Basic Bechamel - La Béchamel

Here is a recipe on how to make a basic Béchamel sauce. You can use this sauce in a large number of dishes such as lasagne, macaroni cheese etc. For best results you have to stir constantly and always make sure that you do not burn the roux [flour and butter mixture]. Here is what how to do it and what you will need...

Makes about 1 litre of sauce

• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 1 litre whole milk, at room temperature
• Pinch of grated nutmeg
• Ground black pepper, to taste

How to...

1. Start by warming the milk with the nutmeg and pepper in a separate pan. Do not overheat and/or boil as the sauce will curdle. Set aside.
2. Melt the butter and add the flour on low heat. Stir constantly until you get a golden but not brown roux.
3. Now, start adding the milk to the roux gradually, make sure you keep stirring all the time so as not to get any lumps. Keep stirring until you use all the milk and until you get a thick silky sauce. 
4. Use in any recipe!

R&A

Asparagi alla Milanese - Asparagus Milan Style

This dish is so good that you will need some bread to make sure you swipe clean the plate. It is so easy and quick to prepare. Here in England it is asparagus season and currently you can find purple tip asparagus at very cheap prices. Purple tip asparagus have a slightly better taste than the green ones but any one of them will do. Enjoy this as a quick snack, breakfast, or as a starter to a main meal. So to prepare this dish for 2 people you will need...

• A bunch of asparagus
• 2 eggs
• Generous knob of butter
• Grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Firstly, to remove the woody part of the asparagus, take one asparagus and bend it slowly until it snaps from the lower end. The small bit left is the woody part. Discard it. Now take a knife and cut the same part for the rest of the asparagus.
2. Put the asparagus in a pan of boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes.
3. While the asparagus are boiling, melt the butter in the pan and when all the butter is melted and bubbly, slowly crack the eggs. Be ever so careful not to break the egg yolk.
4. Fry the eggs until egg white is set but yolk is still runny and bright yellow.
5. Put the asparagus on a thick piece of kitchen paper, so as they absorb excess water. 
6. Put the asparagus on the plate, slide an egg on top and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.
7. Drizzle the remaining butter from the pan around the asparagus and enjoy!!!!

R&A

Ramanda's Chorizo & Chicken Frittata

I love egg dishes....in fact this is our second second frittata on this blog. The Frittata Primavera was a hit with you guys, so here is another creation of ours. The secret of egg dishes is to cook them possibly covered and on a low heat. We used spicy dry cured Chorizo Casero and fresh chicken breast in this dish which turned out to be delicious. Give this a go...this what you will need...

• 6 eggs, beaten
• 200g dry cured chorizo sausage, casing removed and diced
• 1 chicken breast, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 green pepper. finely diced
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• Pinch of dried marjoram
• Fresh chives, snipped
• 4 cherry tomatoes, diced
• Olive oil

Method

1. Start by seasoning the chicken breast with olive oil and ground black pepper and grill under a medium grill until cooked. When cooked, dice into small pieces. Set aside.
2. Preheat a large empty non-stick 28cm frying pan, when hot enough, add the chorizo and green pepper and cover. Cook for about 5-10 minutes on a medium heat until the pepper is soft and the chorizo has a nice deep red colour.
3. Add the chives, marjoram, tomatoes and chicken breast, stir well and add the beaten eggs slowly so you can cover all of the pan.
4. Cook covered on a low heat for about 10 minutes. When done, slowly slice onto a plate and serve.
5. If the top of the frittata is still a little runny, pop under a hot grill for a couple of minutes.

Enjoy!!
R&A

Broccoli & Stilton Soup

This soup is the wife's favourite and to be honest broccoli were never one of my favourite vegetables but as I grow older it is definitely becoming one of my favourites. The better quality Stilton cheese the better soup you get but if you do not find Stilton you can use you Danish Blue cheese. Get the best broccoli you can get, greenest and freshest ones possible. It is quite easy to prepare. You can serve it with buttered crusty bread, grated Parmesan cheese or a dollop of cream. For 6 to 8 servings you will need...

• 1kg broccoli, flowers separated and stalks peeled and chopped
• 200g Stilton cheese, cut into cubes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Knob of butter
• 250ml whole milk
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 litres of water
• 2 vegetable Knorr stock pots or cubes
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Crusty bread, to serve

How to...

1. Melt the butter and fry the onion until soft and transparent.
2. Add the broccoli, water and stock cubes and cook on a medium heat until the broccoli are tender stirring occasionally. When broccoli are tender add the cheese and stir again
3. In a small separate pan put the milk and flour and slowly bring to the boil stirring all the time vigorously until you get a thickened sauce. When it boils remove from the heat and add the broccoli mixture. Give it a good stir.
4. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool down a bit.
5. Blend the soup with a hand-held blender or into a standing blender in batches and serve with some buttered crusty bread.

Enjoy!!
R&A

Couscous à la Tunisienne - Tunisian Style Couscous

Here goes another favourite recipe of mine. My mother got this recipe from a Tunisian family during one of her  visits to Tunisia...it bursts with flavours...succulent lamb, aromatic spices, tasty vegetables...so genuine...the best part of it...you must eat this dish with your right hand's first three fingers to get the Arabic feeling!!!! According to Arab culture, if you use less than three fingers to eat you are showing arrogant manners, whereas if you use both hands that is an indicative of an overpowering greed. This is one of the reasons that the vegetables in this dish are cut into big chunks so as they can be picked up. Anyway, you can eat this with a fork as well mind you! :) Me being a massive xenophile [in love with different cultures] I just feel like I have to eat it like that. Oh and you definitely need a massive pot...we use a thick-bottomed 6L pot. 

You can do this dish for a dinner party or when you have friends over and you want to impress.  In this recipe I use shoulder of lamb but if you cannot find any, you can use lamb shanks that can be found everywhere. If you do not fancy lamb you can use chicken or if vegetarian you can omit the meat. Harissa paste is a chilli paste coming from Tunisia, this can be found in most supermarkets [It is very hot so be careful of the amount you put in] Click on the name in the ingredients list to see which one is it. You will see in the ingredients list that there is a long list of ingredients but most of it is vegetables, so do not give up. So come on, do give it a go!! You will need...

• 1kg bone-in shoulder of lamb, trimmed of all fat
• 500g pumpkin or butternut squash, cut into large pieces
• 1 large leek, cut into large pieces
• 2 green peppers. quartered
• 2 onions, quartered
• 3 gloves of garlic, crushed
• 5 small potatoes, cut in half
• 1 large marrow [like the one in the picture or 4 small ones], cut into large chunks
• 1 turnip, quartered
• 5 carrots, cut in half
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tbsp harissa paste
• Salt & ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 500ml water
• 1 tin chick peas
• 250g couscous

How to...

1. In a large pan, fry the lamb in olive oil, add the garlic, salt and pepper, stirring all the time until golden. 
2. Add the onions, tomato paste and harissa and stir well. Add a little water at a time. 
3. Add all the other vegetable chunks and sprinkle the cumin. Add the remaining water and cook until the meat is tender about 1½ hours covered but make sure you stir the pot every once in a while.
4. Add the chick peas and give the pot yet another good stir.
5. Remove the meat from the pot and add the couscous and some extra olive oil. Remove the pot from the heat and cover tightly and leave for 5 minutes.
6. Mix the pot well and serve hot.

Enjoy!!
R&A

Ħelwa tat-Tork bil-pistaċċi - Sesame & Sugar Confectionery with Pistachios

Ħelwa tat-Tork or Halvah hails from the Middle East but many many years back it was imported to Malta and ended up as one of the national confectionery must haves in all the sweet shops around the island. I remember my grandparents having a slice of Ħelwa tat-Tork and a piece of plain Maltese bread. My grandma used to say that is it just balances the sweetness of it all. I must say that when I had it with bread it did taste wonderfully good...although I think it must be Maltese bread or other rustic hard crusted bread. It is very easy to make as it consists only in 2 major ingredients...sugar & tahini [sesame paste]. All you need to get it right is a kitchen thermometer and a thick based pan as the temperature has to be perfect. It is usually served plain but feel free to add any roasted nuts to it....although best ones to use are pistachios. Almonds and hazelnuts are fine as well. So give it a try and always be careful when handling boiling sugar syrup....it is very very HOT!! You will need...

• 200g granulated sugar
• 260g Tahini [Sesame paste]
• 12 tbsp water
• Pistachios [not salted], roasted, shelled and skins removed
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. In a thick bottomed saucepan put the sugar and the water over very slow heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir slowly until it boils. Do not stir while and after it boils.
2. Let it boil until the thermometer reaches a temperature of 140°C or 284°F.
3. Meanwhile in a heat proof container mix the tahini, pistachios [or any other nuts you might have used] and vanilla essence.
4. When the sugar mixture reaches the required temperature [140°C or 284°F], pour it onto the tahini mixture in a slow steady stream whilst mixing well.
5. When done just leave it cool until solidifies. When cool, you can store it in tins or cut it in slabs and wrap them in greaseproof paper.
6. After storing, some sesame oil may be found around the confection, this will not interfere with the taste. You can always pat it dry with some kitchen paper.
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8. Enjoy!!! [with some Maltese bread maybe!!]
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10. R&A
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