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
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January 16, 2010 by Olivia
If anyone of you have 2 hours to spare you cannot miss doing these fresh home made tortellini… then just serve them in broth and rest assured that this dish will warm your heart in cold days like today!
So what you need for around 100 tortellini is:
- 400gr flour ‘00′
- 4 eggs
- salt
Then, for the filling:
- 200gr prosciutto crudo or speck
- 150gr asiago cheese
- milk
- salt
- ground nutmeg
Start by preparing the dough for the tortellini. Mix together the flour, eggs and salt in the food processor until the dough is formed. Work out the dough with your palms for about 15 minutes then leave to stand in the refrigerator for half an hour. In the meantime prepare the filling. Chop finely the prosciutto crudo and asiago cheese, add some milk so that the mixture becomes sticky. Season with salt and nutmeg.
Roll the dough with the rolling pin until its smooth and thin. Cut into 5 cm squares and place some mixture in the center of the squares. Dab the edges with some water and close to form a triangle then wind the folded edge around your index finger and press to form a ring. Curl the top point slightly back. Lay on a flour dusted tray and keep cool until use or else you can freeze them.
Home-Made Tortellini
Now for the broth you need:
- 500gr beef for broth
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 3ltrs water
- sea salt
Pour the water in a pan add the carrots whole and peeled, the onion halved and the celery stalks whole. Add the piece of meat bring to boil and add the salt. Leave to simmer for 3 hours. When the broth is ready remove the froth which surfaces so that the broth is clear. Remove the meat and vegetables which you can preserve and eat the next day. Add the tortellini and cook for 5 minutes or so. Always taste them when the come up to the surface of the broth since this indicates that they are nearly cooked. Serve broth with some parmesan and enjoy the warmth!
Tortellini in broth
Posted in Recipes | Tagged asiago, broth, filled pasta, home made pasta, prosciutto crudo, tortellini | 1 Comment »
January 9, 2010 by Olivia
Was looking in the vegetable compartment and found 2 large aubergines waiting to be grilled and eaten… so I made out the following light and easy recipe!
Serves 4
- 2 large aubergines
- 1 scamorza affumicata (you can used mozzarella instead)
- 80gr anchovy fillets
- 1kg fresh tomatoes
- basil
- garlic
- peperoncino
- salt & pepper
- parmesan grated
- breadcrumbs
Aubergine & anchovy oven bake
Slice aubergines lengthwise about 1 cm wide. Grill them on a grill pan and keep aside. In the meantime boil some water and put in the tomatoes so that you can peel them off easily. When peeled chop into cubes. In a saucepan put some olive oil, peperoncino, and garlic. Fry for few minutes, add the tomatoes and leave cooking for 10 minutes letting an excess water absorb. Season with salt & pepper. Whilst the sauce is cooking take the aubergine slices and place a piece of scamorza cheese and an anchovy fillet on each slice then roll the aubergine and place in an greased ovenproof dish one next to each other. When the sauce is ready blend the tomatoes to a puree and pour over the aubergines. Sprinkle with parmesan and breadcrumbs and place in a pre-heated oven for around 20 minutes until browned. Serve with crusty bread!
Aubergine & anchovy parcels
Posted in Recipes | Tagged anchovy, aubergine, fresh tomatoes, parmesan, scamorza | Leave a Comment »
January 8, 2010 by Olivia
Quick chicken recipe you can enjoy after a hard week to spice up your weekend!
Serves 4
- chicken breast
- 8 slices fresh pineapple
- fresh rosemary twig
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tblsp butter
- 1 glass of white wine
- salt & pepper
Season chicken breast with salt & pepper. Grill on a hot pan and set aside. In the meantime with a pestle and mortar crush the peppercorns together with the rosemary leaves. Slice the pineapple and remove its core. Heat the butter in a pan and add the pineapple slices, previously dipped from one side in the crushed peppercorns and rosemary. Leave them 2 minutes from each side and remove from pan and keep warm. Add the wine in the same pan where you cooked the pineapple slices and leave to evaporate. Season with salt and put chicken in pan to warm up. Plate the pineapple slices and top them with grilled chicken. Pour over some of the wine sauce. You can serve with a fresh rocket salad dressed with olive oil, add some parmesan shavings and grilled pancetta. Bon appetit!
Posted in Recipes | Tagged chicken, parmesan, peppercorns, pineapple, rocket | Leave a Comment »
December 27, 2009 by Olivia
Asparagus omellette
Serves 8 (as a starter)
- 250g fresh or frozen asparagus
- 5 eggs
- 50g grated goats cheese
- salt & pepper
Asparagus omellette
Beat the eggs with some salt. Add the boiled asparagus cut into half lengthwise and the cheese. Season with some salt & pepper. Pour mixture in a rectangular oven dish. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and cook until the mixture is consistent and brown on top. Serve with some mayonnaise.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged antipasto, asparagus, eggs, oven-baked | Leave a Comment »
