AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DISHES: #3 MALTA - MAJJAL BHAL FIL-FORN

The latest stop on my around the world in 80 dishes it Malta!

Maltese cooking it seems isnt just opening a bag of Malteasers, after a thorough search throug Maltese recipes I cam across the layered pork based dish Majjal Bhal Fil-Forn.

Ingredients:

4 pork loin steaks

savoy cabbage

1 granny smith apple

1 large onion

2 slices of bacon

2 large baking potatoes

dried cranberries

nutmeg

smoked paprika

fennel seeds

100ml water

olive oil

This is a really easy dish to make!

In a large casserole dish layer some of the cabbage and add the 2 slices of bacon (cut into pieces)

Grate a Granny Smiths apple and add that on top, followed by a layer of sliced onion.

Next up is a layer of the pork loin steaks

slice the potatoes and layer on top of the pork, add the 100ml of water the then give it all a good grind of salt & pepper. Add the nutmeg, smoked paprika & plenty of fennel seeds ontop.

Finally, drizzle a good glug of olive oil over the top and throw in plenty of dried cranberries. Put a lid on it and bung in an oven on 180C for 1hr 20mins.

Plate up a portion making sure to keep the pork loin whole & enjoy!

A rather tasty trip to Malta!

Countries to go: 77

Countries done:

#1 Peru

#2 Oman

#3 Malta

Keep following the Greedy Mancunians to see what country I 'visit' next!

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DISHES: #2 OMAN - LAMB KABOULI

For my 2nd stop on my Around the world in 80 dishes, I chose the country Oman.

After a few google searches I came across a very tasty looking Omani dish - Lamb Kabouli.

It's a fantastic dish (and one I'm sure I will return to many a time in the future) that is a little like a lamb biriyani only lighter, more fragrant and with chickpeas, parley and lime juice giving it more a middle eastern taste. Here's how it's done.

Ingredients:

For the Spice Mix:

3 cloves of garlic

A large thumb of fresh ginger

1 tablespoon of coriander seeds

1 tablespoon of cumin seeds

1 tablespoon of cardomon seeds

2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper

Half a teaspoon of turmeric

Juice of 1 lime

Glug of olive oil

A dash of water

(Blend all of the above into a paste)

For the rest of the dish:

Basmati rice

Tin of chickpeas

1 large onion

Cloves

Cinnamon stick

Peppercorns

Salt

600g of diced lamb

2 cups of water

Butternut squash

Carrots

Curly leaf parsley

Finely chop a large onion & brown on a high heat in a little oil. Remove half the onion from pan and put aside for later. Add the blended spice mix and fry for a minute. Turn down the heat to a medium heat and add the lamb, season with salt and throw in about 10-12 whole peppercorns. Cover with 2 cups of water and add half a dozen cloves and a cinnamon stick (remember to fish these out when serving). Turn down to a low heat and simmer for 1hr 20.

Meanwhile cube a butternut squash and carrots spread out on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, salt & pepper and roast for 40 mins in the oven.

Throw in the tin of chickpeas to the lamb after an hour and boil up some basmati rice, when the rice is partially cooked - with about 10 mins remaining - gently ladle on the lamb and remaining liquid on top but not stirred in to the rice. Cook for the remaining 10 mins until the rice is finished. Serve with plenty of fresh chopped curly parsley, and the roasted vegetables.

I hope you enjoy the taste of Oman as much as I did!

Countries to go: 78

Countries done:

#1 Peru

#2 Oman

Keep following the Greedy Mancunians to see what country I 'visit' next!

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DISHES: #1 PERU - PAPAS RELLENAS

I have embarked on a culinary adventure! Hurrah! I intend to pick 80 countries and cook a dish from each of them in a Greedy Mancunian food voyage. I look forward to trying and sharing some interesting  world cuisine dishes. So....... here I go....... first stop on my voyage is Peru.

The Peruvian dish I have decided to try out is Papas Rellenas.

The dish is a filled mashed potato stuffed with a minced beef mix and coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried. I was expecting it to be quite heavy and a bit greasy, but found it to be quite the opposite - it was very tasty!

Firstly peel & boil some potatoes (use some good mashers) once cooked through, mash til smooth and leave to cool. Once cool mix in a large egg and kneed to make your dough. 

For the filling you will need the following:

2 large cloves of garlic

Half an onion finely chopped

Half a green bell pepper finely chopped

10-12 black olives sliced

3 tsps capers

Half tsp of chili powder

Half tsp of cumin

Half tsp of ground cinnamon

1 tsp of oregano

3 tablespoons of tomato purée

Squeeze of lime juice

500g of minced beef steak

1 bay leaf

In a large pan heat some olive oil and throw in the onions & press the garlic. Once the onions have softened throw in the steak mince and brown, breaking it up with a spoon as it fries. Throw in all the other ingredients and cook on a low heat for 15mins. Let the mixture cool.

Taking some of your potato dough, form a flat pancake and put a spoon or 2 of the filling mix in the centre. Fold the potato around the filling to form a large ball.

Fill 3 bowls - one with plain flour, a pinch of chili powder & a tsp of cinnamon. One with a beaten egg with a dash of water. And the final bowl with breadcrumbs mixed with oregano. 

Dip your large balls first in the flour until coated, then dip in the egg, finally into the breadcrumbs again til fully coated. Drop balls in a pan of boiling sunflower oil and deep fry until golden.

Slice in half and serve with a salad drizzled with lime juice.

Delicious!

So that was my first visit on my Around the World in 80 Dishes!

Countries to go: 79

Countries done:

#1 Peru

Keep following the Greedy Mancunians to see what country I 'visit' next!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: FALLOW

Despite not wearing ironic spectacles & skinny jeans, being students, or being a fans of the Foals, we found ourselves in Fallowfield after an invite to try the new menu at Fallow (formerly Trof). Fallow certainly cater for the local market with its American Diner style menu, but fear not - this isnt nasty greasy fast food though - its well presented and high quality food. 

My fellow Greedy Mancunian ordered a burger from the menu with cheese and bacon - it came neatly stacked with some wonderfully chunky chips that were perfectly seasoned & the burger meat itself was a quality home made meaty patty. "a very tasty burger" that left him feeling happily stuffed!

I had already made up my mind before I even read the menu when earlier in the day I had a look at the website (www.fallowcafe.com) and saw a picture of the rack of ribs on there. All i will say about them is that they did not dissapoint in the slightest! A nice big rack of juicy ribs generously covered in a delicious sticky barbecue suace, served with a token patch of greenery and coleslaw - and some more of those chunky chips. You'd be hard pushed to find such a bloody good feed elswhere for under a tenner!

After a breather we contemplated pudding for a while and ordered a triple chocolate brownie (with ice cream and berry sauce) & an Oreo cookie milkshake - both were rather delicious and left us most satisfied!

All in all a very splendid feed with good quality well cooked/well presented food, in a bar with a good ambience and decor served by very pleasant staff. Thank you Fallow - we certainly recommend any Two Greedy Mancunians readers to bob in for a beer and a bite from you!

Huzzah!

TEA SHOP OF THE YEAR - NOESIS (URMSTON)

Coming across the delightful Noesis in Urmston was one of my favourite finds of the year - a new stylish teashop in Urmston. Its certainly not all style over substance though, they take their teas (and coffee) seriously. 

Each tea on the (ever expanding) tea menu comes in an infusing pot with its own timer ready to beep when the optimum brewing time is reached. Upon beeping its ready to pop on top of your pot to drain the tea out and into your teapot ready for pouring and  drinking. If you enjoy quality teas served at their best then make Noesis your next stop.

The owners are incredibly friendly and will make you feel very welcome, and the décor is warming with its wooden counters and tables. And if you want to rest for a nice relaxing cuppa there is a very comfy sofa in the corner with a chunky coffee table and a selection of newspapers. Just the treat for a Saturday afternoon after a hard days shopping.  There's also a good selection of cakes and biscuits available and a selected range of paninnis if you need something more with your drink.

It certainly is good to see places like Noesis opening up in Urmston, helping it catch up with its foodie neighbours Didsbury & Chorlton.

TWO GREEDY MANCUNIANS AT THE AIRPORT

Well, the great British weather is here at last, so no need to escape for some sun, well, at lease for the next 10 days or so, then I'm sure the misery will set back in. So...... you may want to head to the airport in the near future - if you do you are in for a real good treat! The new food court and the Grain Loft bar & restaurant are now fully open in Terminal 1.

We'll start with the downstairs food court.... to get you in the real holiday spirit there is ice cream available from a new permanent ice cream van from Manchester's renowned Gingers Comfort Emporium offering a selection of quality ice creams including their flagship flavour of salted caramel & peanut butter (sometimes known as Chorlton Crack).

Also on offer in the downstairs food court is a selection of continental baguettes at the Upper Crust, and some pasties at the ingeniously named "The Pasty Shop" who claim their pasties are handmade in Cornwall.

The other delight available in the main food court is Mi Casa Burritos who offer exceptional tasty burritos - we were fortunate to sample some little beef treats - an explosion (maybe I shouldnt use that word when talking about the airport) of Mexico in your mouth!
That concludes the food on offer in the new downstairs food court area, so with a stride in our step we ventured up to the Grain Loft - the Beer, Wine & Food extravaganza!

Upon arrival to the Grain Loft we were shown round its high tech seating booths where you can plug in your smartphone or i-pod/i-pad to play your own music within your booth - good for families, or the pull your own pint section at the back good for groups wanting to beer-up before boarding their easyjet flight to Ibiza. Foodwise - basically the Grain Loft offers good quality pub food - for those wanting something a bit more substantial to get them through their flight paired with good quality, local brewed beers.

We got to sample a selection of the menu and can recommend the chicken cooked with a beer can up its arse (shown in the title photo) accompanied with some really good chips. Other favourites we sampled were the steak which was perfectly cooked and of superb quality meat. And for a most delicious heart attack before jetting off you need to try the black pudding fritters with beer mustard dip - possibly the best thing i have put in my mouth all week! Yum!

The main beers on offer at the Grain Loft were brewed from brewers Thornbridge - based in the lovely town of Bakewell (where the tarts come from) who offer some real tasty ales including Jaipur & Kipling.  So next time you are at Manchester's Terminal 1- make sure you fill up with some quality food & drink.

FOODIE PENPALS 02: A TREAT FROM LONDON

Ahoy there food friends - for this months package from Foodie Penpals I received a delightful box from Mary in that there London! It contained (as you can see in the picture) some Sussex Farmer's Savoury biscuits - Cheese & Wholegrain mustard - the mustard seeds in them gave a warmth which goes splendidly with the confits and cheese. If you see a box of these Sussex farmers biscuits I fully recommend you get yourself a box. On to the cheese it was a cheese called Cahill Porter which is made with porter (hence the dark look to it) - it was an excellent cheese. To accompany it Mary also threw in a couple of confits (one Fig & Thyme and one Apple & Pear) which added a nice sweetness to go with the biscuits and comlimented the cheese. The Chorizo that Mary also put in the box - I havent sampled yet, but it looks fantastic and I love a bit of Chorizo!!! I also had a lovely card from Mary - a truely delightful foodie penpal package from London. Thanks Mary.
If you like the sound of Foodie Penpals then click the link below and get yourself signed up!