Our June issue was a sell-out - our 30th edition, hence the cover shown here, designed by Ramon Micallef.
Our high summer issue is out on 9 August with The Malta Independent on Sunday. Read all about great drinks for the hot weather, and fresh, light meals. Mark the date.
The next edition of Taste magazine is out on Sunday 12 April with The Malta Independent on Sunday - gather it up with your chocolate eggs!
The upcoming issue of Taste magazine will be distributed with The Malta Independent on Sunday on 8 February. We have lots of fabulous features planned. Alex Mattei and Nick Camilleri Preziosi have worked with seasonal artichokes to come up with delicious dishes sponsored by Satariano's range of SCIC kitchens. Matty Cremona has waved her magic wand and transformed humdrum potatoes into gorgeous food for cold days (forget the low-carb boredom; you only live once). Matty's also written a fascinating piece about carnival in Malta and its associated food. Mark Camilleri has gone wild with pancakes, but don't save these recipes for Shrove Tuesday. They make a great supper-time treat any day. Pippa Zammit Cutajar and I visit Dewar's in Scotland, and Beppe Coleiro contributes pieces about some more unusual aspects of food. Sadly, we must wave goodbye to Mark, whose recipes you've all enjoyed for the last couple of years, because he's off to great opportunities - what bliss to be in your 20s with all those doors wide open. Mark will be spending the next two years or so in Australia, training at a highly demanding Cordon Bleu academy. You'll be missed, Mark.
Our Christmas edition is out now: 160 pages packed with recipe ideas for the holidays, and many feature articles about some more unusual festive foods. Read about boar and peacock, swan and venison, and learn how to prepare the perfect Christmas goose. We enjoyed working on it, and you'll enjoy eating your way through it.
Make a date with your newsagent: Taste is out this Sunday. Matty Cremona cooks up a bean-feast and demonstrates different ways with lasagne, including some visually striking (and delicious) black lasagne filled with pink prawns. Alex Mattei and Nick Camilleri Preziosi prepare duck in three different ways. Mark Camilleri, who will soon be heading off to an elite cookery school in Australia - how we'll miss him - uses good, inexpensive pork to produce several excellent dishes. Claire Borg cooks three rabbit dishes. And there are lots of your favourite food information pages. Remember that our special Christmas edition is out two weeks after that, so book it now. We've all been working very hard to make sure that you're not lost for inspiration this holiday season. There are menus for large lunches, cakes and biscuits for tea-parties, methods for cooking game and poultry other than turkey, and much more. We've flown in pheasant, hunted for goose, tracked down pigeons and sourced some amazing French cheeses.
Incidentally, if you're a Michael Cauchi fan, he's now cooking at Townhouse 5 in Republic Street, Rabat - open for dinner most days and for lunch on Saturday and Sunday, though he's thinking of Friday lunch as well. His son Daniel is working with him in the kitchen. I've eaten there a couple of times already, and I really like his style and his way with food.
The next two issues of Taste are out on Sunday 23 November (that's our regular issue) and Sunday 7 December (that's our special Christmas edition, which has become a firm favourite. They're distributed with The Malta Independent on Sunday. Our Christmas edition has plenty of festive ideas, especially for those who want a break from the usual turkey. Matty Cremona prepares an Italian-inspired New Year's Eve dinner, Alex and Nick cook New Year's Day lunch, and Mark Camilleri has lots of ideas using game. Keep the date.
Taste No. 25 was published yesterday and The Malta Independent on Sunday, with which it is distributed, was sold out at most newsagents by 9am, and at early-opening stationers by 7am. Lots of you have been clamouring for us to increase our print run, but the explanation as to why we don't lies in economics. Taste is a free product, but producing enough to meet demand would increase our print bill enormously and we would be working at a loss. To solve this, we would have to charge very much more for advertising, ruin the popular Taste formula by selling the vast majority of pages, or make the magazine available at a cover price that reflects the true cost of production (expensive). And that would in turn affect our circulation to the detriment of our advertisers, forcing a drop in quality. I don't think any of us would want that. So be nice to your newsagent and reserve your copy well in advance. Meanwhile, we are going to be hard at work on the remaining two editions for this year - a regular issue out on 23 November and our super-popular Christmas special edition, out on 7 December. Please use the comment facility here to post your ideas for anything you would like to read about in these upcoming issues.
Taste No. 25 is out on 5 October with The Malta Independent on Sunday. Reserve your copy at your newsagent today. Taste goes to the Scottish Highlands and visits a whisky distillery, sees spring-water bottled, meets sheep, boar, Aberdeen Angus cows and Highland cattle, and gets to sample a wide range of local produce at the monthly farmers' market in Perth. Bernard Muscat writes about the wines of southern Italy. Matty Cremona shows you how to use whisky in a variety of recipes, relives the traditions of San Martin, and prepares a magnificent feast with Marsovin wines. Alex Mattei and Nick Camilleri Preziosi prepare some contemporary Scottish dishes using ingredients available in Malta. Don't miss out.
The phenomenal success of Taste magazine encouraged us to take the next step forward, and put our entire archive of recipes, features and articles on line for instant access. There are over a thousand recipes so far, and many more to come. This is a great place to get instant ideas on what to cook. Look in your refrigerator to see what's available, then key in 'chicken', for example, and you'll find yourself with a wealth of chicken recipes to choose from. We hope this will become the web portal that brings lovers of food and drink together. Check in for regular updates, news and views, and help make our food blog a lively place to be, sharing information and asking for advice.
And remember, the next issue of Taste magazine is out on 10 August with The Malta Independent on Sunday. Reserve your copy at your newsagent.
Daphne Caruana Galizia