Let the Baking begin....Maltese Style

So tonight the 6th season of the Great British Bake-off begins. Bakeoff is a marvellous show, made great by its hosts: the comedy duo of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, the baking master Paul Hollywood (and I'm totally convinced he changed his name because no one's surname is *that* awesome) and finally, the top notch Mary Berry (again, surname...this one rhymes!!). Every year I look forward to seeing this foursome get their wit on, wait anxiously for the raised eyebrows when, ironically, the bakes fail to rise, and giggle at every mention of Mary's soggy bottom. Great stuff, and I don't even like cake!

This year, boyfriend has set up some sort of bake-off competition with his workmates. This is apparently akin to their traditional Football World Cup stakes, but instead of betting money on footballers, they bet cakes on bakers. In other words, if the baker you bet on gets kicked out of the competition, you have to take a home-made baked goody into work. Smashing! Of course, since boyfriend can't bake, he has promised my culinary skills as the consolation prize, but has at least promised to lick the bowl.

The only flaw as far as I can see, is that whoever bets on the winner *does not* need to bring in a cake. Which, frankly, makes no sense, because he who picks a winner can bake cake.

I thought about setting up the same competition at my place of work, but decided there was nothing in it for me given my loathing of sweet goods. Honestly, why eat cake when you can eat bread? Or sausages? Makes sense in my head. So I've decided that instead I will be making an effort to bake something savoury every weekend that Bakeoff is on, and post about it. I'm hoping that watching Bakeoff will inspire me to do this - after all I got that amazing recipe for harissa, goat's cheese and olive plaited loaf from last year's competition, and it went down a treat. Several times :D

Literally the best bread ever

So stay tuned folks, for the many culinary delights to come, interspersed with my favourite quotes from this year's competition. Maybe I'll translate them into Maltese. Or maybe I'll just wax lyrical about Paul H's dreamy blue eyes. Wait and see!

Meatball Tagine

I've never been to Morocco but in the last couple of years I've developed a real obsession with Moroccan tagines. I think this started when I was visiting Malta and decided to host a Moroccan party for my entire family one year. Given the size of my family, I had to think big and come up with some amazing tagines...which I did in the form of a spicy chicken and a slow cooked meatball tagine. They were so delicious that since then a good slow cooked tagine has become one of my staples.

Below I give the recipe for my favourite meatball tagine, which absolutely has to be slow cooked for a long time in either a Moroccan pot as I do, or a slow cooker or crockpot will also do the trick. It is perfect for any time of the year, and you can up or remove the spices according to your preferences. Me? I like it hot!!

Moroccan Meatball Tagine

Ingredients

Beef meatballs (feel free to make your own)
5 cloves garlic
2 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp harissa paste (again, feel free, but it's a lot of work!)
chilli peppers (quantity according to taste)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp lemon juice
saffron (couple of small strands)
beef stock
flaked almonds
golden raisins
1 chopped carrot
2 chopped onions

Method

Heat some oil in your pot and sear off the meatballs. This will ensure that they stay whole and juicy. Remove from the fire.

Seared meatballs

Put the onions, chillis and ginger in the hot oil and sauté for a few minutes. Add in the garlic and all the spices and harissa. Stir well. Then stick the meatballs back in and allow all the tasty spices and flavours to infuse for a minute or two, whilst on a low heat.

This creates the world's best smell,
and wait til you add the spices!

Add the carrots, raisins and almonds, followed by the tomatoes, beef stock and lemon juice. Stir well, add the saffron and bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer for at least a couple of hours. I like to transfer the mix to the oven at this point, to allow the tagine dish to do its thing.

Halfway there!

Bring out in time for dinner, add a toot more almonds and dish up. Absolutely delicious!

After a couple of hours, it's ready to go!

Science Corner

Boyfriend and I have often discussed the merits of cooking in a tagine rather than a stewing pot. This is why it's better:

The conical shape of the tagine makes it a uniquely hot, moist environment for cooking in. Due to the wide base and the snug fit of the lid, steam rises into the cone, condenses and then trickles down the sides into the dish. This means you don't need to add as much water to the dish, but the meat won't dry out and will tenderise beautifully. As for the flavours...well, try the above recipe!

A Mexican twist on a Maltese Favourite

Something that every little Maltese girl is likely to tell you, is that her Nanna (grandmother) makes the world's best Ross Fil-Forn (Maltese for baked rice). This was certainly true for me - my grandmother makes the tastiest, most moist and cheesiest baked rice I've ever eaten. And although Baked Rice was one of the first Maltese dishes that I learnt how to cook when I started university, I've never been able to get anywhere close to replicating Nanna's ability. And even now, I'm put off making this super tasty dish because boyfriend complains about it being boring and rather tasteless. Not something someone who has slaved away in the kitchen all day likes hearing.

So recently I decided that I felt like making Baked Rice but, with these thoughts in mind, I also decided that it needed a distinctly flavourful twist to it. And that's when I came up with the idea of creating a Mexican-style chilli con carne Baked Rice. All the greatness of Maltese cooking, with a spicy Mexican twist.

The recipe below describes how I made this but, if you don't want to follow the Mexican route, you can make the Maltese version of this by simply not putting any of the Chilli spices into the original sauce. But to all you Maltese out there, I definitely recommend giving it a try. It comes delicious!

A Myriad of Spices 

Chilli con Ross Fil-Forn

(see what I did there?)

Chilli con carne sauce:

minced beef

onion

garlic

HP sauce

chocolate powder

mixed herbs

paprika

cayenne pepper

cumin

turmeric

Cinammon & Cayenne Pepper - a miracle combo

ground cinnamon

carrots

kidney beans

chopped tomatoes

chilli peppers

Other ingredients:

white rice

two eggs

grated cheese (cheddar will do)

Method

First make the chilli sauce. Add chopped onions to a hot saucepan with oil in it, and sauté until soft. Add garlic, chilli peppers and then minced beef, stirring until all the mince is browned. Add about a tablespoon of all the spices (a bit less in terms of turmeric and cinnamon). Also add a table spoon of chocolate powder (just do it! trust me!) and a squirt of brown sauce.

Onions, garlic and chillis - the most delightful smell

Mix these all together, then add the carrots and chopped tomatoes. Mix and bring to a boil before letting it simmer for a while. This would be a good point to give it a taste and see if any further spices are needed (I like my chilli to have a powerful depth). Add some seasoning, the kidney beans, stir and allow to cool.

Chilli sauce completed!

While the sauce is cooling, put the rice in a deep baking dish. Add the eggs and whisk, making sure they are fully integrated with the rice. This is important, as the egg causes the dish to solidify, rather than remaining a soggy mess of chilli sauce and rice. 

Rice, with a dash of cinnamon

Rice mixed with egg

After the egg has been mixed in, add some cold water to the dish. This is needed for the rice to cook properly and prevent the dish from drying up.

Looks a bit weird at this point, but needs be done

Finally, add the chilli con carne sauce to the mix, and stir until properly combined. Then grate half the cheese over the dish, stir it in, then grate the rest of the cheese over the top. This is now ready to go in the oven at about 180 degrees celsius.

Sauce all added - beginning to look more consumable!

Pre-oven

After about half an hour, it is recommended that you get the dish out and stir it through again to mix the heat around. It should be solidifying by this point but you should still be able to stir it fairly easily. Leave it in for about an hour total and then allow it to cool slightly before serving up. And trust me, it will be worth the wait!

And after this, boyfriend has never complained about my Ross Fil-Forn again!

An hour later, golden and delicious

Bon Appetito!