What Librarians Eat! Issue 1: JAN 2013

What Librarians Eat! I S S U E

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J A N

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Welcome

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Breakfast: Healthy Slimmers’ Breakfast Muffins 2

The Library Social Events Committee would like to welcome you to this amazing newsletter (foodletter). This is a new fun way for us Librarians to start a new journey together about

Snacks: Puff Pastry

food.

Honey and Cinnamon Biscuits

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Healthy Dessert: Tea Poached Fruit

also while working. Food is a passion and we all try to maximize flavor in what we eat. In 3

Lunch: Leftover's Quiche-Lorraine

Ask us something!

this newsletter what we are trying to do is bring all the library staff quick, new, healthy recipes for dinner, lunch, snacks or even breakfast for all of us to cook and share.

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Dinner: Vegetarian Fusilli Pasta

We all know how much we all love food. We talk about it during breaks, during overtime and

We shall also provide tips for cooking and other similar food related stories. An other inter5

esting section is the Ask me something section. Here we can try to answer questions about food and cookery which the staff might have. By sharing it in this way we can all learn from

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each other and start to appreciate good food together.

We encourage staff members to send us their own favorite recipes to share and also try our own. We would also really appreciate it if staff members would send us requests for recipes they would like us to post, questions, suggestions, comments, etc‌

Library Social Events Committee: Carmen Micallef (Periodicals), Ryan Scicluna (Cataloguing), Rachel Grixti (Health Sciences Library), Kristine Micallef Ampong (Acquisitions)

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Breakfast

He alt h y S lim m e rs ’ Bre ak fas t Mu ffin s

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In today’s fast paced world it is important to have easy and accessible recipes which are also healthy and nutritious. These muffins are ideal because they have a very low fat content and are packed with the vitamins and nutrients we need to start the day. They also contribute to your fruit and veggie 5-a-day in take.

“Ask not what you can do for your country.

Ask what’s for lunch.” Orson Welles

Ingredients: (up to 8 muffins) Butter, melted (100g) 2 eggs 2 tbsp of natural yoghurt 1 tsp of vanilla essence Brown sugar (150g) Wholemeal self-raising flour (100g)

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Handful of porridge oats (30g)

Peel and grate the carrot and apples.

1 tsp of ground cinnamon Pinch of salt 1 Carrot

Beat the eggs into the melted butter.

Add vanilla essence and natural yoghurt to the egg mix.

Mix sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, salt,

2 Green apples

carrots, apple and zest into the wet

Zest of a small orange

ingredients and stir together thoroughly.

Pour into 8 muffin cases.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until risen and golden.

WHAT

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EAT!

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SNACKS:

Pu ff Pas t ry Ho n e y an d Cin n am o n Bis c u it s Preheat the oven at 180째C. Start by opening out the sheet of Puff Pastry on the baking paper that comes with it.

Dust the Cinnamon all over the pastry. Do not use a lot of Cinnamon as it is a strong spice.

Ingredients:

Drizzle honey on top of it.

1 sheet Pre-made Puff Pastry Honey Cinnamon

Roll the Puff pastry up like a big cigar. Make sure to roll it tight so when you slice it up, the honey and cinnamon will not fall out.

Slice the Puff pastry into small, thin circles.

Using the same baking paper that comes with the pastry, line a baking tray with it.

Pat down your Puff pastry circles into small, tight circles and place them on the baking tray.

Bake into the oven until he Puff pastry turns into a golden brown colour (Approximately 10 to 15 mins) When ready you can serve them warm or cold with a cup of tea or coffee.

Healthy Dessert Ingredients: 2 Pears 2 Apples 2 Plums A Handful of raisins 1 tbsp of redcurrant jelly 2 Fruit teabags 1 Vanilla pod or Vanilla Essence A Pint of boiling water 2 Egg yolks 2 tbsp of Caster sugar 2 tbsp of Marsala wine

Te a Po ac h e d

Peel, core and slice the pears and apples into quarters and half the plums so the stones are removed.

Put the apples and pears into a saucepan with the raisins, sugar, jelly, tea and boiling water.

Heat the pan to a boil then turn down to a slow simmer for 15 minutes so that the apples and pears are softened.

Add in the plum halves and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Put the egg yolks, sugar and wine in a bowl and whisk over a pan of simmering water.

Whisk continuously until the mix thickens and doubles in volume. The sauce should be thick enough that when you drizzle a shape into the mix it should stay there.

Fru it

Portion some of the warm poached fruit in an ovenproof bowl with a spoonful of the sabayon over the top.

Use a blowtorch or very hot grill to colour the top of the sabayon and serve whilst still warm.

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Lunch:

Le ft o ve rs Qu ic h e -Lo rrain e Ingredients: (serves 4-6 ppl) 1 sheet Pre-made Shortcrust pastry 4 eggs 600 ml Milk

Preheat the oven at 150째C.

Basically one can add whatever they have laying around in the fridge as a filling for a Quiche

Crack the 4 eggs in a large bowl.

Pour the milk with the eggs.

Season with Salt and Pepper.

Dice the Tomatoes and the Mushrooms and add to the mixture.

Grate the Parmesan cheese in as well.

Slice up the ham and leeks and mix it with the mixture.

50g Parmesan Cheese 4 Slices of Ham A Handful of Mushrooms 1 Large or 2 small Leeks 4 Large Tomatoes or a Handful of Cheery Tomatoes Cheddar Cheese 2 Sprigs of Rosemary Chives

Finely chop the chives and whisk everything. This will create a lot of bubbles in the mixture so when it cooks it will have a fluffy soft filling and a crispy top.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry.

Using the same baking paper of the pastry as base, place it in a baking dish. Make sure to create a crust so that the filling will sit well inside the pastry and dish. I always use a dish a little bit smaller than the pastry so that it naturally creates a crust.

Pour the mixture into the pastry in the baking dish.

Slice up small but chunky piece of Cheddar cheese and place them on top.

Sprinkle the Rosemary on top.

This recipe is also very useful as dinner during week days because if there are any leftovers one can put them into a container and take them for lunch during work the following day. You can eat it cold or you can easily heat it up again.

Bake for about 30 mins or more until the top turns into a brown colour and the pastry firms up.

(To make sure it is ready, poke the centre with a fork. If the fork comes out wet or gooey leave it to cook for a couple of more minutes. If the fork is clean then it is ready to eat.)

WHAT

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Tip of the Month When using Fresh herbs before chopping or using them in a recipe it is always better to run them through some hot water. This activates the natural oils in the herb, so they give out more flavour to any dish.

Dinner: Ingredients: (Serves 4ppl)

Ve ge t arian Fu s illi Pas t a

500g Fusilli Pasta 100g sun dried tomatoes A Handful of mushroom 1 onion 1 Glass of white wine Some thyme Some basil Goat cheese (2 per Person) 100g cashew nuts.

Add some water to a pan. Add Sea Salt, cover it and bring it to the boil. When it starts to boil add in the Pasta (Check on the packet for exact time for cooking). Meanwhile prepare the sauce.

Chop the onion, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms.

In a frying pan add a shot of olive oil and sweat the onion.

Add in the sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms.

Cook for about 1-2 mins.

Pour in the glass of white wine and let it reduce.

Add a tin of tomatoes and let it simmer for 2-3 mins.

Season with Salt and Pepper.

Prepare the herbs. Finely chop the basil and thyme.

Sprinkle in the Herbs.

Remove the pan of the heat and roughly crush or chop some cashew nuts to add to the sauce.

Drain the pasta and mix it with the sauce. Make sure that the pasta is tossed in all the sauce and plate up.

Before serving Crumble up 2 small Goat cheeses on top of each plate. The residual heat from the pasta will start to melt the cheese .

Serve with a nice bottle of wine.

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Ask Us Something!

Since this is the first issue we did not really have anyone asking us questions so we decided to write about some common question we hear people asking.

How do I make perfect fluffy rice?

“If more of us valued

Th is is s o m e t h in g v e ry s im ple an d e as y t o do . On e m u s t alway s re m e m be r t h e rat io o f 1 is t o 2 wh e n

food and cheer and song above hoarded

it c o m e s t o ric e . Th is m e an s t h at fo r e v e r c u p o f ric e t h e re h as t o be 2 c u ps o f wat e r.

A v e ry c o m m o n m e as u re m e n t fo r ric e is u s in g a c o ffe e m u g. Fill it u p wit h bas m at i ric e fo r e x am ple an d add it t o a pan . No w fill u p t h e s am e m u g wit h wat e r an d add it t o

gold, it

t h e pan . Fill t h e m u g again s o as t o

would be

Pu t a lid o n t h e pan an d le t it s im -

a merrier world.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

h av e 2 c u ps o f wat e r t o 1 o f ric e . m e r o n a lo w h e at u n t il t h e wat e r is c o m ple t e ly

a bs o rbe d

(u s u a l l y

wit h in 1 5 t o 2 0 m in s t h e ric e is c o o k e d).

An in t e re s t in g way t o c o o k ric e is t o flav o r it wh ile c o o k in g.

An e x am ple wo u ld be t o add a m u g o f c o c o n u t m ilk t o t h e ric e in s t e ad o f 1 m u g o f wat e r. Th is v ariat io n c an be u s e d wit h an y k in d o f flav o r s u c h as c h ic k e n s t o c k , s u n drie d t o m at o pas t e , m u s h ro o m s t o c k , e t c … Mix e d in a m u g o f wat e r an d adde d wit h t h e ric e m ix t u re , an y t h in g c an be u s e d t o flav o r t h e ric e .

What do you think? Did you like it? Do you want to see more?

Send us your comments, feedback, recipes, requests and what else you want to have on this monthly Newsletter (foodletter).

You can send an email to Ryan, Carmen, Rachel or Kristine Ampong.

In the next issue prepare yourselves for some Carnival and Romantic Valentines treats.