Mini (quail) scotch eggs

As soon as my quails started laying eggs, I was already wondering what i could try to do with all those eggs... Besides the obvious mini sunny side up, poached hard boiled etc... I wanted to try the mini scotch eggs...

Salt Cured Olives

This is the other method of curing olives i promised you... Salt curing. 

Water Cured Maltese Olives

October is the month when olives are picked. Traditionally my father has been curing our olives in brine... This year I decided to try 2 other methods: water curing and salt curing.

This is the result of my water cured olives.

Method:

You can either crush the olives with a mallet or cut the olives (as i did) with a paring knife.
Place the olives in a bowl full of cold water and put a weight on so that all the olives are submerged.
I used a plastic bag filled with water and placed it on the olives.

Tabouleh

Tabouleh is uswally greener, but when I did this I had a limited amount of parsley

• Summer is a good time to try different salads. 
• The first time I was in Damascus I had this wonderful parsley salad and I have been trying to find the recipie ever since... 
• Tabouleh... it is very refreshing and tasty and you can still get free parsley from your vegetable vendor here in Malta... actually it's the only free thing we still get :)

So try it out and enjoy... 

Ful bit-Tewm - (Broad bean casserole)

Ingredients 

1.4grms  broad beans
Several cloves of garlic
Chopped parsley
Fresh mint
2 or 3 tablespoons vinegar
2 or 3 tablespoons oil
Courgettes cut into small pieces
1 potato cut into small pieces
Salt and pepper
1 large white onion small pieces

Method

Remove both the outer pods and the inner skins from beans.Put them in a saucepan and add the cloves of garlic.

Add the other ingredients together with water to moisten, about half a pint.

Bring to the boil and then simmer slowly until beans are cooked.

May be served hot or cold.

Enjoy with some malteses bread.

Gbejniet Friski

Here is a recipe for gbejniet which makes use of commercial rennet.

Ingredients

1 pint of milk

2 teaspoons rennet

A pinch of salt

Method

Put the milk in a saucepan and heat to 98° or until it reaches body temperature.  Stir in while heating.  Remove from the fire and add the rennet and the salt.  Cover and leave strictly alone for 1 hour.  Now spoon the mixture into 2 baskets and put these in a colander.  There may be too mcuh milk for the two baskets; you may have to wait until some moisture is lost.  After about 6 hours they should be fairly set.  Take one basket at a time, turn the cheese into the palm of one hand; now transfer it to the other hand and replace it in the basket.  This serves to turn the cheese upside down.  Put the baskets in a soup plate or pie dish and leave it to set until the next day.  Remember to empty out the liquid which oozes out.  Sprinkle the cheeses with rough salt and freshly ground black pepper and east with toasted Malta bread.

Stuffed Calamari

Stuffed Calamari

This is an exquisite recipe I got from a good friend of mine.  You should try it out.  Especially now with summer being around the corner, there is nothing better than this typical Mediterranean dish.

For the calamari

4 medium calamari

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

50g  uncooked Arborio rice

½ tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves

½ tbsp finely chopped thyme leaves

200g  chorizo, finely chopped

¼ tsp fennel seeds

125g pork mince

2 tsp paprika
handful of mixed seafood

pinch cayenne pepper

½ lemon, juice only

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

500g tomato juice

200ml/7fl oz fish stock

2 bay leaves

7 tbsp dry sherry

1 tsp finely chopped thyme leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

finely chopped parsley leaves to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 125C, or as close to this temperature as possible.
2. For the squid, prepare the squid by pulling out the tentacles along with the innards and the quill. Trim off and discard the innards and the quill. Pull the wings off the body then rinse the body, tentacles and wings and set aside.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 8-10 minutes, or until softened. Set aside to cool.
4. Finely chop the tentacles and wings from the squid and put them into a mixing bowl with the cooked onion mixture and all of the remaining squid ingredients.

 

5. Mix the stuffing well - it's easiest to just use your hands - then stuff it into the cleaned squid bodies. Don't pack the stuffing in too tightly as the rice will expand quite a lot during cooking - each squid body should be about half full. Secure the open ends of the squid bodies with cocktail sticks. Any remaining stuffing can be added to the sauce.

6. For the sauce, heat a heavy-based casserole dish (large enough to fit your squid snugly side by side) over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and throw in the sliced garlic. When it's just starting to turn golden-brown, add the tomatoes, followed by the fish stock, bay leaves, lemon zest, sherry and thyme leaves. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black 

pepper.  

 

7. Carefully place the stuffed squid into the casserole, pushing them down into the sauce, then bring to a very gentle simmer.

8. Transfer the dish to the oven and cook for two hours, or until the squid is very tender. Don't worry if some of the stuffing has forced its way out, just serve it with the sauce. 

9. Serve the squid with a few spoonfuls of sauce over the top. Scatter with the chopped parsley, and serve a crisp green salad alongside.

Strawberry Risotto

Now this may sound very odd, combining a sweet fruit typically consumed as a dessert and have it incorporated in a risotto.  Well, trust me, you should try it and taste for yourself.  It is very easy to do, very taste, and of course, very different.  Let me know how you like it.

These are the ingredients

Serves 4:

About 1 ltr Vegetable Stock

100g butter

1 onion, chopped

350g arborio rice

350ml dry white wine

300g strawberries, hulled

250ml single cream

salt and pepper

Method

Bring the stock to the boil.  

Melt haflf the butter in another saucepan, add the onion and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes

Add the rice and cook, stirring until the grains are coated in butter.

Pour in the wine and cook until it has evaporated

Add a ladleful of the hot stock and cook, stirring until it has been absorbed.  

Continue adding the stock , a ladleful at a time, and stirring until each addittion has been absorbed.  This will take 18-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, set a few whole strawberries aside, mash the remainder and add to the risotto about halfway through the cooking time.

When the rice is almost tender, stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper.  Serve garnished with the reserved strawberries.

Add some balsamic vinegar glace for that final touch.

Enjoy.

Figolli (2)

It's that time of the year again! Figolli Time.  Figolli are almond pastries cut out to represent symbolic figures. They come into their own at Easter time.  After our first figolli post, we couldn't resist the temptation, and decided to produce another lot which we would like to share with you all. The following recipe is for 4 - 5 figolli, depending on the thickness of the filling.

For the pastry

 
750 grams plain flour
350 grams unsa lted butter
250 grams sugar
4 egg yolks
Grated rind of 1 lemon


For the  filling
600 grams pure ground almonds
2 drops almond essence
600 grams sugar
Grated  rind of 1 lemon
Whites of 4 eggs

For the coating (royal icing)

400 grams icing sugar

2 egg whites

few lemon drops or almond essence

Method

Sift the flour into a bowl and  rub in the butter.  Mix in the sugar and  the lemon rind and combine. 

Add  the egg yolks a nd knead  into a dough. Turn  the dough onto a floured  surface and  knead for a few minutes. Cover and leave to stand  for 30 minutes in a cool place. 

Meanwhile, combine  the ground almonds, essence, sugar  and lemon rind in a bowl. Add  the egg whites and mix well.

Roll out  the pastry  over a floured  surface.  Use figolli cutters to cut out the pastry  into the figolli shapes of your choice. You will need  2 pastry shapes for each figolla.  Place 3 tablespoons of the almond mixture on 1 pastry  shape. Moisten the edges of the pastry with a little water and then top with  the other  pastry shape.

Press down  to seal edges together well. Proceed in the same  manner to prepare the other figolli.

Place the figolli on a greased baking tray and bake in a moderate to slightly hot oven for 35 minutes or until figolli are lightly browned.  Bring out of the oven and stand for 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

 

Now you need to coat your figolla with royal icing. To do this you will need 400 grams icing sugar mixed with 2 small egg whites and a few drops of lemon / two drops of almond essence.  Use a blender to mix well.

 

This is final result....

Hobza (Hard - Crusted Bread)

This is the hard-crusted bread recipe, good to eat with cheese, oil and tuna and good for toasts as well.

Ingredients

15g dried yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup lukewarm water, extra

extra plain flour

Method 

1. Crumble yeast into basin, add the ½ cup warm water, sprinkle sugar into water, cover, stand in warm place 15 – 20 minutes or until mixture is slightly foamy.  Sift flour and salt into large china or glass basin, make well in centre, pour in yeast mixture, oil and extra water.  Mix with hand squeezing dough well until dough starts to leave side of the basin.
2. Cover and let stand in warm place about 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in bulk.
3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead well for about 5 minutes using as little flour as possible.
4. Shape into a round ball, place on lightly greased oven tray, dust top thickly with extra flour, slash top as per photo. 
5. Put dough in cold oven, turn to moderately hot, (200C) for 45 minutes

Zeppoli ta San Guzepp

Ingredients

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup butter

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 tsp grated orange peel

1 tsp grated lemon peel

honey and chopped almonds for finishing

Ricotta Filling 

3 cups ricotta cheese

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tsbp grated orange peel

2 Tbsp grated lemon peel

Figolli

I promise I'll take a better picture this year... It tastes yummy though :)

 

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

350 grams caster sugar

800 grams plain flour, sifted

400 grams butter

Grated rind of 1 lemon

4 egg yolks, beaten

For the almond paste:

600 g caster or icing sugar

2-3 egg whites

Grated rind of 1 lemon

A few drops orange flower water

600 grams almonds, ground

To finish:

Glacé icing or chocolate for covering

Royal icing for decoration

Small Easter eggs

Method:

Make the pastry:

mix the sugar with the flour, then rubbing in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Add the grated lemon rind and the yolks, mixed with a little water to make a pliable dough.

Leave to chill.

Make the filling:

Add the sugar, orange flower water and lemon rind to the ground almonds, and bind with the egg whites.

Roll out the pastry and cut out your shapes.

Make two of each figure as they will be sandwiched with almond paste.

Lay the first shape on a greased and floured baking tray, spread with almond paste, leaving a small margin.

Lay the second shape over the top and press the edges together.

It helps if you wet the edges with a pastry brush to ensure adhesion.

Bake at 200 degrees C for 5 minutes, then at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, until pale golden.

Cool on the tray.

Finishing:

When cold, coat with glacé icing or melted chocolate, then decorate with royal icing in a different colours.

While the icing or chocolate is soft, press a small, foil-wrapped Easter egg in the middle of each shape.

Kwarezimal

Ingredients:

done yesterday (with pistaccios and cashews instead of just almonds)

100g of blanched almonds

100g of plain flour

125g of caster sugar

a dash of brandy or orange-flower water

the grated rind of one orange, one tangerine and one lemon

one tablespoonful of cocoa

honey and almonds to decorate

Method:

Toast the almonds briefly and grind them fairly roughly so that they are chunky rather than powdery.

Put them into a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients.

 

Stir them together adding enough water to make stiff dough. Be careful as after you add just a little water, the dough will still look dry. Do not add more water untill you knead it by hand. If it is still too dry add a little more water. Be carefull not to use too much water.

 

roll the dough and shape them into rectangles. Don't forget to make the traditional diamond pattern with the back of a knife.

 

Place them on well-greased baking-sheets and bake at 190 degrees celcius for 20 minutes.

They should be crisp at the edges but still soft. Don't worry if they feel soft, they will keep on hardening. If you leave them too long, they will be too hard.

Remove them from the oven and spread them with honey, scattering almonds on top.

The almonds will stick to the honey.