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Maria Shebets

Fruits

Quinces poached in Sauternes

wine poached quinces

I think I’ve already told you that poaching is my favourite way to cook fruits. I not only use poached fruits in my desserts, but also in my breakfasts. Try to serve poached quinces or pears with plain Greek yoghurt or you favourite porridge, sprinkled with seeds or flaked almonds and with a good drizzle of honey! Sounds nice? As for me, surely it does!

So, here is another option of how to use the local quinces I got recently. Their delicious scent and tart flavor mixes well with vanilla – I personally love this combination.  I made a bigger batch and used it in salads with mozzarella and sheep’s milk ġbejna with sweet honey dressing…and it came out really nice. I hope to get more quinces next year!

Quinces poached in Sauternes

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 550 ml water
  • 450 ml sauternes
  • 150 gr sugar
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 10 cardamom pods, pounded slightly in a mortar
  • Vanilla pod, cut length way
  • Few whole cloves
  • Wide stripe of orange and lemon zest
  • 3 medium quinces
  • 150 gr fresh ricotta
  • 1 tablespoon of icing sugar
  • A handful of pistachios
  • Sauterne syrup or maple syrup to serve

 

for sauternes syrup (needs to be made in advance)

  • 150 gr soft brown sugar
  • 150 ml sauternes
  • 150 ml warm water

Instructions

  1. Place the water, wine, sugar, a half of vanilla bean, spices and the orange and lemon zest into a saucepan big enough to fit quinces and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes then remove from the heat and leave to infuse while you are preparing the quinces.
  2. You can peel quinces if you want, but I left the skin on. If you decide to peel them, place the fruits in a bowl with water mixed with lemon juice to avoid discoloration. Cut quinces in halves and remove the cores. This is not an easy task as the core is very firm. Use the melon baller if you have one.
  3. Immerse quinces cut side down in the poaching liquid and cover with a piece of greaseproof paper and weight it down to make sure they submerged completely.
  4. Poach on a very gentle heat for 20-25 minutes, take of the heat but leave quinces in the liquid. The residual heat will continue to cook them. The quinces should be soft but not fall apart.
  5. Scarp out the seeds of other half of vanilla bean and mix it with the icing sugar, then mix it with ricotta.
  6. Dry fry pistachios and set aside.
  7. Put the dollop of ricotta mix on the top of the half of each quince.
  8. Sprinkle with pistachios and pour the sauternes syrup or maple syrup to serve.

 

To make syrup

  1. Put the sugar in a saucepan, mix the wine with water and pour it over the sugar.
  2. Brush the sides of the saucepan with a pastry brush dipped in the water (to avoid crystallization of sugar on the sides).
  3. Place the saucepan over the low heat and stir it helping sugar to dissolve.
  4. When sugar has dissolved, increase the heat, brush sides of the saucepan with water again and bring the mixture to the boil.
  5. Boil it down for 15 minutes to get a thicker syrup. You can boil it only for couple of minutes to make a thinner one, so that you could get a cold stock syrup that is perfect for fruit salads, for instance.

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Fruits

Filo pastry small bites with ġbejna friska, figs and honey

fig and cheese bites with honey

You just can’t go wrong with this classic combination. Anything what involves fresh figs, goat cheese and honey is good! This is a fact. In addition, theses bites are so easy to make that you need to spend only around half an hour in the kitchen. Worth trying!

Filo pastry small bites with ġbejna friska, figs and honey

To make 8 pieces

Ingredients

  • 4 sheets filo pastry (measuring 48×25 cm, defrosted)
  • Some olive oil for brushing
  • Approximately 8 medium fresh figs
  • 1 piece ġbejna friska (goat, sheep or cow milk)
  • 1 heaped tbsp fig preserve
  • Juice of 1 small lemon
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt
  • Maltese dried thyme

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
  2. Unpack filo pastry and carefully unroll it. Line the baking tray with a baking parchment and brush with some olive oil.
  3. Take one sheet of pastry, put it on a working surface and carefully brush with the oil.  Repeat with remaining sheets. Keep the filo pastry covered with the clean kitchen towel while cooking to avoid drying out.
  4. Cut the pastry into 8 squares and transfer into the baking tray. Prickle with a fork.
  5. Put in the oven for 8-10 minutes until browned and crisp.
  6. Take out of the oven, wait a little bit and brush with fig preserve.
  7. Wash and pat dry figs and slice them.
  8. Dice ġbejna and set aside.
  9. Mix the lemon juice, honey and olive oil and pour the mixture over the sliced figs. Turn them carefully to coat well with the mixture.
  10. Put 3-4 slices on each square, spoon diced cheese over it, season with salt and sprinkle with the thyme.
  11. Put in the oven for 8-10 minutes more until the figs start caramelizing and cheese starts melting.
  12. Take the tray out of the oven and sprinkle with more thyme to decorate, drizzle with some more honey and serve!

fig and cheese bites

Fruits

Peach and mozzarella pizza

peach and mozzarella pizza

Sharing a meal with others – why is that so important for us? Why do we love inviting some friends over for a casual Friday dinner or a light midweek lunch?

The answer is simple. It’s probably the best way of communicating with people. There is something intimate about sharing food. We are actually strengthening our relationships and connections by spending time around a table, eating, drinking and talking to each other.

While some meals might be considered as solo meals (honestly, who wants a company on a grumpy Monday morning?), there are others that are perfect for a group of people. And this time I’m talking about pizza!

Imagine a lazy Sunday lunch and your friends around the table drinking wine from weeping glasses and pulling pieces of steaming hot pizza straight out of the oven… Sounds really nice to me! So here is an idea for feeding your friends. And don’t forget to serve your wine chilled!

As for the recipe of pizza dough, I always use Marcella Hazan’s ratio from her iconic book ‘Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking’ because it’s always a success!

peach and mozzarella pizza sliced

Peach and mozzarella pizza

To make 2 pizzas

Ingredients

Pizza base:

  • 1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
  • 250 ml lukewarm water
  • 375 g plain unbleached flour
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ tbsp salt

Topping:

  • 4 big sweet peaches, sliced
  • 4 pieces of mozzarella, sliced
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt flakes
  • Chilli flakes
  • Runny honey

Instructions

  • Put the yeast in a bowl and pour the water over it. Leave to dissolve (around 10 minutes).
  • Sift the flour in a big bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour the half of the water to the flour stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Add olive oil and salt and the remaining water. If dough seems too sticky, add a little bit of flour. Do not add too much or it will not be as soft as we need.
  • Take the dough out of the bowl onto the surface dusted with flour and knead for 10 minutes. Now shape the dough into a ball and put in the slightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
  • Preheat the oven to 230 C well in advance before baking, at least 40 minutes.
  • Dust working surface with some flour, take the risen dough out of the bowl and divide in two pieces but put one of the halves back in a bowl and cover with the tea towel.
  • Roll the second half into a circle about 30 cm though diameter depending on how thick or thin crust you prefer.
  • Put the pizza base on the baking sheet dusted with flour or semolina and put on the baking tray.
  • With your fingers, make the rim on the base.
  • Put the topping on the dough, alternating slices of fruit and cheese. Drizzle a bit with olive oil, sprinkle with salt flakes and chilli flakes.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or longer until fruits are caramelized and the cheese and crust are golden brown coloured.
  • First there is going to be a lot of liquid coming out of mozzarella but then it all will dry out leaving an amazing bubbling substance.
  • When almost ready start working on the second one.
  • When finished take the pizza out of the oven and dash with some honey. Enjoy immediately while very hot!

Fruits

Apricot, fig and mozzarella salad with orange blossom water dressing

apricot and fig salad

Honestly, what can be better than fresh apricot salad? No cooking, no complicated recipe, just a mix of seasonal fruits tossed with a simple dressing. Love it! I can eat salads like this three times a day! Light and delicious.

For this salad I just mix sweet local apricots, fresh figs and mozzarella. Then I toss everything with simple dressing containing a bit of orange blossom water – I think it goes well with apricots. Sprinkle with some toasted pumpkin seeds and enjoy this beautiful fruit feast! Hope you will try!

apricot salad

Apricot, fig and mozzarella salad with orange blossom water dressing

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 6 apricots
  • 4 figs
  • Mixed greens
  • 2 pieces of mozzarella
  • Fresh coriander (leaves only)
  • Pumpkin seeds and micro greens to decorate

 

For dressing:

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp runny honey
  • 1 tsp orange blossom water
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Instructions

  • Wash and dry apricots, cut in halves and remove the pits. Carefully wash and dry figs, cut into quarters.
  • Toast pumpkin seeds on a dry frying pan until they turn light brown. Keep an eye on a pan because seeds can burn very quickly.
  • To make a dressing mix all ingredients together.
  • Arrange greens and coriander leaves on plates and place fruits on top. Tear mozzarella into big pieces and distribute among the plates.
  • Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with seeds and microgreens.

Fruits

Watermelon gazpacho

refreshing watermelon gazpacho

Watermelon gazpacho is yet another staple food to survive hot Maltese summer. It is also one of my favorites. Honestly, I guarantee you would love it, too. Absolutely effortless, light and refreshing meal that lasts for couple of days!

The ratio of vegetables is approximate; you might use your own taste and preferences as a guidance. Most importantly, I would advise you to choose sweet watermelon and ripe sweet Maltese tomatoes because these two perfectly complement each other, especially when highlighted with picante chili.

There are so many variations of toppings for this gazpacho: feta, pecorino, croutons, chopped tomatoes, seeds, avocado, fresh soft herbs or a mix of vegetables.

You could also add a few ice cubes in your bowl, if you want to refresh yourself even more.

Imagine a hot day; you crawl into your house, tired and hungry. You open the fridge and here it is… Super summery watermelon gazpacho is waiting for you for the whole day, ready to eat, nice and chilled.What could be better?

Therefore, I think you really need to try it out! Enjoy!

Watermelon gazpacho

to make approximately 2 litres

Ingredients

  • 1 medium seedless watermelon
  • 2 large ripe tomatoes
  • 2 red peppers (seeds removed, roughly chopped)
  • 1 large cucumber (peeled, roughly chopped)
  • ½ sweet red onion (roughly chopped)
  • 4 tbsp. of olive oil
  • 1- 2  tbsp. of balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp honey (optional)
  • Zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
  • salt
  • chilli flakes

Instructions

  • Roughly chop watermelon flesh and place it in a big mixing bowl.
  • Peel and deseed tomatoes. To peel tomatoes score a cross in the skin of the base of a tomato. Place in a bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Leave for a minute, drain and peel off the skin. Remove the seeds and chop roughly. Add to the bowl.
  • Add the rest of the vegetables in the bowl. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a good pinch of chilli flakes and honey (optional). Season with salt and mix everything very well with your hands.
  • You can either use a hand blender or a standing blender to whizz everything until very smooth.
  • Taste the mixture, adjust seasoning if you wish. You might want to add some more vinegar, mix everything again, place it in the fridge and let it chill thoroughly.
  • Decorate. Drizzle with some olive oil and serve.

Notes

To add some texture, you can decorate your gazpacho with finely chopped watermelon (I used yellow for color), onions and cucumber.

Fruits

Farewell to strawberry season

I call it salad time! I must admit, it is my favorite time of the year. When it is getting too hot to cook and too hot to eat heavy dishes, you have a nice option of grabbing a handful of greens, chopping some fresh fruits or vegetables, adding the main ingredient and sprinkling it up with something crunchy and voila!

watermelon and strawberry salad

 

I am a big lover of mixing fruits and cheeses. So, when the season comes I immediately switch from tomatoes to strawberries, peaches and apricots. In my opinion some fruits complement several cheeses even more than vegetables do. The sweetness of ripe figs or peaches and creamy yet slightly salty and tangy taste of mozzarella seems like right combination to me. And more indulgent option of tearing some fresh burratta over sliced nectarines, adding some olive oil and sea salt flakes… calls heaven. Unbeatable classics like goat cheese and watermelon become kind of staples in my house during hot months. Try to add some bambinella along with some hard cheese shavings to your salad or add some berries to your salad with ricotta. Variations are endless – just make sure you buy fresh local seasonal fruits!

However, let’s take bruschetta to start with, just like we love to do here in Malta! I strongly advise you trying to use Maltese strawberries that are still in season in your bruschetta next time! Don’t think that this is something strange! It actually is a logical combination of strawberries and tomatoes – these two fruits are sharing many compounds of the same flavor. Have you ever noiced? I wish it was me, who discovered this fact but it was there long before I could think about any experiments at the kitchen. It was Ron G.Buttery, author of “Flavor Chemistry: Trends and Development”. To cut a long story short, he discovered tomatoes containing something known as strawberry furanone that is in charge for its flavor. Don’t think about it too much, just remember that strawberries and tomatoes are good to combine and interchangeable!

strawberry and tomato bruschetta

Strawberry bruschetta

Use ingredients in proportions you like

Ingredients

  • local strawberries
  • local tomatoes
  • shallot
  • basil
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • crusty bread

Instructions

  • Peel and de-seed tomatoes. Make a cross cut at the bottom of the tomato and place it in the boiling water for a few seconds, let it cool a little bit and peel the skin off. Than remove the seeds and dice tomatoes.
  • Wash, dry, hull and dice strawberries. Chop shallot very finely and tear basil leaves.
  • Mix tomatoes, strawberries, shallots and basil. Drizzle the mixture with some olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Stir well and set aside while you toast bread.
  • Arrange tomato and strawberry mixture on toasted bread slices and enjoy.

Now it’s time for the salad

watermelon and feta

 

Can’t think of anything easier to make and more satisfying and hydrating on a hot summer afternoon. Watermelon and cucumber are the members of the same family, so mixing them together is absolutely a right thing to do. Feta adds some saltiness, strawberries add some sweetness, lemon juice in dressing will add some acidity – and we’ll get a truly delicious and no effort light salad!

Watermelon, strawberry and feta salad

Use ingredients in proportions you like

Ingredients

  • Seedless watermelon
  • Cucumber
  • Strawberries
  • Feta
  • Fresh mint leaves
  • Olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Dice watermelon in a big chunks. Peel cucumber and remove seeds if they are too big. Slice cucumber, cut strawberries in half and dice feta. For dressing mix the olive oil with lemon juice in 3/1 proportions or to your liking, add salt and pepper. Put all ingredients in a bowl, sprinkle with dressing and mix well.

Notes

In order to add some more zesty flavor to your salad, you could try marinating the watermelon cubes in some lemon juice sprinkled with a little bit of sugar.

Enjoy!

watermelon drink

In case you have some leftover strawberries and watermelons, I’m going to leave two super easy and refreshing drink recipes over here! Enjoy the season!

Watermelon drink

Ingredients

  • Seedless watermelon
  • Limes
  • Sugar
  • Fresh mint

Instructions

Juice the limes and mix their juice with sugar. Cut watermelon into big pieces and add to juice and sugar mixture. Whiz everything together with hand blander. Taste and adjust lemon juice or sugar if needed and whiz again. Pour in glasses and add some ice.

ginger strawberry drink

Strawberry, lime and ginger cordial drink

Ingredients

  • Limes
  • Strawberries
  • Ginger cordial or ginger simple syrup
  • Fresh mint
  • Sparkling water

Instructions

Slice some limes and put them in a pitcher. Add ginger cordial, strawberries, fresh mint leaves and top everything with sparkling water.

Notes

Use 1 part cordial to 10 part of water or to your liking. You can substitute cordial with homemade ginger simple syrup but if you don’t have time for that, shop bought cordial is nice alternative.

 

Copyright 2021 Maria Shebets