plate 40: malta

Forget hotcakes. There's a saying in Malta: "it'll sell like pastizzi" - and once you take a bite, it's simple to see why. These savoury pastries have been famous on the Mediterranean island of Malta for more than 400 years. From school kids to old ladies, apparently everyone's devouring them no matter what time of day. The country is littered with pastizzerias - whether they're street stalls, hole-in-the-wall joints, or larger cafes - so you can always get your fix.

I've read that because pastizzi are so cheap, most locals don't make them at home anymore, which is understandable given they're a little time-consuming to make. But I didn't mind. I couldn't think of a better way to while away the hours of the long weekend with the pitter-patter of rain outside than rolling out pastry, stuffing it with filling and shaping pastizzi into little boats. Plus they're dead easy to do.

I went a bit posh on the pastry - paying nine bucks for a 375g packet. Foodie friend Gemma instructed me that making my own butter puff pastry, which I was determined to do, would be way too time consuming and difficult, but that she knew of a wonderful French-made product that was worth the expense.

As I opened the packet, I handled the pastry like it was a sheet of gold - I was so scared of cracking it. But after I'd patiently waited for it to thaw to the right point of pliability, I rolled out the whole sheet until it was nice and thin. If there was ever a pastizzi competition I'm sure one of the criteria would be the thinness and flakiness of the pastry, so I wanted to make sure it wasn't too thick.

Of course you can fill your pastizzi with whatever you like, but the two authentic varieties are pastizzi ta’ l-irkotta - also called Maltese cheesecakes - we all know I love cheesecakes ;) - filled with ricotta and pastizzi tal-pizelli that are stuffed with peas cooked in onion and sometimes spices.

Lucky I learned my lesson in patience waiting for the pastry to thaw because I was going to need more of it. A whole half an hour once I'd slid the pastizzi into the oven. The tick tock of the clock was torture, but the smell wafting from the oven was intoxicating. All golden and puffed up, the pastizzi were ready to be pulled from the oven.

The idea is to eat them straight out of the hot oven. Wait a bit though so you don't burn your tongue. If you do, you run the risk of not being able to properly taste them and that would be diabolical.

As for flavour? Insert all adjectives that relate to incredible taste here and one more: addicitve. AJ, my aunty and I had about 10 each, no exaggeration. The pastry was well worth the money - it was beautifully buttery and helped the pastizzi to pass the flake test: a bite in and it fell ceremoniously like confetti over the plate.

If there was one criticism, it would be the pastry to filling ratio. The pastizzi needed a tad more filling, which was tricky because I was careful not to pack in too much for fear of them busting open in the oven. Other than that, 10 points to Malta this week.

The other bonus is that pastizzi can be frozen. My two packets of expeno pastry yielded about 50 of the little beauties, although I can't guarantee that they'll last in the freezer too long.

Give them a go at home, but if you want to taste test a few before spending a few hours - and $18 on pastry, head to the Pastizzi Cafe in Newtown. Pastizzi of all flavours line the walls. They even have dessert pastizzi with cheese and cherry (which from experience are A1) and chocolate, too. You can also buy frozen packs - perfect for late-night hunger emergencies or quick dinners.