Maltese Recipes

Malta is a Mediterranean island that lies between Italy and North Africa. The country is home to a Mediterranean cuisine which is influenced by the cuisine of Italy as well as that of other countries.

Some of the most popular Maltese recipes include:

Pie Recipe

* Minestra - A vegetable soup that is usually eaten during the Winter months, and is frequently eaten with crusty Maltese bread ("hobza").

* Soppa ta' l-armla - A thinner version of minestra, but with the addition of small balls of sheep-milk cheese ("gbejniet") and raw eggs. The name of the dish means "widows's soup", and derives from that fact that it was traditionally donated to poor widows living in Maltese communities.

* Kusksu - Another Maltese soup. Kusku is made from chicken stock, and contains pasta beads, broad beans, onions and tomatoes.

* Brodu - A beef or chicken broth, also containing some vegetables, usually served with pasta.

* Qargha Baghli - Marrows stuffed with ground beef and parsley. They can be baked or put into soup.

* Aljotta - This is a Maltese fish and tomato soup, flavored with garlic and herbs, which is frequently served with rice.

* Bragjoli - A mixture of breadcrumbs, bacon, eggs and cheese, wrapped in a thin slice of beef.

* Fenkata - Rabbit casserole.

* Laham taz-ziemel - Stallion (horse) meat with white wine sauce.

* Kapunata - Similar to ratatouille, and eaten hot or cold, kapunata can even be used as a pizza topping.

* Bigilla - A bean dip made from mashed broad beans. It is seasoned, and may be flavored with chilli.

* Ravjul - Similar to ravioli. The pasta may be filled with ricotta and parsley or spinach, or with ground meat. It is usually served with a tomato sauce and topped with cheese.

* Mqarrun il-Forn - Bolognese sauce and egg served over macaroni, and topped with a layer of grated cheese or bescamella (white sauce). Bacon and/or peas may be added in some versions of the recipe.

* Timpana - Baked macaroni ("mqarrun il-forn"), with added ground beef and hard-boiled eggs, encased in a pastry crust.

* Ross il-Forn - A baked rice dish, similar to Mqarrun il-Forn, but with curry added.

* Lampuka - White fish, pan-fried, oven-baked with tomato and white wine, or made into pies.

* Zalzett tal-Malti - Maltese pork sausages. There are several varieties, some of which are eaten fresh, others of which are dried.

Malta is also home to a variety of interesting desserts, including several interesting pastries such as imqaret (a date-filled pastry), and pastizzi (pastry with ricotta), a variety of biscuits including figolla (almond biscuits, often made into interesting shapes), and Pudina ta' l-Hobz, which is a type of bread pudding.

Maltese Recipes

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Homemade Baked Beans Recipe

If you're looking for a good "homemade baked beans recipe" recipe - this is the place! Everyone loves some good baked beans, but most recipes call for them to be in a crockpot. Mine doesn't, instead I use can beans and cook them on the stove top. It's true, you could just buy a fancy can of Bush's baked beans, but it's just not the same as making your own homemade baked beans and letting them simmer of the stove as the flavors meld together! These are equally as good in the summer with a BBQ as they are in the winter on a cold blistery day!

• 3 cans great northern or navy beans, or 1 - 48oz jar or Randall's mixed beans (drained)
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (diced)
• 1 cup barbeque sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 Tablespoon mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3-4 strips of chopped cooked bacon (if you like)

Pie Recipe

Drain each can of beans and pour into a sauce pan. Add all other ingredients and cook on medium high heat until it boils, then cover and reduce to low heat and simmer for one hour. If you're in a real hurry, you can cook on high for 10 minutes and serve (it just won't taste as good!).

In the winter time you can cook this on the stove and let it simmer while making the main dish, but in the summer I like to just put the pot on the grill and let the beans simmer while I grill my meat. By the time the meat is done, the beans are usually done shortly after. There are all kinds of beans you can experiment with on this recipe as well, I usually end up using what I have on hand at the time. So I may use Pinto beans, Chili Beans, Mexican Beans - and even though you're making "homemade beans" it doesn't mean that you can't utilize any leftovers that you may have around. For instance, if I grill out and have left over burgers and beans, the next day I may chop up the leftover cooked burgers and thrown them in the beans and simmer for 20-30 minutes and eat! I've used thrown in leftover taco meat, sloppy joe, and even chicken. Technically that makes the "homemade baked beans" more like a chili - but it's ok to change it up a bit! Another thing that's fun with this recipe is to add some cubed cheese of any kind just minutes before it's done. That melted cheese can make it a big hit with everyone in the house!

Homemade Baked Beans Recipe

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Super Bowl Sunday: Keep It Simple and Plentiful!

Super Bowl Parties are the easiest kind. The schedule is set and well-defined. The only entertainment you need to provide is a good working television, the bigger the better, and plenty of food ready on trays, so it is easy for the crowd to eat whenever they want. In fact, if you are not a football fan, you can prepare all this ahead of time, make it easily accessible, provide paper towels, coasters, and a big trash can within 'field goal' range, and have some time to yourself, whether it is curling up with a good book, shopping or whatever you would like to do. By making this party fun, easy and "self service" you will have given yourself a holiday too!

Get a large ice chest, and have plenty of soda, water, and/or beer, and the gang can help themselves to drinks. Plenty of coffee table foods like pretzels, chips, dips, and individually wrapped, hearty sandwiches, make it easy to access, and there is little chance for big spills or mishaps. Hand held desserts, like hello dollies, lemon bars, or sliced pound cake and fruit, are good choices to satisfy sweet tooth's, but you are probably not going to get many complaints even if the desserts you serve are bowls full of candy bars.

Pie Recipe

Other options are crock pot chili with crackers, corn chips, and cheese beside it, for creating Frito pies, always goes over well. Sandwiches of thick-sliced ham and sharp, tangy cheese, on thick slices of whole wheat bread, are sure super bowl menu treats. Smoked turkey breast slices on potato bread with creamy Swiss cheese are good super bowl sandwich choices too.

Crock Pot Layer Dip: one pound of Velveeta cheese, 2 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies, made into the classic cheese dip recipe, and set aside. 6 boneless chicken breasts, boiled in salted water until done, drained, and shredded, then put into a pan with 2 cups of water and 2 packets of taco seasoning mix simmered until the water is cooked out, and the chicken is dry.

1 can refried beans on top of the chicken

1 large can of tamales, cut into half inch chunks and topped with prepared cheese dip

Options:

This dip can include a layer of black olives, topped with sour cream, or topped with guacamole dip.

Guacamole dip:

6 soft, ripe, avacados, peeled and seeded (if the are very soft, you can use a potato masher, if not a blender or food processor can be used)

1 Cup real mayonnaise

½ chopped sweet onion

1-2 finely chopped roma tomato

dash of tabasco

teaspoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon Fruit Fresh (to prevent browning)

salt and pepper to taste.

Blend avacado, mayo, lemon, spices, and garlic. Fold in tomato and onion, serve as a topping on the layer dip, with tortilla chips.

Super Bowl Sunday: Keep It Simple and Plentiful!

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Low Fat Samosa Recipe

I love samosas but I always worry about the fat in the pastry and the fact that they are usually deep fried. No matter how hot and fresh the oil, this is not a low fat option!

You can fill a samosa with anything - ground meat, vegetables, even fish but obviously, vegetables and fish are the low fat options here. You can really use any vegetables you like as long as they don't let out a lot of water, such as tomatoes, but the following is a fairly traditional samosa recipe using peas and potatoes.

Pie Recipe

The Filling

725g (1lb 10oz) potatoes
Medium onion
1 tbsp fresh root ginger
175g (6 oz) peas (defrosted, if frozen)
Fresh coriander
Salt to taste
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds (dry roast in a non-stick frying pan and grind in a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Lemon juice to taste (about 2tbsp)

Boil the potatoes and when cool, cut into small cubes.

Finely chop the onion and fry it until it just begins to brown in a little vegetable oil. Grate the ginger root and add to the pan with a finely chopped green chili (seeds removed, if you prefer), the peas and a small handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped. Finally add a little water then cover and simmer the vegetables for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if the mixture dries out too much.

Add the potatoes and salt together with all the spices and lemon juice. Mix and cook for a few minutes, stirring. Check and adjust seasoning and allow to cool.

Filo Pastry (low fat option)

Buy frozen filo pastry. I don't think anyone in the world makes their own! Defrost the pastry. Unfortunately, for the above filling recipe you will need only two or three sheets but you can use up the rest by making Greek or Turkish cheese pies or Spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie).

Filo pastry can be very delicate so defrost then unroll very gently. Whatever you're not working with should be covered with a damp tea towel, as it dries out very quickly.

Lay out your filo pastry and if you want to increase the filling quantity, cut the whole stack into three or four equal strips, depending on the width of your pastry and the size that you want your samosas. However, anything less than about 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide and you will have great difficulty folding it. Cover all but one of the resulting stacks with a damp tea towel.

Fold the first strip of filo across the corner and place approximately a teaspoonful of the filling inside the fold. Now fold this triangle towards the remaining length of the strip of pastry thus covering one open side of the triangle. Fold back the other way keep folding in the same way until all three sides of the triangle are closed in and the strip of filo is used up. Stick the edge down with a mixture of flour and water.

Carry on making your samosas until the filling mixture is finished. If there is some left, you can freeze it for another time. Place all the samosas on an oven tray and brush each one sparingly with vegetable oil. Bake in a fairly high oven, Gas 7, 200C (or follow the instructions on the packet of filo pastry) for about ten minutes or until the samosas are crisp and golden.

You may be interested to know that two full sheets of filo pastry contain 80 calories, whereas a shortcrust pastry recipe suitable for the above amount of filling contains approximately 1287 calories, so there's really no contest if you're on a low fat or weight reducing diet. In addition, the oven baking is far less fat intensive than deep frying.

Low Fat Samosa Recipe

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Quick and Easy Part 12 - Kiwi-Banana Pie

This recipe was made on the fly to use up some kiwi fruit before it expired. A future pie with similar recipe will be made with lime so I can call it a Kiwi-Lime Pie (Not Key Lime Pie). The name would be an attention getter because of the similarity.

I had a pkg. of 4 kiwis that needed to be used before they passed their prime, so decided to make a pie with them. I envisioned a rather shallow pie (actually could have made a pizza). The round cut kiwi slices with their unique design (call it design by nature), would give a visual appearance similar to a pizza with pepperoni and sausage pieces. Instead, I chose to use a pre-made graham cracker crust. This was because the pie was being made as an accompaniment for the afternoon Cappuccino time (4 PM EST +/- a few). The label with this crust showed that it contained 18 ingredients besides the graham cracker crumbs, and those ingredients may be necessary for things like long warehouse storage times, pleasing appearance, ease of preparation for the factory. But -- enough chatter, let's get on with it!

Pie Recipe

Ingredients

4 kiwi fruits, peeled and sliced thin
1 banana, peeled, then cut on the bias for larger slices
1/2 cp brown sugar
Sprinkling of powdered sugar
1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1 - Heat olive oil in shallow skillet, then add kiwi slices
2 - Saute' for 2 or 3 minutes, then add brown sugar and toss to mix.
3 - Cook with frequent stirring for another 2 or 3 minutes.
4 - Pour into the prepared pie crust (already in an aluminum pie pan.)
5 - Spread the kiwis evenly , then add banana pieces in the spaces between.
6 - Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 30 minutes.

This one tasted great but the next one will be made with scratch pastry and topped with meringue, or with whipped cream after cooling.

Quick and Easy Part 12 - Kiwi-Banana Pie

The author is a retired chemical engineer who in retirement has become the chief and only cook and bottle cleaner in the family. After watching hundreds of cooking shows and reading thousands of cookbooks I am generating and publishing my own plus lots of other already published recipes, mostly pre WWII. I do this on my website which also includes cryptogram puzzles, reform political commentary, auction stuff and UFO (Used Furniture Outlet).

We live near Hecla, PA but this is a different UFO. Hope you like the recipes and that you will visit my site to find the over 600 recipes (and rising) free of charge. I hope you will click on some advertising links while there to help me maintain the website and continue to make it grow. The website is http://www.frankernhart.com

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Making the Perfect Pie Crust

The pie crust forms the foundation for many sweet and savory dishes from apple pies to minced meat pies. As such, it is very important to master the art of making the perfect pie crust, of which the following tips should help.

Use Only Cold Ingredients

Pie Recipe

No matter the type of pie you are making, cold ingredients are the key to making it as perfect as possible. In fact, professional chefs attest to the need for the pie dough to never get warmer than 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Any lower than that and you end up with a soggy crust.

To achieve perfect results, you should remember these tips in relation to the handling of ingredients:

Fats - Be it butter, lard or vegetable shortening, always make sure that these are chilled before using. Too warm fat ingredients adhere to the flour too much, thus, producing a tough crust.

If you are using cold butter or margarine, either cut into small pieces or grate with a cheese grater before adding to the flour.

Liquids - Always use ice cold, or at least chilled, liquid ingredients. You also want to add in just the right amount of liquid to the flour - too little water makes for dry, crumbly dough while two much makes for tough dough. Plus, do add the water gradually instead of pouring them all at once.

Flour - Even the flour must be chilled. You can use different types of flour depending on your aim - low-protein wheat flour for tender pie crusts, all-purpose flour for a more general texture.

Use the Right Type of Equipment

You should only use either a dull metal pie plate or a glass pie plate to bake your pie crust in. Thus, it makes perfect sense to invest in good quality pie plates especially when your family is fond of pies, special occasion or not.

You may ask why dull metal. Well, the shiny metal plates somehow prevent the pie crust from browning evenly and properly. After all, a golden brown pie top is the best initial come-on for any pie!

If you are using glass pie plates, you must lessen the oven temperature by 25 degrees than the recommended recipe temperature. Also, you must never grease your pie plates.

Other General Tips

Your pie crust will turn out perfect with these general tips on baking them.

If you are making a fruit pie, you can ensure a firm filling when you cut deep slits at its top. This is because moisture is released as it is being baked, thus, avoiding a soggy and soft filling.

Cover the crust with either aluminum foil or a pie shield so as to prevent the crust from getting browner than it should be. Or you can always turn down the oven temperature.

There are many ways to prevent the pie crust from getting soggy. First, you can sprinkle it with a mixture of flour and sugar in equal parts before adding the filling. Second, you may brush the unbaked bottom of the pie crust with a well-beaten piece of egg white, again, before pouring in the filling.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, are the practical tips on making a pie crust that's perfect.

Making the Perfect Pie Crust

Doug has been writing online articles about health and family topics for 4 years. Doug specializes in baby and kitchen products. You can read his latest articles KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Mixers and Kitchen Artisan Mixers at KitchenArtisan.Org

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Simple Dessert Recipes - Tips For Finding the Right Recipe

Everyone loves a good dessert. Decadent chocolates, luscious fruits, supreme custards. However, making such succulent desserts can be a daunting task to the novice baker. Luckily for the cooking-impaired, all is not lost. There are a great number of simple dessert recipes that not only produce beautiful and delicious desserts but are approachable even for those who may not be as familiar with their oven.

The key is to look for the right kind of recipes. For these purposes, it is not so much important to consider the end product, but the cooking skill required to arrive there. So, when considering what recipe to use, keep the following guidelines in mind.

Pie Recipe

1. Ingredients. When picking a recipe, first look at the list of ingredients needed to complete the recipe. Some recipes have over ten required ingredients while others may only have five or six. Usually, the more ingredients used in a recipe, the more complex the recipe is to make. Additionally, recipes with long lists of ingredients will likely include some lesser known and more rarely used ingredients, which might require an extra trip to the store. Recipes with fewer ingredients are often easier to make because they have less steps to complete, though often the end result is just as delicious.

2. Preparation time. For inexperienced cooks, it might be advisable to look at how long it will take to complete the recipe. A large amount of prep time not only cuts into a busy day more, but it also suggests that a recipe is more complicated and therefore have more possibility for error. The preparation of a dessert is critical; one misstep can spell disaster for the end result. So keeping the preparation time to a minimum reduces that risk. It is important to remember that even simple dessert recipes can be the perfect treat.

3. Baking terminology. Look carefully at each step of the recipe. If there are words and terms that are unfamiliar, then this recipe may not be simple enough to consider. There are various methods of preparing foods that unskilled cooks may not be familiar with. Unless you are willing to put in extra time to research just what these terms mean, it may be wise to select a recipe with more basic steps.

4. Mixes. While making a dessert from scratch can be a gratifying experience, today there are a multitude of baking mixes that produce food that is just as yummy. The baking aisle of any supermarket will have a wide variety of mixes for cakes and brownies or even cookies and pies. To truly simplify baking a good dessert, try a mix. Most mixes will even have small recipes on the box to enhance the mix and create a more tasty treat.

Whatever the occasion, be it a dinner party or just a snack for yourself, it is easy to find simple dessert recipes that will work for you.

Simple Dessert Recipes - Tips For Finding the Right Recipe

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