Rabbit – very popular with us Maltese! Here’s a delicious recipe with the rabbit liver, its kidneys, heart etc. – the usual stuff which is traditionally fried on Sunday!
Ingredients – Serves 4
- rabbit liver, kidneys, heart etc. of 2 rabbits
- 1 small onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stick
- 100g pancetta
- 2 bay leaves
- 300gr tomato sauce
- 1 tblsp tomato puree
- salt & pepper
- olive oil
Chop finely the onion, carrot and celery. Pour some olive oil in a saucepan and add the chopped vegetables. Leave until onion is transparent. Add the pancetta and the chopped liver, kidneys etc. Cook until brown. Pour in the tomato sauce, 1 tblsp tomato puree and bay leaves. Season with salt & pepper and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.
Prepare boiling water for pasta and add the pasta of your choice. Serve with the sauce and sprinkle with some grated parmesan.
Enjoy!
Sorry no photo available.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged liver, pancetta, pasta, rabbit, tomato sauce | Leave a Comment »
February 28, 2010 by Olivia
Home Made Fettucine
Finally I’ve got a pasta machine! Yeah!! The good news is that it’s not the basic machine but it also has an electronic motor attached – which means you just need to press a button so that it rolls the pasta – AND it includes the attachment to do long pasta shapes such as tagliatelle, spaghetti, fettucine etc. I was over the moon this morning when my aunt brought it over after arriving from Italy! As soon as I saw it I could not resist for long so I rolled up my sleeves and tried it out! So here they are my home made fettucine! 
We served them with some basil pesto, green beans and potato – a typical recipe from Genova. Rest assured that you will be seeing many more home made pasta recipes… there’s nothing like fresh home made egg pasta!
Just in case you want to try the pasta dough – for 1 kg pasta I used 600gr flour and 6 eggs.
Posted in Other | Tagged egg pasta, fettucine, fresh pasta, home made, pasta | Leave a Comment »
February 28, 2010 by Olivia
Rolled pork loin
Sunday Lunch recipe! Use leftovers for scrumptious sandwiches!
Ingredients for 4:
1 kg pork loin (ask the butcher to open the loin for you so that you can put some filling and roll it )
2 large leeks
1 lemon
200ml water
1 tsp sugar
rosemary sprigs
white wine
salt & pepper
Grate the lemon rind into strips and put into a pan with the water and sugar. Leave to cook for 10 minutes then drain and keep aside. Cut the leeks into 4 and boil them in salted water for 2 minutes. Dry them with paper napkins. Place the pork loin on a flat surface and position the leeks on top of it, add the lemon rind, rosemary sprigs, salt & pepper. Roll the pork and tie with kitchen string until it is firmly secured. Put some olive oil in a pan, add the meat and seal it from all sides. Place in an ovenproof dish, pour the wine and cook for 40 minutes on 200 degree Celsius. You can use a roasting bag to keep the juices secured. When ready leave to cool, slice and serve cold or warm with some roasted potatoes and mango chutney.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged leeks, lemon, oven-baked, pork | Leave a Comment »
February 22, 2010 by Olivia
There’s nothing more fun for children then letting them cook and bake. Yesterday, me and my 12 year old cousin indulged into some serious cooking and wanted to prepare a light and tasty dessert so we discovered this delicious recipe of a light chocolate and orange cake with yogurt! Believe me you will cut one slice after the other until the plate is empty!
Celine & the cake
Ingredients:
- 380gr flour
- 300gr sugar
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 60gr cocoa powder
- 250gr low-fat natural yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
- 250ml water
- 120ml orange juice
- 2 tblsp grated orange peel
Lightly butter a cake tin and dust with cocoa powder. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, bicarbonate, salt, cocoa and cinnamon. In another bowl mix the yogurt, vanilla essence, balsamic vinegar, water and orange juice. With a mixer beat all the ingredients together on low speed. Add the grated orange peel and pour into the baking tin.
After 30 – 40 minutes the cake should be ready. Leave to cool and set on a serving plate.
If you feel like you can decorate the cake with some orange juice icing. Just take 100gr icing sugar and mix it with 2 tblsp orange juice. Pour juice little at a time until the mixture is drizzly. Pour over cake and leave to set. Serve with sliced fresh oranges.
11 out of 10 for Celine!
Choc-orange cake
Posted in Recipes | Tagged chocolate, dessert, light, orange, yogurt | Leave a Comment »
February 18, 2010 by Olivia
Rabbit filled ravioli
It’s been a long time since I wanted to try out the home made rabbit ravioli and I took the opportunity to prepare them for the lavish meal prepared on the eve of St. Valentine’s… no no no it was not a candlelit, romantic evening with my loved one… it was a dinner organized for friends and in the company of my cute cousin whom I am babysitting at the moment! So you can rule out any romantic undertones for this special occassion – it will be for next year hopefully!!
So, here’s the recipe for 6 persons:
For the pasta you need:
Mix the flour and the eggs until the dough is formed. Knead for 15 minutes until smooth and silky and leave to rest in the refrigerator for half an hour.
For the filling you require:
- 600g rabbit’s meat
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 celery
- white wine
- stock
- sage
- salt & pepper
- olive oil
- butter
- parmesan shavings
Cook the chopped onions, carrots and celery with a little olive oil. Add the rabbit pieces and fry until brown on both sides. Add the white wine and cook on high heat until it evaporates. Following add some stock and leave to simmer for around an hour until the rabbit’s meat is very tender. Leave to cool and remove the meat from the bones. Blend the meat with the cooked vegetables until a smooth paste is formed.
Start opening the dough into large thin sheets in order to prepare the ravioli. Put some filling in the middle and cut into shapes of your liking. I did them in the form of ‘tortelli’ rather than ravioli but feel free to do them as you please.
When the ravioli are ready prepare a large pan of boiling water and when its boiling drop the ravioli and cook for approximately 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the pasta. In a separate frying pan melt some butter, add a smashed garlic clove and chopped sage leaves. Put in the cooked ravioli and combine well with the butter. Serve with parmesan shavings.
Home Made Rabbit Ravioli
Posted in Recipes | Tagged pasta, rabbit, sage, starter | 1 Comment »
February 10, 2010 by Olivia
Globe artichokes are easily available at this time of year! This is a diversion from the traditional recipe which is so popular in Malta… that is artichokes filled with tuna, garlic, capers, parsley etc.
Meat filled artichokes
Ingredients for 4 persons:
Clean the artichokes by cutting the stem first and removing the fibrous part of it. Keep the tender part of the stem aside. Continue by pulling off the outer leaves and discard them. Cut off 1/3 of the head of the artichoke and then under running water press the artichoke between your palms to open up the rest of the leaves. Scoop out the spiky center and throw away. Place the clean artichokes in a bowl filled with lemon juice and water.
Oven-baked artichokes
In the meantime, prepare the filling. Pour some olive oil in a pan add the bacon, garlic, parsley, sausage meat, onion and the artichokes’ stem, everything finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper and cook on very low heat.
Take the artichokes out of the water and place in an oven proof dish one next to each other. Fill in the globes with the meat mixture, pour on some olive oil and the white wine. Cover with foil and cook in a pre-heated oven of 180 degrees for around an hour. At intervals pour over the globes some of their own cooking water so that they do not dry up.
Once cooking time is over, serve with some grated lemon rind on top and with boiled potatoes. Enjoy!
Posted in Recipes | Tagged artichokes, pancetta, parmesan, sausage meat | Leave a Comment »
February 7, 2010 by Olivia
Pea, Speck and Pumpkin
There’s nothing easier to prepare than soups! Simple, low in calories and a filling dish which warms your spirits in the few cold days we are blessed with on this island.
Try this one out!
Ingredients for 4 persons:
- 200g dried split green peas
- 150g pumpkin
- bay leaves
- 80g speck slices
- 2 small onions
- 4 slices crusty bread
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tblsp white wine vinegar
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Put the peas in water and leave to soak according to packet instructions. In the meantime, slice the onions very thinly and put into cold water for 30 minutes. In a deep pan put the chopped pumpkin, bay leaves, the peas and around 1.5 ltrs of water. Cover and bring to boil then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Then remove the bay leaves and blend the mixture. Add salt and leave in pan. In a frying pan pour some olive oil and fry the bread cut into cubes and the speck cut into strips until both are golden. Remove from pan. Add some more oil in the same frying pan and throw the fennel seeds and onions and cook for some minutes. Then add the bread and speck to the onion mixture, pour in the vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve the soup into bowls and distribute the bread mixture on top evenly.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged bread, peas, soups, speck | Leave a Comment »
January 31, 2010 by Olivia
Nearly unfailingly, every Sunday morning is dedicated to cooking. During the week I start looking for innovative recipes to try during the weekend. Then, a special menu is created for Sunday lunch which is usually a 3 course meal. This Sunday we had some friends over and prepared the following menu:
- Octopus salad served on a chickpea puree
- Salmon and potato frittata
- Pici al limone (Tuscan type of pasta with lemon flavour) with artichoke hearts, leeks and guanciale
- Orechiette with sausage meat, broccoli and fresh tomatoes
- Ricotta and pear pie (Torta ricotta e pere)
Torta ricotta e pere
Would like to share with you the recipe of the salmon and potato fritatta – so here it is:
Serves 4
- 150g fresh salmon, cooked
- 2 medium sized potatoes, cut into small cubes and boiled
- 1 garlic clove
- 5 eggs
- fresh parsley chopped
- salt & pepper
Chop finely the garlic and parsley. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the cooked salmon, boiled potatoes, garlic, parsley, salt & pepper. Pour into an oiled oven proof dish and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes until brown. Delicious with toasted bread!
Salmon Frittata
Posted in Events, Recipes | Tagged antipasto, eggs, fish, frittata, oven-baked, potatoes, salmon | Leave a Comment »
January 24, 2010 by Olivia
Mushroom & Tomato soup
If you find some nice white mushrooms you can indulge in this simple and tasty soup. Here is what you require:
Serves 4
- 500gr mushrooms
- 1 onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 large potato
- 2 fresh tomatoes
- 1ltr vegetable stock
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Chop the onion, garlic and celery stalk. Pour some olive oil in a pan, add onion, garlic and celery and fry for some minutes until onion is transparent. Meanwhile roughly chop the mushrooms, potato and tomatoes. Add to the other ingredients in the pan and stir for 5 minutes. Add the stock, salt and pepper and bring to boil. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes. Blend soup until it becomes creamy. Serve with some chopped parsley and toasted bread.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged mushrooms, potatoes, soup, vegetarian | Leave a Comment »
January 18, 2010 by Olivia
Since we still had in stock a traditional Christmas pudding we thought of making home made custard to accompany it. Here’s the recipe to follow. It might take quite some practice to get perfect custard yet its worth a try and the taste of it is incredible when compared to the ready made ones!
Serves 4
- 250ml whole milk
- 250ml double cream
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- 4 large egg yolks
Mix milk, cream and 2 tbsp caster sugar and the vanilla pod scored lengthwise in a saucepan. Bring to boiling point and then remove from heat and leave to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl put the egg yolks and the remaining 1 tbsp sugar – whisk until mixture is whitish. Start adding a ladle at a time the milk mixture and whisking well until adding the next. Pour the egg mixture in the warm saucepan where there was the milk and cook for few minutes stirring continously with a wooden spoon. After few minutes the yolks should be cooked and the custard starts looking creamy. Take it off heat immediately and serve it warm or cold. If you are re-heating cold custard do so by the bain-marie method.
Custard
Posted in Recipes | Tagged custard, desserts, eggs | Leave a Comment »
