pastizzis

I finally rolled of my butt to make the staple Maltese food PASTIZZIS! I was *supposed* to make them for a Byzantine themed bbq on Saturday but after Boozy McFalldown went on the rampage it kind of blew my day out (not kind of - entirely). BUT! I had all the ingredients and once my raging hang over had misted slightly I was craving GREASE. That's how easy these are to make, I made them so revoltingly hung over I could barely stand.

You have to trust me sans cross section that both kinds are in there but I made the traditional curried pea and spinach/ricotta. There's only 3 in that plate for a few reasons:

1. I ate almost everything that came withing reach
2. I found it difficult to get the hang of folding them, these were the final 3 that looked ok

ingredients
1 package of defrosted puff pastry (Borgs brand for authenticity)

curried pea filling (recipe from Taste.com.au)
yields 8 large pastizzis

175g dried green split peas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 teaspoons mild curry powder
1/2 tsp of salt

1. Rinse peas, pick out any wonky looking ones and cover with cold water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over high heat then reduce to simmer uncovered, for 30 minutes or until tender. I found I had to top up the water a couple of times so keep an eye on it.

2. In a bit of oil fry up onion and garlic until softened then add curry powder. Combine well then add the peas and 1/4 cup cold water. Cook on medium heat until liquid has evaporated. At this point it just looks like a bunch of split peas and onion, when they cook in the pastry they soften down to that puree you're familiar with.

spinach ricotta filling (recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan)
yields 8 large pastizzis

300 gm of tofu (silken)
1 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp of light miso paste
handful of steamed spinach (or I used 1/4 block of frozen)

1. Whizz the mixture in a food processor. Voila. (I actually mashed with a spoon)

assemble
1. Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced).

2. Cut frozen pastry sheet into 4 squares. Blob about a tablespoon of your mixture in the middle, you'll learn how much is enough quite quickly. I then pinched the ends (pointy part of pastizzi) and then sealed it by rolling over the pastry on top of each other at the seam. You'll get the hang of it. Spray with a bit of cooking oil or brush with soy milk.

3. Bake for 20/25 minutes until golden.

notes: I'm still having the water release issues from the tofu ricotta (probably because I did nothing to try and change it this time) I still think if you cook the tofu mixture in a saucepan until it releases all that water and drain it off that will fix it. Will keep you updated, till then either try that method or have soggy bottomed tofu ricotta pastizzis.

broad beans and garlic - ful bit-tewm

As I've been travelling so much I've barely bought a vegie box for the past couple of months, so I was ecstatic to pick one up last week and find a massive amount of organic broad beans in there! (The Maltese staple food!). Its been my intention ALL YEAR to post more Maltese recipes, but I've only posted one so far! So here is another one! Broad beans are A LOT of work but well worth it in my opinion. My recipe is slightly different to traditional ones but I think better. Enjoy!

ingredients
1.5kgs broad beans (in shells or 3 cups of frozen)
5 cloves of garlic, minced (or more more more!)
1 tbsp chopped parsley or mint
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

method
1. Shell the broad beans and steam for 5 minutes (the outer skin goes all gross and weird and whiteish).

2. Leave the beans to cool enough so you can handle them. Then pinch the outer shells off the beans (theres an art to this, you'll get into a rhythm but until then be prepared for beans to shoot out all over the place! :p). Once all the beans are shelled put them into a huge salad bowl and toss with the other ingredients. YUM.

notes: The traditional way is to boil the beans in 500mls of water with the rest of the ingredients and serve, I like my way better.

stuffed artichokes -qaqoċċ mimli

or in Maltese - Qaqoċċ mimli

I was lucky enough to be able to borrow quite a few Maltese cookbooks from co-op leader extraordinaire Margarita (she is Maltese also). Maltese cookbooks are hard to find!! So expect quite a few Maltese recipes filtering through! Artichokes are just about to go out of season so get to the markets quickly. This was my first time cooking them and I have to admit I was a little daunted but it was super easy and worked out SO DELCIOUSLY.

ingredients
4 globe artichokes
2 cups of stale bread (around 6 slices, crusts trimmed), sourdough if possible
2 tbsp of capers
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
2-4 tbsp of flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup of olives (preferably green)
2 tbsp olive oil
fresh lemon juice
salt

added extras/ideas:
fresh chilli
lemon zest

method
1. Cut the stalks off the artichokes about 1 cm from the base. Trim the outer leaves off altogether (around 2 levels of leaves) and slice the top off altogether so it removes the tips of most of the leaves (about 2 cm). Trim the hard stalky tips of the outer leaves that didnt get trimmed when you topped the head off.

2.Squeeze a lemon over the top of the artichokes and soak in some salty water (I just did this in the sink, make sure you clean it thoroughly first!) for about half an hour.

3. comes the fun part! Holding the artichoke like a baseball bash it onto the kitchen bench quite hard, rotating it in your hand after each hit until you've done the full 360 degrees. This loosens the globe to enable stuffing the leaves. Gently stick your fingers in between each layer to slowly open up the artichoke like a flowering rose. Now you are ready for your stuffing.

4. To make the stuffing tear the bread into small pieces and throw into a food processor. Add the olive oil, capers, olives, garlic and parsley (and whatever other flavourings you are adding) and pulse a couple of times until it is 'roughly chopped' Grab handfuls and stuff into each layer of the artichokes until they are full.

5. Steam them (I used my rice cooker!) in a steamer (packed in as tightly as possible) for about an hour or until one of the outer leaves falls out easily when pulled. Cut in half, drizzle with some olive oil, lemon juice and salt and ENJOY.

notes: The heart is fully edible but as you go out the leaves become less edible. In Malta you do not wasted anything, there is flesh on the outer leaves you just have to suck on them like getting an olive away from its pit.

A fair bit of work but SO DELICIOUS. Enjoy.

white bean dip - bigilla

I cant believe I've been doing this blog for over a year and I haven't brought a Maltese dish to the table yet. I cant eat chickpeas on the blood type diet so I've been looking for a hummous substitute and eventually thought of Bigilla! Maltese white bean dip, full of protein, low in fat and so delicious. I can eat this at any time of the day (I had it on buckwheat crispbreads this morning for breakfast) and its really quick and simple to make.

ingredients
2 cans of white beans (drained and rinsed)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of fresh parsley, chopped
salt
juice of one lemon (or 1-2 tbsp depends on how lemony your lemons are)
fresh chilli or chilli flakes (I used chilli oil)
A glug of olive oil to loosen it up

method
1. Mash with a fork or masher.

notes: I like tonnes of garlic, if this is not your thing of course use less! I usually use cannelini beans, but butter are also good, broad beans are traditional)