Cooking with Reuben

Reuben Grixti, Executive Head Chef at Le MERIDIEN St Julians Hotel & Spa presents:

PACCHERI PANCETTA PASTA

An amazingly tasty pasta dish!

INGREDIENTS

500g paccheri pasta
100g pancetta
40g sundried tomatoes
30g onions
12 ml extra virgin olive oil
50ml white wine
80ml chicken stock
60ml fresh cream
30g fresh spinach





METHOD

Chop the pancetta, the onions and the sundried tomatoes. Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Add the diced pancetta and the chopped onions. Sauté over a medium heat until the onions are a nice light golden brown. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until your preparation is reduced by half. Add the chicken stock and the chopped sundried tomatoes. Simmer gently for a few minutes. Reserve and keep warm. Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until Al Dente. This ideal cooking point is soft but holds shape, and is starchy enough for your sauce to stick on to perfection. Drain well and transfer the cooked paccheri into the sauce. Add the fresh cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Plate, garnish with fresh spinach tossed in extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.

Tell us what you think about this recipe and/or if you find ways to personalize it!
Taste this dish at KuDeTa Lounge & Bar, level 3 of the hotel, throughout summer.
www.kudeta-restaurant.com 

The Sweet Sound of Christmas

If you are not yet muttering famous Christmas tunes, you can count on Le Méridien's Christmas portfolio to feed your imagination and leave you craving for the upcoming festive season.

This year, the hospitality team of Le Méridien St Julians Hotel & Spa in Balluta Bay has built its Christmas outlook around the unifying theme of music. A heartening choice that offers the great faculty of gathering crowds, whilst leaving the hotel ample space to elaborate their menus and Christmas decoration in an enchanting, yet captivating way. Here, the usual Christmas functions promise to deploy into perfect “orchestrations” and each piece of the concept pledges to be a vibrant medley of Christmas memories.

“This year for us, music is key”, explains Melissa Caruana, Marketing Executive at Le Méridien St Julians. “We have chosen and developed our concept around this theme for the simple reason that we could still offer our patrons the traditional spirit that is expected for Christmas events, but it would also allow us to take it to a whole different level. The idea was very well received in all departments involved. Our creative kitchen brigade came up with menus articulated around famous musicals and inspiring quotes related to the vast world of music. Our Christmas brochure itself was designed with our theme in mind and each word was chosen carefully, to transport our clients to an inviting world from their selection process to the event itself.”

Starwood Preferred Guest: Best in Class

Turn a night out in Malta into a free night abroad

Starwood Preferred Guest® is the loyalty programme of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, the mother company of Le Méridien. Whereas before the SPG programme was only rewarding his members for accommodation charges, it is now extending this scheme to the restaurants of participating properties such as Le Méridien St Julians Hotel & Spa in Balluta Bay. The hotel goes one step further, not only by giving its loyal customers the possibility to earn Starpoints® in all of its bars and restaurants, but also by granting points to the third-party outlets making commerce in its premises. This is the first local loyalty scheme in terms of dining that also adds an international dimension to its redemption possibilities.

A FEAST OF FOOD

Festa Fridays at Le Méridien St Julians hotel & spa
Il-Pjazza outdoor restaurant opens its doors to a typical Maltese summer next week.

On Friday 8th of June, il-Pjazza – Le Méridien’s outdoor restaurant will officially open for the summer season and will once again celebrate the colourful ways of wining and dining in Malta with the come-back of its popular "FESTA FRIDAY". Le Méridien St Julians Hotel & Spa in Balluta Bay invites his summer clientele to lay back in a typical set-up inspired by the Festa atmosphere that sprinkles the island throughout the summer months.  

The name "il-Pjazza" was born quite naturally when the hotel launched this original venue last year. What better term could describe a typical gathering, at the heart of the village feasts in Malta?
Il-Pjazza is located on a wide terrace of the hotel’s premises (level 1) and opens every Friday for this much-awaited FESTA that is a delight for both Maltese patrons, who get the chance to indulge in each and every one of their favourite dishes, and for overseas visitors who can unveil the many culinary secrets of Malta’s cuisine all in one go.    

Il-Pjazza - or the Maltese way of living

On Friday 10th of June, il-Pjazza – Le Méridien’s new outdoor restaurant will officially open and unlock the colourful ways of wining and dining in Malta with its very first "FESTA FRIDAY". With this new venue, Le Méridien St Julians invites his summer clientele to lay back in a pleasant set-up inspired by the Festa atmosphere that sprinkles the island throughout summer.

"We wanted to widen our dining options", explains Andre Scerri, F&B Director at Le Méridien St Julians. "It had become obvious that we needed to present an original summer venue and the idea of re-creating the concept of our island’s popular Festa in a 5 star environment imposed itself to us".

The name "il-Pjazza" was also born quite naturally when the hotel’s team brainstormed about the Maltese way of living. What better term could describe a typical meeting point, at the heart of the village feasts in Malta?