Vegetable Soup, or a variation on Minestra

Spring has truly arrived on this little island. The Sun was out beautifully this morning and it was a lovely day. Temperatures are so mild during the day, but we still need to keep the jackets out for the evenings. It’s the perfect weather. Not too warm, not too cold.

During the past few days I’ve been feeling as if I had a nasty fall packaged with a good blow on the head, leaving me with a headache and some bumps, lumps and scratches. Said fall could have been a result of a serious lack of concentration. My mind could have been somewhere else. It could have happened…

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No effort Chicken legs for one with Leftovers

Hi everyone. Hope you’re all doing well. It’s been such a hectic few weeks for my family and so C&T had to take a step back this time round. Before talking about food, as we almost always do here, I just want to ask one question: did the Azure Window really and truly  collapse? I just can’t believe the footage I’ve been seeing over the internet. It’s been a long time coming but now that it’s no more I still can’t get my head round it. I’m glad I managed to see it and take some photos a couple of years ago. Such a pity. The weather during these few days certainly hasn’t helped. That and other factors for sure. I don’t want this post to be too wordy, so I’ll stop there but it’s a sad day.

This rough weather calls for a roast. I love roasting anything, especially when I have to feed a group of people. How easy is it to place everything in a roasting pan and plonk it in the oven, and just let it do the cooking for you. I do understand though why some of my readers write to me asking me for tips. Believe me when I tell you that I have burnt many a roast throughout the years before learning some useful pointers from the pros. I think there are a few important things to keep in mind. Using a roasting pan in which whatever you want to roast, meat, veggies or both can stay snug but still with some little space to spare surely helps. You want it to roast not broil or poach. When using chicken pieces, I always cover the dish with kitchen foil and then uncover it during the last 15 minutes or so. My Maltese heritage always tells me to pour some stock at the base of the pan, mainly due to an innate fear that my food would dry up if I don’t. It almost is a recurring dream this! Such as the one where I open the fridge and/or pantry and it’s completely empty.

Restorative Chicken and Vegetable Broth

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a good break over the past few weeks, and that you enjoyed the holidays. It was a very busy time here of course, and my kitchen worked overtime this year. I’m so happy that it did though. I also had the time for some baking for family and friends. There was no better time for switching on the oven and turning on the heat. It wasn’t that cold in December, but let me assure you that January has started off with a kick. We’re feeling it here in Malta this week. It’s going to be a cold weekend. Some are loving it, relishing it even, others are fuming excuse the pun because they’d rather be sweating it out in August.

Neapolitan-Inspired Bean Soup

I was going to write an entirely different recipe today, but that is taking so much of my time on this rainy busy day, that I just had to forgo the idea. Instead let me give you a deliciously hearty recipe for a soup that is easily becoming a staple in my house.

A few months ago, my bro-in-law J2 awarded me the guardianship of some of his cookbooks, a role which I take very seriously, by cooking from them myself, as it should be. It made me think of this beautiful bean soup, especially because today the rain is coming down hard on this island, and it looks as if it’s staying for the next couple of days. It’s annoying but truly we need it. I feel sorry for all those who need to venture out. The roads are crazy with traffic and I just received a message from a friend saying how soaked she got. Stay safe and avoid extra driving everyone. It’s not nice out there.

Mediterranean Stuffed Artichokes

Earlier this week, on one of my regular visits to the greengrocer, I spotted a small amount of artichokes in one of the crates. I remained calm on the outside, but inside I was dancing my happy dance! And they looked too lovely not to buy. Some ladies in the shop gave me so many strange looks, as in are-you-mad-they-are-still-so-expensive kind of looks. What they don’t know is that I missed them so much when we were still living in the UK, where they cost double the price and most certainly they didn’t look as beautiful as the ones we get in Malta. Anyway I certainly don’t regret having them for dinner later that day! I mean, would you?