Vegetable Kebabs

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 courgette
• 1 piece goat's cheese or halloumi cheese
• 1 chilli
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Extras:

• BBQ
• Wooden Skewers

Method:

1. Put the wooden skewers in a large dish or sink with cold water and let soak.
2. Cut the onion, tomatoes, green pepper and cheese in large chunks.
3. Peel the courgette with a peeler so to make long thin strips.
4. Combine the above in a bowl and then grate in the zest of lemon.
5. Deseed and finely chop the chilli. (Caution! Use gloves otherwise your hands will burn for the rest of evening, night and possibly even morning next day.  Tried and tested!)
6.  Add a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well to coat all ingredients.
7. Skewer the vegetables and cheese alternating in between.  (If you have the gloves handy I still suggest using them at this point too).
8. Grill on a preheated BBQ for about 10 minutes, turning them once or twice, until cooked through and golden.

These kebabs were served as a side dish with grilled tuna steaks.  Ideal dish for summer - healthy, light and very quick.

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BBQ Rabbit

With all this summer heat who wants to cook inside?! So here's another recipe that you can use for the summer season.

Ingredients:

• 1 small rabbit (cut in desired pieces)
• 1 cup white wine
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 large onion
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Extras:

• BBQ
• Foil

Method:

1. Put the rabbit pieces in 2 layers of foil and lift all four sides so it looks like a boat.
2. Pour in the white wine.
3. Peel and cut the garlic and onion and scatter on top of the rabbit.
4. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle some olive oil on top
5. Close the foil making sure it is firmly closed so that the wine will not leak out.  If needs be wrap in another piece of foil.
6. Cook on a preheated BBQ on low heat (gas BBQ) for about 30 minutes.  
7. Open up the foil and check that the rabbit is cooked properly.
8. Take out the rabbit and put directly on BBQ and grill for a further 10 minutes until its browned and crispy.
9. Serve hot with the onions and garlic.

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Marinated Tuna Steaks

Who doesn't love BBQ season?  Here's a healthy recipe as an alternative to the normal meat recipes one is used to associate when barbecuing.  Although they do look like a piece of steak don't they?

Ingredients for 2 persons:

• 2 Tuna Steaks
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1/3 cup white wine

Method:

1. Put the basil, garlic and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Place the tuna steaks in a dish and pour over the freshly blended 'pesto'.  Pour over the lemon juice and white wine.
3. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.  Then grill on a barbecue or on a hot plate for about 2 minutes on each side.

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Trio di Calamari

Since I love fried calamari I wanted to try it at home with fresh calamari, and while at it I did 3 variations so at least after the hard work of cleaning and cutting the calamari once eaten you will be left with the thought "..when will I do these again!!"

Ingredients:

• 4 Calamari
• 2 Cups Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Cup Breadcrumbs
• 1/3 Cup Ready made Sweet Chilli
• Salt & Pepper
• FryingOil
• Olive Oil

Method:

The calamari are normally cleaned by the fishmonger however you need to rinse them properly and check for any transparent 'bone'still within.  After cleaning them thoroughly cut them into rings usually not larger than about 2cm, depending on your likings.
Mix the 1 egg and the milk in a bowl and place all the calamari in, cover and refrigerate for at least 30mins to 1 hour.
Prepare a bowl with the flour, salt and pepper and toss in all the calamari and coat evenly.

Lightly Floured Deep Fried Calamari:

1. Put a deep pan with about 3 inches oil and put on high heat.
2. Fry in batches so that the calamari rings will cook evenly and will not soak too much oil. Fry for about 3 minutes.

Breaded Calamari Rings:

 1.  Beat the remaining egg in a bowl and put the floured calamari in and coat evenly.
 2.  Remove the excess egg and toss in the bowl with the   breadcrumbs.
 3.  Make sure that the oil is heated up properly (especially after frying the other batch) and toss it carefully.   Fry for about 3 minutes.

Calamari in Sweet Chilli sauce: 

1.  Toss the floured calamari in the heated non stick pan and cook for about 1 minute with a drizzle of olive oil.
2. Pour in the sweet chilli sauce and cook for a further 2/3 minutes.  If sauce is too thick add a little water or white wine. 

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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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