My (very) improvised baked meatball recipe - attempt no.1

Meatballs.  What kind of picture springs to mind when you think of 'meatballs'?

For me it's not an image. 

It's actually a childhood memory that pops up.

You may have heard this little sing along before... it goes something like this ....

"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed, it rolled off the table, and onto the floor, and then my poor meatball, ran out of the door"

... it goes on and on about how the meatball ended up running out into the garden and eventually turning into mush.. but hey.. that little singalong is one of my early childhood memories.... it's definitely stuck in my mental corridor of memories  ...

In essence, I think meatballs are a very convenient form of comfort food.  The good thing is that they can be made in very different ways so that the end result is actually pretty healthy.  Plus they make perfect left-over lunches or dinners.

They can be pan fried, grilled, baked, steamed, boiled... okay the end result will be very different in all cases and probably not all versions can be called 'meatballs'- lately I learnt that meatballs in soup can actually be called dumplings... but essentially aren't they all balls made of meat?!

Okay enough with my rambling :)

Here's my first attempt at making baked meatballs.  As usual, I went along with what was available in my kitchen...

It's safe to say that these meatballs pack one mighty dose of protein and are also gluten free!  I think it's also safe to say they score pretty low on the carb scale.

here goes...

prep time: not more than 15 mins

total baking time: 40 mins

baking temperature: i went with 250 degrees celsius

To make around 15 nicely-sized meatballs you will need:

500g ground (minced) lean pork

500g ground (minced) chicken breast (I'm pretty sure that minced turkey breast would also be great)

2 eggs

around 2 tbsps ground almond (inspired from Comfy Belly's Meatballs Parmesan Recipe)

2 tsp ground sea salt

approximately 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or a mix of pepper corns)

a good pinch of cajun pepper

1 tsp garlic powder (more if you like)

2 small red onions - finely minced

around 2 tbsp olive oil - for oiling baking dishes

Preheat oven to 250 degrees celsius.

Mix together all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Prepare your baking dishes (I used two pyrex dishes) by adding some olive oil, to make sure your meatballs don't stick.  I used a kitchen wipe to literally wipe the olive oil all the way around and to remove any excess.

Then comes the messy/fun part.  Ideally you take an ice-cream scoop and you make your meatballs using this - I'm sure its much less fussy and messy.  However, not having one, I resorted to just using a plain old tablespoon to help me shape my big meatball dollops. I enjoyed it!  Space your meatballs apart by at least 1cm.  At the very most if your meatballs do gang up in the oven, just cut them apart when they're done :)

Bake your meatballs for around 40 mins.  I kept checking on them  from time to time to make sure they didn't burn up.  And I also switched around positions in the oven since I had two baking dishes.

To make sure they were totally done through, I just cut up one of my more "curvier" meatballs - just to be sure :)

I let them rest for a couple of minutes before serving them up. 

We had them with a side of sliced sweet cherry tomatoes and some slabs of feta cheese. 

Notes: 

Some things I'll do differently next time round - cause I do plan on playing around with meatball recipes in the near future!

• I will defintely add some 'green'.  I'm thinking leeks, fresh chives, parsley, spring onions - they definitely need some green speckles! 
• I'm also thinking of using grated cheese (kefalotyri, parmesan, maybe even halloumi) next time round, to give them a cheesy kick and because these cheeses impart a unique salty flavour. 
• Sun-dried tomatoes.  Need to try a version with those!
• Need to come up with some 'salsa-on-the-side' ideas.
• I'm also definitely gonna try different meat combinations, like ground turkey breast.  And I also wanna make bifteki-style meatballs using ground lean beef.

In the meantime, if you have any meatball-making-tips do come forward!

I'd love to hear of your meatball-making stories and ideas :)

Until next time folks... ciao ciao :)

Sticky Sweet & Spicy Shrimp

It's Spring, right? And Spring brings with it the need for some Spring cleaning! And well, my Spring cleaning extended also to my freezer.

No.  I do not have "vintage foods" in my freezer.  

But you know how sometimes you have those one or two food items that you don't know quite how to use?  Some weeks ago I had bought a bag of frozen shelled shrimp.  And I was pretty sure I would put it to good use really quickly.  But being in my bottom freezer drawer the poor bag of shrimp went completely out my mind. 


So the other day, I was doing some "fridge/freezer-Spring-cleaning" and the shrimps came out.  And stayed out.  I decided to defrost them and use them, there and then.  Otherwise, back in they would go.  And most probably the next time they would come out they'd end up in the bin!


And that wouldn't be right, would it?


So, anyways!  I decided to whip up one of those dishes that makes use of anything you got at hand.  I looked for some inspiration cause I knew that I wanted to make something sweet and maybe a bit spicy.  I came across this recipe.  And then of course I adapted it to make do with the ingredients I actually had.


This dish is very easy to prepare and you can play around with the amounts of the ingredients that go in the marinade so that the end result is spicier, sweeter or maybe less spicy and less sweet :) 

Here goes!


My sticky, sweet and spicy shrimp dish...


You will need:


500g of shelled frozen shrimp (you can have fresh shrimp, or even prawns with their shell still on... I happened to have some frozen prawns - threw those in too!)
1/2  cup agave syrup (you can easily exchange this for honey)
a good pinch of all of these: ginger powder, garlic powder & cayenne pepper
a nice little bunch of parsley (reserve some for the cooking part)
4 small spring onions, - chopped up (reserve 2 for the cooking part)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Start off by defrosting your shrimp if you're using the frozen kind.  I ran some water on them and kept removing the water that comes out of them.  Then, in a bowl, place your shrimp and basically add all the ingredients, except for olive oil, salt and pepper.  Also don't forget to reserve some parsley and 2 of the spring onions.


Allow the shrimps to sit in your marinade for as long as you can afford really.  I let mine sit in it for around 2 hours in the fridge.  Don't worry if you notice that water is still coming out from the shrimp.  Just mix it all around half-way through your marinade time.


Add enough olive oil to lightly coat a non-stick pan.  I removed any excess oil with a kitchen wipe as I didn't really want to end up frying my shrimp.  Warm up your pan.  Then, using a slotted spoon, start transferring your shrimp.  Make sure you have a well heated pan for this step so that the shrimp starts to cook quickly.  Add some freshly chopped parsley and and the rest of the spring onion and cook over a high flame.  Cooking time depends on the amount of shrimp you're cooking but in my case 15 minutes were enough.  Turn the shrimp around, especially when you start to notice that the natural sugars from the agave syrup are starting to caramelize.  Add some freshly ground pepper and some salt, and give it all good turn around.

If like me you're not going to serve it straight away, then transfer your cooked shrimp to a container so that it stops cooking.


Serve with anything you fancy really, maybe basmati rice, quinoa, or noodles even!


& ENjoY!

Carrot cupcake anyone ?!?!

Hello peeps,

Hope you all had a wicked weekend!  Mine was pretty relaxed... on the downside I did almost no cooking nor baking.. on the upside however I did spend a good amount of time doing some foodie research and thinking of ways to take full advantage of the bountiful and beautiful Spring veggie produce.  Make hay while the sun shines, they say!

As of late I've been enjoying my visits to the veggie store even more so than usual.  And with good reason!

Every time I pop in there are so many beautiful bright colours on display!  Bright orange carrots, Deep red strawberries, Earthy purple beets, we're literally spoilt for choice when it comes to veggie shopping this time of year .....

A few days back my dear friend Nico sent me this simple yet lusciously delicious recipe for carrot cupcakes.

My one big regret is that I wasn't anywhere around when Nico, who lives in Athens, made these cause I am 100% certain that my current low carb health kick would have gone flying right out the window!!!

Nico, I have just one teeny weeny request.  Can you please make these again when we're around ??? Please! Pretty Please!!!!! :)

All photos in this post were taken by the man himself and here is his recipe :)

To make these carrot cupcakes you will need:

For the batter:

• 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
• 3/4 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 cup (240 ml) sunflower or vegetable oil (you can replace 1/3 of the oil with extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 cup (220 g) packed light-brown sugar
• ½ (100 g) cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 pound (350 g) raw carrots, peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 ½ cups)
• 1 cup (50 g) pecans or walnuts
• 1 cup (230 g) sultanas (optional)

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 8 ounces (300 g) cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 ounces (300 g) white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar, sifted (optional)

And off we go!

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a mixing bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer beat the eggs for about 1 minute and then gradually add sugar and beat until batter is thick and light in colour.
This should take around 3-4 minutes.  

Now add the oil in a steady stream.  Add the vanilla extract and give it another whizz with the beater.   Then its time to add the flour mixture and beat once again until totally incorporated.  

With a spatula fold in the grated carrots, sultanas and chopped nuts.

Line your muffin or cupcake tin with liners and scoop 1 scoopful of batter into each liner. 

Pop your muffin/cupcake tin into your preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle of cupcakes comes out clean.

Once ready, cool your cupcakes and set aside until they are ready to be given the VIP treatment... the white chocolate cream cheese frosting :)

To make your white chocolate cream cheese frosting, beat cream cheese, vanilla and melted white chocolate (which has been left to cool slightly) in a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, on medium speed, until you end up with a light and creamy consistency.  This should take around 2 minutes.  Turn down mixer speed to a low setting and gradually add sugar. 

Then its time to frost your babies...I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to produce nicely frosted cupcakes... yeah.. maybe one day!!! :)

Bon appétit!... or better still Kali Orexi :) 

xoxoxoxoxo

My Figolla-Making Experience

Yes.  It's true.  It's definitely been a while.  But I promise.  I really didn't mean for this to happen!!!!

As cliché as this might sound, these past few days (weeks even) have been quite rushed and my plans on posting about my kitchen-going-ons during the run up to Easter Sunday, sadly, did not really come to life! 

Really and truly I still cannot get my head around the fact that Easter comes and goes by so quickly.  I mean kids get their two weeks off from school don't they?! Us "adults" have to make do with just three measly days! Sooo not fair!!!

Here's a little question to pick your brains... How many of us Maltesers can honestly say (honestly! hands on your heart!) that there isn't a figolla, or two still lurking around the kitchen, constantly leading us into temptation?!?!

For the benefit of the non-Malteser readers, the figolla (figolli in plural) is a traditional Maltese Easter sweet that is basically a sweet lemony pastry that sandwiches a lovely, moist almond filling.  The pastry is cut into a specific shape.  It could be anything from a simple heart, fish, bunny rabbit, dove, egg, lamb, cat, duck, butterfly - you name a shape - its probably already been made into a figolla at some point in time :) 

Check out this beautiful blog post on figolli by Sweetapolita to understand better what figolli look like :)

The traditional Maltese figolla even got its own day - World Figolli Day was launched in Easter of 2011 by the Nanette from Gourmet Worrier.  How cool is that?!

Up until this year, I had never made a figolla.  Actually, one doesn't make one figolla.  A figolla is born into a family of many!  Up until this year I had always watched on, in awe, while my Mum embarked on her figolla-making mission, year in year out! 

I often wondered when the time would come for me to roll up my sleeves and make my own.  This year it felt like the time was right.  So I called up Mum, asked her what needed to be bought and set about preparing to make them. 

Mum's figolla recipe is an adaptation of a recipe taken out of my Grandma's ktieb tar-ricetti i.e. cookbook.  The original recipe came from a newspaper cutting, probably dating back somewhere to the 1940's! 

It's therefore safe to say that it is a thoroughly 'tried and tested' recipe and I was only too happy to try it out because I knew that at the end of the day this little mission of mine was actually also a tribute to my late Nanna Mary :)

Figolla-making is nothing of a hurried affair.  They are made in phases.

- Phase 1 consists of preparing the pastry and almond filling.  Both are left to chill for a while (possibly overnight), in the fridge. 

- Phase 2 is the tricky part - its also fun and back-breaking at the same time - this is the pastry cutting, spreading of filling, followed by more pastry cutting, which is repeated over and over again until you basically run out of both pastry and filling.  Then there's the baking; staying close by to the oven, waiting for your golden figolli babies to be ready.

- Phase 3 is the purely fun part - this is the part where you decorate your figolla to your heart's (and imagination's) content! There is literally no limit to how simple or detailed your figolla decoration may be.

In the run-up to Easter, supermarkets start to stock figolli-cutters, in different shapes and sizes, which make it much easier to produce cute and evenly-sized figolli. 

As a total figolli-making newbie, I made four medium-sized heart-shaped figolli.  Some people will end up making twenty or more figolli. 

Figolli make such lovely Easter gifts once decorated and wrapped and there is really nothing nicer than receiving a nice home-made figolla this time of year....

Here's what's needed to make four-medium sized figolli.

For the pastry: 

800g self-raising (wheat) flour

275g butter (or margarine)

250g sugar (I used raw cane sugar which worked just fine)

the rind of 2 large lemons

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

For the almond filling:

400g ground blanched almonds

1/2 pint water

150g sugar (once again I used raw cane sugar)

1 tsp almond essence 

For decorating:

Good quality dark chocolate

Sprinkles (optional)

Mini Easter eggs, Easter egg halves..... 

Anything your heart desires really :)

Phase 1: pastry + almond filling

To make the pastry, first sieve your self-raising flour into a large-ish mixing bowl.  Cut the butter into small cubes and work butter into flour until you end up with crumbs basically.  Then its time to beat eggs.  Into the beaten eggs add the vanilla essence, sugar and lemon rinds.  Make a well in the flour/butter crumbs mixture and pour your egg mixture.  Using a hand-held mixer or a stand-alone mixer (both with dough attachment) work eggs into crumbs until you end up with your ball of pastry.  Kneading time will depend on consistency of your dough.  Once finished with the kneading, take your ball of pastry, cover with cling film and place in fridge. I found that refrigerating for 24 hours gave me a ball of pastry that was pretty easy to work with.

To make your almond filling, take a small pot or pan.  Mix water and sugar and on a low flame mix until you end up with a clear solution.  Take pot off the heat and add almond essence and ground almonds and continue mixing until you end up with a well-combined mixture.  Once cool, your almond filling is ready to be used.  In my case I had prepared both pastry and almond filling a day before using them so I ended up leaving filling in the fridge overnight.  

Phase 2: pastry-cutting, filling and more pastry-cutting!

The actual figolli-making process can be a sticky/messy one! So its best to clear an adequate working space.  I chose to work directly on baking paper which helped reduce the amount of "pastry-sticking". Laying your pastry shapes directly on baking paper really helps to keep shape intact. 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

On a floured surface, using a well-floured rolling pin, open up your pastry (to about 0.5cm thickness) and with a figolli-cutter, cut out your shape.  

Place your shape on baking paper (or silicone baking mat) and proceed to spreading a good amount of almond filling, leaving a 1cm clear edge which you then moisten with some water.  

You then cut out an equal piece of pastry and gently place on top of the almond filling.  Gently press the edges together and using a fork make little pricks all the way around the edges of the figolla.  

Now pick up your figolla (by holding from the edges of the baking paper or silicone baking mat) and bake for around 20-25 minutes.  Keep an eye out because you might need to turn it around so that it gets evenly baked.  This is especially the case with fan-assisted ovens.

I baked my figolli two at a time, so I had to swap positions in the oven half-way through baking time.

Try not to let your figolli brown too much.  They only need to become golden in colour.

Phase 3: the fun part!

Once your figolli are baked and completely cooled, you can decorate them.  Many decorate their figolli using royal icing or glace icing.  I'm a chocolate lover so I decorated mine with melted dark chocolate and sprinkles.

My four figolli pre-decoration.  You will notice a broken heart.  That broken heart literally broke my heart too ... as well as causing me a nice oven burn on my hand :)

If you're going for chocolate-covered figolli then you need to melt your chocolate the bain-marie way.  You basically take a small pot, fill with some water and warm up.  In a bowl that fits atop the water-filled pot, you break up your chocolate.  You need to make sure that the water bubbling away in the pot never comes in contact with the bowl containing the chocolate otherwise your chocolate will burn up.  And in doing so you would have committed one of the deadly sins i.e. wasting of chocolate - always a big no no :)

Armed with your melted chocolate, you just need to spread it evenly on your figolli, and before the chocolate cools/hardens you can decorate using any kind of sprinkles or whatever tickles your fancy :)

My reward :)

Some tips: your figolli will need to be supported on a plate, or a cake board or something hard and steady - otherwise you may end up with a broken figolla - which is still tasty but maybe not as visually appealing, especially if you're planning to give them away :)

You also need to keep them covered.  You can use cling film, baking paper, brown paper, anything really.

Oh, one last thing, we like to keep our figolli in the fridge.  They keep for days, even weeks (tried and tested).  

Happy Belated Easter to all those who celebrated Easter last week and Happy Easter to all those celebrating it tomorrow :)

xoxoxoxo

Life is a Beach - Baia Beach Club

Hey hey dear peeps :)

Today I have a question for you. 

Hands up all of you out there who feel the need to (safely) absorb some of the sun's goodness if its on offer? 

I, for one LOVE the sun.  I believe there is something purely psychological about the feeling one gets when they feel their skin being gently warmed up (not scorched up), just warmed up! 

Yesterday was another GorGEOUS day here in Malta. There was no avoiding the urge to go somewhere close to the sea.  Seeing the kids splashing around, people enjoying their ice-cream.  Ahhh... when I'm next to the sea I kind of relax "on command" - if you get my drift!

Anyways, the sun and sea also has a tendency to really open up my appetite (not that my appetite needs any coaxing!), so yesterday, we decided to have lunch somewhere by the sea. 

Golden Bay was buzzing with people.  We tried sitting at the beach bar, of which I cannot remember the name (must check on that!).  Incidentally this used to be a place only for ice-cream and Ħobż biż-żejt.  It has now been renovated and has some really nice summery dishes on offer.  Alas, the place was full.  No place for our hungry stomachs to find refuge!  We even tried the Golden Sands' restaurant.  That was full too. 

"Where to go?!", we pondered.  Then, Mr. A. got the perfect idea to drive up to Armier and head down to Baia Beach Club.  Now this place ranks very high on my list of places that make me feel like I've gone on a mini-trip somewhere far far away from the everyday routine.

The drive there also makes you feel like you're on a mini-trip.  Indeed, the last lag of the trip is actually an offroading experience (to put it mildly)!

This only adds to the fun though  (unless your mode of transportation suffers a mishap!!)

I had made sure that the place is open and not fully-booked by calling them up while we were still at Golden Bay.  It is really not worth risking not finding a place if you're famished since this place is quite far off. 

We got there a good 20 minutes later.  Our table was waiting and I was rearing to go to find out what the specials were.  This place never fails to disappoint.  I was lucky enough to have gone three times last summer.  Eating there is just an experience in itself.  One has the beautiful view of Comino and even a little bit of Gozo.  

During high season, the area is usually quite noisy, the mellow music played at Baia usually takes care to balance that out.  However, thanks to yesterday's mini-trip we got to savour an even more peaceful time there.

The menu is not very vast.  But I like this.  First of all it makes me go for something I don't usually go for.  And secondly, it reassures me that the food will be as fresh as possible.  They always have seafood on offer.  However, you can still go for a beef burger if you're feeling peckish for that kind of fare.  They have some great starter dishes, which one may also order as the main course.  

Prices are akin to eating at a nice fish restaurant in St. Julians or Valletta.  So, if you're not planning on splashing out completely, the best option would be to exercise some care when ordering :) 

First came along a cute pair of Bruschetta....

Mr. A. felt like ordering something to "nibble" on, so we ordered the Italian salad with a selection of affettati including Parma ham, some really nice spicy salami and also Bresaola (my personal fave!).  There was also a piece of grilled Caciocavallo cheese (need to try this at home), some Pecorino and some very nice mini Bufala mozzarella balls, for good measure :)

 

I went for the pan seared Calamari.  I asked if I could have a salad or veggies to accompany them instead of the intended oven roasted potatoes.  The waitress was very happy to oblige :)

Mr. A went for the classic Beef Burger with Cheddar Cheese.  He raved about the moistness of the patty ...

Then came the dessert dilemma.  Should we or shouldn't we? We ended up opting for the "let's share the calories" option.  A not too sweet slice of lemon cheesecake to round off our visit to Baia :)

All in all, a very nice mini-getaway!

One which I hope we will get to go on more than once this Summer :)

My (Very Unruly) Cat

Wait. Maybe I should rephrase that.   

Maybe it should read something like “My (Very Unruly) Feline Owner” because sometimes (well, almost all the time), really and truly my cat owns ME (not the other way around)!

Mr. M - the boss himself

I am quite the cat-person.  I’ve always felt like I needed a cat in my life.  Some may say that this is because I’ve never had a dog in my life.  And despite my great fondness of cats I still really wish that one day I’ll have my own canine friend.

The thing is this.  I’m starting to think that my cat is in on the whole “need-to-start-waking-up-early-so-that-my mornings-do-not-feel-like-a video-clip-stuck-on-FFWD (fast forward)-mode”.

I am also starting to become a very firm believer in this: 

You see.  My cat has an agenda all of his own.

• He wakes (me) up consistently anywhere between 04.30-05.30.
• He keeps to his diet by having breakfast as soon as he wakes (me) up. 
• He (very obviously) feels the need to start off his day with a good dose of morning exercise; something which I for one have NEVER managed to succeed at!
• He sticks to his routine 7 days a week, he doesn't take a break on weekends, public holidays or any other human excuse for a break.

Oh GOD! I think I am even starting to become jealous of his disciplined ways! Did I really just admit that? Jealous of my own CAT’S DISCIPLINED WAYS?!?!

Time to recompose myself.

SO, in essence, I have two ways of looking at this.  Either my cat has human abilities and is trying to discipline me to become a bit more like him.   

The other option would be.... well to be honest  I’d rather not explore any other options, lest I figure out some other secret motive/conspiracy of his!

One positive consequence of my cat's early bird attitude is that on some very rare occasions I succumb to his ways and end up starting the day as early or a bit later than him.  And its on these days that I really get to appreciate the stillness and calm that early mornings have to offer :)