I am writing this with hailstones clattering against the window, wearing three sweaters and virtually sitting on top of a radiator going full blast – and I’m still cold!

In fact, in all my years of living in Malta, I’ve don’t think I’ve ever been quite so cold. I do recall being in Sliema one evening a few years back when wet, slushy snow started to fall, but apparently even that wasn’t the coldest it has ever been.

According to the “Fifty years ago” feature in The Sunday Times recently, one day in February 1962 the mercury plunged to 29ºF, three degrees below freezing point.

In that sort of weather, desperate measures are called for in the shape of large and sustaining helpings of comfort food.

First up is a chilli recipe which is guaranteed to warm you up. Chilli con carne is a Tex/Mex recipe from the south western US, rather than from Mexico, and uses cubed or minced beef.

True Mexican chilli or mole is more often made with turkey or diced pork and usually contains a tiny amount of chocolate to darken the rich sauce.

My recipe is fairly hot, but you can use more or less chillies and cayenne according to taste. It’s good served with tortillas, sour cream and a cooling avocado and tomato salsa, or spooned over jacket potatoes.

I used Corona Extra Mexican beer, which is widely available, but if you can’t find it, use Cisk instead.

Then comes an Italian-inspired beef stew cooked in red wine with peppers and olives served with polenta, but it’s just as good with small pasta shapes, rice, mashed potatoes, or even herby dumplings.

Next is French chicken chasseur or hunter’s chicken, which is cooked with onions, mushrooms and herbs in a wine and tomato sauce.

I usually cut up a whole chicken for this, or occasionally ask the butcher to do it for me, but you can use chicken legs if you prefer. Actually, this is just the French version of Italian chicken cacciatore.

Finally, I made a stuff-ing with Maltese sausages, onion, sage and apple and rolled it in slices of pork and ham to make an alternative to beef braġoli.

I realise I may be on a sticky wicket here by interfering with a Maltese classic, and it may be that there is a pork alternative, but if not, it’s nice to try something new, and I’ve called it involtini so as not to offend the purists.