Dear LPG,

As promised I have spent a little time in my kitchen in an attempt to produce my version of a dish to celebrate today, one that the Maltese recognise as nationally special. 

This time I read and studied the recipe in advance and, halved all the quantities.  I started my preparation by putting all the ingredients out in dishes before I did anything else.  As usual there were a couple of things that I had to substitute, I got my olives out of a jar but, with only three points of instruction, I was sure this would be elementary to prepare.

But there is always some detail that does not register until you actually get the method underway and, having never cooked with an eggplant before, my first stumbling block was apparent before I picked up ingredient number one.   Did I peal it or what?  I asked my very good friend Alexa this question and was instructed to peal it, so I did and with nothing but the picture of the finished dish to go by I cut it up as illustrated. I then realised that I was not sure how you broil something but Alexa stepped in again with its instruction that I needed to put the pieces on a griddle once they were tossed in the oil.   The problem is that when I asked again Alexa answered me with the suggestion that I should not have pealed the Eggplant because the skin would have held it together but it was too late by then.  I will definitely check a YouTube version of the recipe next time.

I also had to look up what a Dutch oven was and worked out in advance that it is not an oven at all but a sort of cooking pot and, my Jamaican routes saved me there.  It is reminiscent of an old fashioned Jamaican ‘Dutch pot’ and I have one of those although the West Indian version has relatively small lifting handles and a ‘wok like’ domed base which causes it to wobble, so an oven glove was needed to steady it. 

The rest of the cooking was relatively simple but I admit to straying from the serving suggestion.  I am not one of the world’s natural vegetarians so I added a portion of chicken on the side and, apart from the fact that the eggplant was a little mushy, my dinner guests on the day quite enjoyed my attempt at reproducing ‘Kapunata’ in recognition of Malta’s special day.  I have to add that none of them were actually Maltese, so how authentic it was will always remain a bit of a mystery.

I now know that Alexa can change its mind just like the rest of us.   It was definitely right the second time, when it told me that I should have left the skin on the eggplant!

I did however ask it to pick one of the nations that will be celebrating nationally in October, and I hope it was telling me the truth when it suggested Austria’s day of independence on the 26^th.  Their cuisine did not disappoint, so I am looking forward to attempting one of their national dishes. My next national independence day trick will be Wiener Schnitzel.

CB, Lewisham.

CB prepares us for next month’s culinary trip to Austria…

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