Dreaming of Ice-cream

It's funny how I've just come back from a trip to Italy, a food trip to Italy really, and all I can think of ice-cream.  The "devil" I was on holiday with is as bad a fanatic as myself, so it was really hard not to fall in this pitfall!

Even though the temperatures we had were 0C,1C,2C and possibly even 3C we were still happily slicking our ice-cream whilst holding onto our woolen hats, scarfs and gloves!... and even though we were in the northern part of Italy, we ended up discussing and buying "crema di pistacchi".  And no, we weren't the only mad ones in the land. People in Italy buy and eat ice-creams on a regular basis in winter too, and even though at one point we ended up in a some-what empty town and came across possibly 5 people in total roaming the streets, the 2 gelateria in the town were open and also well stocked!

So coming back to Malta thinking that the weather now is even hotter than I left it a couple days ago, I sat on the plane and planned my recipe hunt to then get down to making some ice-cream possibly over the weekend. But of course, my plans went out of the window when I landed in cold wind and rain and instead of taking out my ice-cream machine ( which by the way, has a permanent place in the freezer and ready for any emergencies) I got some wood out of the garage and put on the fireplace once again!

But hey, that's Maltese weather for you... hot in February and cold in March.

So back to warming meals... thinking of stews and soups this week.. will keep you posted with anything I come up with.

Watch out for my Easter Desserts this week. They will be published in the Best Buy Supplement, out this Wednesday 10th with The Times... there is also a cheat version of the Classic Italian Tiramisu without the egg mixture.. so worth a try for those of you who won't go anywhere close to uncooked eggs.

ice-cream recipes on this blog

No fuss food

Over the past weeks I've had to adapt my recipes at home. Portions are smaller and the food preparation is more on the spare-of-the-moment, rather than a planned meal!

Yesterday I had some chicken breast which had been defrosting and was not in the mood of grilling the chicken then cooking some vegetables or some salad, so I opted for a 1 "pot" meal.

So here is what I used -

1 chicken breast - Fresh or simply defrosted
2 medium onions
4 new potatoes - or you can use 2 medium sized potatoes

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 lemon, grated
1/2 tangerine, grated. - if these are not in season, you can substitute with an orange
1 cup of water

At this point, put your oven on and set it at 160C

Place the peeled, sliced onions at the bottom of a non-stick oven dish.  Next wash the potatoes and slice them. I like to keep the skin on, but if you prefer you can peel the potatoes before slicing them.  

Next place the chicken breast over the potatoes. You can cut the breast into portions - you should be able to get 4 portions out of each whole breast, or you can leave it whole.

Finally season the chicken with the herbs and the lemon and tangerine zest. you can also add some fresh pepper if you prefer. Pour the water into the roasting dish, try and find a corner where there is no chicken to pour your water so that you do not remove any of the dressing. Cover the pan tightly with some baking paper or some foil and cook in a pre-heated oven at 160C for about 20 minutes.

A new era - Part Deux

I think the time has come for me to change the title to this blog. Sadly there are no more cakes to order! Hopefully, though the recipes will still keep coming.

The address to the site will still remain the same so you need not change your links, bookmarks etc!

Time to move on though.... so please excuse me if my posts become less regular.
As I always, if you need any recipes or if you wants to tips, do not hesitate to post your comments on the site and i'll be more than willing to help you out!