The Maltese Food Experience!

Recently I went on holiday to that little island slap bang in the middle of the Med sea (otherwise known as Malta) and I thought I would take my proverbial hat off to the their cuisine for my next post. As a result of this blog based decision I had to be that person who takes those pictures before diving into any tasty treat that landed in front of me – oh well. 

If there is one Maltese treat that shouldn’t be missed it has to be Pedro pastizzi. Flakey pastry and a choice of ricotta cheese or a sort of curried pea filling heated up is pretty yummy. Of course after the second pastizzi you’re likely to need a lie down before bombing into the swimming pool. Pastizzi can be found around every Maltese corner and are super cheap – 30 cents can go a long way in Malta!

It’s probably no surprise that Malta can also deliver when it comes to fresh fish. If tentacle fun is what you’re after then fear not as octopus is a regular menu feature, alternatively spaghetti alle vongole is a firm favourite (in Malta and for my Nannu) so much so they like to hand out huge portions to the extent where 700g of spaghetti will land on your plate. 

Now I know the Italians and respective nearby islands (yep hello Sardinia and Sicily) are the known ravioli experts, however Malta can also come up with the goods and definitely deserves a ravioli head chef hat too. If you happen to be roaming around Valetta (that’s the Maltese capital) then I’d firmly recommend this quaint little cafe called St Paul’s (opposite the main food market) for a fantastic ravioli dish and swanky decor (we’re talking mirror galore and baby pink paint). 

There didn’t appear to be a typical Maltese dessert on offer, however for those who are willing to step out of their boxes and embrace the artificial do taste a scoop of ‘puffo’ (yes, puffo) blue ice cream. It’s definitely not indigenous to Malta but fun all the same! 

Overall I wouldn’t necessarily say Malta wins first prize for the best cuisine, but then again it doesn’t deserve the runner up ribbon. Their staples appear to be pasta, cheese and fish and then the other food groups sort of trickle in and out, but I reckon this can be forgiven. 

Ta-da!

Once again I must say apologise for being awol these last six months, but I assure you the past half year (where is the time going?) has been productive in terms of cooking accomplishments.

A friend from Austria was visiting and so it seemed only right to cook up a storm in the form of a good old fashioned British roast beef. As a result and for the first time I traversed the Yorkshire pudding hill, after all what’s roast beef without its Yorkshire pudding? The fruits of my (and a friend’s) labour paid off despite the puddings resembling brown cabbages, personally I feel this look added to their charm! Yorkshire puddings are in fact very simple to make, the key thing is making sure your oven is hot enough for the oil in your muffin tin to heat up sufficiently, you then whack the batter (150g flour, 4 eggs, 200ml milk –  essentially your basic cupboard items) into the muffin tin and wait 20 minutes until your puddings look like sprouting cabbage.

Also on this particular weekend I finally cracked making a successful roux as firm favourite mac’n’cheese called for it. Macaroni cheese has to be the ultimate when it comes to comfort food and my mother makes *probably* the best macaroni cheese ever, nevertheless it was my turn. Just like the Yorkshire cabbages I can’t say mac’n’cheese is particularly demanding, but it does put you through a bit of a work out when it comes to roux making. With making a roux you just have to keep on stirring and you’ll get there, in my case a friend did have to offer up some muscle as I did get a little distracted with changing music and left the roux unattended, but everything was in hand, literally. As macaroni cheese is far from health conscious I decided to go all out and put in practically an entire block of cheddar together with leeks, bacon and some cherry toms on top.

My pasta machine was also finally taken out of its box, having sat inside there for about three years, to make ravioli! This meal was ably led by a certain lovely Sardinian and so this ravioli was about as authentic as you could get in south London. Pasta making is not at all as daunting as it seems although admittedly in this case I had Sardinian input. Our ravioli was stuffed with ricotta, spinach and lemon and accompanied with a basic tomato sauce. Unfortunately I did forget to take a picture of the finished meal so apologies for that. The only thing I would say is be prepared to commit to making this meal as it takes a while – 71 ravioli in total – yum! This concludes my yellow colo

 

 

Bake bake bake

As promised by the previous post baking is absolutely the focus of today’s little writing snippet, however there is good and there is bad news about this. The good news is that that glorious baking smell did indeed waft through the floorboards of my house, the bad news is that unfortunately my friend Stubbsy and I were punching a little bit above our weight when we thought we’d be able to create a novelty cake – there is no cake. Instead we made an array of oddly shaped cookies. After a lengthy and verging on heated discussion over what should be the cookie “filling” we compromised on white chocolate, cranberry and macadamia nut, although I was really pushing for peanut butter but that got vetoed by my fellow avid baker. Overall the cookies were rather scrumptious however the look of the cookies could probably be improved a tad. I had been given a cookie stamp by my lovely sister a while back and despite my best efforts the cookies did not come out with the desired effect, nevertheless stamping cookies is very satisfying so it comes highly recommended. We also utilised my GB shaped cookie cutter, (it’s amazing – I have a GB shaped cookie cutter but no ladle or sieve to my name, who needs those everyday necessities when you have country shaped cookie cutters hey?), and this was rather successful, hurrah! Ultimately the cookies were a success albeit not a novelty cake, but fear not because right hand man Baker Stubbs is back in a few weeks and I’m sure together we’ll be able to conjure something up for the lovely V-day that is soon upon us…..dum dum dum.

GB Cookie Time

I spy a half stamped cookie

I spy a half stamped cookie..

Getting back into the writing groove!

Hello to one and all!

First and foremost I must begin with an apology for what turned out to be quite a lengthy hiatus from this little blog of mine, I’m terribly sorry but I’m sure whoever of you actually read this then hopefully the missing posts didn’t hamper your day to day lives too much and if it did then what a relief it’s back (!)

Secondly, I should probably note that although this blog began with a food focus, said focus sometimes goes over and beyond food so please don’t be alarmed if I write something completely unrelated to food from time to time.

So the big 2014 is here…Happy New Yeaaaar! I have to admit that exotic food was seriously lacking on my NYE/D menu, ‘quick and easy’ was the aim of the game. I did not take on the head chef hat but for NYE the menu was bangers and mash which took about the same amount of time one needs to create a 3 course meal (potato peeling commenced at 7pm, plating up was at 10pm), admittedly I was little help in the kitchen and took on chief drink pourer duties instead. NYD didn’t see much of an improvement as far as culinary skill goes what with it being pizza and salad; however the salad was all homemade – Jamie Oliver would be proud I’m sure.

As far as resolutions go I’m aiming to be ‘Miss Positivity 2014’, PMA all the way people! I won’t lie because this is somewhat testing at times but what’s a resolution without a challenge? Positivity aside the usual resolutions remain i.e. become fitter to the point of marathon fitness, phase out the ‘I’m in the wrong era’ look I generally have going on (probably won’t do this), read more classics, write more and educate non-disco lovers.

Anyway time to bow out today but next week I’m going to loudly and proudly don my baking hat. The intention is to create a novelty cake with my partner in crime HMStubbs, chances are our cake vision will not be emulated but we will endeavour to create something memorable. Flavours and design remain under wraps for the time being but we are aiming hiiiiiiiigh (there is a clue in here, it would be impressive if anyone guesses correctly).

A mad looking me wishing you all happy new year!

Looking to make a bland curry?

Prior to June 13th 2013 I had never made a curry, at least not from scratch. The decision to go on a currytastic venture was simply because I was organising a surprise party and after much deliberation (and a tip off from my Auntie), decided that a big batch of curry was indeed the most viable option for feeding a group of 30 hungry hippos. My cooking partner in crime and I catered for the veggie lovers and opted for a spinach, chickpea, red lentil, broccoli, tomato curry sensation. After a little supermarket sweep trip to and around Sainsburys (Can Supermarket Sweep return please? Dale Winton where are you?), in which our trolley resembled the curry in packaging form (plus a bottle of vodka just for good measure) – see picture (only the best! haahaa), we finally donned the aprons.  Most spices went into the pots – cumin, coriander seeds, chilli powder/flakes, turmeric and some standard curry ingredients: ginger, lemon, coconut cream, so really it seemed like the odds were in our favour when it came to an explosion in one’s mouth. Well unfortunately the curry did not rock my world when it came to flavour and I felt there was something severely lacking. The sous chef aka EJ also felt the curry was pretty bland HOWEVER, everyone who ate it at the aforementioned party was singing its praises and though I have asked the party goers to not be polite and be honest, I am assured by these people  that they thought it was really tasty, so dear readers/bloggers I am at a loss. It could be a case of we were the cooks and thus are hypercritical but who knows. Still I must admit it was incredibly simple to make:

1) Chop up and puree together onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes.

2) Heat spices in pan and then add the above puree and also a bit of marmite (yes bizarre).

3) In go the lentils and coconut cream. Wait until the lentils become tender and then whack in the broccoli, chick peas, lemon and let the good times roll.

We chose to serve the curry with rice and a homemade raita.

Despite the fact I thought my curry making skills were a shade dodgy, I ended up making another curry about four days later. This time I was not compromising on spice. I opted for a spinach chicken curry. The colours of the ingredients were amazing and this was further complimented by the EXTRA HOT chilli powder I thought I’d pop in just for a bit of kick (The spice cupboard was too much fun – see picture). Well this curry was probably even less flavoursome than the other which was really rather frustrating and also quite the conundrum because I don’t understand how it became SO tasteless. I mean there was extra hot chill powder, garam masala, ginger, cumin seeds e.t.c. in it and STILL there was no explosion in my mouth. Any advice? Nevertheless  it was again very simple to make and I did get to use the hand blender (zchoom zchoom) which I find an enjoyable experience!

I do however have a TOP TIP to impart . When making rice you should use a non stick sauce pan, put a bit of oil in the pan and coat the dry rice in it. Once this is done you then add the water and heat the rice on a low heat, without removing the lid, for 20-25 minutes. The oil really seemed to make a difference.

Anyway this concludes my step by step guide to making bland curries. Join me again next time for a tutorial in how to make a tasteless sweet and sour.

Spice central
I do like my tupperware pots!
Red & Green = brown !
….
Not exactly aesthetically pleasing
Is it obvious we are students?!

Multigrain Fruit Loops? Curious.

I was feeling a bit daring this morning (!) and decided to step outside of my breakfast box, a box that usually contains Weetabix, a porridge of some sort, greek yoghurt with blueberries or smoothies (of course).  Today I went for an all American classic, something that tends to feature on US sitcoms or dramas (it is usually the child’s breakfast) and thus should be vaguely recognisable to even those not from The United States.

Loops of fruit, otherwise known as Fruit Loops!

This was my first ever sample of the fruity loopy cereal and unfortunately I can safely say my childhood dreams have been a little crushed. It wasn’t the tastiest bowl of sugary goodness I’ve ever had; Lucky charms takes this crown, followed by this Austrian/Hungarian cereal that is an amalgamation of chocolate, freeze dried fruit, biscuity type things and clusters and finally a cereal that apparently only exists in a regional southern French town (this can’t be true but it was nowhere to be seen in Paris, Marseilles or Nice) called Cruesli! Please send me a pack if you happen to have a few lying around the place.

ANYWAY back to fruit loops. The box was a little intriguing because it claims to be multigrain and also not made from artificial colours or flavouring….if it says it on the back right (…)…..questionable I’d say. Admittedly the loops do not look nearly as artificial as I thought they would which was a bit of a shame because let’s face it this cereal is not one for aiding a healthy diet so it may as well look the part as well. Into the bowl it went and accompanied by my obligatory tea spoon; I just think it makes cereal eating all the more enjoyable if you are eating cereal off a small spoon. Maybe a little odd, oh well. So I took my first mouthful and quite frankly did not enjoy it however, I continued to eat because there was a familiar taste to it and finally I got it. It tasted of lemongrass, as in the grass you put in Thai food. This cereal should be stocked in the Asian food section. American Thai fusion = Thairican, surely the next craze?

I’d be curious to hear if anyone else has ever put these two tastes together?! Also maybe the toucan on the box is swinging on lemongrass which is a little nod to what one should expect when tasting this cereal..? They should make it clearer. Whilst I’m on this topic does anyone else think Oral B pro expert toothpaste tastes like root beer?

In conclusion I shall not be hurrying for the next Fruit Loop breakfast bowl, but may use it for my next Thai green curry as a lemongrass alternative.

The Prodigal Pimms returns!

It has been an arduous wait but finally our friend, the sun, raised its head for more than an hour; this called for the Great British gin based classic i.e. Pimms to come and party with us! No Pimms is complete without strawberries (my ones were more than below par and sadly tasted not too dissimilar to plastic, however, once the strawberries were Pimms infused you could barely notice their “plasticiness”), cucumber, lemon and an unusual addition of lime. Pimms as a drink is pretty damn good because if you cram enough fruit in there it’s basically your five a-day – winning! Obviously the sun didn’t last forever but it gave us good reason to lounge on the deck, buy in a litre of Pimms (and Prosecco), chow down on some tasty barbied food and generally “bask in” something other than rain and frost, novel to say the least.

P.I.M.M.S

My trusty straws back in action!

It seems completely perplexing to think that the day before sunny Sunday it was super cold and rainy. As a result of this shocking weather  a fellow housemate and I decided to cook up the ultimate wholesome and warming chilli. I present to you the 10 variety bean chilli (with the odd bit of beef mince and sweetcorn if you’re lucky like lucky star):

Tin Tower

 

I do enjoy chilli and always find it interesting how people like to accompany theirs: rice, pasta(in some cases), dips, cheese, commando, jacket potato e.t.c. I favour the tortilla chip, cheese and soured cream combination. On this occasion however we opted for baked Tattie Tatterson. Considering the quantity of tins used, the freezer is now foster home to five tupperware pots of the stuff, this will be handy when revision time hits its all time high and the task of cooking food is too much to handle. Admittedly this food choice is a little unseasonal for the month of May, but you can’t have it all people!

Now being that I sort of disappeared off the blog radar again, I’ve fallen a wee bit behind with my recipes and as a result have sort of forgotten what some of these meals are, I’ll try my best. Cue montage mania (again):

1) Turkey Parmesan burgers with mozzarella, basil, marinara (although I opted for sun dried tomato paste) accompanied with spinach and a nutty loaf bun of sorts. This was a little dry but I think this was because of my bizarre choice of bun which was very dense.

2)Chicken stir fry in an OJ (orange juice for those who don’t know), sesame oil, soy, hoisin sauce with lots of veggies: broccoli Bill, pak choi Pete and spinach Sam and then some Eggward noodles.

3)Roast (Dijon variety n.b. the pic – pot of epic proportions!)  mustard chicken with potatoes and green beans.

4)Hake fillet with a tomato, pepper and carrot sauce, accompanied with cous-cous and lemon wedges. A little sprinkle of coriander just for good measure too.

5)Barbecued lamb (although this is not obvious) in a whole meal pitta with salad, lemon cous-cous and tzatziki (I have BIG issues with pronouncing this word apparently).

6)Hake fillet (yes this a new favourite of mine) on a mustard carrot and potato mash, topped with Popeye’s favourite (spinach).

7) Cake of epic proportions: Coffee and walnut no less. Yum. I did not make this but  it deserves a mention. It was baked by my Grandmother; who needs Hummingbird when we’ve got Annetta in the house?

Dijon in all its glory.
Half a cake down.
Mustard roasted chicken with potatoes and green beans.
Turkey burgers done.
Hake on cous-cous with a carrot, pepper and tomato sauce.
OJ. Sesame. Soy. Hoisin.
Brocoli Bill has seen better days apparently.
Garlic and chilli – why not?
Super greens.
Chicken stir fry with the OJ sauce.
Turkey burgers looking fine.
Just because it’s a mini whisk.
Chilli in the pot.
Hake on mustard mash topped with spinach.
Lamb pitta.
The featured bowl is multi purpose for those who want to know.