Roasted Peppers with Anchovies

This is a delicious summer salad, on it's own, as a side or as a topping on toasted maltese bread. Can be also made for vegetarians by omitting the anchovies.

From when i was a little boy, every summer i remember my godfather roasting peppers on the naked flame and meticulously removing the charred skin to make this delicious salad. It always seemed like a very laborious process for a side but it was worth the effort.

I recently found this recipe which is very similar to what he used to do but with added anchovies... and an easier way to skin the roasted peppers... so i tried it and the result was delicious.

Date Diamonds - (Imqaret)

 

For the pastry:

400g flour

75g sugar

pinch baking powder

100g margarine

1 egg

For the filling:

400g dates

lemon zest

orange zest

some brandy or anisette

Method

Mix margerine, flour and baking powder together and work until smooth

Mix sugar and egg together, add the flour and work to a smooth dough.

Leave to rest for 2 hours.

Put the dates with two tablespoons of water in a small pan and heat for a few minutes.

Add zests and brandy and work the mixture with a fork.

Open the pastry into long strips about 10cms wide.  Brush the edges with water.

Put a little filling in the centre.  Fold pastry.

Press both edges to keep the filling in.

Using a ravioli cutter cut into large diamond shaped slices about 40cms long.

Cook in plenty of hot oil until golden brown or else bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes or until golden.

 

Butternut Squash & Bacon Risotto

Here's one of my latest healthy recipes using butternut squash / pumpkin.  Both marry superbly with bacon in this tasty risotto.  Enjoy!

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves crushed
115g streaky bacon, chopped
1 butternut squash / pumpkin (about 900g, peeled, seeded and cut into small chunks)
1 cup arborio rice
750 ml chicken stock
40g freshly grated  Parmesan cheese.
1 tbsp fresh parsley
salt and pepper





Method



Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic for about 3-4minutes, stirring frequently until beginning to soften.  Add the bacon and continue frying until both the onion and bacon are lightly golden.

Add the squash or pumpkin and stir-fry for a few minutes.  Add the rice and stir fry for about 2 minutes.

Gradually add the hot stock and simmer, stirring frequently.

Add a little of the stock and stir well.  Simmer, stirring frequently until the rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid.  The risotto should be bubble but not boil fiercely.

Add some more of the simmering stock and cook, stirring, until it is almost all absorbed.  Continue adding the stock in this way until the grains of rice are tender and the risotto is creamy but not runny.  Use smaller quantities of stock towards the end of cooking.  The risotto will take about 30 minutes to cook in total.
 
When the rice and squash are tender, season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in the grated Parmesan.  Sprinkle over the parsley and parmesan shavings and serve.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

This is very easy to do and use in all your delicious pumpkin concoctions, from pie to soup to pumpkin pie spice lattes...

Just mix the ingredients together and keep in a jar.

Creme Anglaise

Ingredients

2 Vanilla beans
250g heavy cream
125 g whole milk
50g sugar
113 egg yolk
4.5g salt


Method

Chop vanilla beans

Combine ingredients in a pot
Whisk by hand to incorporate.
 
Heat ingredients
On medium-high heat, heat to 180 °F / 82 °C, whisking constantly.

If you don't have a thermometer, simply check for consistency: The texture should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and should hold its structure when you swipe your finger tip across it.
 
Strain; cool at room temperature
Pass the heated liquid through a sieve. Cool at room temperature.

Enjoy 

Molten chocolate souffle

Ingredients

188g whole milk
34g flour
34g butter
98g sugar
68g egg yolk (about 3 eggs)
112g egg white (about 5 eggs)
135g dark chocolate 70%
7g salt

Preheat oven

Heat oven to 375 °F / 191 °C.

Prepare ramekins

Butter each ramekin thoroughly, being careful not to miss any spots. (Unbuttered spots will cause your soufflé to stick.)

Add a small amount of sugar to one of the ramekins. On its side over another ramekin, rotate to allow the sugar to adhere to all the buttered surfaces. Catch excess sugar with the other ramekin. Repeat until all your molds are coated evenly with sugar. 

Combine flour, butter, and salt

Combine ingredients with your hands until they form together, leaving no dry flour.

Heat milk and sugar

In a small pot, combine ingredients and bring to a boil on medium heat.

Add flour mixture to pot

Add the flour and butter mixture to the hot milk and whisk until dissolved.

Cook for 4 minutes on low heat until the mixture has a thick, gummy texture.

Add chocolate

Add chocolate and stir until melted and well-incorporated.

Add egg yolk

Add egg yolk to chocolate base and whisk until well-incorporated.

Whip egg whites

Using a whisk, whip egg whites into a light foam.

Add sugar and continue to whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Fold meringue into soufflé base

Gently fold meringue into soufflé base in three stages.

Fill ramekins

Fill soufflé molds to the very top. Use the back of a knife to remove excess batter from the rim, creating a level surface. Use a dry paper towel to wipe any excess batter off the side.

Bake

Place the ramekins on a baking sheet, and bake for 17 minutes.

NOTE: Baking for 17 minutes will yield a soufflé with a custardy texture and a molten center. Increase time to 18–19 minutes for a fully-set soufflé with a springy texture.

Garnish

Using a small sieve, dust powdered sugar over the top and serve immediately. (Finished soufflés will quickly crack and deflate if not served immediately.)

Serve as is, or split open and fill with creme anglais

Pumpkin spice pie

Super easy pumpkin pie. 

Ingredients:

1 can condensed milk

400g cooked pumpkin

1 egg

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice mix

Pie shell or shortcrust pastry for pie shell

Method:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Prepare pie shell by opening pastry and covering your pie dish with the pastry. 

Cover with oven paper and fill with ceramic beads or dried beans. 

Bake for 20 min. 

In the meantime steam or cook the pumpkin in any way you prefer and when done, blend to make pumpkin purée. 

In a bowl beat the egg, condenced milk and pumpkin purée together with the spice mixture. 

When the pie shell is ready, remove beans and paper and fill with the pumpkin condenced milk mixture. 

Bake in the oven for another 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Remove from oven. 

Let it cool and voila. You can slice and serve alone or with a scoop of ice cream.