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Lessons Learned, Malta, My articles / researches, My Life, Steffi Says

How to Organise the Perfect Indoor BBQ In Winter

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There is one thing we all miss in the winter: the ability to invite people around for an afternoon of barbecue. If you feel like your social life has suffered as the weather got colder, you might want to get creative and recreate the feeling of summer in your home, and hold an indoor party that cheers you up and makes your weekends more exciting. Below you will find a few tips on how to get started.

House Party

Get a Quality Grill

There are plenty of great quality health fryers and grills you can use, and the results will be the same as on the flames. You might want to get an indoor electric or gas grill set up in your kitchen, or keep it outside, and have the party in the conservatory, if you have one. If you are not sure which type of meat will be the best for your indoor grilling, you can always ask your local butcher or farm shop for advice.

Make Loads of Punch and Mulled Wine

To warm up the atmosphere and your visitors, you might want to get the punch and mulled wine on the hob, instead of cold beer and wine. You can create your hot cocktails yourself, and lay them out for your guests to try and rate. Get your recipes and creativity going, and impress your friends this winter.

Create a Menu and Start Cooking

House BBQ

Get some finger food on the menu, as well as the grilled meat. Offer bacon sandwiches, savoury pies prepared the previous day, and order some pastry from your local shop. Don’t forget about the fresh salad and entree, and get a bowl of soup out, so your guests can help themselves whenever they want to. You can make your own coleslaw, bake your rolls fresh, to go with the meat and the soup.

Get the Caterers In

Depending on the size of your party, you might want to get some help. Caterers can help you out with equipment that keeps the food warm and fresh, as well as laying out the dishes. Check out Singapore caterer ezBBQ to find out what services are available, and how you can make the most out of your indoor barbecue. Alternatively, you can order a hot pudding from a local catering company, and torch your own creme-brulees.

Add Lighting, Decoration, and Music

To get the conversation flowing, and cheer up your friends arriving, you can decorate your home with winter paintings and snowflakes. You might want to get a winter wax melt on the go, and install a mood light. Create a playlist that you can stream from your phone and control the volume according to what your guests are doing.

Just because it is cold and wet outside, your social life should go on. Organise a creative indoor BBQ party, and cheer yourself and your friends up. Make sure that you have adequate extractor fans installed in the house, though, otherwise, your house will smell of barbecue for a long time.

 

Entrée, Main Dishes, My articles / researches, Recipes, Snacks / Appetizers, Steffi Says

Kickass Bacon Pancakes

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We all love our pancakes, and I prefer mine savoury. Not just savoury, but served with crispy bacon and butter. Sometimes, when I am in no rush and fancy a big breakfast, I even cook eggs and sausages. You could say, this is my version of an English breakfast.

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 egg, lightly whisked

Serve with crispy, streaky bacon and butter (optional)

Method

  1. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl
  2. Whisk in the lemon juice, whole milk and egg
  3. Leave the combined batter in the fridge for 20 minutes
  4. In the meantime, you can heat a non-stick frying pan and start cooking the streaky bacon in its own juices, until golden
  5. Clean the non-stick frying pan, and over medium heat, start frying the batter to make these lovely, fluffy pancakes. If your pan is good, you don’t need to put oil or butter.
  6. Allow around 2 minutes on one side, flip with a spatula and wait another 1 minute. Lower the heat if you notice that the pancake colour is darker than golden.

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With this recipe I make 9 pancakes of roughly 15 minutes in diameter. Serve with crispy bacon and butter, or anything else you might fancy for your breakfast!

And, if you don’t feel like making them yourself, look for some destinations that serve pancakes for breakfast.

Entrée, Main Dishes, Recipes, Snacks / Appetizers, Steffi Says

Pasta Omelette (Maltese: Tarja Moqlija)

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One of the ‘fry ups’ that I really love eating, but which I do not eat so often since unfortunately it is far from healthy is known as Tarja Moqlija. The English name I’d like to give it is a Pasta Omelette. If you are not sure if this is something you’d like to try, I still urge you read the recipe, it might make you hungry, or in the least: curious!

Recipe for two

Ingredients:
– 200g Vermicelli / Spaghetti
– 2 handfuls of Parmigiano Reggiano
– 2 large eggs
– 2 handfuls of cubed ham or bacon or sausage
– 1 small onion, chopped
– 6 average sized mushrooms, chopped
– Salt and Pepper to taste
You can add or change ingredients according to your taste

Method:
1. Boil the pasta until it is rather soft
2. Cook the mushrooms in some butter until the pasta is ready
3. Beat the eggs and add the other chopped ingredients in the same bowl and season it
4. Mix the cooked pasta in the same bowl
5. Put a bit of oil in the frying pan and wait until it is warm
6. Spread the pasta mix into the frying pan.
7. Fry from one side until is golden brown and then turn it around slowly
8. Serve piping hot (and crispy!)

tarja

Notes:
– Do not put too much pasta mix in the pan because if the omelette is too thick it will break
– If you feel like there’s not enough egg in the mix, you are better off adding an additional egg. The omelette will still taste as good!

My Life, Steffi Says

Fresh Pasta

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One of the plans I had for this weekend is to meet up with my good friend Mirka and our Italian friend Paddy for a cook-out. We have been saying that we should attempt making fresh pasta, for weeks; if not months. Finally the day was upon us!

For our first try, we decided on keeping things simple, and make tagliatelle.

To make the pasta dough, it turned out to be quite a marathon, or even a workout. We took turns to knead the dough until silky and smooth, and until no flour blobs were visible.

Making use of the Andrew James pasta maker was pretty straightforward for us newbies, and we made the most gorgeous pasta.

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We cooked it in hot boiling water, with some salt and made a mushroom, onion, and bacon white sauce for it.

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It was great, and I can confirm that the first attempt was a major success!!

Entrée, Recipes, Snacks / Appetizers

My Bacon & Cheese Savoury Pancakes

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This is one of my comfort light on the stomach dishes I make from time to time. It is easy, tasty and gives you a feel good vibe. This is my method and I hope you like it 🙂 Continue reading My Bacon & Cheese Savoury Pancakes →