minutes before serving, chop together

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

2 Tablespoons parsley

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest or lemon extract

Stir the lemon zest mixture into the sauce in the pan and baste the meat. 

Serve immediately.

Would I make Osso Buco a la Bucco again?

Sure.

With rabbit.

Works for me.

One recipe down.  Ninety-one more to go.  

Anna Sultana's Fenek fil forn (Roasted Rabbit or Chicken, Maltese Style)

A few folks still think I overdid the holidays with Carmela's Entertaining with The Sopranos booze recipes and want more recipes from Ma.

No problem.

A staple when I was growing up was rabbit.  

Pop had a few cages of rabbits in the garage.  

Boy and girl rabbits.

Well, they did the deed.

The rabbits, I mean.

We had lots of rabbit meat.

No questions asked.

Here's a simple recipe.  

It works just as well with stewing fowl.

                        Fenek fil forn

Make the following sauce:

Saute 

1 large chopped onion

3 cloves minced garlic

add 

4 ripe tomatoes, chopped

season with 

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon toasted fennel seeds

Stir in

4 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice

Simmer until the sauce is thick.

----

While the sauce is simmering,

Cut a rabbit (or stewing hen) into pieces

flour the pieces

quickly brown them in olive oil.

Arrange them in a greased baking dish.

Pour the sauce over the pieces in the baking dish

Roast, uncovered, 350º  40 min. 

Midway baste with 

3 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice

Easy, no?

Another Maltese recipe for rabbit is my Ma's Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid.
It's rabbit stewed with garlic and wine.
Also very easy.

Anna Sultana's Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid, Rabbit with Garlic and Wine, Maltese Style

Back in late September I posted about Carmela Soprano's Grilled Meat Skewers and, in the title, I also mentioned Ma's Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid.  

I gave the Meat Skewer recipe, but went on to tell a story about my Pop getting a live rabbit while we lived in British Columbia.  I wrote about how my Pop prepared the rabbit for dinner.  But I didn't give Ma's rabbit stew recipe.

I got a few e mails, but they got lost in my computer.

Sorry.

Here it is.

Late, but still good.

It's an easy recipe and you don't have to hunt down a local bush bunny.

Rabbit is now in stores.

Enjoy!!

            Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid

1 rabbit, cut up, placed in a large glass bowl

Cover with

1/2 bottle of red wine

marinate overnight

----

In a frying pan gently heat olive oil and fry

6 cloves garlic

----

Fry the rabbit portions until browned on both sides.

Add 

the wine marinade

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

Simmer gently until the rabbit is tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Carmela Soprano's Grilled Meatball and Sausage Skewers and Anna Sultana's Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid (Rabbit with garlic and wine, Maltese Style)

Like Julia Powell's latest book Cleaving wasn't bad enough.  

I had to go to the source - Julia Powell's Julie & Julia.

What the hell's the matter with me?

I'm still under the influence of her obsession.

Meat.

I have a cleaver, but I'm not about to split bones and scoop beef marrow out of them.  

No recipe's that good.  

I just wanted a nice simple meat recipe.  Carmela must have had days like this.  Found it!!  The perfect thing in Entertaining with The Sopranos for an autumn day - Grilled Meatball and Sausage Skewers.  

It's your basic shish kebob.  Italian pork sausages cut into 1-inch pieces, red onions cut into wedges and meatballs.  Again with the ground sirloin!  

There were 2 good hints: 

Don't make the meatballs larger than 1 1/2-inch, or they'll break apart on the skewers.

Cover and chill the prepared skewers 30 minutes to allow the meatballs to firm up. 

Easy.  done.  Tasty.

Yesterday Paul and I watched a bush bunny munching on the grass in our back yard.  Pop would've loved it.  He had a soft spot - right about where his stomach was - for rabbits.  He was also fascinated by seeing the fish swim by the Red River shore when we walked with him at the Forks. 

Pop loved ready, available food on the hoof, foot or fin. 

In 1973 Paul and I lived in Surrey, British Columbia.  My family came up for a visit.  I tried to be a good Maltese hostess.  But I couldn't find rabbit at our local market.  When I told Pop about the rabbit situation, he said not to worry.  

The next morning Pop got up before the rest of us and went for a little walk.  After Paul left for work, Pop came back with a rabbit.  When I asked, he shot me one of those Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies looks, like he usually did when he'd bring home something that had fallen off a truck.

  

My 18-year-old sister - picture Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinnie - and my 16-year-old brother, a hefty Al Pacino type, were New York born and bred.  

They'd seen it all.  

Twice.  

All I heard from them was, "OOO... Look at the cute widdle bunnie!!!"  

They'd never made the connection between cute little furry beings and the main dinner course.  I got the garlic and started chopping.  I didn't want to get attached.  

        

Pop stood it for as long as he could but, as dinner time approached, he figured enough was enough already.  It was time to get the cute little bunny ready for his starring moment.  Pop wanted the fruit of his loins to give him a hand.  Maybe he thought it would be some kind of family bonding experience.  

He had a plan: George would hold the bunny, Pop would knock it out and slit it down the middle and Rose would skin it.  

Well, a trip to Disneyland it wasn't.  

        

It took my siblings a few minutes to realize what was about to happen to Mopsie the bunny.  When they understood that, 'No, we won't be needing a little hutchie wutchie for our little bunnie wunnie', well, it wasn't what I'd call a Kodak moment.

        

Rose and George - who could cheerfully face a New York mugger and give him what for - raced to my bedroom and locked the door.  

Okay...  The show must go on.  

Pop went to plan B.  Like an understudy after the star'd come down with the flu, I'd go from garlic chopper to rabbit killer.  

I couldn't take the sudden promotion.  I ran and pounded on my bedroom door. 

"Let me in," I yelled. 

"You're the oldest," they yelled back.

        

Realizing that living in North America had made their children wimps, Ma helped Pop prepare Mopsie for dinner.

        

Paul had been at work while Mopsie had come and gone, as it were.  He just saw cooked meat and had seconds.  

Rose, George and I filled up on garlic and pasta.  

Paul said it was great.  He wanted me to make it a regular part of our diet.  

It was the first time Pop actually approved of his new son-in-law.  

Mopsie didn't die in vain.    

Would I make the Italian shish kebobs.  Sure.  With lean ground beef.

Would I make Fenek bit-tewm u bl-Imbid.  

Absolutely. 

God bless multiculturalism.  Rabbit is now in stores.

Another recipe down.  Forty-four more to go.

Carmela Soprano's Peppered Pork Tenderloins and Anna Sultana's Roast Pork, Maltese Style

I just got through reading Julia Powell's latest book Cleaving.  The subtitle says "A story of marriage, meat, and obsession".  

The emphasis was on the meat.

It wasn't pretty.

I know myself well enough to know I shouldn't read anything scary before I go to sleep.  Now I know I shouldn't read butcher-focused books, either.  All that talk of how to cut up cows, pigs and poultry...

Oy, such dreams.

But they sure made me hungry for some meat.  

Back to Carmela's Entertaining with The Sopranos.  That gal may have had her problems with Tony and the kids, but she hasn't failed me yet.  

Yep, she has a good meat recipe - Peppered Pork Tenderloins.  It's a nice simple recipe.  

Trim and tie like a roast to even the thickness

2 pork tenderloins (about 2 pounds)
Combine 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon salt 

1 tablespoon coarsely cracked black pepper
Add the meat.
Cover and marinate up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.

Place the broiler pan 4 inches from the heat.
Grill or broil about 15 to 20 minutes, turning with tongs.
The meat thermometer should be inserted in the middle
and read 150º to 155º F.

Transfer the meat to a cutting board.
Cover with foil and allow to stand 5 minutes.

The temperature continues to rise 5 to 10 degrees as the meat rests.
It'll be pink and juicy.

After removing the string, carve the pork into diagonal slices.
Fan out on a serving platter.  

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

I know.  It could just as easily have been called Mustard Pork.  Carmela went for alliteration.  

The pork can be either cooked over a medium-hot charcoal fire or a gas grill or under a broiler.

With the kind of weather we've been having, I went for the broiler. 

Carm is great at presentation.

Ma wasn't. 

Maltese are not vegetarians.  Malta has been known for centuries for its high quality pork.  D. H. Lawrence, in his book Sea and Sardinia talks about the great bacon he had in Malta.  

Okay, we can do bacon.   

But cooking regular, uncured meat - be it beef, pork or poultry - was not Ma's thing.

Maybe it wasn't her fault.  My Maltese cookbooks have recipes for cooking rabbits - lots of rabbits.  And I did find a recipe for roast pork.  

A 2 1/2 pound roast is baked for about 1 1/2 hours in a hot 400º oven.  Forget pink and juicy.

When we were first dating, Paul was invited to dinner at my parents' home.  He asked me what we were eating.  I didn't know.  I asked Ma.  She just looked blankly and said, "Meat."   

Good enough.

Would I make Carmela's Peppered Pork again.  Oh, yeah.

Sorry, Ma.

Another recipe down.  Forty-six more to go.