Author Archives: Mikael
Limpets – overlooked pedestrian food
Over the next week I will be posting about tuna belly, urchins and other well known delicacies. So I thought it would be appropriate to precede those posts with some perspective by this short post on a relatively forgotten pedestrian ingredient that merits a lot of interest, namely common limpets or patelles in French or [...]
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Figs – quick and simple
This is a recipe for my friend Marc. He is waiting for the secrets behind a chocolate dessert but I found such nice figs today. Maybe another time Marc, I might reveal the recipe for the chocolate dessert. It is a simple preparation that is quick to make. The idea is to play with the [...]
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Sourdough crackers with toro-spread
In a previous post I used sourdough crackers and here comes the recipe. Simply take a couple of spoons of an active sourdough starter and mix it with around 3 dl of water and 200 grams of whole meal spelt flour (T80 preferably). Let it ferment for a few hours in room temperature and for another [...]
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Octopus – Part 2 – Baby octopus
There are few produce that I have a constant eye on the lookout for like for baby octopus. Whenever great examples of them, yes still crawling or just fallen asleep, cross my path I grab them before thinking what to do with them or if they will fit into the meal in which they will [...]
Octopus – Part 1– tender or not and what is tender
Octopus has bad reputation for being a rubbery and tasteless produce. I concur that more often than not, octopus served in restaurants fit this description. Correctly prepared it is a fantastic and relatively inexpensive produce that should not be overlooked. There are many ideas on how to tenderize octopus. Before we go into that, I [...]
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The Lampuki is on its way
The fish that is most intimately connected with Malta for the Maltese is lampuki, or dolphin fish or dorado. It arrives in mid-August and disappears in December. It is a relatively cheap fish. These ones were approximately 25 centimeters long. Larger ones are fished at other times of the year.
Lampuki is well suited to [...]
Posted in Cooking 7 Comments
Queen of the rocks leftovers
From the big dinner the other day there were some leftovers from the spiny lobster. It was a glorious 1,6 kilos female that was caught the same morning. Another time, I will write about these creatures more in detail and how to select them. I was pondering what to do with it. Other leftovers included [...]
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Cuttlefish – one more time
An often overlooked way to eat cuttlefish is simply serving it raw. When I get my hands on a live large cuttlefish, that is one that is still moving when I get home with it, I see no point in doing much cooking with it. Like this one from the other day.
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Cuttlefish – the natural way
Some years ago I ate small squids that were still alive. They were only maybe 5 centimeters long and crawled in my hand. I put them in my mouth and chewed them as they were crawling around in my mouth. It was quite a taste sensation. The flavors were simply incredible. It was like eating the [...]
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Red mullet season is here
The summer is the optimum period for savoring the Mediterranean red mullet. There are primarily two species of red mullet in the Mediterranean, Mullus surmuletus rouget de roche in French or striped red mullet, and Mullus barbatus or rochet de vase or rouget de sable in French or sand red mullet. The latter has two [...]
Posted in Cooking, Ingredients 4 Comments
Excuse the mess
Please accept my appologies for the mess while the content, structure and layout of Gastroville is being updated.
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Gastroville is back to life
After some time off blogging, I have revived Gastroville. Vedat continues to publish his thought provoking and thorough reviews at www.gastromondiale.com. I will continue food bloggning at Gastroville but there will be no restaurant reviews. Well at least probably none. Instead it will be about gastronomy, great produce, cooking, chefs and people who defend great [...]
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Fish heads and tails