The Oven

Our flat’s oven is a damn busy thing.  Six of us are living on a communal philosophy; we put in €15 each per week and take turns cooking.  It’s working marvellously.  With just €15 a week we eat lunch and dinner daily.  Sweet.  And as we take it in turns to cook this means each cooks an average of twice a week.

Having to cook only twice a week it’s easy to be motivated to cook well.  We’re all quite proficient cooks so our meals tend to be rich ones.  Pizza, fish pies, fish soup, lovely pasta, pasta bakes, yummy yum.  And very often the oven gets involved too.  As we love a good dessert every so often one of us prepares some sweeties; scones, cakes, flans, home-made biscuits, you name it.  Occasionally someone treats our small community to some traditional dish or dessert.

Recently, as a combined treat to my flatmates and girlfriend (who came for a 3-day visit), I baked figolli.  I don’t expect many people to know what figolli are - they’re a traditional Maltese sweet that is available only in the weeks leading up to Easter (and a few days after, with the unsold products going at reduced prices).

A figolla is a sort of layerd cake, with an almond paste sandwiched between two layers of dough.  Usually it’s covered in chocolate or coloured icing sugar.  Traditionally they come in various shapes; butterfly, heart and all sorts of animals: fish, ducks, dogs, lambs and cats invade the pastry sections of Maltese supermarkets all through lent.

I don’t usually bother with shapes however.  I learnt to bake figolli coz I love this particular sweet and don’t find it outside my country.  Since my flatmates are likewise sweet-tooths, once ready the cake usually doesn’t last the day so why bother too much with appearances?  Thus I make one big bastard of a figolla and chuck it in the oven.  Then it’s just a matter of melting some tasty chocolate to coat it and make it even more of a calorie-bomb.