Farfalle with Tuna and Mushrooms

400g farfalle pasta
200g mushrooms – finely sliced
1 x 400g tinned tuna in oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole garlic clove – finely chopped
2 sun-dried tomatoes - diced
Fresh parsley

It is important to make the sauce once you start preparing your pasta. As soon as your pot with boiling water is placed on the heat, place the oil and garlic in a pan.

Heat the two together until they start to sizzle and then add the mushrooms. Stir in the finely chopped parsley. You should be very generous with this and it should really be chopped very finely.

Add the tuna which needs to be strained from the oil before adding and then stir in the sun-dried tomatoes. At the point you should have already added the pasta to the water and it should have re-boiled. Add 1 ladle full of the starchy pasta water to the sauce and stir.

Once your pasta is cooked and strained stir in the sauce and add a little more olive oil whilst mixing.

Artichoke Ravioli

If you want to prepare something a little special but that will not keep you slaving in the kitchen for hours on end, here is a simple recipe for fresh ravioli. The pasta recipe can be used to make any type of pasta such as lasagne or cannelloni.

Even though making fresh pasta might sound laborious, it is very easy to prepare and it will only take you about 30 minutes to prepare this recipe from start to finish! Here is what you need to make enough ravioli for 2

For the pasta
300g Plain flour 00
3 egg
1 tablespoon little olive oil
A pinch of salt
For the Artichoke Filling
2 artichokes
1 onion
30g butter or some oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan or grated cheese
1 egg

Start off by making the pasta dough. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until you form the dough. You can do this with your hands or by using an electric mixer. Once the dough is ready set it aside and prepare the filling.

Start by cleaning the artichokes. Remove the outer leaves from the globe artichokes and using a sharp knife chop off the top half of the leaves. Now slit each artichoke in half and remove the hairy choke which sits right on top of the heart. Peel the stem slightly so that you may use it too.
Now, in a pan, heat the oil or butter and fry the onion. Add the chopped artichokes and cook until the artichokes soften. It is best to chop the artichokes into little pieces before adding them to the pan.

Don’t worry if the artichokes turn dark after you peel them. This will always happen and can only be prevented if you soak the artichoke in a bowl of water and fresh lemon juice until you are ready to use. In this recipe it is not important to have white artichokes as they will be used to fill the ravioli.

Once the artichokes soften, place the cooked artichokes and onions in a blender and bliz to a paste. Now add the egg, parmesan and season with salt and pepper.
To prepare the ravioli, roll out the pastry till it is very thin. An easy test is to lift the pastry up against the light. If you can see the light through, then it is thin enough. Make sure that there are no holes in the pastry as this will make it unusable.

Cut the pastry into circle or squares, depending on the shape you want the ravioli. Circles will give you semi-circle ravioli which squares will give you rectangle ravioli. The diameter of the circles should be around 4cm. Now, place about a levelled teaspoon of the artichoke paste in the middle of the circle and brush the edges with a little water. Fold the pastry over to seal the ravioli making sure that there are no gaps which would allow the filling to escape.

Cook the ravioli in a pot of salted, boiling water for about 4 minutes. You can serve these ravioli with a drizzle of olive oil or some melted herb butter. Make sure to keep your sauce as simple as possible so that you may enjoy the delicious filling.

Pasta Bean Soup (Pasta e Fagioli)

Now that we have finally finished our drinks, gatherings and dinners, we can all relax to some serious hearty food.

I love post festive meals because they tend to be the simplest and warmest during the year. The cold weather we have been having over the past days has surely helped inspire me to make some soups and piping hot meals!

So this week, here is a delicious soup which doubles up as a whole meal in itself. This soup is also low in GI since in includes and good amount of beans. Here is what you will need to make enough soup for 4

100g dried canellini beans
100g pasta (ditali / zibbeg)
1 x 400g tinned tomatoes (polpa)
2 medium carrots
1 medium onion
2 celery sticks
3 cloves of garlic

Start off by soaking the beans the night before you want to prepare the soup. Then, once you are ready to start, place the beans in a pot and cover with water. Use clean water and not the one the beans were soaking in the night before. Allow the beans to cook for about 1 ½ hours.

Should there be some white foam accumulated at the top, remove it with a spoon. Make sure to keep the water well topped up so that there is constant rumbling boil for the beans to cook in.

Once the beans are cooked, add the carrots, onions and celery which has to be cut into small cubes around 0.5cm x 0.5 cm allow them to cook for 10 minutes then add the tomatoes, garlic and top up with enough water for the pasta to cook. Now cover the pot and allow your water to boil. Once the water is boiling well, add the pasta and switch the heat off.

Cover the pot and allow it to rest for about 20minutes or until you are ready to serve.

Once plated, drizzle some olive oil in each plate and serve with some Maltese bread.

Moroccan Style Couscous

Couscous is North Africa’s answer to pasta. A staple food in these countries that requires very little preparation and not a lot of utensils to have it cooked. In view of this, couscous had become the ideal food for the nomadic people but was also prepared by other tribes.

With in increase in different grains being introduced in our diets, couscous found it’s way in our European dishes along side others like quinoa, barley and various kinds of rice. But unlike many of these, couscous is very easy to prepare and is now available in most supermarkets and on various restaurant menus.

Couscous can be used as a substitute to potatoes, as a side-dish or as a plate on it’s own.

Couscous is very versatile as it can be eaten plain or mixed with various spices, meats and sauces.

In morocco, where couscous is a daily staple, this is never served cold but it is served with stews and other hot dishes. Also, there are number of households that still prepare their couscous from scratch this takes hours of preparation. We are used to the instant couscous that is ready in 5 minutes or less and this is one of the main reasons why couscous has become so popular in meals today.

Here is what you need to make this morrocan style couscous which can be eaten as a meal or served as part of a buffet.
250g Couscous
2 teaspoons Coriander paste
200ml Chicken stock – warmed
1 tin Chickpeas
2 small marrows – diced
Walnut oil
Walnut Pieces

Start off by placing the couscous in a large bowl. Now add the hot stock and cover the bowl with a plate. Let the couscous rest until the stock has been absorbed.

Now using a fork and NOT a spoon, stir the couscous until it fluffs up. Next add the coriander and again mix it in using a fork. Now stir in the marrows which are raw and the chickpeas.
Should you be serving the couscous in a different bowl, change your bowl at this stage. Now drizzle a generous helping of walnut oil and top with walnut pieces. Walnut oil can be found in Marks & Spencer food section.

This dish can be served warm or cold as part of a summer buffet.

Spaghetti with fresh lampuki

This is a new way of using the Lampuki fish that are in season. Lampuki, (Dolphin fish or Mahi-mahi) are mainly fried into chunks locally or made into a pie. Click here for my Lampuki Pie recipe
This week I am giving you a different recipe for your lampuki, Pasta with lampuki. This pasta is easy to prepare and also very healthy.
You can also try this dish with swordfish should lampuki not be in season. This is what you will need to make enough sauce for 500g of pasta:

1 large lampuka just under 1Kg
olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
fresh herbs, parsley, thyme, mint, basil
4 large plum tomatoes (tadam cat)
500 grms cooked pasta

This sauce will be ready by the time you cook your pasta so place a pot of salted water over the cooker and in the meantime start preparing the sauce.

Start off by cleaning the fish and cooking it slightly under the grill or steam it. Once the fish has softened slightly and are nearly cooked cut the fish into fillets. The easiest way to do this is to use 2 spoons; remove the head, tail and spines and chop the fish into bite size cubes.

Make sure that the fish isn’t too small otherwise it will crumble on cooking.
Now heat some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic which needs to be chopped finely. Next add the chopped herbs and the peeled chopped fresh tomatoes.

Simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes and once the pasta is nearly done, add the lampuki chunks.
Stir the cooked spaghetti into the sauce and serve immediately.

Fresh Basil Pesto

Over this weekend I was getting a warm fuzzy feeling that tricked me into thinking that I am not in the middle of August but in some splendid March sunny day, when the days just start warming up but you still can stand being in the sun for more than 15 minutes.

As with most things, my state of mind will effect my cooking and so this week I started adding some baked dishes in my lunch/supper menu. Being nice and breezy gives me the peace of mind that I can spend some extra time in the kitchen and not cook the quickest simplest dish to get out of the firey heat.

So this week, I prepared one of my daughter’s favorite pasta sauces, fresh pesto. Pesto is an Italian sauce which is prepared differently in the different regions. The variations on the basic recipe all depend on what is abundant in that region. Pesto Siciliano for example has tomatoes whilst pesto Genovese has lots of basil.

Pesto Genovese is probably the most know and the most consumed, now produced in large amounts commercially, most of us just keep a handy jar in the store cupboard (which keeps for months) for that quick plate of pasta!

There is more that one can use pesto for besides as a pasta condiment, my husband uses it as part of his secret chicken marinade, you can also use it as part of your salad dressings.

The basil in my garden is pretty abundant at the moment so preparing this sauce came pretty easy. Basil grows easily in pot or window boxes and can be grown from seeds. You can also buy little seedlings from most garden nurseries and replant at home into a larger pot.

The proper Genovese Pesto is made with pine nuts, however these are pretty expensive locally. If you wish to substitute the pine nuts, I suggest using walnuts or even almonds. Don’t forget pesto is a thick sauce so a little bit of sauce will take you a long way. Here is what you need

200 gr. Pine nuts
1 large bunch of fresh basil leaves – remove all stalks
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – the best you can afford
Grated Parmesan Cheese.

Place the basil leaves and nuts in a food processor and with the motor running drizzle enough olive oil to create a paste. Add the cheese and taste. Do not add any salt or pepper, however, if required, add some more cheese. It is important to blend well after each addition. If you have made too much pesto to consume all in one go, place the extra amount in a sterilized jar and top with more olive oil so that all the pesto is covered with oil.

Pesto will keep for 1 week but is best consumed fresh.

Quick Green Prawn Curry

This green curry will be ready before your rice is cooked. Try making this as a dinner for 1 or for friends. You can serve this with rice or noodles. I used M&S organic brown rice. If you like to buy organic ingredients, then M&S is the place for you. Their organic products range from 5 minute marinades to biscuits and pulses!

Here is what you need to make enough for 1
2 tablespoons Thai Green Curry Paste
1 packet M&S Honduran King Prawns
M&S Organic Brown Rice
1 tablespoon M&S Creamed coconut
1 medium onion – finely chopped
50g baby Corn

Start by boiling some water for the rice to cook in. Next place 1 teaspoon of the creamed coconut into a little bowl and add about ½ a cup of boiling water. Stir the cream until it is completely diluted.

Now, in a pan, fry the onion in a little oil and once the onion starts to sizzle, stir in the curry paste. You can add more past if you wish to have a spicier dish, however 2 tablespoons will give you a nice spicy dish

Once the paste and the onions start cooking together, add the creamed coconut which has been diluted. Add the corn which needs to be cut roughly into smaller pieces and stir. Allow the dish to simmer for about 5 minutes, then when the excess liquid has been absorbed, stir in the prawns and switch the heat off.

At this point your rice should be cooked and strained. Place your rice in a plate and spoon the prawn curry over it, sprinkle with some chopped coriander and serve.

This recipe has been previously published on the Best Buy Supplement, out monthly with The Times.
Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com

Spaghetti with Fresh tomato sauce

Tomatoes are at their best this month. With produce being at it’s peak, prices have dropped to €0.50c a kilo making this the right time to make some delicious tomato-based recipes.

Here is one of my family’s favorite recipe; spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce. Forget tinned tomatoes for the next weeks and work with fresh ones. All you need to do is peel them and chop them, then use them in the same way you would use the tinned ones.

Cooking times for fresh tomatoes has to be increased slightly, so you will need to get going a little bit before!

Before I give you this week’s recipe, I would like to share this link: Crying while eating I came across this site by accident, (as with most of the sites I visit on the net!) it’s quite funny and worth a visit!

Here is what you need to make enough pasta sauce to go with 500g of Pasta
2kg beef tomatoes (tadam Catt)
1 teaspoon sugar
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 garlic clove – finely chopped
Fresh basil – torn into little pieces NOT chopped

Start off by placing the tomatoes in a large bowl and poring boiling water over them. Let them sit for 15 minutes and then discard the water. Now peel the tomatoes and deseed them, chop them roughly and set aside.

In a large deep pan, place the chopped garlic and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and let the garlic sizzle for a while. Once the garlic softens add the tomatoes and simmer for about 30 minutes until the tomatoes thicken into a sauce consistency.

Now sprinkle in the sugar and cook for a further 10 minutes. Once the sauce is ready, switch the heat off, add the basil leaves and a generous drizzle of olive oil. This addition is important since the taste and vitamins in the olive oil will be transferred into your plate now that the temperature has been lowered.

Once you are ready to serve, add the cooked pasta to the sauce and serve warm with a generous grating of parmiggano reggiano.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com

Lunch for one - Quick Stir fry noodle

When you get into a fix on what to cook for a quick lunch or dinner for 1, this dish comes together in a matter of minutes and is super healthy. Containing good quantity of vegetables, this dish is suitable for vegetarians, however if you must add meat, then I suggest you add chicken slices.

Here is what you need to make this dish for 1:
125g medium egg noodles
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into batons
1 medium marrow cut into batons
2 mushrooms thinly sliced
Baby corn
About 8 leaves of swiss chard (Selq) now in season
1 medium fresh garlic, chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon Rice Wine or Sherry
1 tablespoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil

Start off by preparing the vegetables. Chop the garlic into thick strips and set aside. Next wash the chard and chop the bottom thick stalk into 2cm chunks.

Peel the carrots and cut it into strips about 4cm long and slice the mushrooms.

Now in a small bowl or a cup, place the stock cube and dilute it with a little water. Add the rice wine and the ginger and stir.

Once your vegetables are cleaned and prepared, fill a pot with hot water and once it boils cook your noodles. In the meantime, place the garlic and olive oil in a pan and place it over a medium heat. Next add the stalks of the chard and cook with a little bit of the stock/wine mixture.

Now add the carrots, the chard leaves and stir. Once the noodles are ready to be drained, add the mushrooms, marrows and the corn and stir in the drained noodles all in the pot.

Once the noodles have been properly stirred through, serve the noodles immediately. If you have any leftovers, place these in the fridge. This dish makes a great packed lunch for the office as it is easily heated in a microwave.

This recipe has been previously published in the Best Buy Magazine, out monthly with The Times.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com

Baked Tortellini

Thank god for 1Kg packets of tortellini; it makes this dish so much more convenient! Baked tortellini can be very filling so make sure to serve these when you are really hungry or if you are planning a special dinner or lunch. There is a wide variety of tortellini available on the market and you can choose any filling you prefer.

I like using the meat ones for this dish as they are easier to find and come in large packs. If you are using fresh tortellini, then I suggest that you boil them for very little as they would have cooked too much by the time they come out of the oven.
In fact it is best to use the dried variety for this dish!

Here is what you need to serve 4
700g tortellini
1 x 400g Tinned chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
150g cheese
200g mushrooms
200g cream
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
Salt & pepper

Start off by boiling the tortellini for 5 minutes. They should be taken off from the heat and drained as soon as the 5 minutes are up.

In the meantime, place the garlic which needs to be chopped finely into a pan with a little bit of oil and fry slightly. Add the tomatoes and 1 cup of water and cook over a gentle heat.

When the tortellini are ready, drain them and place them back into the pot. Now add the tomatoes which must have not dried up, the cream and the mushrooms.

Now, chop or grate the cheese (I like placing it in a blender). The cheese must not be grated cheese; you can mix some cheddar, Romano and some other cheese. You can also clear up your fridge from any ends left!

Leave about 50g aside and mix the rest of the cheese into the tortellini. Add the milk and the egg and spread it into an oiled baking dish.

Cook the tortellini for about 10 or 15 minutes at 150C. It is best to let them rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com

Pasta with Calamari

With sunny days becoming frequent and spring just around the corner, I changed my menu at home this week and decided to add a little bit more fish! So this week I prepared a nice plate of spaghetti with a calamari sauce. Here is the recipe for the sauce. I prefer to serve this with spaghetti, but you can use any pasta you like.

Serves 4
1 large calamari – about 30cm in length
1 medium onion sliced thinly
1 x 400g tin, chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons kunserva
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
150g green & black olives, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon capers, chopped
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon butter

Start off by cleaning the calamari, or ask you fishmonger to do so. Once it’s cleaned, slit a knife across once side of it and open it up into a butterfly. Now cut the calamari into cubes about 2cm x 2cm.

In a pot, place some olive oil and add the onion. Once the onion softens, add the calamari and cook for about 2 minutes.

Now add the kunserva (tomato paste) and the chopped tomatoes and season with the anchovy paste. Add the capers, olives and about 1 cup of water and simmer for 15 minutes. Now add the oregano and stir in the butter and cook the sauce for another 30 minutes or until the sauce has reached the thickness required.

I prefer to serve a thick sauce in this case as it coats the pasta beautifully.

You can allow the sauce to simmer for longer if you wish. Once the pasta is cooked, stir the pasta into the sauce and serve.

You can also prepare the sauce in advance and freeze it.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com

Pasta with fresh artichokes

Artichokes are well in season now and prices have dropped making them very affordable and ideal as part of your weekly supper. Even though most of us are only used to eating these stuffed with a tuna paste, there are various ways of enjoying this delicious vegetable. Artichokes roughly carry around 76 KCalories per 100g. They contain NO fat, cholesterol or sodium. Artichokes are a good source of Iron.
This week I shall be giving you the recipe for pasta with fresh artichokes and fresh tomatoes. This dish takes very little time to cook and can be prepared whilst waiting for your water to boil and your pasta to cook. Here is what you need to serve 2:
4 small fresh globe artichokes
1 large can of tuna
2 tomatoes
fresh parsley
fresh thyme
olive oil
spring onions
vegetable stock
Start off by removing the outer leaves from the artichokes. Cut the artichokes into quarters and slice off the top part of the remaining leaves. Now, place your spring onions in a pan with a little olive oil and add the artichoke hearts. Should fresh artichokes not be in season, you can always substitute with tinned or frozen ones. Now add some vegetable stock, fresh or a diluted stock cube and allow the artichokes to cook through.
Should you be using the tinned ones, then very little stock is required since these are already cooked.
Once the artichokes have softened and are cooked through, add the tuna and tomatoes. Make sure you deseed the tomatoes and cut them into smallish chunks. Next add the fresh herbs and a little more stock if required.
Once your pasta is cooked, drain it well and stir into the sauce. Once you plate the dish, drizzle a little olive oil on each plate.
Should you like to contact me, please do so on mailto:cooktalk@di-ve.com

Recipe - Gnocchi filled with Ricotta

During lent, there are a number of households over the island which try and avoid eating meat as well as sweets on Wednesdays and Fridays. As happens in most cases when sticking to a particular menu over a period of time, inspiration runs out. So give your menu a change, here is the recipe for gnocchi filled with ricotta.

The great thing about this dish is that you can prepare it in advance and then just cook it at the last minute. Cooking only takes 20 minutes!

Here is what you will need to serve a family of 4
500g Pasta Shells, also know as pasta gnocchi
400g Ricotta
Fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon kunserva (tomato concentrate)
1 large tin aprox 400 g tomato polpa (chopped tomatoes)
grated cheese
2 litres milk

Start off by making your sauce. Fry your garlic in a little oil until it has softened, then add the kunserva and sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over it. Once it has fried, add the tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes over a medium heat. Should you like, you can also add a teaspoon of butter or margarine to make the sauce creamier. Once the sauce is ready, set aside and allow it to cool.

Now for the gnocchi; mash the ricotta with a fork and add a little hot water if it is too thick. This will soften your cheese and make it better to work with. Add a little chopped parsley and mix well. Now using a teaspoon fill the pasta shells with the ricotta. Should you have a piping bag, using a wide nozzle, filling your shells will be easier and quicker. Whilst you are filling your shells place them in a baking dish. Do not worry if your shells end up upside down, the ricotta will not run out. Once all the shells have been filled and your dish is full, pour enough milk until all the shells have been completely covered. Depending on the size and shape of your dish you might need just under 2 litres. You can use any type of milk be it UHT, fresh, skimmed or whole milk.

Now spread the tomato sauce on top, sprinkle a little grated cheese and place in the fridge, always covered, over night. This will soften your pasta and reduce your baking time.

When you are ready to eat, bake your pasta in a 150C oven for about 20 minutes.