Another recipe with Stage one of the Chunky pumpkin soup

Another dish that I do with pumpkin is,that when I finish stage one of the previous recipe with the pumpkin -after pureeing the mixture, add about a cup of long grain rice uncooked.Cover and simmer.Keep a boiling kettle nearby and add boiling water whenever the mixture is drying and the rice has not yet cooked enough,like when you are doing risotto. Keep doing this adding a little boiling water at a time till the rice has cooked.Be careful not to dilute the mixture.Yummy...this is my pumpkin with rice recipe !

My chunkier version of Pumpkin soup

This is my chunkier version of Pumpkin soup and it is a made in two stages. I make it in these two stages so that the soup comes chunky and the potatoes and carrots are not pureed too.( I use alternative to salt -which is sodium free and low sodium veg cubes because of my high blood pressure,but you can use the normal ones).

First chop and fry an onion,then add the finely chopped pumpkin. Add some water, one veg stock cube, salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir every now and then and if it gets too dry add more water.

After a couple of minutes when the pumpkin becames soft,puree the mixture with a hand blender. This is the base of the soup-You can let it cool and freeze it at this stage and use it for your soup at another time.
THE SOUP:-
To start the soup, finely chop a medium onion and fry in a little oil, then add some chopped carrots cut in small chunks. Fry for a minute and then add 1 tbs of tomato puree diluted in a some boiling water (aroung half a cup). Then add chopped potatoes. Continue to stir for a couple of minutes.

Then add some more salt and pepper ,another vegetable stock cube,the pumpkin puree and add some water to make it more diluted. Bring to boil,stirring every now and then.Lower heat and simmer for about 20 m,not forgetting to stir until the potatoes and the carrots are done.Check the seasoning at the end.

When the soup is ready you can eat it as it is or as soon as the soup is done break tiny spaghetti pieces in it,stir,turn off the heat,cover and let the heat cook the pasta.
Another version...if you look it a bit hot...add a few chili flakes in the first stage while cooking the pumpkin and this will give it some heat.

Jacqueline Sammut.

Vegetarian Shepard's pie
THIS IS MY RECIPE SO I HOPE I HAVE LISTED EVERY THING AND I HAVE DESCRIBED IT WELL. :-))


FOR FILLING
Vegetable oil
Onions (chopped)
Choppped garlic
Chopped carrots
Finely sliced mushrooms
400gr of Canned chopped tomatoes
Worcestershire Sauce
Half a teaspoon Hot curry
Half a teaspoon Hot Paprika
Frozen peas
2 bay leafs
Quater of a teaspoon of rosemary or some fresh ones chopped..
chopped parsley
1 pkt of brown lentils (app.200/250gr)rinsed
 1 Vegetarian stock cube and 1 Garlic and herb cube(if you don't have the latter substitute for another vegetarian stock cube)
black pepper/salt

FOR THE TOP
Peeled and quatered potatoes
Milk
butter
Cheddar cheese
1 to 2 eggs
seasoning.

Method:-

For the filling-put the lentils in a saucepan and cover them in water,  -be a bit generous with the water as the lentils will absorb and we need the mixture to still have liquid when the lentils are cooked- bring to boil and add the garlic and herb cube(or veg cube)...simmer till the lentils are cooked...if the lentils are dry add more water, we should still have a bit of cooking liquid when the lentils are ready, we shall be using this as it has a lot of flavour.

In a seperate deep pan fry the onions..then the carrots and the garlic, for about 2 minutes, Then add the mushrooms. Add the peas,paprika,curry, seasoning,a few drops of the Worcestershire sauce, and the herbs...keep stirring..Then add the cooked lentils with  it's cooking liquid and add the vegetarian cube.. and add the tomatoes....stir bring to boil then cover and simmer on low heat for a couple of minutes. By now the mixture should not be liquidy but not dry either. Put in a deep oven dish, removing the bay leaves.
For the potato mash-Boil potatoes till they ae well done. Drain from water , add butter and milk and seasoning and mash, cover the top of the filling...spreading it out.
Beat the eggs and spread on top and grate cheddar cheese on top.

Put in the oven for about 40 to 45m or until top is golden brown.

Maltese Traditional Easter sweets 'Figolli'

Ingredients:
For pastry-
(this will make two large shapes like above or make any small shapes you want-Maltese do shapes like animals-hearts-boats-planes-see what shape  cutters you find.I make dozens so you can imagine how many times I have to repeat this recipe)
450gr plain flour-sieved and add a pinch of salt.
225gr butter
225gr caster sugar
1 egg
rind of 1 lemon
4 tbs lemon juice.
Method:
Rub the butter in the flour,then add the sugar and lemon rind,mix well.  Add the egg,then 1tbs of the lemon juice at a time till the dough forms a ball-you make not use all off the lemon juice.Chill the dough for at least half an hour.

Ingriedents:
For Filling:
225gr ground almond(pure or substitute-u find it ready to buy-at least here in Malta)
120gr caster sugar
120gr icing sugar-sieved
50gr chopped roasted almonds
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon almond essence
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons orange flower water (you find this ready in a bottle too)

Method
Mix together in a bowl the dry ingredients-the ground almonds,the chopped almonds-sugar-icing sugar(sieved).
In another bowl mix together all the wet ingredients-egg-vanilla and almond essence-lemon juice-orange flower water.
Then mix both mixtures together until it forms into a soft dough too,chill for half an hour too.

Assembling
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface-important not too thin, about 1 cm -
then cut two of the same shape-one for the bottom and one for the top.
In between put a layer of the filling flattented to about 1 cm too.
So one pastry shape,then filling on top then the other pastry shape on top and flatten so lightly the edges taking care not to loose the shape so that they stick a little together.You can also brush the edge of the first bottom pastry with a little water.
Bake in a moderate oven until they start getting a golden colour-do not over bake as when they cool down they will harden!!
When completly cooled down,melt good cake chocolate and cover them.There is several different ways to decorate-or as I said with chocolate and then do designs with Icing,or cover them all in coloured icing and put different sprinkles on or just with melted chocolate.The Maltese tradition is that we put a small chocolate egg on top the melted choc so it sticks to it.
Please try-it seems intimidating to make,but its not and these keep so well in an airtight container for weeks..and they are so good!!

Spacecrafts Streak Over Colorado

Have you ever seen a "star" drifting slowly overhead, but not known what it was? Sometimes even pointing it out to friends or family will only lead to a shrug. What you are seeing, most likely, is a spacecraft in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight as it circles the Earth once every 90 minutes or so. Two of the brighter spacecraft in the present day sky are the International Space Station (ISS), and, when it is up, a NASA space shuttle. As relative orientations change, the brightness of reflections may also change, sometimes suddenly. Another source of bright drifting objects, Iridium communication satellites, may even appear to flare up to become brighter than any other sky object for a few seconds. Pictured above, two bright points of light separated by only a few degrees drifted together across the sky above Lory State Park, Colorado, USA last week, just after sunset. These lights were were the ISS and the space shuttle Discovery, which had undocked from the ISS a few hours earlier. Given a digital fusion of many separate camera exposures and a wide angle perspective, the pair appears above as steaks in front of point-like stars. Web sites now exist that can help you identify unknown "drifters" and even predict the time of the next pass of the ISS visible from your location

OMG!!!! Beautiful moments of Discovery's last mission to space,from the launch-to the seperation- to the seperation of the shuttle itself....WOW! Please watch!...can't believe it is the last voyage of this shuttle!! I so dreamt of being on board!!-Of course only dreamt!

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=69829481

Big Head Todd & The Monsters Live Wakeup Call

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=70058841