M&S...again

Just finished the photoshoot for the Best Buy Supplement for July. Mmmm... simply delicious, after the photographer leaves I have to clear up the plates, from the food I mean and not the table!

Most impressive ingredient this time round I guess are the rhubarb & ginger biscuits and the vanilla pods. The biscuits are crunhy on the outside but chewy on the inside and the vanilla is something out of this world. Nothing compared with the cheap little glass bottles we are accustomed to!.. this is the real McCoy.

So watch out for the recipes in the Best Buy Supplement, out with the Times on Wednesday 9th July.

Stuffed Marrows (Qarabali Mimmli)

With Summer officially starting last Saturday, we're in for weeks of sun and hopefully clean clear seas! Most school children also finish their scholastic years this weeks so with temperatures up and little time on our hands to prepare meals, this is the time of year that I like to prepare meals such as qarabali mimmli or timpana.

Even though they might sound heavy for these hot days, these dishes are ideal as they can be prepared in advance and also they can be easily packed away for the beach.

Marrows are quite cheap and abundant at the moment, so here is the recipe for stuffed marrows, Qarabali mimmli; here is what you need :

3 marrows - long
1 small tin corned beef
200g Minced beef
1 Egg
Grated cheese
2 rashers of back bacon
1 clove of garlic – finely chopped
Salt, pepper, parsley for seasoning

Start off by washing the marrows and chopping off the tips from the top and bottom. Now cut them open into 2 pieces, cut them lengthwise and scoop out some of the flesh. Place them in a greased baking tray and set aside.

Now in a clean bowl, place the corned beef and mash it properly with a fork, add the minced beef and mix well. Now add all the other ingredients and mix properly. Place the filling into the marrows and bake in a preheated oven at 160C for about 35 mins or until your beef is cooked through.

This dish is best served with an accompaniment of Maltese baked potatoes ( the recipe for this dish I shall be giving you over the next weeks) and some Maltese bread.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com or leave your comments on this page.

Lamb's Lettuce

Lamb's lettuce is a salad green which grows in a rosette of long spoon shaped leaves which may also be clustered in loose heads. Lamb's lettuce is used in salad mixes together with other greens such as rocket, frisee or any other type of salad leaves.

The name comes from the fact that the leaves resemble in size and shape a lamb's tongue!). This type of lettuce is usually sold bunched together with its roots which are best kept intact until you are ready to use it.

Place the roots in a little water and store it in the fridge, this way the lettuce will keep for days. As a salad green, it is more expensive than the standard cos (hass twil) or iceberg (kabbucjat) that we are accustomed to buying, however, it is a nice variation to your salad dishes.

Here is what you need to make a lamb’s lettuce salad for 2:
1 Lambs lettuce
4 slices back bacon
1 chicken breast
3 garlic
1 sprig of rosemary
Some mushrooms
2 slices stale bread.

Start off by cutting the bread into little cubes. Cut the bread vertically and horizontally so that you have 4 pieces, now cut each piece into 4 again and you will have 16 cubes from each slice.

Sprinkle the bread with some olive oil and grill them under a hot grill until they become crunchy.

Next, wash the lettuce and place on your plates.

Grill the chicken together with the garlic cloves and rosemary. Once it is cooked through, cook the bacon.

Place the chicken and bacon over the lettuce, next sprinkle the mushrooms and finally top with the bread.

Should you have small forest mushrooms such as finferli I would use those and not the local white variety for this salad. However, if these are not available, then buy some local ones and chop them into small pieces.