Pastizzi

Pastizzi are ever so popular in Malta. There are so good. My dad used to buy loads of these on a Sunday morning. They are made with flaky all butter puff pastry and filled with a variety of two fillings, with peas or with ricotta cheese. Unfortunately pastizzi are not available here in the UK so I decided to make my own on a Sunday morning and surprise my wife which as every Maltese person is a big fan. She was so surprised :) The hardest bit is always the pastry which honestly nobody can perfectly replicate the one one buy from Maltese pastizzerias [Pastizzi shops]. I used ready-made all butter puff pastry which turned out to be a success...luckily...my favourite pastizzi back in Malta where from Roger's Bakery at Zejtun. He used to sell these from his van on  a Sunday morning by the village church, he also sells frozen ones from the shop. So if you are a Maltese immigrant do give these a go...they are really worth all the work :) You will need...

For the Pastizzi tal-Piżelli - Pea ones

• 300 g dried marrowfat peas
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• Oil for frying
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg beaten, to use as egg wash
• 500 g all butter puff pastry

Method

1. Soak the peas overnight. Wash them in plenty of salted water. Put the peas in a pan and cover generously gently with water, add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Cook the peas until they’re very soft. Drain well and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven at 200°C.
3. In the meantime, fry the onions in oil until soft and transparent. Add the onion to the cooked peas, mix well and season to taste.
4. Roll out the puff pastry thinly and cut out circles about 10cm in diameter. Egg wash the edges. Put about a teaspoon of the mixture onto each of the circles in the middle. Pick up the pastry circle from two edges and seal the edges together. Egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is well golden.
5. Serve hot.

For the Pastizzi ta' l-irkotta - Ricotta ones

• 300 g ricotta
• 2 eggs
• Parsley, finely chopped [optional]
• 1 egg beaten, to be used as egg wash
• 500 g all butter puff pastry
• Salt & Pepper

Method

1. Mix well the ricotta, eggs, parsley and salt & pepper.
2. Roll out the puff pastry thinly and cut out circles about 10cm in diameter. Egg wash the edges. Put about a teaspoon of the mixture onto each of the circles in the middle. Pick up the pastry circle from two edges and seal the edges together. Egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is well golden.
3. Serve hot.

Enjoy!!!

R&A

Tuna Empanada Galician style - Empanada gallega de atún

Empanadas are quite common on dinner tables all over the Hispanic world. in Spain they are usually baked as large pies and cut into squares and can be served as tapas. In Latin America, empanadas are small pies with different fillings. Originally empanadas came from the Spanish regions of Galicia & Leon but basically became popular all around the whole world. I had this Galician empanada when I went to Spain a couple of years ago and I had to recreate it over here as it was so good. It can be served either hot or cold. I used two sheets of pre-made pastry which makes things way easier. So give it a go and we're quite sure you will try it again! You will need.... 

• 2 ready to roll shortcrust pastry sheets
• 2 large or 3 medium red sweet peppers, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon pimentón dulce (sweet paprika)
• 1 teaspoon pimentón ahumado (smoked paprika)
• 2 cans tuna chunks (in oil), drained
• Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• Handful green olives, stoned and chopped
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil mixed with a pinch paprika, for brushing on final empanada

How to...

1. Pour oil into a fry pan over medium heat and add in garlic. Cook it for 2 minutes, until golden. Then add in onion,pepper, paprikas, tomato paste, salt & pepper to taste and cook until onions and peppers are soft, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Take off the heat and let cool. Once cool, add in tuna, olives and parsley and mix well.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C
4. Roll out the first pastry sheet and spread the tuna/veg mixture in the middle, leaving about one inch from the sides. Crumble the eggs on top and cover with the other pastry sheet. Seal the edges well with a fork and baste the top with the oil/paprika mixture and snip the empanada with scissors with in three or four places (so as steam can escape).
5. Bake for 25 minutes until reddish golden. Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Our Bramley Apple Pie

I have loved apple pie since I was a young kid. Amanda was not a big fan of it but recently she started to fancy it. I believe it is one of the most famous desserts in the Western world and it is frequently served with custard, cream or vanilla ice-cream. Mmmmmm, delicious, I want a warm slice now!! Lately we started using ready-made pastry as it is of good quality and it really saves you time in the kitchen. Try this pie out, it is quite easy to do, we sliced the Bramleys using our food processor but you can easily thinly slice them with a knife. We also soaked our raisins in fresh orange juice for about an hour so they plump up and get a unique distinctive flavour. If you have leftover pastry and apple mixture, you can do other small pies! For a 24-25cm pie you will need...

• 1kg Bramley apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 140g caster sugar
• 4 tbsp flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground aniseed
• 70g raisins
• 1 juice of an orange
• 1 sheet ready-made shortcrust pastry
• Flour, for dusting

1. Start by soaking the raisins in the orange juice and set them aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
3. In a large mixing bowl put the sliced apples, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, cinnamon & aniseed and mix them well until apples are coated in sugar and flour. Set aside.
4. Dust the work surface with some flour and roll the pastry sheet, cut it in half and thin it out until it is half size in thickness.
5. Grease a 23 to 25cm pie dish and put half the pastry sheet on the dish, make sure it is loose. Now fill the dish with abundant apple mixture and cover with the other half of the pastry sheet. Seal well the edges and snip the top of the pie with scissors in various parts so as the steam can escape. Sprinkle with some extra sugar.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to set for about 15 minutes.
7. Slice and serve cold or warm, plain, with cream, custard or even vanilla ice-cream.

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