Story: Pastizzi - A Maltese speciality round the world

If you’re ever on the Maltese Islands, you will have to savour Pastizzi or as they are known in English ‘Cheese Cakes’. The humble Pastizz is a little savoury pie made from rough and flaky puff pastry and filled with locally produced fresh ricotta cheese. Another variety is the pastizz fill with mushy peas, both very delicious but terrible for your waistline. They are produced in the thousands every day. You will find pastizzi shops every few hundred metres wherever you go on this small Mediterranean island. This local ‘fast food’ is bought for a few cents and sells by the dozen as the popular Maltese expression goes “It sells like Pastizzi!”. Whenever you visit a pastizzi shop there is always a large metal tray coming in or out of the oven, such is their popularity. So popular is this Maltese speciality that Maltese emigrants to Australia, Canada and the US don’t go without and the Maltese pastizz is now produced and sold abroad to emigrants and locals alike. Don’t just take my word for it : Google ‘Pastizzi’ and you’ll see what I mean! If you’re lucky you might find a pastizzi shop close to where you live.

To make ricotta pastizzi at home :

- Roll out some rough puff pastry. Try to find the rough puff and not the refined and soft one. Puff pastry is too laborious to make at home so you will be forgiven for buying a ready made piece.

- Mash fresh ricotta cheese made from cow’s milk with a fork until soft and creamy. Add 1 beaten egg and some salt and pepper to taste. You can find ricotta cheese at most Italian delicatessens.

- Cut the rolled out pastry into circles and put some ricotta filling in the middle. Bring the two sides to meet in the middle and press down the sides to resemble a boat. Pastry should not be totally sealed and the rikotta should remain visible in the middle.

Bake in a hot oven until golden brown. Pastizzi must be eaten fresh and hot.