Timpana is the ultimate pasta pie. Macaroni is cooked separately (to under al dente stage) and added to a rich bolognaise style sauce, often with chicken livers. With the addition of eggs, the mixture is cooked in a pastry case in either a deep dish or baking tray until its golden brown. This recipe uses bought puff pastry but I usually like to make it myself - its what we called a rough puff pastry, not as flaky but made with lots of butter! This recipe can easily feed an army of people and it tastes just as good as leftovers the day after (if there is any left!)
Sauté the onions and garlic in butter for 5 minutes. Add bacon and pork mince, stirring well to separate. Add beef mince and continue stirring, cooking for 10 minutes. Add chicken livers and cook for 5 minutes. Add stock, mix well and bring to boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add tomato paste and tomato purée.
While the sauce is cooking, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just undercooked. Drain and mix with sauce, adding parmesan and tasty cheese. Stir in beaten eggs. Line a greased baking dish with the pastry, extending it up the sides. Spoon in sauce and cover the top with another layer of pastry which has been pricked all over with a knife to let steam escape. Beat together glaze ingredients and paint top of timpana all over. Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Recipe adapted from one I found on an Australian site - There are more Maltese in Australia than there are in Malta!
Bragioli are often called beef olives although no olives are used! The 'olive' refers to the way the beef is wrapped round the stuffing but sometimes people use it as a name for the whole dish
A traditional Maltese beef dish, Bragioli takes some time to cook but preparation is simple.
This dish probably originated from the Sicilian 'Bragiol" which was one big rolled beef olive
Beat each slice of meat flat with a kitchen mallet(or anything that will do!) until as thin as possible.
Chop the bacon, garlic and parsley.
Grind the bread to crumbs, then prepare the stuffing by mixing the crumbs with the chopped bacon, garlic, parsley and seasoning, but not the bay leaves. Add the chopped hard boiled egg.
Some recipes call for the egg to quartered and put on the stuffing and not mixed into it but i prefer this way.
Put a heaped tablespoon or two of the stuffing onto a slice of meat.
Roll up the meat slices lengthwise over the stuffing, and fasten together with wooden toothpicks.(traditionally, thread was used to tie up the bragioli and when removed after cooking they actually keep their shape really well. I tried using ordinary sewing thread and it worked!)
Pour some oil in a large pan, and brown the beef olives all over in this, together with the bay leaves.
Put the browned bragioli and bay leaves into a casserole dish. Fry the sliced onion and carrot in the same oil.
Pour the wine over the frying vegetables.Let the sauce reach a slow boil and then pour this over the bragioli in the casserole dish.
Add the peas.
Simmer very gently for 1½ hours. You probably will have to add a little more wine to top up the braising liquid, but don't add too much, otherwise the bragioli will not cook correctly.
Remove the bay leaf and serve with your favourite vegetables or even a large portion of chips and salad. I prefer mashed, boiled or roasted potatoes.
This is a really easy recipe that was given to me by a colleague at work. The success of these truffles depends solely on the ingredients used. First decide on the type of chocolate - milk or dark? sweet, semi sweet or white. Whatever your preference try and get the best quality possible. Next is your choice of the alcohol you will be using. If you want a coffee flavour, tia Maria or Kahlua mixed with some strong coffee powder should do the trick. Grand Marnier and some orange zest should make great orange flavoured truffles....and so on....use your imagination!
A quick note, you don't have to use alcohol - you can also use jam or fruit puree instead.
The truffles will then be rolled in powdered chocolate/cocoa powder - again, choose a good quality chocolate.You can also re roll in chocolate sprinkles.
The ingredients are just a few: 8 ounces (227 grams) chocolate, cut into small pieces. My preference is for semi-sweet 3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter 2 tablespoons alcohol (or jam)
Orange zest, coffee or whatever you have decided to use.
Powdered chocolate/chocolate sprinkles
Way to go Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. You could also sue a food processor but don't grind too finely. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the alcohol or flavoring Cover and place in the fridge until the truffle mixture is firm .This can take a couple of hours so I find its sometimes better to leave overnight and continue the next day.
Shape the Truffles.
Decide on your coating - chocolate powder, can also just be icing sugar, again, imagination comes in handy! Put the coating in a large flat plate.
Remove the truffle mixture from the fridge
Here is the fun part... form the chocolate into round bite-sized balls, using your fingers - the faster and less contact with warm hands the better!
Roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray.
Cover and place in the fridge until firm.
Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months.
Bring to room temperature before serving.
You can also place them in letter paper cups for presentation. They look so professional and are so yummy that they also make a great gift.
here in Arizona i can only do that in winter - its way too hot!!!
This is a very popular Maltese dish - we would often eat it at Christmas or some other occasion. Its is a super carb dish so should be eaten in moderation! The addition of chicken livers really adds to the flavour - but can be omitted for the faint of heart! I would often make the pastry from scratch, using a semi-short recipe. I have come across some others that use puff pastry but that isn't strictly correct.
Ingredients
1.5 lb pastry
1.5 lb. macaroni
1 lb. minced meat(mixture of beef and pork)
4 oz. chicken livers
6 oz. crushed tomatoes
1 chopped onion
2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbs tomato paste
1/4 pt. chicken or vegetable stock
2 hard boiled eggs(chopped)
1 aubergine, sliced very finely and fried or grilled.
4 eggs(beaten)
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
Fry the onion and garlic.
Add the meat and liver, fry until cooked.
Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Cook for a few seconds.
Slowly add the stock and simmer till the meat is tender.
(or you can make a bolognaise of your choice)
Boil the macaroni (al dente!) drain and cool.
Add the sauce, aubergine, cheese and hard boiled eggs and stir well.
Roll the pastry , not too thick, and put into a greased dish with enough over the edges to cover the top
Pour the mixture and cover with the pastry.
Brush the top with beaten egg
Cook in a moderate to hot oven.
You could also just put the pastry on top, to minimize the carbs (ha ha ha) but the real recipe calls for the pasta to be completely wrapped in the pastry.
The most British of desserts, the traditional Christmas pudding was always a must at home. It would be made several months in advance, then re-steamed a few days before christmas. Tradition also dictated that a silver sixpence would be put in the mixture for a lucky person to find (and hopefully not choke on!) A sixpence does not exist any more - let alone a silver one but I do remember putting one in! Another tradition was that everyone in the family would stir the pudding and make a wish.
Butter a pudding basin (8-10in/20-25cm) and line the base with a circle of baking paper. Into a very large bowl put 4oz/115g raisins, 4oz/115g sultanas, 4oz/115g chopped Smyrna figs, 4oz/115g chopped pitted prunes and 4oz/115g chopped dates.
Add 4oz/115g grated pumpkin and 1 grated apple. Pour over 3½ fl oz/100ml cider or ale and leave to stand for about 20 minutes, until the raisins have plumped up a little.
Add 2 beaten eggs and 2 extra egg yolks, 2 tbsp black treacle and 4oz/115g dark muscovado sugar. Stir in 4oz/115g ground almonds, 4oz/115g vegetable suet and 3oz/85g grated plain chocolate . Sift together 4oz/115g white flour , ½ tsp ground mixed spice, ½ tsp grated nutmeg and ½ tsp ground cinnamon and fold well into the pudding.
Spoon into the greased basin (or basins, if you are making more than one smaller pudding, in which case reduce cooking time by two thirds). Cover the surface of the pudding with another circle of baking paper.
Cut a large piece of baking paper (big enough to cover the bowl and be tied down) and a similar-sized piece of foil. Lay one on top of the other and fold to make a pleat so they hold together.
Lay over the bowl and tie down with a piece of string. Place in a large, deep pan and pour water in until it reaches halfway up the basin.
Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, turn down to a slow simmer and steam for about 6 hours. Allow to cool and store at room temperature. From time to time, open the seal and sprinkle with brandy. You will need to steam the pudding again for about 3 hours before serving it.
Pastizzi are traditional Maltese 'delicacies' made up of diamond shaped pastries filled with either ricotta (pastizzi ta' l-irkotta) or a slightly spicy pea filling (pastizzi tal-pizelli) The pastry is a puff-pastry like dough that I still have to try and replicate! Sometimes pastizzi are referred to as Maltese cheesecakes or ricotta cheesecakes, a slightly misleading term since cheesecakes are usually sweet not savoury like pastizzi. I have actually found Pastizzi in Australia and Canada, probably thanks to the Maltese emigrants there!
Pastry:
8 oz. flour 6 oz. margarine cut into cubes 6-7 tbs. cold water dash of salt
The trick here is that everything you use must be cold! If the margerine melts you will not get the desired result.The best working surface for the dough is a slab of marble since marble tends to stay cool. Make sure the dough, working surface and the rolling pin are sprinkled with flour before you start working the dough.Don't turn the dough over while you are working it. Always keep the same surface up. Turn it flat on the board (or turn the board itself) clockwise before each rolling and always in the same direction. This is one of the hardest doughs to make and you may have to try it a few times before you get it right!
Sift flour and salt together. Divide the margarine into half-inch squares. Drop the margarine into flour making sure not to squash them. Mix lightly until all margarine cubes are covered with flour (make sure that the cubes remain intact.) Add some cold water and mix lightly with a knife again making sure that the cubes remain intact. If some flour is left loose, add a teaspoon of cold water at a time until all the flour has been brought together. The resulting dough should be very soft.
Sprinkle the dough and the working surface with flour. Work the dough into an elongated shape using your finger tips. Sprinkle some flour on the rolling pin and roll the dough until it's about eight inches long and not more than five inches wide. 1 - Fold the lower third toward the top. Now fold the upper third toward the bottom on top of the first fold. You should end up with a three-layered rectangle. With light pressure from the rolling pin, seal the three edges. 2 - Remove any extra flour. Now turn the folded dough anti-clockwise so that the right side is at the top. Roll the dough lightly until it is nine inches long and six inches wide. 3 - Repeat steps one and two. 4 - Cover the dough with a damp cloth and store in the refrigerator for twenty minutes. 5 - Repeat steps one through four, four times. The dough can now be rolled out to the desired thickness. Another way is following the video posted at the bottom of this recipe. The dough is streched out and then rolled up rather like a jelly roll. Then thin slices are cut and shaped into the pastizzi.
You could also use store bought puff pastry - not quite the same but much easier! A Pastizzi fan would shun your efforts!!!
For the Filling: 2lbs ricotta 2 eggs(beaten) salt and pepper to taste optional: some chopped parsley
Method Mix the ricotta with the beaten eggs and season Roll out the dough. Cut into aprox 3" to 3" circles.(or cut slices off the 'jelly roll') Put a tablespoon of the rikotta mix in the middle of each circle.Hold both sides of the circle and bring them together, then pinch the top and bottom so that the ends are in points Put the pastizzi on a margarine greased baking sheet. Bake in a moderate oven (350-425 degrees) for about one hour. The pastizzi should be a golden-brown colour when they're ready.
I found this great video that shows how pastizzi are made! It should make the explanation of how to form them much easier! HOWEVER...the video shows a REAL pastizzi maker who has has years of experience so don't get discouraged!!!
This is a traditional Italian dish that I can never seem to find out of Europe. I think it is because Veal is hard to come by in the USA.
Ingredients 2 kg of veal in one piece- i find that the fillet would be the best but choose a tender cut 1,5 l of white wine 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic 2 celery sticks 2 carrots 1-2 leaves of thyme Salt and Pepper
TUNA SAUCE: 1 7-oz. can imported tuna, packed in olive oil 5 flat anchovy filets 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 tsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed 3 tbsp. capers, soaked and rinsed 1 1⁄4 cups mayonnaise
Method
Tidy up the veal and remove any fat. Fill a pot with wine and water, enough to cover the meat Add the onion, chopped up, the carrots, grates, the garlic, the celery and the thyme. Bring to the boil, then add the veal, season and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 1/2 hrs. Take off the fire. Let the veal cool in the pot and broth for about 2-3hrs
While the meat is cooling, drain tuna and put into a food processor with anchovies, olive oil, lemon juice, and capers. Process until it becomes a creamy, beige-colored sauce. Fold sauce gently, but thoroughly, into mayonnaise. Keep the sauce in the fridge until ready to serve. When the meat has cooled down, cut in very very thin slices - as thin as possible - this is the key. Arrange on a serving dish and cover with the sauce. Add some capers on top for decoration
