For the Maltese, a fenkata is more than a meal. It's a social activity. It's a celebration. In other words it's an excuse to go out and let our hair down.
Perhaps lately, it's become a touch laddish. You can see them, the boys, when they bump into each other in the corridor at work, punching each other on the shoulder: "You're coming to the fenkata this evening, are ya?" with a wink, wink, nod, nod as if the unthinkable kind of fun might happen.
But really, this is what happens: they meet up at someone's home or in a workman's snack bar to eat fried rabbit (fenek moqli) and a rabbit stew (stuffat tal-fenek) - both served in the same meal with the stew as a starter. The fried rabbit is normally served with chips, and lots of fresh bread to mop up the juices. Wine is drunk, there's lots of jovial banter and then everyone heads home tired but happy, rubbing a well-nourished tummy.
According to anthropologist Carmel Cassar, fenkati date back to the time of the knights, although back then, rabbit pies were the traditional way of eating rabbit.
From then on the most important fenkata of the year took place in Buskett on the Imnarja, the eve of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul on June 29th.
Families would gather, cook rabbit, drink and make merry as they danced the night away in what could be described as something akin to a midsummer folk feast. Grandparents today still remember the time when part of the marriage deal was for the husband to take his wife to this festival.
Well, the fenkata might no longer be such a couples' thing but it is still very much one of the most popular and delightfully unpretentious local dishes.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 1 hour.
Ingredients:
1 rabbit in joints
Olive oil
2 onions sliced
2 carrots sliced
5 garlic cloves crushed
Red wine
Salt and pepper
150g cooked fresh peas
Spaghetti
5 potatoes for fries or patata l-forn
Method:
Dust the rabbit joints in seasoned flour. Fry few at a time in the hot olive oil until they are golden brown. Add the onions, carrots and garlic and fry until light brown. Return the rabbit to the pan and add a couple of glasses of red wine and season. Simmer, covered until the rabbit is tender, for approximately 1 hour. Add the peas in the last 15 minutes.
The traditional way of serving rabbit is to serve sauce with spaghetti as a first course and then to have the rabbit with remaining sauce and fries or patata l-forn as a second course.
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