Rye & Seed Soda Bread

Seeded Rye Soda bread

8 months! That's how long it's been since the last time I posted. We've moved from one tiny island to a slightly larger one... so we're now living in Southend-on-Sea in England. Who would have thought! It's a pretty seaside place and once again we're looking forward to having family and friends visiting us in this part of the world!

Rye flour, spelt flour, salt and seeds, before mixing

One thing I've been doing recently is bake our own daily bread. I'm pleased to say that the last time we ate store bought bread is at least 3 months ago. There's been a lot of experimentation involved, so we didn't always eat the best of bread loaves. We've eaten some stodgy bread, undercooked bread, dry bread and even bread with bits of brown paper stuck to the bottom, when someone (not pointing any fingers here) mistook the brown paper for baking paper.

This is how the dough looks after a light kneading

The upside is that we've also eaten some of the best bread we've ever tried. The smell of freshly baked bread is something I can never get tired of. Bread with no preservatives and no additives. I think that's enough to keep at it.

Dough, cut into 6 wedges

The Rye & Seed Soda Bread is a staple loaf in our home. It's the quickest loaf to whip up, no need for kneading or resting, no need to let it rise and bakes in 20 mins.

Soda bread is a type of quick bread which uses bicarbonate of soda instead of yeast, as a leavening agent. You need to use an acid which reacts with the baking soda, which will create tiny bubbles of  carbon dioxide, causing the loaf to rise. Traditionally buttermilk is used, however I do not always have it in my fridge whereas I always have yoghurt, so this recipe uses a mixture of milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. You can easily  substitute this for 285ml of buttermilk if you prefer.

Lovely seeds sprinkled instead

Do not expect this loaf to be light and soft. It's a dense, wholesome loaf with a distinct nutty taste, thanks to the rye flour and the seeds. It tastes great and is perfect with thick soup or with stew. It's a firm favourite, and not just because it can be on the table in less than 45 mins ;-)

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The Fig Project - Fig, Balsamic and Peppercorn Jam

A few of the figs taking part in this project

I thought I'd be posting more frequently now that school is out. But as usual, life is full of surprises... and not always good ones at that! As some of you might know by now, M. was in a motorbike accident a few weeks ago. He's doing fine... a broken nose, a broken knee and torn ligament. Nothing that won't be fixed eventually. It's not THAT bad. I'm grateful that he's home and wheeling himself about.

Figs - Trimmed and ready for action

After abandoning my kitchen for a while, this week I was back at it, getting another surprise (this time a good one) by being gifted a nice big bag of organic figs. We ate a few but I knew that unless I did something with them, they might go to waste. All in all, I have till now ate, cooked with or somehow used around 15kg of figs. I will attempt to document all the ways I have used/will use the said figs, starting with the first fig jam I made - Fig, Balsamic and Peppercorn.

My favourite mixture of pink and black peppercorns

Actually, as my cousin L. correctly pointed out, jam might not be the correct name for what I made first. By definition, jams should be smooth, not chunky. Preserves, on the other hand are chunks of fruit, suspended in a syrup base. Not sure whether that qualifies either. It's possibly more of a chutney, having a combination of chopped fruit, vinegar, spices and sugar all simmered into a chunky mix, balanced in sweetness, tartness and spice.

Figs- added sugar, balsamic vinegar, crushed peppercorns and lemon

I love this jam. Although I am a huge fig fan, fig jams were not my favourite, due to them being too sweet. But this jam is so balanced, you might want to eat all of it straight out of the jar. And I can already see it being used in tarts, pancakes, salads or over some home made galletti (water biscuits)... but more on that later. :) For now, I'll share the recipe...

The first batch of yuminess

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And finally...Macarons!!

My First Successful Macarons - With chocolate Ganache filling

It's been almost a year since I last posted. I do feel the shame! But at least, this time I am posting as a free woman.

I'm no longer a student. School term is finished and my days at ITS are over. My time is now divided between making cakes and desserts for customers, and testing recipes (as well as cooking for M. and cleaning... but who wants to think about that?). If that's not happiness, I don't know what is! :)

One recipe I've been wanting to test is that for Macarons. Ever since I tasted them for the first time at Ladurée in Paris, back in 2009, I have often craved for them and have been toying with the idea of making these beauties myself.

Pretty little Pink ones

It was our last day in Paris and were were supposed to visit the Louvre. We got there at 5:00pm and the museum  was closing down for the evening, so we could not get it. But did I care about not seeing the La Vallette sword or the Mona Lisa? I forgot about them as soon as I caught a glimpse of the prettiest display of confections ever. Ladurée!

Deciding which ones to choose... now that was a difficult task. But I left the shop with 10 different Macarons in hand. Such beautiful colours! I savoured them slowly, marvelling at the sheer delicacy of the taste and texture, whilst sulking a little because I had to share. That's when the love affair started. 

Macarons: Thin crispy outer shell, chewy inside, creamy ganache

Maybe you wondering why it took me so long to try making them myself. Maybe the ingredients were difficult to find? Maybe they're too time consuming? No & No! The only reason why I have been stalling for 3 whole years is that I have been reading about them... in books, on food blogs, everywhere! The list of troubleshooting tips is huge! Something could would obviously go wrong, wouldn't it? And I'm a coward that way...

The thing is, I just had to try. I pencilled them into my to do list, for next week. Right between "fix the magimix" and "pester M. to update my website". And less then 2 hours after they were in my list, a customer called. She wanted a cake, with macarons stuck on the side, and could I do it for tomorrow please?

Mini-Macarons on a Chocolate Gateaux

I was about to say no, but I knew that I could do them. So why postpone? Why not get it over and done with? I had just got a gentle nudge in the direction I wanted to go, and what perfect timing! 

So I went shopping, armed myself with enough ingredients for 6 batches of macarons and by the time everyone was in bed, I was prepared for a long night of trial and error in the kitchen.

Don't they look gorgeous?

It actually took 2 tries to get them right. The first time I had too many holes on top and no feet. A little research revealed that it was a problem which was easily fixed just by tapping the bottom of the baking tray and bursting those pesky little bubbles with a toothpick. I also needed to wait a little longer between piping them and baking them, for a shell to form. I had no patience the first time round, even though I knew I should have. 

The second batch was just what I was looking for! They were perfectly round, with thin smooth shiny shells and they had FEET! And they were chewy too! Oh the excitment! I was so pleased, I just had to wake up M. to show him, even though it was 2:00am :) (He was slightly less pleased, but hey! I had to share...) 
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Maltese Sausage & Prune risotto

Maltese Sausage & Prune Risotto 

Last week C.S. presented me with 4 sausages... Something between nicely spiced maltese sausages and salami. Her brother makes the Maltese sausages himself and then hangs them to dry, giving them a wonderful texture. We ate one straight away, then forgot about them in the pre-Patches madness, until today. I saw the package when I opened the fridge as soon as I woke up this morning and I must guiltily admit I ate a whole one for breakfast. YUM! I know my blood pressure will not be low for a while now :)

Dried Maltese Sausage

I was wondering what to do with the rest of the sausages... (lest I be tempted to finish off the remaining 2 all by myself) until I remembered another forgotten ingredient: Vialone Nano rice, kindly given to us by Eatmania at the end of the Rice Degustation event, a few weeks back. Photos of the event here.

The Rice Sample we were given by Eatmania

Since that event, my mind has been mulling around ideas of how to best use this special rice, and today I decided that combining it with another special ingredient (the sausages) sounded like a good idea. Which, may I humbly say, it was!

Chopped Sausage

Maltese sausages are all made to the same basic recipe, however each butcher will spice it to his own liking... these had a definite taste of cumin seeds and I decided that they would pair up nicely with prunes. So here it goes: dried Maltese sausage and Prune Risotto. Delicious!

Ps. I noticed that the Vialone Nano is actually much creamier than any other rice I tried before... My previous favourite was Carnarolo, but I believe this might change. The rice also remained nicely separate, despite the creaminess, and retained a nice bite.I might need to get myself a good stock of this rice!

Chopped Prunes

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Tiny figolla bites... with recipe

Anyone taking a look at my hands might think I've been dipping my fingers in paint of something of the sort... but all I've been doing is baking and decorating "Figolli"

Nice rows of "figures" ready to be popped into the oven

"Figolli" are a traditional Maltese pastry eaten at Easter time... apparently the name come from a corruption of the word figure (or figuri in old Italian) and usually in the shape of a lamb or something of the sort. Figolli are usually also large... about 7 to 10 inches in lenght (or width, depending on the shape :p )

So what's different about my figolli? Well they're small... tiny actually. Not more than 1 inch across. One bite and they're gone!

I made them by preparing two pieces of dough, on top of the other, separated by the almond filling in the middle, then used cookie cutters to cut out around 250 small figolli.

It did take some time... and patience... but the upside was that I had loads and loads of off cuts, which I baked seperately and we enjoyed even before the "pretty ones" were iced. YUMM!

I packed the figolli in packs of 3, a little ribbon and a home made tag and star.. and off they go, my little ones, on their own into the outside world.

The recipe I used for these figolli was given to me by one of my teachers, Mrs. Nathalie Barbara. I have to say I was not disappointed with the results. I particularly liked the dough, which resulted in a softer figolla than usual.

I made the dough by hand, and it was easy. I love rubbing the flour and the butter together... the smell reminds me of happiness. Maybe it's because it reminds me of my mother, making figolli, when I was a kid... and how happy and excited we were to eat these goodies.

Recipe is below. Let me know if you make it and what results you get.

In the mean time, Happy Easter to all!

 

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Zeppoli (or "Sfineg ta San Guzepp")

My first thought, as I woke up this morning was: "I'll make Zeppoli today".

It's my friend J.'s fault. He's been going on and on all week about how he's looking forward to eat Zeppoli. Because today is St. Joseph's feast here in Malta, and it is tradition that on this day, people eat sweetened deep fried pastry balls, filled with Ricotta.

Zeppoli

J. asked me, forced me, threatened me until I accepted to go out and buy them for him... He even called and sent messages in order to remind me. Which I did... I bought a couple for him. But then made some home made ones for the rest of us.

The recipe calls for candied peel and since I did not have any, but did have an orange and some sugar, I started the day by boiling the orange skin in water to make candied orange peel. I added some bay leaves and a handful of spices (cloves, cinnamon, juniper berries) just to make the house smell better.

Homemade candied orange peel

I made the filling by mixing ricotta cheese with finely chopped dark chocolate, the orange peel & almonds. To the choux pastry I added grated rind of an orange and a lemon.

In the afternoon I went to see my bro & his friends' mare Lady IV. She's just 9 months old, a real cutie and very sprightly. 

Me & Lady IV

Back from the visit, I finished off the Zeppoli by deep frying the batter and then drenching the pastry with a honey/homemade marmalade mixture and sprinkled them with chopped almonds. Eaten immediately, the outside shell has a nice crunch with a soft, creamy interior. Eaten later, the shell had softened but the chocolate bits and nuts make for a nice bite. YUMMY!
Happy St. Joseph's day! Recipe after the jump... 



Sfineg ta' San Guzepp

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Patches 5th Edition: A Roundup

The Patches Market has come and gone... leaving behind memories of such a lovely day. I was actually surprised at how busy we were, since it was raining and very bleak :)

Luxury Nut brownies

Once again, the brownies were a huge hit, together with the cookies. The baked lemon cheesecake, topped with pistacchios and a homemade marmalade-honey sauce was also a great success - loved watching people drool over it :)

Biscotti, Cherries in Chocolate & Profiteroles

Yippeeee!! Couldn't have been happier! My wonderful nephew D. was as usual an enormous help, as was my better half M. Both helped man my stall while I sprinted around buying stuff on offer from the talented artists :-D.

Kwarezimal, & cookies displayed on the new cookie stand

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Handz by Patz @ Patches this weekend!

Paper cubes - for decorating my stall

It's been nice & hectic these past few days. I've been getting ready for the Patches market which takes place this Sunday, 13th March.

I've been printing out flyers, and labels... description sheets. I've also been making origami to decorate my stall... My friend C.S. took me out to a flea market, where we prowled for odd pieces of china... Love my new purchases... Have to scrub them well, before laying them out with the delicious sweets I'm baking next Saturday.



Authentic milk bottles found at a flea market

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Xkunvat

Xkunvat knot

It all started with a project...and a book.


The project: a presentation for my Maltese Culture class about our ideas on modifying a traditional recipe.

The book: The way we ate a wonderful book about traditional Maltese recipes by Matty Cremona.

Inside this lovely and insightful book, I met a recipe I had never seen before. Xkunvat - a traditional, festive pastry which was prepared for carnival and the 'quccija'  (a baby's first birthday party). It is actually a pastry, prepared with Anisette liquer and deep fried... then drizzled with honey and sprinkled with hundreds & thousands.

Xkunvat pillows

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Eggs Florentine

I know! It’s been ages and ages and ages! But I’ve been busy with school and trying out recipes. It's going really well at school. Learning soooo much, and I'm gaining more confidence in the kitchen... paying more attention to the end presentation. It's great!! All I had hoped for.
I often post pictures on facebook about whatever I’ve been cooking, and I often get asked for recipes. I sometimes send a link, but more often than not, I’ve modified the recipe… or taken bits from here and there, so it’s not that easy. So here is my first try at providing a recipe, taken from here and there, with my modifications and all.

Now this recipe… it’s not quick... if you want to do everything from scratch. But there are alternatives… shortcuts, a quicker way of doing it. Let’s take the Mornay sauce part below: skip making the Bechamel sauce yourself and use a store bought packet, add an egg and some cheese, and voila! Don’t have fresh spinach? Frozen spinach is a great substitute. Still… here’s the full recipe below, split into the various parts required for this recipe, with shortcuts thrown in when possible.
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My First Ever Market Stall - Patches!

It's today! It's today!! I am sooo excited, I can't wait!! Everything is ready... 80 Brownies, 60 Cookies, 80 Biscotti and 31 cards, to be exact. Hope I will manage to sell some stuff at least :)

Pictures of the stall will follow soon... YEAY!

Patches Market Event ◦

Going to school & some Biscotti

Oooh! What fun! What excitement! I had my first 2 days at school this week. Granted, they were just 2 half days of induction talks, but still... a preview of the good things to come.

My favourite part was the talk about which knives we need and information about the various knife makers. I was really looking forward to buying the knives, but I have to admit... deciding on what to buy, is terrible confusing! Japanese? German? French? Trying to get a clearer idea by reading some articles. Cutting Remarks by Travis Neighbor Ward  has been a good start.

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A fresh start... and lots of hard work :)

After 2 years and a few months in Dublin, we've decided it was time to go back home! We were missing the little ones too much, and they grow up sooooooo fast!!

This last month back on the rock (Malta) has been spent catching up with family and friends, planning our appartment's refurbishment and loads and loads of baking, because (apparently) my sweet treats have been missed more then I have!!!!

 I can't say I'm sorry though. I have been enjoying every minute of it, except the heat of the maltese summer. Maybe we should have came back in winter, where it would have been raining even more then in Dublin :)
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A beautiful Thank You!

Design, Print, Trim, Glue, Trim, Glue, Trim, Glue and some more Trim and Glue... that's how the past few days have flown by!! That's because I've had my first large order for 50 cards! Yippeee!!

I know it's been a long time since I last blogged, and I'm sorry :| But I couldn't resist sharing this great news.

It all happened during a very fortunate encounter (fortunate for me, and not for my maltese friend who was stranded here due to the volcanic ash)...
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Posting & Packaging

Hello all! :)

I have just passed a pleasant morning, happily writing away thank you notes and packaging my orders. Ohh it's all so exciting!

A couple of weeks ago I bought some twine from swannandsmerlin and I've ben using it in the packaging of my items.













Not only that, but have also included it in some cards, for example














Now, buying the twine, really got me thinking about my own packaging. Not only because of the twine itself, but because of the very lovely packaging I received the twine in. Unfortunately I did not take any photos to share with you, but it was the sort of package that makes you feel happy and special.

On me, that package had a very different effect. It sent me into panic mode! Oh no!! I had not even thought about the packaging stage yet. Wrapping? Address stickers? Shall I go for recycled envelopes? Business cards!! Groan!

I realised I had not only bought some twine, but also a lesson in making people happy just by packaging the items in a special way. And when I say "just", I am using the term in a very loose way. Cause there was nothing "just" about the packaging! It was pretty and well thought out and later, when I had calmed down a bit, I got the warm fuzzy feeling of a good buy. So here's a huge thanks to Odette! Keep up the great work!

Now off to start packing for tomorrow :)

Good evening to all!
Hugs,
Patz ◦