Liver and Onions with a Rich Onion Gravy

This is my collegue's recipie inspired from his Mum which she used to cook for him as a little boy. It brings back happy memories. Served with roast potatoes, chips or creamy mash. This is a little slice of heaven! And as Liver is inexpensive, easy on the wallet too.




Ingredients

  - 450g lamb's liver, trimmed
  - 2 tbsp plain flour
  - 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  - 25g butter
  - 4 rindless smoked bacon rashers, chopped
  - 2 onions, sliced or wedges
  - Some garlic half chopped
  - Mushrooms well washed
  - 175ml beef or vegetable stock
  - 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  - 1 cup red dry wine
  - 1/4 tsp dried mixed herbs
  - salt and freshly ground black pepper
  - 5 large potatoes
  - Some milk & butter (for mash)





Preparation method

1.    Heat half the oil and half the butter in a saucepan over a low heat, add the onions and garlic and gently cook them for 10 minutes until soft and just starting to turn golden.

2.    Meanwhile, rinse the liver, then pat dry with kitchen paper. If it is not already sliced, cut into thin slices. Toss each piece in the flour, seasoned with  pepper. Do not salt as it will hard the liver

3.    Add the mushrooms, the stock, Worcestershire sauce, and herbs to the onions and bring to the boil. Add wine and stir until you have a smooth sauce.

4.  Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil and butter in a large frying pan over a moderate heat until sizzling. Add the liver and bacon and fry for 3–4 minutes on each side until the liver is just cooked and the bacon is lightly browned and crispy. Do not cook for too long or the liver will become tough.

5.    Remove the liver and bacon from the pan using a draining spoon and put onto warm serving plates, with the bacon scattered over the top of the liver. Spoon the onion and sauce on the side, then side each serving with mashed potatoes, pita bread and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.

Beef Goulash

This weekend I decided to revisit an old favourite, Beef Goulash.  The basis of a good goulash are onions and paprika.  I also added some dried porcini mushrooms for that extra rich flavour.  

Ingredients

900g chuck steak, diced

Vegetable oil

150 red wine

4 medium onions halved and sliced

450g mushrooms chopped

3 tbsp mild paprika

2 ½ cups beef stock

2 tbps tomato puree

15g porcini mushrooms soaked in warm water for 20 minutes

Sald and freshly ground black pepper

Cous cous to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C and season meat with pepper.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry meat over a hight heat turning once until browned.

Transfer to a flameproof casserole.  Return the pan to heat add the wine and stir with spoon to deglaze.  Pour the liquid over the meat and wipe the pan clean.

Heat remaining oil add the onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently until lightly browned and soft.

Add the fresh mushroom, paprika, stock, tomato puree, porcini and their liquid to the casserole.  Bring to a simmer, cover and cook in the oven for about 2hrs until meat is tender.

Serve with either jacket potatoes/ coucous and some cabbage and carrots

Bragjoli

Ingredients:

Bragjoli

For the Bragjoli

12 thin slices of beef

small bunch of parsley chopped

6 slices of smoked ham or bacon

300 grams Edam cheese (divided in 12 pieces)

6 hard boiled eggs - peeled and quartered pepper

4 cloves garlic chopped

For the Sauce

4 bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

3 tbsp finely chopped garlic

3 large onions

1 cup chopped carrots

1 large cup of frozen peas

1 litre of tomato polpa or passata

200 grams of tomato paste

1 glass wine

sea salt and pepper

oil for cooking

Method:

Preparation

Prepare the cut ham or bacon, quartered hard boiled eggs, sliced cheese and chopped garlic and parsley.

Place a slice of the thin pieces of beef on a clean surface.

Place a piece of ham or bacon onto the far end of the meat

Then place a piece of cheese, 2 quaters of hard boiled egg and sprinkle some minced garlic and parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Fold the sides of the meat to the center and roll over to form a parcel.

Close the extremities with a toothpick on each side. Set aside and repeat with the rest of the slices.

Cooking

In a heavy based sauce pan, heat some oil and add some of the garlic, bay leaves and herbs.

Add the 'bragjoli' in batches of 4 or 6 so you can cook properly and have space to move and turn them.

Brown for about 2 to 3 min on each side and repeat process till all  are cooked.

Place to the side. In the same pan, add the remaining garlic, herbs and onions and some more oil if needed.

Deglace pan with wine so that the  bits of meat that might have stuck to the pan will come off.

Cook together for about 10 min, then add the chopped carrots and peas.

Add some more wine, cook for another 10 min,  then add the tomato polpa and paste.

Season, bring to the boil and add the 'bragjoli' you would have half cooked earlier.

Cook on a medium flame for about 20 to 30 min

Reduce heat and cook for another hour.

Baked Ribs

Spare Ribs! I just love slow cooking them when I invite my friends over for a bar b que.  Here in Malta we enjoy bar-b-ques mostly by the beach, or on rooftops.   Yes our rooftops are flat!  However that recipe calls for a bit of patience.  This one on the other hand is my 

non-summer version.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion cut into thin wedges

1 garlic clove, crushed

100 ml honey

1tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1tsp ground paprika

1tsp mustard powder

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 kg pork spare ribs

Fresh parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Heat oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 mins

Add the remaining ingredients except the ribs.  Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes

Place the ribs in a roasting tin, pour over the sauce and turn the ribs to coat them completely.  Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes, basting occasionally.  The ribs should be sticky and tender.  Serve garnished with fresh parsley. 

Fried rabbit with a spicy tangy sauce.

Love rabbit but want to try a different taste? With this sauce you will end up eating a lot of Maltese bread after you finish your rabbit... you will not even need to wash the plate... it's finger lickin' good

Ingredients:

1 rabbit cut

6 garlic cloves

4 bay leaves

1 tbs thyme

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp crushed chilies

4 cups red wine

2 tsp olive oil

2 shallots sliced

2 tbs flour

200ml beef stock

2 cups red wine

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 tbs sweet chilly sauce

salt and pepper

fresh parsley chopped

Method:

Place rabbit pieces in a bowl and add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, ground cloves, crushed chilies and cover with red wine and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Heat oil in frying pan.

Brown rabbit pieces in the oil together with the bay leaves and the garlic.

Add some of the marinade to the pan so that you always have some liquid in the pan.

 

When the rabbit pieces are cooked, remove from the pan and add the onions till soft.

If you have enough rabbit fat in the pan, just add the flower and make a roux until the mixture is dark brown. If you do not have enough fat, add some more olive oil.

Add the 2 glasses of wine and the stock to the mixture and stir until you have a smooth sauce.

Stir in the vinegar and sweet chillie. Taste and season accordingly.

Reheat the rabbit pieces in the sauce turning once to cover with sauce, add the fresh chopped parsley and serve.

You can serve the rabbit pieces covered with sauce with chips and/or Maltese bread. 

Don’t forget to put some sauce on the chips (as I did before i took the photo but I added mine after wards)… My kids end up eating bread with the sauce it’s delicious…

Try it and tell me what you think.

Bon apetit.

Rabbit with Rosemary and White wine

Rabbit is undoubtedly one of the typical dishes of the mediterranean region.  Not only here of course however in Malta we have villages such as Mgarr which specialize in this typical dish.  It is usually fried with garlic after being marinated in white wine.  Here's a different way of cooking rabbit.   A very tender and juicy rabbit is what you'll get.

serves 2

ingredients 

1kg rabbit
30ml olive oil
1 medium leek sliced thinkly
2 cloves garlic
30g plain flour
300 ml chicken stock
60ml dry white wine
3 tbps dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary
150g button mushrooms
1 zucchini  sliced thinly


Method 
Clean and trim rabbits, cut into pieces.  rinse under cold water, pat dry.

Heat some of the oil in large frying pan.  Cook rabbit in batches until browned all over.  heat remaning oil in pan, cook leek and garlic.  At this point i like adding some rabbit seasoning if you manage to find that.

Stir in flour, stir until mixture is dry and grainy.  Remove pan from heat, gradually stir in stock, wine and mustard.  Stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens.  Return rabbit to pan, add rosemary.  simmer, covered about 90 minutes or until rabbit is tender.

Add vegetables, simmer covered 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Baked Cannelloni

 

 You like pasta but you also like meat...but you've had enough of the usual pasta bolognese.  So here's what you should try..Baked Cannelloni filled with beef, spinach and ricotta.
 

Ingredients:

for the filling:

250g ricotta
200 spinach
1 egg
grated cheese
crushed chillies
1/2 tsp nutmeg

for the sauce:

1 onion
250g minced meat
oregano and chives
basil
mixed herbs
350g tomato puree'
200 ml beef stock
250g bechamel sauce

Method

 
For the Sauce

Heat olive oil, satue onion, add the miced meat until brown

Add some ground pepper and herbs

Add the  add puree and stock and leave to simmer for 20 minutes or until reduced.

Add  bechamel sauce and stir well
 

For the filling

Mix together ricotta, egg, cooked spinach, nutmeg, and grated cheese.

Boil cannelloni for 4 miutes in salted water

Drain cannelloni and stuff each one with filling.  I use a piping bag for this part.

Place cannelloni in an oven proof dish. Cover with sauce.

Add the parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 200C for 20 minutes or until top is browned.

 

Rib eye with creamy Hot pepper sauce

Love meat but you don't make your own sauce? Feel like something spicy and tangy to go with your favourite steak? This sauce is a cross between pepper sauce and piri piri and it's very easy to prepare...

Ingredients

2 rib eye Steaks

1 shallot sliced

1 tbsp Crushed peppercorns

2 red chili peppers chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

Juice of half a lemon

Olive oil, for frying

1 tbsp Brandy

150 ml beef stock

100 ml Double cream

Method

Fry the steaks over a high heat until seared on both sides. Remove the steaks and cover with foil to rest. Retain the juices in the pan.

Add the sliced shallots until they are soft.

Add the peppercorns, chili peppers, garlic powder and deglaze with brandy. Flame to remove the alcohol. Add the lemon juice and the hot stock and cook over a medium heat until the sauce has reduced by 2/3. At this stage be sure to incorporate any of the beef juices that have escaped on the plate where they had been resting.

Turn down to a low heat, and add the cream to the sauce, heat for a further 5 minutes, again stirring occasionally.

Taste and season accordingly with salt and pepper.

As soon as the sauce has reached the desired consistency, you can serve as a sauce with the meat or if you prefer you can reheat the meat in the sauce so that the meat is covered in sauce and serve with the remaining sauce on top.

enjoy and please leave your feedback after you try it out...

Slow Cooking Lamb Shanks

Here's one for all the lamb shank lovers.

 

Ingredients

2 lamb shanks

2 Bay leaf

1 garlic head (leave each clove with peel on)

600ml chicken stock

375 ml red wine

1 leek roughly chopped

2 onion roughly chopped

2 carrot chopped

1 spring thyme

1 spring rosemary

2 potatoes sliced

Olive oil

Method

Cover the bottom of an oven proof dish with potatoes, onions, garlic cloves (unpeeled), leeks and carrots add some olive oil.

Take the shanks and rub with your favourite mixture.  I prefer the bbq rub.

Now place the shanks on top of the vegetables.

Add the chicken stock and wine around the shanks.

Sprinkle the thyme and rosemary on top.

Cover dish with foil.

Place in a 150C oven for 2.5hrs

Chicken Fajitas

 Love chicken and want to try something different which can be eaten while watching tv?

Ingredients:

4 mixed bell peppers cut into long strips

1 chicken breast cut into long strips

4 onions peeled and chopped into strips

400 gms cooked and drained red kidney beans

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp cumin powder

2 tbsp. lime juice

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. red paprika

1/4 tsp. crushed red paper flakes

1 package of soft large tortillas

Mexican cheese blend, shredded

Suggested condiments: salsa, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole

Directions:

In a large frying pan, add the olive oil on medium heat. Brown the chicken slices on both sides.

 

Add the onions and the bell peppers and fry for 5 minutes until they are soft. Add the rest of the ingredients stirring regularly.

 

Heat the tortillas, spread your preferred condiments and add 2 tablespoons of the cooked mixture on top. Fold the fajitas and serve immediately.

and hey presto... chicken fajitas you can enjoy while watching your favourite TV show...