6: Our Dinner (Malta)

As the week kept rolling along so did our planned culinary adventure. But finally on Saturday I made it to the market and found the time to cook! None of us were very hungry. We didn't want a large meal. As the day drew to a close we just wanted to settle down with something light, easy-to-eat, and enjoy a good movie together. Thankfully the Maltese supper I'd planned was a perfect fit.

In the end using all these ingredients

we enjoyed a very light, easy-to-eat supper perfect for movie night!

I made Pastizzi!

They're basically like a meat pie without the meat. We enjoyed two varieties. One with made with curried vegetable (split peas with curry and onion) and the other with a cheese filling (ricotta and eggs). I enjoyed the curried split pea ones best, my husband the ricotta cheese filled pies. My toddler just enjoyed the fun of having pocket pies for supper. Something he could eat with his hands.

Sunday after church we reheated the leftovers for a light lunch. They reheated beautifully. In fact the flavors were actually better the second day than the first. I read online Pastizzi freeze well. Now I wish I'd made a really large batch to freeze. Because they reheat so beautifully they would make a food to keep on hand in the freezer for a quick, grab-on-the-go or I'm-tired supper. I plan to make them again in the future. Perhaps I'll experiment with the fillings too.

Oh, also-- the ricotta filling is great baked in a pie crust with mixed vegetables and some chicken. I made a pie with it for supper tonight. So yummy! Perhaps I'll have to blog about that over on Wee Wonderings this week.

Tumbet Recipe: A Healthy Casserole

Did I really just say it? Healthy and casserole in the same phrase? But it's true, this casserole is both flavorful and healthy. No fattening cream of soups in this dish. Only layers of vegetables (and tubers) and a little healthy fat coming from olive oil.

Several days after making it we're still enjoying eating Tumbet! On Saturday my husband discovered that a splash of lemon juice adds something to the flavors. It's an unauthentic addition I've made to the recipe. If you want something more authentic, leave it out. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Please remember to give ample time for the prep work. Also, take note that if you use a large stand alone, plug into the wall skillet browning the vegetables will take a fraction of the time of using a frying pan!

Tumbet makes a nice vegetarian main dish. I'd guess some lemon chicken or blackened chicken would make a nice accompaniment if you want to add in a meat dish and serve this on the side. A green salad and a crusty bread complete the meal would complete the meal. We simply ate the Tumbet with a side of crusty bread.

more when we reheated and it was even b

Prepare eggplant by slicing thinly and brown slightly on both sides in olive oil. Add potatoes andbell pepper..

Season well. Pour over the casserole.

Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool before serving.*

*Note: When I reheated it again for supper tonight I put a little sheep's milk feta on my serving. Wow! Just wow!

Week 2- Italy

For our second culinary adventure we "visited" Italy. If you go to a restaurant and order Italian food here in the US, you usually end up with the most diet unfriendly, unhealthy offering imaginable. Very calorie laden, very fattening. Many times when we cook Italian in our own kitchens here in the US we don't fare much better. Very heavy, very saucy. Alfredo sauce, baked ziti, lasagna.

When the time came to cook Italian (not my husband's favorite for reasons mentioned above) I knew I had a challenge before me. Not only did I have to find something my family would enjoy, I had to find something lighter. Mediterranean food is supposed to be good for you after all.

Plus, it was a hot day.Armed with a stack of cookbooks again fresh from the local library, I finally crafted the evening's menu...read more in the original blog post.

Week 1- Spain

round the world in 52 weeks

Week 1- Spain

For the first week's adventure we went across the ocean and started our tour of the Mediterranean countries with a little visit with the cuisine of Spain. On our last visit we enjoyed being introduced to the idea of tapas by my wonderful friend M who was blessed by being able to live there for a while. This time I decided to try something different than a tapas recipe (although those are popular here in the US). I knew wanted something light and summery too. Made me thrilled to find books like "Seasonal Spanish Food" by Jose Pizarro. What an inspiration. An excellent guide. Although I ended up having to adapt a couple recipes and also didn't make my meal exclusively from that cookbook- having found recipes elsewhere I liked too- I found it to be an excellent guide for figuring out what foods are summery there. They ended up being pretty seasonal here too. Exceedingly flavorful. Also very healthy; no fears of anyone breaking their diet with these dishes. And very down-to-earth. Anyone can make this. 

See my full blog post a few weeks back here on Wee Wonderings.