Recipe for a Tasty Maltese Lunch!

FINALLY the weekend is over. I seriously never thought I’d say that. Usually people look forward to the weekend – however this time by Saturday afternoon, I was already looking forward to this particular weekend’s ending. Not gonna go into details – suffice it to say that it is true that bad things come in threes, except that, for me, this time they came in fours… lol

The most I can say for this weekend is that I watched a couple of good horror movies with my bf, and that I cooked some tasty food. So, instead of glossing and agonizing over the details of my unfortunate series of events, I’m going to focus on what I cooked for Sunday lunch.

This is a ‘torta tal-irkotta‘ in Maltese, that is, a Ricotta Pie. I just love ricotta, and hadn’t cooked such a pie in a while.

Here’s my own personal recipe:

Ingredients

1.5kgs fresh ricotta
dough (this can be either home-made or ready-made)
bacon
peas
2/3 eggs
grated cheese
garlic granules
margarine
salt

Method

As you can see, I’m going to omit the making of the pie-crust and just focus on the making of the pie itself.

1. Take the margarine and cook it in a small pan. When it’s done cook the bacon.

2. With the rest of the margarine, smear the borders and all crevices of a large round pie-pan. Open half the dough and place it to form the lower part of the pie-crust.

3. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, cooked bacon, eggs, grated cheese, garlic and salt to taste. Make sure to mix them thoroughly.

4. Pour the mixture into the open pie-crust and place the other half on top making sure to cover all the mixture.

5. IMPORTANT – Use a fork to puncture the pie-crust in order for the mixture to breathe. This will prevent the dough from inflating due to the eggs.

6. Leave in an oven at medium to high temperature. It will take approximately an hour for the pie to bake to a lovely golden brown.

Enjoy!

Recipe – Baked Rice with Bacon and Sweet Paprika

Being currently on a diet (which is working by the way), I was trying to cook some filling and nutritious food which would last a couple of days, since my new regime is to eat small portions, every three or four hours. So, yesterday I did this recipe, which I had never done before, though I had a previous idea on how to prepare. It is quite simple really, and the results are quite good too! I was not going to post anything online, this not being that kind of blog, however some friends saw the result yesterday and urged me to share it – so here it is 🙂

P.S As you can see from the pic, the ingredients produce a very big dish, which serves at least 8 people.

Ingredients

700g rice
1.5 ltr tomato sauce
500g minced beef
250g bacon
100g baby carrots
1 small onion
sweet paprika to taste
salt
baking paper
water
3/4 eggs

Method

Boil the water and add the rice. Leave until cooked and then filter the water.

Chop and cook the onion slowly in a large saucepan, then add the mince beef and bacon. Stir well until they are semi-well-done, Add the tomato sauce and the carrots (diced) and leave it cooking slowly on a small flame, while stirring on and off for five to ten minutes. Add the sweet paprika and some salt and leave it for another five minutes.

Pre-heat the oven at medium heat.

Pour half of the cooked rice back into the pan where you had boiled it (minus the water of course), and beat three or four eggs and mix them in with the rice. Start adding the sauce while mixing it thoroughly. When half the mixture is evenly mixed, add the other half of the rice on top, and mix it with the remainder of the sauce.

Line a large baking dish with baking paper and pour in the mixture of rice + sauce. Spread it evenly. Put in oven and leave it until it has a nice brown-golden color.

Enjoy!! 😀