Parmigiana di Melanzane (modified)

Ingredients:

• 1 large aubergine 
• Minced meat
• White sauce 
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 medium onion
• Parmesan cheese
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

1. Thinly slice the aubergines and with a brush coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Cook the aubergines in a non stick pan until browned.  Let them cool on a towelled plate to absorb any extra oil.
2. Dice the onion and cook on low heat (the same non stick pan will do) until soft and just starting to brown.
3. Tip in the minced meat and season. Once the mince meat is browned all over pour in the tomato sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.  Turn off and let it cool down.
4. If you are doing a home made white sauce, this can be prepared while the sauce and aubergines are cooling down.
5. In a baking dish pour some of the minced meat sauce to cover the base so that the aubergines do not stick to the baking dish.
6. Start layering the aubergines, pour over some minced meat sauce, white sauce and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese.
7. Continue layering until all aubergines are finished. Make sure to end with some sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top.
8. Place in a preheated oven at around 180°C for about 20 minutes until it is heated through.  
9. Let it sit before serving as it will be easier to plate.

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Crunchy Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 2 tbsp curry
• 1 tbsp mixed spice
• 6 chicken wings (cut at the joint and skin removed)
• 1 egg
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

1. Mix the oats, curry and mixed spice in a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl beat the egg.
2. Set a baking sheet and cover with foil or baking paper.
3. Dip the chicken wings in the egg and then in the oats mix, making sure that the whole piece is covered.
4. Place on the baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven (180°C ) for around 30 minutes.

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Aubergine Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 large aubergine
• 1 mozzarella
• 2 tomatoes
• A handful of fresh basil
• Parmesan
• Tomato sauce
• Olive Oil

Method:

1. Cut the aubergines into thin slices, brush with olive oil and grill until tender.
2. Let the aubergines cool and in the meantime cut the mozzarella and tomatoes into thin slices.
3. Once aubergines have cooled down, assemble each slice aubergine with a slice of mozzarella, tomato and basil.  Then roll up and place in a baking dish.
4. Once all aubergine slices are done pour over the tomato sauce, pour enough to cover lightly the aubergines.  
5. Grate the parmesan on top and drizzle with olive oil.
6. Bake in oven at around 200°C for 15 minutes.  Just enough to heat the sauce and the aubergines.

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Stuffed Green Peppers

One of the classics ...

Ingredients:

• 2 large green peppers, halved and deseeded
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 250g minced meat
• 4 slices Speck (can be substituted with bacon) cut in strips
• Tomato sauce
• Salt & Pepper
• 4 Eggs
• Olive Oil

Method:

1. In a preheated non stick pan, put in some olive oil and fry lightly the onion and garlic until tender.
2. Add the minced meat and the speck strips and fry until browned.
3. Add the tomato sauce and season accordingly.
4. Spoon the mixture in the halved green peppers.  If peppers are small you can de-seed and fill them up instead of halving them.
5. Put a pan or a pot with some water and put in the stuffed peppers.  Close the pan with a lid and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the peppers, until the pepper is tender. 
6. Once the green pepper is tender crack an egg on top of each half and put on the lid again.  The egg will cook with the heat from the pepper.

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Stuffed Pasta Shells

I am not a big fan of pasta, so when I feel like having some pasta I like it to be a little creative and try to make the most out of it.  Here follows one of my recipes that I made recently.

Ingredients:

For 2 persons

• 250g fresh ricotta
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons grated cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• Salt & Pepper
• 250g Pasta shells
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Olive Oil
• 400ml Tomato sauce
• 1 small Maltese sausage (optional)
• 4 tablespoons milk (optional)

Method:

1. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add the ricotta and mix with a fork so the crumble the ricotta.
2. Add the grated cheese, parsley, salt and pepper and give a good mix.
3. In order to quicken the process of filling the pasta shells, get a new plastic bag and tip in the mixture.  Cut out the the corner tip of the plastic bag and use it as a 'pasty bag' unless you already have one.  Fill in the pasta shells (I bought lumaconi) and place in a dish. *Note: I did not pre-cook the pasta shells.
4. Pour in the dish the milk and set aside.  This step can be ignored, the difference is that the milk will help to moisten the shells.
5. Chop the onion and garlic and toss in a pan on low heat with a drizzle of olive oil.  
6. Once onions are translucent, mix in the sausage meat and cook until meat changes colour.  Then add the tomato sauce and simmer on low heat for about 10.
7. Turn off the heat and pour the tomato sauce over the pasta shells and let it sit for about 1 hour.
8. Preheat oven at 200°C, place the dish in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes.  Turn off the oven and let it sit for another 30 minutes before plating.

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Salmon Parcels

Ingredients

• 1 roll of ready made puff pastry
• 2 Salmon fillets
• 1 large onion
• 2 tomatoes
• Salt & Pepper
• Curry (optional)
• Olive Oil

Method

1. Cut in half the rolled out pastry and set on a baking sheet.
2. Place the salmon and the remaining ingredients on top of it, drizzle with olive oil.
3. Close the pastry and prick with fork.
4. Move the baking sheet with the salmon parcels onto a baking sheet and cook in a preheated oven for 30 minutes or until brown at 190°C

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Turkey and Veggie Pancakes

Ingredients:

For the Turkey 

• 1 Turkey Whole Leg
• 1/2 Cup flour
• Salt
• Fresh Pepper
• Crushed Chilli
• 1/2 Cup BBQ sauce
• Chicken Cube
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 large onion

Method:

1. Split the turkey whole leg in 2 so to have a drumstick and a thigh.
2. Mix the flour with salt, pepper and crushed chillies.
3. Coat the turkey leg with the flour mix and cook in a hot pan to seal.
4. Remove the turkey leg from the pan and put in a non-stick oven dish.
5. Combine the remaining flour mix with the chicken cube, BBQ sauce, and water.  Pour this sauce over the turkey leg.
6. Cut the onion in lengthways and add to the dish.
7. Coat the oven dish with foil and cook in pre-heated oven at 175°C for 1 hour.  Remove foil and cook for another hour, basting from time to time with the sauce.

For the Veggie Pancakes:

• 1 Carrot grated
• 1 Courgette grated
• 1 Egg
• Flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Curry

Method:

1. Mix the grated carrot and courgette with the egg, salt, pepper and some curry.
2. Combine flour until you get a thick mixture but not too dry.
3. Put a frying pan on medium heat with a little olive oil.
4. Drop a spoonful of mixture and flattten out with the back of the spoon.
5. Fry until brown and crispy.

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