Baked Tomato & Cheese Rigatoni

This has been my favourite pasta dish since I was a child and in fact in my family this dish is called Ramon's Pasta. :) I love it so much, the gooey pink sauce, the melted cheese, the sweetness of the tomatoes...heaven!! This recipe has been adapted by my mum from a 1970's cookbook written by Marguerite Patten. I can tell you that if you try this pasta dish, you will go for seconds :) It is quite easy to make and the most "difficult" part of it is making the pink sauce. So, do give it a go and let us know how it turns out for you. 

For 6-8 people you will need...

• 500g Rigatoni
• 6 tomatoes, sliced
• 300g Edam cheese, grated
• 800ml whole milk
• 500ml tomato passata
• 2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• Ground black pepper

How to...

1. Start by boiling a large salted pot of water. Cook the pasta until nearly al dente...about 9 minutes.
2. Whilst the pasta is cooking, make a roux by melting the butter and adding the flour on a medium heat. Stir until you get a golden coloured (but not brown) mixture. Add the milk bit by bit whilst stirring continuously until the sauce thickens and you have used all of the milk. Make sure there are no flour lumps. About 10-15 minutes in total. You need a creamy and silky white sauce. 
3. Preheat the oven at 200°C.
4. Turn off the heat and add ground black pepper to taste and the passata, stir until you get a pink sauce. Add the mustard and some of the grated cheese (optional), stir again.
5. Drain the pasta and rinse quickly with cold water to remove any extra starch.
6. In the large pasta pot, add the pasta (make sure it is not in one big lump), add the pasta and about 75% of the pink sauce. Mix carefully until it is well combined.
7. Butter or spray a rectangular oven dish and spread the leftover pink sauce on the bottom. Add half of the pasta and pink sauce mixture. now sprinkle most of the cheese and some sliced tomatoes, add more black pepper.
8. Pour in the rest of the pasta, sprinkle the remainder of the cheese and cover with the sliced tomatoes. Add more black pepper if you like. 
   
9. Now, to get better results move the oven rack to the top shelf and bake the pasta for about 30 minutes. You can put the pasta dish under the grill for about 5-10 minutes if you like to crisp up the tomatoes. Serve hot!!

Enjoy!!

R&A

Baby Pumpkins Stuffed with Camembert, Vegetables & Bacon

I was at the supermarket and came across these cute baby pumpkins that were called Munchkin pumpkins. I could not resist buying a couple of them and I started thinking instantly on how am I going to cook them. After doing some research I came up with this idea. It turned out incredibly tasty, creamy, salty, sweet, crunchy, crispy...just wonderful. As we were cooking this on a week night I obviously relied on Amanda to help us with the preparation. In fact, to make sure that everything is cooked evenly, everything should be chopped finely and basically the same size. If you want to turn this recipe into a vegetarian one omit the bacon and to turn it vegan, omit the bacon and cheese and use vegetable oil instead of butter. So, Halloween is upon us once again and pumpkin recipes are on high demand, so I will try and come up with a couple more before the spooky night!! Give this a go and you will definitely not be sorry, they are delicious! For two baby pumpkins you will need...

• 2 Baby pumpkins or small Butternut squash
  
• 6 mushrooms, finely sliced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• 1 green chilli, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• Some pumpkin/butternut squash flesh, finely diced
• 3 fresh sage leaves
• Vegetable oil or butter
• Salt & pepper
• 175g bacon, finely diced
• 150g Camembert, sliced
• Dry sherry

 How to...

1. Heat oil or butter together with the sage leaves,
2. Add vegetables and cook covered on medium heat until soft, 
3. Now remove sage leaves, add bacon and mushrooms and cook on higher heat until mushrooms are wilted and all liquid has disappeared. Add salt, pepper and some dry sherry. Cook, stirring frequently until all alcohol has evaporated. Turn off heat.
4. Add Camembert slices at the bottom of the pumpkin/squash and top with the filling. Add some extra Camembert on top of the filling, cover with pumpkin lid and bake at 180 deg for 50 minutes to an hour.
5. Serve hot!!

Enjoy!!

R&A

Baked Cod with Sweet Peppers & Cherry Tomatoes

Recently my parents and youngest brother visited us and my dad wanted me to cook something for them so I thought why not cook some local fish with a Mediterranean touch for all of us. So, whilst we were at Doncaster market, I visited my friend Vince of Penny's Fisheries and got a good deal on some fresh cod. Then on our way home I browsed the net  for ideas whilst thinking what I had in our pantry at home and I found a recipe on the BBC Food website and adapted it to our own taste. So, off we headed to the supermarket to buy the rest of the vegetables that I was missing at home. Since cod is not everyone's favourite fish as some might say that it is quite bland on flavour I decided to add some natural flavour enhancers that made this dish super tasty and flavourful. I added some more herbs and capers. As you might imagine this amount of ingredients fed all five of us so feel free so adapt the ingredient amounts. Give it a go, you can use any fish you like and also vary/omit the vegetables to your liking. For 5-6 people you will need...

• 1.2kg fresh large cod fillets
• 4 red sweet peppers, chopped into medium sized-pieces
• 3 yellow sweet peppers, chopped into medium sized-pieces
• 2 red onions, diced into 8 pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
• 250g cherry tomatoes
• A large handful of green olives
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 500ml (2 cups) tomato passata
• Fresh basil leaves
• Fresh or dried mint leaves
• Some dried oregano
• Dried parsley
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

How to...

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
2. In a large bowl put the chopped peppers, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, olives, capers and some olive oil and mix well. Divide the mixed vegetables between two large oven dishes and put in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.
   
3. In the meantime cut the large cod fillets in two pieces. When the vegetables are done, leave the oven on, take the vegetables out of the oven and pour 250ml (about 1 cup) of passata on top of the vegetables. 
4. Now, put the cod fillets on top of the partially cooked vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter with some fresh basil leaves, mint, oregano and parsley. Freshly grind some black pepper and put into the hot oven for a further 20 minutes until fish is flaky and falling apart. Serve hot!
   
   
   

Enjoy!!

R&A

Amish Baked Chicken

Amish baked chicken is just wow!!!! Crispy, buttery just unbelievably delicious. We had never cooked Amish recipes before and we found this recipe in an ecookbook and adapted it and it turned out to be a winner. As I said there is lots of butter used but it is definitely better than buying take-away chicken or something like that. Amish cuisine is very natural, no additives, no sweeteners and the like. Give it a go and I am quite sure that you will do it again. It is super easy to prepare and cook. for 4 people you will need...

• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
• ½ cup (65g) plain flour
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dry yellow mustard powder
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 250g (about 1 cup) butter, melted

How to...

1. Preheat the 180°C/350°F.
2. Mix the dry ingredients well in a plastic bag or in a large bowl. 
3. Coat the cut up chicken parts with the mixture. 
4. In an oven dish, pour the melted butter and carefully place the chicken parts in the dish next to each other. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and cooked, about an hour to an hour and a half or until cooked. 
5. Serve hot with a side of green beans.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Brungiel Mimli - Maltese Stuffed Aubergines

In Maltese cuisine stuffed aubergines and stuffed marrows are very popular. They are usually stuffed with a minced beef mixture and baked into a hot oven. The smell of them cooking is a classic which one can smell across Maltese towns and villages on a Sunday morning. My mum used to top them up with a slice of cheese and I used to loved them, to be honest when I was a kid I only used to eat the stuffing and obviously get told off for leaving the aubergine on the plate. Now I can say that aubergines are one of my favourite vegetables. Actually, it is quite impressive the fact how your palate starts to settle down when you get older and eat foods that you used to hate when you were a kid. Anyway, try this dish and you won't regret it, they are very easy to prepare. For 2 people you will need...

• 2 large aubergines
• 400g lean beef mince
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• 2 tablespoons grated Kefalotiri or Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 2 slices Edam cheese
• Olive oil, for frying

How to...

1. Start by slicing the aubergines lengthwise. With a teaspoon carve out an oval shaped hollow at the wide end of the aubergine. This is where you will put the stuffing. Set them aside. Chop the aubergine flesh. 
2. In a large pan on medium heat, heat some olive oil and fry the fennel seeds until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the onion and aubergine flesh and fry until onion is soft and transparent, about 10-15 minutes. When onion is cooked add the beef mince and cook until cooked thoroughly about 20 minutes. Drain any excess fat. Set aside and let cool down for about 10 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
4. Rinse the aubergines from all the salt and pat dry using kitchen towel. 
5. In a large mixing bowl add the onion/beef/fennel mixture, mixed herbs, parsley, salt & pepper, grated cheese and beaten eggs and mix well until well combined.
6. Fill the aubergines and top with half a slice of Edam cheese. 
7. Place into an oven dish, pour a glass or two of water and bake into the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until aubergines are tender.
8. Serve hot with roast potatoes.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Baked Imqaret - Maltese Date Pastries

Imqaret are a very famous deep fried sweet Maltese treat. There used to be just one place where Maltese people used to buy them, "il-Gabbana ta' Bieb il-Belt' but later on they could easily be found at village feasts and local markets' mini-stalls. We missed them so much that we had to make our own. We chose to bake them and used already made pastry. If you want to make your own pastry it is quite easy to do and you can always deep fry them!! The deep frying method does give it a unique taste but in my opinion the taste is in the filling. The delicious orange blossom water that we Maltese have been using for ages, from curing a poorly tummy to creating delicious tasty sweet pastries and the use of aniseed give these pastries their unique taste. Try them out, they are exquisite!! We used only 250g dates but feel free to double the amount to make more. You will need...

• 250g dates, pitted and chopped
• 1-2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tsp orange flower water
• Pinch ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground aniseed
• 1 ready-made sheet shortcrust or sweet pastry
• Flour, for dusting

1. Start by blending all the ingredients, apart from the pastry obviously in a food processor. Add the water bit by bit, you do not want a very liquid mixture. Do leave the mixture a bit lumpy. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
3. Dust your kitchen bench with flour and roll the pastry sheet, using a flour dusted rolling pin roll out the sheet so it becomes thinner. Cut into two long strips, put the mixture in the middle alongside the pastry strip leaving an inch on each so you can seal easily. Wet the edges with some water and cover with the other strip of pastry and seal well, packing the date mixture well. Slice into diamond shapes or slices (see picture) and bake into the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. 
4. Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Baked Whole Trout with Lemon & Coriander

Trout and salmon are the most famous river fish here in the United Kingdom. In my opinion river fish such as trout have a more delicate taste than saltwater fish and coming from the Mediterranean, Amanda and myself do prefer saltwater fish. Although as all cooking, if the fish the cooked well you still can enjoy it! Always make sure that you choose fresh fish, you can tell that a fish is fresh by checking what we call the FES :) which basically translates into Firmness, Eyes & Smell. Always check that the fish is firm (this means that the fish has been recently caught), the eyes are clear and that the fish does not smell (fresh fish does not smell). We prepared this trout by baking it al cartoccio which means wrapped up in a parcel. You can also use this method and cook it on a hot BBQ! We served with with a delicious Bleu d'Auvergne cheese & Broad bean salad (recipe to follow). Obviously you can cook any fish you like using this method. Give it a go!! For two people you will need...

• 2 fresh whole trout, cleaned
• 6 fresh lemon slices
• fresh coriander leaves
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Lemon wedges, to serve
• Aluminium foil or grease-proof paper

How to...

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Wash the fish under a running cold tap. Pat dry and put on a large sheet of aluminium foil or grease-proof paper. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. Put the three lemon slices in each fish and stuff with the coriander leaves.
3. Close the foil or paper around the fish, package-like, always making sure that it is tightly sealed. Leave some air for the steam to go around in the package whilst cooking.
4. Place on an oven tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.
5. Serve with lemon wedges and a good side salad.

Enjoy!!

R&A