I adore cooking, and I love to use good and mostly fresh and seasonal ingredients. I hope you enjoy the things I've thrown together. My basic cooking style has grown from my love of food, using what I have in the fridge/pantry and whatever is in season. I love to make good use of the local produce (my time is spent between Australia and Malta, so this will vary according to where I am).
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Mushroom risotto
I've totally got the risotto bug again... happens as soon as I make one, then i make one at least once a week, then summer rolls around, and i stop making it again...until the weather cools down slightly, then it's back to risotto time :D
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Oven Poached Dentici
Dentici is a fish I think my mum would like. For some reason she's not into the fishier side of fish anymore... i guess tastes change.. So no lampuki for now (unless they're in pikkanti sauce or aljotta, and we dont' actually cook it when she's home hehehe). I'm totally going back to my bugibba flat in a coming weekend if that means i get to eat lampuki hehehe :)
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| seasoned and ready to wrap and poach/bake |
Aljotta (Maltese fish soup) made with lampuki aka mahimahi
This is a broth based soup, and has 2 distinct parts to making it. The first is the stock, which is a very simple fish stock. The second is where this actually gets its name from, which is the soup base consisting of lots of garlic (aglio!) onions, tomatoes and very importantly, marjoram.
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| Don't be fooled, all that delicious rice and bits of fish are in the bottom. this is a delicious soup!! :) |
Lampuki with Salsa Pikkanti
The title translates to "Dolphinfish with a piquant sauce" - this is one of my favourite Lampuki/mahi mahi dishes :)
It's a dish traditionally served cold, as far as i know. I've always eaten it cold anyway, it's a great way to use up leftover lampuki (or as mum/nanna used to do, deliberately buy extra so we could have this the next day).
It's a dish traditionally served cold, as far as i know. I've always eaten it cold anyway, it's a great way to use up leftover lampuki (or as mum/nanna used to do, deliberately buy extra so we could have this the next day).
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Roast Butternut pumpkin/squash risotto
This is one of my favourite dishes to make, especially when the weather starts getting shitty...And most people seem to love it also :) bonus!
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| Photo by jamie aka http://backseatchef.wordpress.com/ |
Sunday, September 19, 2010
lampuki!!
They are in season, my beloved fresh caught fishies :D
Also known as mahi mahi (hawaii), dorado (in spanish), dolphin fish (as they jump out of the water like dolphins), and well loved all over the planet for great recreational fishin and eating....
I love these fishies, and hopefully will be having a few recipes featuring them in the next month or so. They are high in the omega fats (as are all oily fish), great seasonal eating, and have very sustainable stocks, unlike much of the fish on the market nowadays. Also.. CHEAP! They are amongst the fasted growing fish in the sea, sometimes growing 7 cm in a week! :O they are also short lived, and are reproducing constantly. This really helps them in the "sustainable fishing" argument, as a fish that doesn't take long to reach edible size, reproducing in great numbers, and don't live past 2 or so years anyway.... :D yay! OH and the fishing methods around malta haven't really changed since roman times (palm fronds to attract the fish to the shade, and nets to catch them).. win :D
Tonight we're having some of the leftover fish (from last night's bbq) with "zalza pikkanti", which is essentially a thick tomato sauce loaded with marjoram, mint, olives and capers, and of course... garlic. this is served at room temperature, not warm, and is great to cut through the oiliness of the fish. I would recommend it to anyone who doens't like the oiliness of lampuki :)
Mmmm :D
Plans of what to make with them:
Lampuki pie. my favourite!! :D
Plain floured and fried, served with lemon.. aweosme.
aljotta (to follow!)
With Zalza Pikkanti (recipe and pics to follow also!)
and... i think i'll try something completely different, maybe look up how they eat it in hawaii/caribbean and try it like that. i reckon it would be nice with some kind of tart fruit, or a recipe with coriander... possibly even a dry curry based thing.. we'll see.... :)
Pretty fishie also - when we see them in the market, most of the yellow golden hue has left, as this only happens when they are alive.
Also known as mahi mahi (hawaii), dorado (in spanish), dolphin fish (as they jump out of the water like dolphins), and well loved all over the planet for great recreational fishin and eating....
I love these fishies, and hopefully will be having a few recipes featuring them in the next month or so. They are high in the omega fats (as are all oily fish), great seasonal eating, and have very sustainable stocks, unlike much of the fish on the market nowadays. Also.. CHEAP! They are amongst the fasted growing fish in the sea, sometimes growing 7 cm in a week! :O they are also short lived, and are reproducing constantly. This really helps them in the "sustainable fishing" argument, as a fish that doesn't take long to reach edible size, reproducing in great numbers, and don't live past 2 or so years anyway.... :D yay! OH and the fishing methods around malta haven't really changed since roman times (palm fronds to attract the fish to the shade, and nets to catch them).. win :D
Tonight we're having some of the leftover fish (from last night's bbq) with "zalza pikkanti", which is essentially a thick tomato sauce loaded with marjoram, mint, olives and capers, and of course... garlic. this is served at room temperature, not warm, and is great to cut through the oiliness of the fish. I would recommend it to anyone who doens't like the oiliness of lampuki :)
Mmmm :D
Plans of what to make with them:
Lampuki pie. my favourite!! :D
Plain floured and fried, served with lemon.. aweosme.
aljotta (to follow!)
With Zalza Pikkanti (recipe and pics to follow also!)
and... i think i'll try something completely different, maybe look up how they eat it in hawaii/caribbean and try it like that. i reckon it would be nice with some kind of tart fruit, or a recipe with coriander... possibly even a dry curry based thing.. we'll see.... :)
Pretty fishie also - when we see them in the market, most of the yellow golden hue has left, as this only happens when they are alive.
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| pic courtesy of http://www.interklasa.pl/portal/dokumenty/ue013/jedzenie/smaki.htm |
Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, herbs and ricotta
This is one of those simple sauces that i love! When we started making it, it was going to be an "olio aglio" but found a small amount of ricotta in the fridge so in it went, along with some of the basil we have growing in the courtyard :)
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| So simple, so good! :) |
Saturday, September 18, 2010
PENKEJKZ...or Pancakes hehe
Went to Gozo for the weekend with a bunch of ladies, and we decided on pancakes for brekky on the Saturday morning :D
One of my good mates Michael has my favourite pancake recipe, so i asked him for it. in 2 minutes he just rattled it off and voila! in my hand it was! :D hoolay! These are american style pancakes, so the mixture is thicker than crepes, and also it's best to cook them on the lower heat so that they don't burn on the outside before they cook in the middle. nice and fluffeh!
One of my good mates Michael has my favourite pancake recipe, so i asked him for it. in 2 minutes he just rattled it off and voila! in my hand it was! :D hoolay! These are american style pancakes, so the mixture is thicker than crepes, and also it's best to cook them on the lower heat so that they don't burn on the outside before they cook in the middle. nice and fluffeh!
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| Not my photo - courtesy of http://www.prevention.com |
Pasta with Eggplant and tomato sauce
As far as saucy pasta sauces go, this has got to be one of my absolute favourites :) It's quite similar to Pasta a la Norma, but this version has no Chilli and we use whatever cheese we have available, not specifically Ricotta Salata. Eggplant is known as Aubergines in many places, which is the French word for them.
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