As we mark Father’s Day today, it seems appropriate to talk about man-size meals. There is no country like America for truly man-size, not to mention gargantuan, meals, and if you have ever watched that ghastly Diners and Drive-ins programme on the Food Network, you’ll know exactly what I mean!
Mind you, some restaurants in Malta can be a bit like that – if they haven’t heaped a mountain of food on your plate, they think they haven’t given you value for money.
But there is a happy medium between a ‘ladies who lunch’ meal of two lettuce leaves and a spoonful of cottage cheese, and one consisting of Desperate Dan-sized pies as big as dinner plates.
If I were to take a straw poll of the three men in my life, knowing their preferences, I think they would choose steak, roasts, chicken, ribs and burgers in that order. As I very rarely cook steak at home (a treat I save to order in my favourite restaurant), and as it’s now getting too warm for heavy roasts, today I’m going for chicken, ribs and burgers.
Given a choice, my men would opt for chicken legs rather than breast (must be a caveman thing – tearing meat from the bones with their teeth!) and Cajun chicken is nice and spicy, and quick and easy to cook. The tomato rice can be cooked while the chicken is in the oven, and its good served with just a plain green salad. From start to finish, dinner on the table in about 40 minutes, can’t be bad.
Hamburgers apart, rolls in the US with some sort of savoury filling, either hot or cold, are called either submarines, or subs, hoagies or heros, depending on the shape or size. Subs and hoagies are usually huge, but heros are not quite so big.
For a different sort of ‘burger’, I made some pork and beef meatballs, put them into hollowed-out ciabatta rolls, spooned over some tomato sauce, topped them with mozzarella and put them under the grill for a few minutes.
With the tops back on and served with coleslaw and fries, they are guaranteed to satisfy the hungriest male! And they are very obliging too, as the component parts can be made in advance, then reheated, assembled and grilled just before serving.
Barbecuing is essentially a man-thing. Even men with only a passing acquaintance with the kitchen can profess to be experts at wielding the tongs, and my men are no exception, although I have to say my husband is truly a bit of an expert.
Ribs are one of the easiest things for them to barbecue, although the actual cooking is done in advance, usually by a female, but we’ll ignore that. Then it’s just a question of turning them over on a hot fire for a few minutes, so there’s no chance of the chef embarrassing himself, as he would with undercooked chicken or overcooked steak.
My younger son and I are both chocoholics and his all-time favourite dessert is Delia Smith’s chocolate truffle torte, which I have to make every time he comes to Malta, or I go to London.
Brownies are my secret indulgence and I’ve found a stunner that I’m sure he would enjoy as much I do. I have mentioned previously that I thought Prince William’s chocolate biscuit cake was the best, but forget that – I was wrong. Served with ice-cream, chocolate brownie cheesecake is to die for!