Fabulous Olives & Thyme Focaccia

This year’s drama shows no signs of abating, we had a bereavement, the credit crunch quite literally has also hit our home and now find myself temporarily ‘a lady of leisure’ and ‘house wife’.

Consequently I find myself with more time on my hands that I haven’t had in a very long time and hence found myself more and more in the kitchen seeking solace and joy in creating culinary delights, giving cooking lessons to my friends and their little ones as well as feeding them and my husband up.

In my pursuit of joy and employment I decided to try making a focaccia and our Auntie Noreena all the way from South Africa demanded to have the recipe, so I thought it would be only fair to share it with you all as well as Aunt Noreena.  A focaccia , is kind of a cross between a bread and a pizza, and absolutely delicious. You could either eat it with antipasti, such as olives, parma ham, or a dip of olive oil with a drop or two of balsamic vinegar, or as a perfect accompaniment to ‘Nanny Salvu’s soup’, (or any other soup for that matter) and the ‘Bolognese Sauce’. 

And this is how you do it:

Ingredients:

For the Dough                                                                 For the Topping

350grms Plain Flour                                                       2tbsp olives - sliced

Pinch Salt                                                                       A few sprigs fresh thyme

7grms Dry Yeast                                                            pinch coarse salt

210ml Lukewarm Water                                                2tbsp olive oil                          

1tbsp Olive Oil

Method:

•  Lightly oil a 10 inch shallow round/rectangle pizza pan/pie dish. 
• Place the flour, salt, yeast and olive oil in a *bowl. Using the handle side of a wooden spoon mix gently and make a whole in the middle, gradually adding the water to form a soft dough. 
• Knead for at least 5 minutes until smooth and elastic in texture.
• Cover the bowl with a lightly oiled cling film and leave to rise in a *warm place until the dough has doubled in size. 
• Knead the dough for about a minute and transfer to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Roll out into a 10 inch circle/rectangle and place in the prepared tin.  
• Cover with a lightly oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size.
• Using your fingers make deep (as in the pictures). Cover and leave to rise for about 10 minutes.
• While it is rising, pre-heat the oven to 200⁰C/Gas 6.
• Uncover and sprinkle over the olives and the thyme, pushing gently into the dough.   
• Sprinkle the salt and the olive oil and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown.
•  Cool slightly on a wire rack and enjoy warm! 

* TIPS - If possible it is best to use a metal bowl, as this keeps the heat and will help the dough to rise.   Leave to rise in a sunny window, or else while preparing the dough pre-heat the oven on 100/120⁰C for about 20 minutes. Then switch off, and wait till it cools off a bit, then leave the dough to rise in the warm oven.

The ever flexible and resourceful - Bolognese Sauce (zalza bolonjeze)

Hi Everyone!

Firstly I would like to apologies for not blogging for a while and as, it has been pointed out by quite a few people on my recent visit to Malta I only just added 1 recipe when I have promised an influx of lovely recipes. It has been a rather tempestuous time, but onwards and upwards hey, and  on a more positive note since my brief absence from my blog, I have also found out that there are even more followers out there who have been anticipating updates. 

So once again apologies and in order to redeem myself I am sharing probably one of the most familiar and popular of sauce, from Malta, Italy to the UK, the Bolognese sauce is a favourite for many people. 

This extremely versatile sauce is not only tasty, and suitable to freeze but with a few tweaks can be transformed in to many a tasty treats. The Bolognese Sauce is normally happily married off with spaghetti (Spaghetti Bolognese) however by following the tips below will add an *international twist to your dish and make this old faithful, well even more old faithful and yummy. 

·         Keeping it Italian to start with:   By leaving the sauce a little bit watery will be the best base sauce for your Lasagne.  Exchange the spaghetti for penne.  The tube shaped pasta will add new texture and taste to the dish.

·         For a North African twist:  Exchange your pasta for couscous.

·         For a Mexican twist:    Add chopped chillies and kidney beans and then serve either with rice as a main dish, or as a snack serve as a dipping sauce with Nachos.

The Recipe:
 

Bolognese Sauce – (Serves 4/6)

400/500grms Beef Mince

*1 pkt (500grm) pasta (cook according to instructions)

1 Can Chopped Tomatoes

1 large onion – finally chopped

1 chicken/vegetable/oxo cube

2/3 garlic cloves - chopped

2 tbsp fresh/dry herbs

2 dry bay leaves (if possible)

2 tbsp tomato pure'

2 tbsp wine (optional)

1tsp Worcester sauce (optional)

½ can of water

pinch salt

pinch sugar

Method

·   Heat the oil in a large sauce pan.

·   Add the garlic, onion, herbs, salt and wine, cook on a low heat for a few minutes.

·   Add the mince and Worcester sauce, stir until mince is slightly brown.

·   Add the tomato can, pure’ cube, bay leave and sugar, blend everything together, and then pour the water with the mixture, stirring continuously.

·   Leave on a low heat until, slightly covered and mixing occasionally

·   While the sauce is simmering, boil half a pot of water in a large pot, add a 1 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt (no pepper).

·   When water is boiling well, add the desired pasta and cook according to instructions on the packet or according to own taste.

·   When pasta is cooked al dente, drain water well.

·   Plate the pasta first and then add the tomatoes sauce on top.

·   Garnish with fresh parsley leave if desired.

  * Swap pasta to either one of the alternative options. – Enjoy!!

Nannu Salvu’s Toqlija – Grandpa Sam’s Soup.

As my blog is aptly named after my culinary queen and beloved grandma, it is only fair that my first family recipe I share with you all is named after my grandpa sam – ‘Nannu Salvu’.  And no I did not just come up with the name for the soup for the sake of my blog, this soup has been fondly named ‘It – Toqlija tan- nannu salvu’ well in my memory forever and all my numerous cousins would say the same! The reason being when ‘Nanna Rita’ was either too sick to cook or in hospital, ‘Nannu Salvu’ would wear the apron for the day and cook us his old faithful soup. So we all knew that as soon as Nanna was in hospital, that is what Nannu Salvu would cook for us all. To this day if I am either too busy or a bit under the weather, it is the soup I go to as it is so simple and yet so tasty as well. This soup is also suitable to freeze for up to at least 1 month, and it is also ideal if you or any members of your family are vegetarians as minor changes to ingredients would turn it into veggie soup heaven.

To make this fabulous soup you will need:

6 potatoes – ideally large

1 tomato

1 Onion – also large

2tbsp – tomato pure

2 chicken cubes – or vegetable cubes (for the veggies)

1 can peas – this ideally should be marrow fat as the garden peas aren’t so tasty for this soup.

1 slice bacon – (optional)

1 tbsp – oil

pinch of salt

A small handful of spaghetti split into small pieces. (this might sound strange, but in Malta, Italy and the Med we have special tiny pasta that we use specifically for soups – the crushed spaghetti is a suitable alternative)

-       Put all the ingredients in a large pot,  (but not the pasta and leave half the marrow peas too) fill the pot half full with water

-       Mix well, and cook on a high heat until water boils, mixing every now and then. Then turn it into a medium heat.

-       When the potatoes are cooked, take them out and mash them, add the mashed potatoes back to the soup.

-       Add this point add the pasta, and the other half of the marrowfat peas, mix well and turn it onto a low heat until the pasta have cooked.

-       Enjoy with warm crusty bread and one or two glasses of wine!

Thank you!

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for your words of support and for my increasing followers. It means a lot to me, and that I am either inspiring you all or conjuring up childhood memories;o) Darren feel free to upload recipes too, I guess we could have a recipe swap community too, why not hey!

Look out for my 'nanny salvu's' famous 'toqlija' (soup) coming up very soon.

A traditional Hello World!