Blog - Food I Love

Time for a Break but still Braaiing!

Larry Susman — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:51:46 +0000

Time for a Break but still Braaiing!

Well, unfortunately or fortunately things are mad at work as we get ready for the festive season (don't forget to get your orders in early www.biltong.co.uk) and as a result my blogging has suffered. So I have decided to take a little break over the winter on the blogging side but I can assure you that I have not stopped Braaiing. I will be back in the Spring with loads of new recipes for you all to try during next summer, lets hope it's as good as this one was.

Please stay in touch and keep on sending me your ideas on what to braai, as this is one of the hardest things to decide, especially when it's something different each time! I will be posting updates to some of the recipes over the winter as I make what I think is improvements, so keep coming back to see what's new. I will try to get a blog up on what I will be cooking for Christmas this year, for those who have requested it. My kids are now insisting that I cook the festive lunch on the Braai regardless of what the weather is like, LOL.

Once again thanks for all your continued support and keep on braaiing.

Best wishes,

Larry

Goan Curry on the Braai

Larry Susman — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 18:12:08 +0000

Goan Curry on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, I hope that you have all been braaiing since my last blog, I know I have! Sorry for the long break but I had a bit of a rest and unfortunately my mother passed away during this time so my not blogging was not all due to me enjoying myself, many thanks to those who sent there condolences it was greatly appreciated.

It looks like the fantastic summer we have had, has come to an abrupt end but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop braaiing just because the sun’s not shining. What’s needed is a change of what you cook going forward for the next few months and I’m going to start with a curry that I’ve never cooked before. Goan Beef Curry, which is a dryish curry with strong flavours and I’m going to add some potatoes while it cooks so that I don’t have to make two separate dishes today. You can use any cut of beef but why spend a lot of money on rump or sirloin when you are going to cook this slowly for some time and braising or stewing steak will be even better, when it’s cooked this way. Let jump right in…

SERVES 6: PREP: 15MINS: COOK TIME: 1½HRS

Ingredients:

1kg braising or stewing steak cut into 2.5 cm cubes
4 x Large potatoes chopped into largish pieces
2 x Brown onions finely chopped
6 x Cardamom pods deseeded
1tsp Fennel seeds
½ tsp Fenugreek seeds
½ tsp Ground black pepper
3tsp Coriander seeds
3tsp Cumin seeds
½tsp Ground turmeric
2tsp Chilli powder
8 x Cloves
10cm Cinnamon stick
6 x Garlic cloves finely chopped
10cm Piece of ginger, grated
125ml Olive oil
100g Creamed coconut dissolved in 310ml water, or 310ml coconut milk

Method how to prepare:

Preheat the Braai to 200°C (400°F) Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods and grind them in a spice grinder or with a pestle & mortar, along with the fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick, fenugreek seeds, black pepper and the coriander and cumin seeds, until they form a fine powder.
Heat the oil in a tagine, potjie pot, heavy-based frying pan or casserole dish over medium heat and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until lightly browned.
Add the meat and fry until brown all over.
Add all the spices and fry for 1 minute. Add the creamed coconut and bring slowly to the boil.
Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the meat is tender.
Remove the lid and add the potatoes into the curry, push them down below the surface so that they are totally covered.
Replace the lid and cook for a further 45 minutes.
If the liquid evaporates during cooking, add about 185 ml (3/4 cup) boiling water and stir to make a thick sauce.
If the sauce is still too liquid at the end of the cooking time, simmer with the lid off until it evaporates. Season with salt, to taste.

This Goan curry had such a fantastic aroma it just brought a smile to my face to think that I had created this from scratch, no packets or bottles of sauce anywhere. I served it with some plain steamed basmati rice, sambals and a large dollop of Mrs Ball chutney. Give this a go even if you don’t cook it on the braai, it’s really worth the little time it takes and I’m sure it wont be the last time you cook this either.

Until next time keep on braaiing!

P.S. don’t forget that next week is National Braai Day back in SA and now all over the world. So if you decide to have some friends around for a braai take some pics and share them with me and I will post them up on the blog for all to see. Keep well Larry

Flapjack on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 12:36:23 +0000

Flapjack on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well the weathers changed in the UK and I suspect the summer is nearly over but it’s not time to put your braai away yet! This week I’m making something special for Paul and Suzie who requested this recipe from Jan, especially after trying it at my place a couple of weeks ago over a cup of coffee. This is a great afternoon snack that’s almost good for you but will definitely make you smile. You don’t need to do this on the braai but it’s fun if you do and you will get that nutty wood taste as an extra bonus.

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 5MINS: COOK TIME: 25MINS

Ingredients:

170g x Butter melted
85g x Demerara sugar
225g x Porrige Oats
100g x Seed Mix (pumkin, sunflower, linseed and seasame)
120ml x Golden Syrup (I used Illovo from back home)

Method how to prepare flapjack:

Preheat the Braai (oven) to 190°C (375°F)
Melt the butter in a pan.
Add the sugar and surup and mix together.
Stir in the seeds and porrige oats and give it a good mix.
Pour into a 20cm x 30cm x 3cm greaced baking tin and press down hard with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 25mins on the top shelf, until it goes golden brown.
Cut into squares whilst its still hot and leave to cool.

This is such a quick and easy recipe but man it’s the best flapjack you will find around. Just make yourself a cup of coffee and sit down to a great afternoon snack, give it a try and let us know if you agree. It's healthy but not slimming so don’t get carried away and eat to much as I did!

Have a great weekend, best regards Larry.

Need a replacement Grid for your Braai?

Larry Susman — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 16:09:39 +0000

Need a replacement Grid for your Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well I've had a week off from blogging but not braaiing and I'm back in the groove again but as I mentioned, with a twist. This week I'm going to review a replacement Braai Grid that was kindly sent to me by the good people at Craycourt. If your braai has suffered over the winter or you've just not looked after it and it's seen better days then help is at hand. I came across Craycourt some time ago and I've recommended them to others but it struck me that there must be plenty of you who could do with a new grid!

They specialise in replacement Cast Iron Grids for pretty much all sizes and types of braai. Even for gas braais (god forbid) as well as charcoal with ranges for Webber and BigGreenEgg as well as others. Their pre-seasoned grill grids take your braaiing to the next level and with a little care they will last you a lifetime. Another great reason for having a cast iron grid is that they heat up quickly and they will hold the heat much longer than stainless or aluminium grids. See them here!

They sent me one for my XL BigGreeEgg Braai and it arrived quickly and was packed very well. What I like about these grids is that they are in quarters, which makes lifting them out so much easier and you can lift just one piece if you need to add more coals or some wood chipping for smoking. You can see from the photos that it's so simple to set up that any "doos" can do it.

I gave it a quick wash before using and that's all. On firing up there were no smells or nasty tastes coming off the grid as Craycourt had done a great job in pre-seasoning it. I chucked some PeriPeri chicken wings, Sosaties and some lamb chops on it and before you can say Braai they were ready. Because the cast iron gets a lot hotter and holds the heat better your meat will cook that bit quicker and leave those fantastic searing marks that make you look like a professional chef!

Before you say "why did I need a new grid" I didn't but the time will come when you and I will. Most people just throw their old braais away and buy a new one, when really all that's wrong with them is that the grid has burnt away or gone rusty beyond repair. This is when this company will save you a load of bucks. Their prices start at £27 for a 14.5inch grid up to £69.00 for the 27inch one I received. They even have lifters for £6.53 and you can also convert some of the quarters to flat grills (flat on one side and ribbed on the other) so that you can cook eggs, onions etc. There's also a pizza stone and a wok in the range, there's no limit to what you can do now. What great ideas these are and they will make your braai that bit more versatile as an all year round cooker for a very reasonable price. This is great if you're a braai nut like myself.

Cleaning is easy, just fire up the braai to max for a couple of minutes and then brush the grate clean in seconds! Once it's cooled down just wipe over with a little olive oil and its ready to go next time you want to braai. Keep it clean, a clean braai cooks better, that's a fact and you don't get as many flare-ups with a clean grill. So if your braai needs a revamp these are the guys that can do it for you and I can highly recommend them, buy direct from their web site http://www.cast-iron-grate.com/uk/.

Until next time, happy braaiing.

Quail & Guinea Fowl braaied over Kameeldoring Wood

Larry Susman — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 15:40:00 +0000

Quail & Guinea Fowl braaied over Kameeldoring Wood with Grape, Mascarpone & Tarragon stuffing on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, a big thank you to everybody that left suggestions on what to braai on our Facebook Page, by Twitter and email. We literally had hundreds of great things recommended to braai but we have trawled though them and I have chosen something that one of my favourite chefs from SA and this is one of his signature dishes. It’s from Rueben’s in Franschoek and was suggested by Carol from Manchester, thanks for reminding me about this fantastic dish, with a couple of adjustments by me. We will be in contact with you to arrange for you to receive your £50 of gift vouchers.

I decided to cook these birds over Kameeldoring Wood just to make me feel homesick and I had to substitute the raspberry for balsamic vinegar. Which worked very well but if you can get the raspberry it will be just that little bit more subtle. This recipe takes a little bit of effort but you will be rewarded with a great feast, give it a go.

SERVES 4: PREP: 40MINS: COOK TIME: 35MINS

Ingredients for the Marinated:

4 x Quails (Ruben uses de-boned)
1 x Guinea Fowl
2 x Cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 x Large red bell peppers
200g Green grapes, halved
3tbs Mascarpone
2tbs fresh tarragon
3tbs oyster sauce
Salt and black pepper to taste
Mixed fresh herbs, to garnish

Method how to prepare quail and guinea fowl:

Preheat the Braai to 200°C (400°F) with a few bit of Kameeldoring wood if you have any, it just give it a fantastic flavour.
Combine the grapes, mascarpone, tarragon and chopped garlic.
Stuff each bird.
Secure the stuffing by using toothpicks to close the cavities.
Season and brush with oyster sauce.
Place the Guinea Fowl on the braai first for 15-20 minutes on oven tray.
Cover the breast of the Guinea Fowl up after 20 minutes with a bit of silver foil to stop it from burning while the quail cooks.
After the 20 minutes is up place the Quails next to the Guinea Fowl on oven tray and roast for a further 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the braai and keep warm.
Either before or during the cooking of the birds’ place the red peppers on a hot braai, turning occasionally, allow the skin to blister. I did mine directly on the wood and it was fantastic!
After about 8 minutes, remove the peppers and wrap them in foil or a plastic bag for 10-15 minutes.
Remove from the wrapping, seed and remove the skin from the peppers and slice into strips.
To serve, spoon the couscous on a plate.
Top the quail and guinea fowl with roasted bell pepper strips. Spoon the dressing over and around the birds. Garnish with fresh herbs.

Ingredients for the Couscous:

150g Couscous
3 x Medium sized tomatoes skinned, seeded and chopped
3tbs chopped fresh coriander
2tsp ground coriander
3tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Method how to prepare Couscous:

Place the raw couscous in a medium-sized pot or bowl and add the boiling water a little at a time, stirring constantly with a fork. Do not add too much water, as you want the couscous to stay light and fluffy.
When cooked, add the tomato, fresh coriander, ground coriander and olive oil.
Season to taste and set aside.

Ingredients for the Dressing:

100ml Olive oil
40ml Balsamic (80ml if you can get Raspberry) vinegar
100g green grapes, halved
1tbs chopped fresh tarragon
Add Caster sugar to taste

Method how to prepare Dressing:

For the dressing, whisk the olive oil and balsamic vinegar together, unfortunately I could not get any raspberry vinegar in time, so I substituted balsamic and it was great.
Next add the grapes, caster sugar and tarragon and stir.
It’s that simple, all you need to do now is plate it all up, Enjoy!

This is not the end but a start of a new era of this blog, I will still be braaiing every week, ;-) so don’t leave us. I will just not be blogging about everything I cook in such detail, more photo tweets etc. There will be a mixture of posts from guest bloggers, reviews from place and restaurants that I visit and I will still be offering the odd prize for you to win. So please feel free to let me what sort of things you would like to see me cook and eat and comeback on a regular basis or sign up and we will email you when I post something new. Thanks for all you comments and follows and keep spreading the word about this blog. Enjoy the sun and keep Braaiing.

To Buy or Not To Buy a BigGreenEgg?

Larry Susman — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 05:00:00 +0000

To Buy or Not To Buy a BigGreenEgg that is the question?

Welcome to this weeks’ blog,

I know that you thought that this was going to be the last one of the year. However I’ve had to make a change as we extended the competition to win £50 of gift vouchers to use on our web site www.biltong.co.uk and I have to go away this week to see my son graduate after 4 years of hard work at Uni.!!! No really, he has done so well and we are so proud of him, he actually got a 1st, which is fantastic and goes to show that if you spend enough time in those halls of learning called a "Pub" you will succeed LOL.

So this week I have decided to give you a true and extremely honest assessment of the Braai I have been using for this year to cook everything on, warts and all. With the last of the committed braai blogs next week but it will continue on a more casual basis, so don’t leave us. I will be braaiing some new great things and revisiting recipes that I have done over the year and posting updates and improvements where I have made some.

Firstly I should explain that I decided to take on this challenge after hearing about the BigGreenEgg on a blog that I listen to in the US and so I searched them out in the UK and went to look at one. From the moment I saw them I knew that I wanted one, man they look so great and when I was given a demonstration on how they cooked, "I was blown away by them!". I did not start out with the intention of selling them on our web site, I just wanted one to use. I thought that these braai's looked better than anything I had ever seen and on the drive back home, I discussed with Jan what we thought about a braai that cost over a £1000.00 for the XL one.

Well if you’re a South African I’m sure you know how I felt, I had to have one and after talking it through with Jan I came up with the idea of trying to cook on this every week for a year. I had been braaiing on a Gas Braai for some time and before you throw your toys out of the pram, it’s a convenience thing in the UK. It’s not that easy to get good dry wood and charcoal all year round here (you can now from our website) but when I saw how easy it was to light the Egg, "watch the video here" I was sold. That was even before they told me that you don’t have to clean it out every time you use the thing. In fact I only have to empty the ashes, on average, after every 8-10 uses and this is so easy to do from the bottom vent and takes about 2 mins using the tool supplied.

After long negotiations with the BigGreenEgg Company, we decided to become a stockist of these great braai's and I would do this blog. Which, you have kindly decided to follow and I thank you all for your support and comments over the year. After using this braai at least 2-3 times a week over the year (the wettest in the UK for over a 100 Years!) I think that I’m qualified enough to give a true assessment of this product. Just one thing, this is my personal opinion and it doesn’t mean you have to agree with it. Also I’m not beholding to the BigGreenEgg Company in anyway or form and they do not pay me to do this blog. I haven’t done this to improve sales in anyway and this is 100% accurate from my experiences using this braai.

So let’s start at the beginning with the cover:

It’s over £200 to start with and that’s more than some braais cost! However it is made from a heavy-duty plastic coated canvas and fits perfectly with side vents to let it breath. You can see from the photo that it has faded over time but it is still in extremely good condition and it has done a very good job of keeping the braai and table in perfect condition. So in my opinion it’s worth the money, I did have to use a cheap cover until this one was delivered, as they are custom made. You get what you pay for with everything in the BigGreenEgg range, as quality is how they have made their name.

The Royal Maho gany Table:

This cost £850, this is not cheap for a table, which was the main reason I travelled 100 miles to see one. However it is really solid and made from thick Mahogany and comes in over 100kg in weight. So make sure that you decide where you want to place your braai and table before you put it all together as the whole unit is over 200kgs and will take some big boys to move this after construction.

The BigGreenEgg Braai:

I opted for the XL, which is now £1200.00, as I planned to cook for plenty of guinea pigs over the year and I wanted to do some large meat braais on it. And as we all know bigger is always better! Not always true as bigger means you will cook more than you need and use more charcoal and wood than you need to, so take a little time and choose the correct size for your needs.

It took me little over an hour to put this together initially and I’m no handy man, so it’s easy, just take time and be gentle. The XL is over 100kg when constructed so don’t try to pick it up and place it in the table once its built, build it in it to start with. For all other sizes you can have them pre-made for a small free and I would recommend this, as your time is better spent cooking. I have not found anything to complain about on these braai's, they are constructed extremely well and are of such high quality, that they offer a lifetime guarantee on them. The ceramic construction is amazing and is still in perfect condition after a year’s heavy use in all weathers, rain, snow and even a little sun. The cast-iron grills and all the attachments are extremely good quality and justify the cost easily. Don’t waste your time trying to find cheaper equivalents as you will just be wasting you’re time and money in the long run.

There are so many different EGGcessories to choose from that you might have to sell the kids to buy all that you want! Take time to choose the essentials before getting too carried away, in my opinion you definitely need the Cast Iron Grill, Plate Setter and Baking Stone. With these three things you can cook everything I have done so far over the year.

On the down side, the only thing I’ve had go wrong (not wrong really just worn out after so much use and is not unreasonable) is the gasket needed to be replaced. This cost £20 and took me about an hour to do, simple and easy, just make sure that you clean all signs of the old one off before you stick on the new one. There are great instructions on their web site on how to do this, in fact anything you need to know about their range is on there.

As you can see from the photos there are no signs of rust on any of the metal parts even though I live on the coast in the UK and that’s impressive. These are really well made products, be careful out there, as there are some cheaper copies now appearing on the scene. I have been told that they have been cracking when fired up to over 250°C. Mine has been up over 400°C without any problems on several occasions, man this is hot.

Lighting, cleaning and Charcoal:

As I said above, it’s so easy to light especially if you use the fire starters they sell, no chemical smell or taste as they are natural and this braai is ready to use in under 15mins. Once you have finished cooking for the day just close all the vents and the fire will be smothered and put out. This will leave unburned charcoal in the braai and all you need to do is give it a quick rake over so all the small bits of ash drop down into the bottom to be emptied at a later date. This leaves quite a bit of unburned coal ready to be used next time you braai, just chuck a few handfuls of fresh charcoal over this and light. It’s amazing how much money this will save you over a year’s braaiing. I have only used 12 bags of 20kg charcoal in a year and that not much considering how many times I’ve cooked on it.

The inside of the Braai itself never needs to be cleaned, it becomes covered in a patina of smoke but its not greasy or fatty as the heat burns everything off. Grills only need to be brushed off as normal but you can wash if you want, just make sure that you dry before storing. The stainless steel grill that they come with, is still in perfect condition and comes up shining after a wash (only just finished smoking some ribs when photo was taken). The temperature gauge is in perfect condition but I think the cover helps keep it this way.

I’ve used the BigGreenEgg own brand charcoal and others over the year and I can say theirs is also the best I’ve come across. Once again it’s more expensive but you do get really large pieces of coal and the flavour is second to none when cooking with it and it seems to burn hotter and longer than other charcoal I’ve tried in the past. We sell charcoal from other suppliers as well and they are very good but they do not have the large piece that you get in the BGE charcoal.

Overview:

I’ve baked, smoked and cooked on this braai 3 times a week and I can only say that it has made me look a lot better than I really am as a cook. I know this has sounded like a sales pitch for these braais’ but it’s almost impossible to say something bad about them!

The only down side is the price!

And the only person who can decide if they are worth it is you. In my opinion if you like to cook outside a lot and I mean at least once a week, it’s no contest, it’s worth it. If you want something that looks fantastic and cooks even better, they’re worth it. If you want something that will last you a lifetime, they’re worth it. The initial outlay is very high on these braai's but you won’t be buying another one again, so it’s that old adage, you get what you pay for. If you are considering buying one of these, talk to us about it first and we will make sure that you get what you want and save you some money at the same time.

I have given you a fair and honest view on these braai's and it does look a bit biased but that is the way it has been, without this braai I don’t think I would have made it to the end of the challenge I set myself. It’s been harder choosing what to cook than actually cooking it and I haven’t come across anything I cannot cook on it either.

Until next week, stay safe and happy Braaiing.

Braai Butterfly Lamb with Mrs Balls Chutney & Coke Marinade!

Larry Susman — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:10:47 +0000

Butterfly Lamb, Mrs Balls Chutney & Coke Marinade on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, welcome to another braai blog, it's almost come to the end of the challenge that I set my self a year ago "To braai every week for a year". I can't say that it's been easy but it has been a great deal of fun and "Man" have I learnt a lot over this year. Thanks for all your support and comments, this will not be the end of this blog but I will be branching out a bit and bringing reviews on other peoples cooking, restaurants and blogs and a few from me as well. So don't think this is the end, it will continue just not every week, on the other hand it might be!

I've also decide to extend the entry to the competition for suggestions of what to cook in my last week so entries will now close on our FaceBook Fan page on the 17th July so follow this link, make a recommendation and you could win £50 in gift vouchers to use on our website www.biltong.co.uk .

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 1HR: COOK TIME: 1HR

Ingredients for the Lamb & Pre-Rub:

Large leg of lamb (ask you butcher to butterfly it if you are not confident in doing this)
7tbs x Sea Salt
3tbs x Black Pepper
1.5tbs x Cayenne pepper

Method of preparing lamb:

Take you boned butterflied lamb and score the fat side in 2cm diamonds, this helps the spice rub to penetrate the lamb that bit better.
To make the rube all you need to do is put the ingredients into a pestle and mortar to grind into a medium mixture. Then sprinkle it all over the lamb and rub it in on both sides. Set aside while you make the marinade/baste.

Ingredients for the Marinade:

6 x cloves garlic finely chopped
30g x Fresh Rosemary chopped
170g x Mrs Balls Chutney (I used original but its your choice)
1 X Can Coke
3tbs x Worcestershire Sauce (I used Lea & Perrins but we have just got Lazenby's in from SA)

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together, its that simple, pour over the lamb after you have rubbed in the spice rub and leave it to marinate for 1-2hrs. Don't discard this marinade when you take the lamb out as you will need it to baste the meat, whilst it's cooking

Method of cooking the lamb:

PREHEAT the braai to 200°c/400°F
Take the meat out of the marinade and place on the braai directly over the medium coals.
Cook for 20 mins without opening the lid of the braai or turning the meat.
After 20mins open and baste the lamb with the marinade and turn over, cook for another 20mins and repeat the basting.
This time, turn and cook for only 10mins, repeat once more and this should be the perfect length of time to cook the lamb to medium rare, pinkish.

All that's left to do is take it off the braai and leave to rest for 10mins minimum, I think this helps it to relax and it seems to be a lot more tender when eating for this process. As you can see I only just managed to not over cook the lamb, this is the trick. It's so easy to leave it in the braai for an extra couple mins as you try to decide if its cooked enough. Remember while it's resting it's still cooking, so don’t be tempted to leave it in the braai for that bit longer.

Serve with fresh salads and even some rice or baked potatoes, it's just a great summer meal thats doesn't take long to prepare or cook.

Please feel free to like and share this blog with other like minded nuts who enjoy Braaiing all year long. Don’t forget to enter the competition to win those gift vouchers, just go to our FaceBook Fan Page and leave a suggestion of what you would like to see me cook on the last Challenge Blog of the year. Entries will now close on our facebook page on the 17th July 2013, good luck!

Pesto Mackerel with Tomatoes & Onions on the Braai

Larry Susman — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 19:33:40 +0000

Mackerel with Tomatoes, Pesto and Onions on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, it's very nearly the end of my year cooking on the BigGreenEgg and we are going to run a competition for somebody to win £50 in gift vouchers to use on our web site www.biltong.co.uk . All you have to do is go to our FaceBook Fan Page and leave a suggestion of what you would like to see me cook on the last Blog of the year. If I decide to use your suggestion you will be the lucky winner, entries will close on the 10th July 2013.

In the meantime I'm going to be cooking a very under rated fish that is in season this week, Mackerel! Many people consider this to be the lowest of the low in the fish world but if cooked from fresh and served with a good sauce or smoked they are absolutely fantastic. This is a very quick simple Italian recipe that I'm going to make this week and I'm sure that you will love it.

Rich oily fish like mackerel needs a sharp, fresh tasting sauce to go with it and this aromatic pesto is just the ticket when drizzled over the top of it with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

SERVES 4: PREP: 10MINS: COOK TIME:10-20MINS

Ingredients for the Mackerel and Sauce:

4-6 x mackerel, cleaned and gutted (get your fish monger to do this for you)
30ml x Olive oil
2 x large onions roughly chopped
450g x tomatoes roughly chopped
1 x Slice of fresh lemon per person
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Pesto:

50g pine nuts
30g fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30ml freshly grated Parmesan cheese
150ml extra virgin olive oil

How to prepare the whole dish:

To make the pesto, place the pine nuts, fresh basil leaves and garlic in a food processor and blend to a rough paste.
Add the Parmesan and with the blades running, gradually add the oil.
It's as simple as that, set aside until needed.
Season the mackerel with loads of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook on the braai on a med-hot heat for 5 minutes on each side, turn them only once if you haven’t got a fish basket. Fish baskets really help when it comes to turning the fish without them falling apart!
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and sauté the chopped onions until soft and golden brown.
Stir the chopped tomatoes into the contents of the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes.
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serve the fish on top of the tomato mixture and top with a generous spoonful of pesto.
Squeeze the fresh lemon all over.

All you need to do is plate up 1-3 mackerel, depending on size and appetite. Serve with a slice of fresh lemon and some new potatoes or some freshly baked bread. There you have it, a great summer dish with fish that is cheap and in season, enjoy.

Don’t for get to enter the competition to win those gift vouchers, just go to our FaceBook Fan Page and leave a suggestion of what you would like to see me cook on the last Blog of the year.

Wors, Pap en Sous on the Braai!

Larry Susman — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:20:02 +0000

Wors, pap en sous on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Mielie meal is a staple food in much of Africa. Unlike European polenta, mielie meal is normally white in colour and quite coarse textured. It makes a delicious side dish or it can be the centre point of a meal. Pap (pronounced pup) means "porridge" in Afrikaans and the consistency can vary considerably from a smooth and quite loose porridge which needs to be eaten with a spoon (slap pap). Through to a stiff paste which can be broken off with the fingers to act as a scoop or spoon for stews and sauces (stywe – pronounced STAY-ver - pap), to a crumbly and dry texture a bit like couscous (krummel – pronounced CROO-mel - pap).

I’m going to be cooking the latter, as I once served up Slap Pap to my wife Jan, many years ago and she said that if I ever made her eat that again she would divorce me lol!!! The method and ingredients are the same but the ratio of pap and water differ depending on which type of pap you wish to end up with.

You can make the Boerewors and Sous(sauce) yourself from scratch. But why bother doing this when we sell what we think is some of the finest Boerewors in the country and a tin of All Gold Tomato & Onion which you can just add a few ingredients to, to lift the sous to something that you would be proud to make.

We are going to give away the main ingredients to make this meal to one lucky person this week, see details at the end.　

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 10MINS: COOK TIME: 1HR

Ingredients for Krummel (braai) (stywe pap) Pap:

1/2 litre water
500g Braai Pap (Iwisa or Premier Braai or Maize pap)
1tsp salt

Method how to make Krummel (braai) (stywe pap) Pap:

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F).
Bring the water to boiling point in a large, heavy-based saucepan or potjie pot.
Add salt.
Then slowly add the maize meal and stir briefly.
Turn the heat down or move off to the side whichever you can do on your braai.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Using a large fork (such as a carving fork), stir it up until its crumbly and cover again with the lid.
Simmer for a further 20 – 30 minute on a low heat until cooked.
Set aside until you are ready to serve.

Ingredients for Sous(sauce):

1 x Tin All Gold Tomato & Onion (which we sell)
2 x Onions, halved and sliced
20g x Fresh chopped coriander
Salt and Pepper to taste

How to make Sous:

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F).
Place a knob of butter in a frying pan and sauté the onions for a few moments until soft.
Empty the tin of Tomato & Onion sauce into the pan and stir.
Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5mins.
Remove from the heat until you’re ready to use, sprinkle the coriander into the sous just before serving.

All that’s left to do is now braai your Boerewors which you have already brought from us, we hope! You will need roughly 250g per person or one pack per South African, heehee.

Tips on what to do or not to do, when braaiing our boerewors:

Never prick the skins of the wors as this just allows all the juice to drain from the sausage and you will end up with dry, tasteless wors.
Always cook in a coil and cut after you have cooked it.
Cook at a high temperature so that it crisps the skin and leaves the middle succulent.
Cook on one side and then turn over and cook the other, hopefully you will not split the skins when turning as I did. If you do, blast it with some heat and eat before all that lekker juice spills out.
Don’t over cook as we only make our boerewors from whole muscle fresh meat with no other additives other than spices. So our wors will not shrink or swell and split the skins whilst cooking.
It’s best to eat your wors straight off the braai piping hot, absolutely lekker, even if I say so myself.

That’s just like I remember it back home in the old days, when I would return from school and it would be sitting on the table waiting from me, Lekker!

If you would like to try to cook this for yourselves then why not leave some feedback in the comments area below and one lucky reader will win 2 packs of Boerewors, pack of Braai Pap and a tin of All Gold tomato & Onion Sauce for themselves. Entries will close on the 12th July 2013, please check back to see if you were the lucky winner.

Loin Pork on Braised in Milk on the Braai

Larry Susman — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Loin Pork Braised in Milk on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

I haven’t cooked a lot of pork on the braai (except for ribs every week) so I thought I would give this very Italian recipe a go! The key to this being great is to find a butcher that will supply you with great pork to start with, ask him where it comes from and if he doesn’t or cant tell you, go elsewhere. If he can then get him to do the following for you: Ask him to chine and skin the pork loin (chining means removing the backbone from the rack of ribs so that you can carve between the ribs for serving).

This dish is lightly flavoured so that the pork is the star and not the seasoning, so don’t over do it. This can be served with roasted vegetables and potatoes but at this time of year I like to dish it up with a fresh salad and rice.

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 25MINS: COOK TIME: 1-2HR

Ingredients:

1 x 2.25 kg (5 lb) pork loin, chined and skinned
6 x garlic cloves, cut in half lengthways or chrushed
30g x sage leaves
1lt x (4 cups) milk
2 x grated zest of lemons
1 x juice of lemon
Sea Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Method how to prepare Loin:

Preheat the Braai to 200°C (400°F)
Prepare the pork by trimming the fat to leave just a thin layer.
Take the backbone off but leave the rib bones on. These bones and fat keep the pork moist while it cooks.

Take the pork and brown the meat on all sides on the braai.
Add the garlic & sage to a baking tin and place the pork on top of them. Doing this makes a rack for the meat and prevents it boiling in its own juices instead of roasting.
Season with salt and pepper and pour the milk over the pork and bring just to the boil.
Add the lemon zest and drizzle the lemon juice over the loin and roast for about 20 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 150°C/300°F and cook for a further 1-11/4 hours.
If necessary, add a little more milk every so often, to keep the meat roasting in liquid.
Baste the meat with the juices every 30 minutes.
Do not cover this will make sure that the juices reduce and the fat on the pork becomes crisp.

To see if the pork is cooked take a skewer and stick it into the middle of the meat, count to ten and pull it out. Touch it on the inside of your wrist and if it feels hot, the meat is cooked through. Or you can use a food thermometer if you have one.

Always leave the meat to rest for 10 minutes before carving. Strain the sauce as it will look curdled and serve with the meat. All that’s left to do now is serve with a fresh salad and rice and enjoy with a great chardonnay. This took a little time to prepare and cook but it was definitely worth it. The sage and garlic weren't to strong and did not over power the pork. Just remember that if you want to end up with a great dish you need to start with great meat, until next week happy Braaiing.

Surf & Turf on the Braai

Larry Susman — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:59:55 +0000

Lobster & T-Bone steak on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well the sun is shining and I’m going to cook a classic South African Braai (when your flush!) of T-bone steak and lobster. Now this is not a everyday dish unless you catch your own lobster and live on a farm but man it makes you smile. I’ve managed to get a fresh local lobster and the steak is not a problem for me fortunately. The only problem is I’m going to have to kill this lobster myself and it keeps on looking at me with wide eyes, lol!

For those of you that have never cooked lobster this will be the worst thing you will have to do, you can hear all those politically correct people having a go at you about this. Just remember that somebody has to do the dreaded act, just do it quickly and as humanely as possible. I think the best way to do this is to take a large sharp knife and place the tip just behind it head, push quickly downwards and bring it forward at the same time. This will instantly kill it and it will not suffer at all. Unfortunately, due to the nerves system the lobster will continue to twitch for awhile but be rest assured it is dead.

SERVES 2: PREP: 5 MINS: COOK TIME: 8 MINS

Ingredients for Surf & Turf:

1 x Large Lobster
1 x T-Bone steak
1 x Juice of fresh lemon
30g x Fresh Dill
20g x Salted Butter
Sea Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Method how to prepare & cook Surf & Turf:

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F) or hotter if you can
Cut the lobster in half as described above and remove the air sack in the head and the stomach waste (just like you do with prawns).
Season the steak and the lobster with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter and finely chop the Dill and add with the juice of the lemon to the melted butter.

Brush the lobster meat with the dill butter.
Place the steak on the braai as well as the lobster with its’ shell facing downwards.
Cook for 4 minutes.
Turn them over brush the lobster with the dill butter again and cook for a further 4 minutes.
This will give you medium rare steak and the lobster meat should have a lovely white flesh, with the shells a deep red. Just cook for a little longer on the steak if you want medium or well done.
Finally give the lobster one final brush with the dill butter before serving.

You can watch the video below on how to cook the perfect steak or go to the blog and read how its done.

This meal was a real treat and one I hope to repeat a little more often over the summer. We’re lucky down this part of the world that we still have lobsters along the rocky shore line, hopefully I will come across one or two!! I served this with a fresh salad just to finish the dish off but really you don’t need anything else when you’ve got this combination. It’s amazingly quick to prepare and cook, all you need is a large overdraft!

Sweet Potato Crush on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Sweet Potato Crush on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Last week I cooked a rack of spring lamb and served it with this dish and so many of you have asked how to make this. Please forgive me, I should have given you the recipe last week but just took it for granted that the meat is what you were interested in. This was a mistake as there are many of you who are interested in everything that I’ve cooked. This is such a easy recipe and it takes sweet potatoes to a new level, so give it a try, you don’t even have to use the braai if you don’t want to.

Also don’t forget that once again we will be giving away a great prize of a pack of smoking planks to one lucky reader which we used to cook this recipe, see the end of the blog for details.

SERVES 4: PREP: 10MINS: COOK TIME: 20-25MINS

Ingredients Sweet Potato Crush:

2 x Sweet Potatoes
30g x Fresh Mint
30g x Fresh Coriander
2 x Limes
1 x Fresh red chilli

Method how to prepare Sweet Potato Crush:

Cut the sweet potatoes in half and place in a oven proof dish.
Slice the limes in half and place on top of sweet potatoes.
Finely chop the chilli, mint and coriander ready to add to the sweet potatoes once they are cooked.

Method of cooking Sweet Potato Crush:

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F).
Cover the dish with cling film and baking foil if you are placing in the braai or just cling film if you are going to use a micro wave.
Place the dish the braai for 20mins and close the lid.
Or if you want, you can place the dish in a microwave for 15mins on high.
Remove from the heat and uncover.
You will notice that the limes have kept the sweet potatoes moist.
Add the chopped chilli, mint and coriander and using a potato masher lightly crush the potatoes and herbs together.
Place back in the braai for a further 5mins, if you used the microwave you can miss this step out.

I cooked this dish when I made last week’s blog and the cedar planks just gave it a slight smoke flavour and they were divine.

Don’t forget that if you would like to try to cook this for yourselves then why not leave some feedback in the comments area below and one lucky reader will win a pack of these smoking planks for themselves. Entries will close on the 22nd June 2013, please check back to see if you were the lucky winner.

Rack Lamb with Sweet Potato Crush on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 31 May 2013 06:10:00 +0000

Rack of Spring Lamb on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well spring has sprung and there are lambs all out in the fields around us in the south of England, so what better time to have a braai with some. I will be using a rack of best end lamb chops, which will be French trimmed, just for appearances, much to my sons dismay. He protested that I was wasting the best bits and I’m afraid that I have to agree, but needs must. I will be serving this with Sweet Potato crush.

How to French Trim Lamb:

First remove most of the fat from the back of the rack, leaving a little bit to flavour the meat as it cooks. French-trim the bones by cutting the fat out around each bone down to the meat. Scrape the bones of all sinew and fat. Cut between the bones and through the eye of the lamb, leaving 1cm of meat still attached at the bottom.

This recipe is very simple and quick and I will be lightly smoking it as it cooks, with BigGreenEgg Cedar Wood smoking planks (which we sell) and fresh rosemary. This is only lightly smoked, as you don’t want to loose the great taste of the lamb. Once again we will be giving away a great prize of one of these packs of smoking planks to one lucky reader, see the end of the blog for details.

SERVES 4: PREP: 15MINS: MARINATE 1HR: COOK TIME: 25MINS

Ingredients for Rack & the Marinade:

2 x Racks Spring Lamb (French Trimmed)
1/2 x Finely chopper Shallot/white onion
4 x Sprigs of Rosemary
2tbsp Olive Oil
2tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
100g Bunch of Rosemary for smoking
1 x Pack BigGreenEgg Cedar Wood Planks

Method how to prepare Marinade:

Mix the oil and vinegar together in a bowl.
Finely chop the onion and sprigs of rosemary and add to the oil and vinegar.
This is now ready to be brushed onto the racks of lamb.

Method how to prepare & cook the Lamb:

Brush the marinade onto the lamb and leave to marinate out of the fridge for 1hr.
Meat is always better if it’s left to come to room temperature before cooking.
Place the Rosemary & Cedar Wood Planks into water to soak for 1hr.
Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F).
Cover the ends of the chops with baking foil to stop them from burning when you sear the lamb fat.
Place the smoking planks in the braai for 5mins to warm up and then turn them over ready to place the meat on them.
Sear the lamb racks on their fat side first for 5mins be careful not to burn them.
I like to take the foil off the end of the chops to colour when cooking but others don’t, it’s really up to you.
Place the pre-soaked rosemary on the coals so they start to smoulder.
Place the racks of lamb on the smoking planks and cook for 20mins.
This should be the perfect length of time to cook these to medium rare, pink in colour.
If you have cut the racks (3-4 chops per rack) up into smaller portions then you only need to cook them for 15mins.

Take them off the braai and rest them on the planks for 5mins so that they relax before cutting and serving with salad, rice of potatoes.

This was the first of the Spring Lamb for this year and it so absolutely fantastic. The cedar planks just gave it a slight sweet taste that just added to the smoke from the rosemary and together they were divine.

If you would like to try to cook this for yourselves then why not leave some feedback in the comments area below and one lucky reader will win a pack of these smoking planks for themselves. Entries will close on the 22nd June 2013, please check back to see if you were the lucky winner.

Rib Eye Steak Braaied with Kameeldoring Wood

Larry Susman — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:00:31 +0000

Rib Eye Steak on the Braai/BigGreenEgg using Kameeldoring Wood

Well the sun has decided that it’s not going to shine again this year, or so it seems, but we keep on braaiing. This week I have decided to do something a little different and instead of cooking a new recipe I’m going to braai with some new wood that we have just received from back home, which we are selling on our web site. It’s been over 30 years since I have braaied with this type of wood and I thought it would be great to review what it’s like, or if it makes any difference to the taste of what you are cooking. I’m going to cook a plain “Black Gold Rib Eye Steak” which we sell. I will season with a little sea salt and freshly ground Black Pepper and that’s it but I’m “braaiing” it over some Kameeldoring wood, which hopefully will make some difference!

The common name is Camel Thorn and is loosely translated from the Afrikaans name “Kameeldoring” and comes from kameelperd (giraffe). As early South African settlers gave the tree the name “Kameeldoring” (giraffe thorn) because Giraffes are the trees best friends. They have adapted tongue and lips that can cope with the vicious thorns and high branches and they choose it as one of their favourite foods. The tree can grow up to 17 metres high and its name refers to the fact that giraffe commonly graze on the harder to reach succulent leaves, normally out of reach of smaller animals.

Kameeldoring burns with minimal flame, has an aromatic fragrance and creates serious amounts of charcoal. This is superb cooking wood and is perfect for the braai, as it has an exceptionally long burn time! The wood is dark reddish-brown in colour and extremely dense and strong. It is slow growing, very hardy to drought and fairly frost-resistant. This firewood has extremely low moisture content and possibly the lowest of any firewood in the world. It is baked by the African sun to between 0 to 1 % moisture content! (compare this to domestic air dried woods at around 30% and domestic kiln dried wood at around 18 - 20%!). This makes the wood great fuel for fires, which has lead to widespread clearing of dead trees and the felling of healthy trees and as a result they are now protected in South Africa.

In fact the National Forests Act of 1998 states that:

Forest trees or protected tree species may not be cut, disturbed, damaged or destroyed and their products may not be possessed, collected, removed, transported, exported, donated, purchased or sold - except under licence granted by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (or a delegated authority).

Our Kameeldoring firewood is responsibly cropped with governmental co-operation with local landowners and farmers.

To light the wood all I used was a couple of the natural fire starters from the BigGreenEgg, immediately I was transported back to SA. That distinctive smell of Africa burst out of the flames and I was standing back on the beach in Cape Town around the braai with my cousins. That smoke was just mesmerising bringing back so many happy memories of my early days as a kid growing up in Joburg and spending my holidays down in the Cape with all the family.

It took about 25 minutes for it to burn down to that great white ash that just says “it’s braai time” on went the steaks and in just 6-8 minutes they were ready and on the plate. Man, it took all of my self discipline not to cut into them straight away, always leave your meat to rest for at least 5mins before you eat. The wood had slightly smoked the meat with a distinctive flavour that is hard to describe but it just shouts AFRICA to me. Once again it brought back all the memories of cooking in the sun on the beach with this special wood that is just so different to anything else you can buy or find anywhere in the world. I’m definitely going to use this when I can, or for long as we have stock!

For full instructions on how to cook the perfect steak, watch this video, which I made back last year. However this was using BigGreenEgg charcoal which is the best charcoal that I have come across in the UK, the times for cooking will be the same, it’s just the flavour that will be so different..

If you would like to win a pack of this Kameeldoring wood along with some firelighters to start your own braai just leave some comment below and we will draw, at random, a lucky winner to receive this great prize. Entries are only open to UK mainland residents due to export restrictions I am afraid but don’t let this stop you leaving your points of view. Entries will close on the 8th June 2013, please check back to see if you were the lucky winner.

Moules Marinières on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:46:56 +0000

Moules Marinières on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well thanks very much for all your comments and support after my little rant last week, it's great to know that you are so supportive and enjoying this blog. This week I’ve decided to do something a little different and gone Mediterranean and will be braaiing Moules marinières. This is not something I’ve ever tried but Jan has been asking for this dish for a while and I thought why not. OK, it might just be a starter for most South African guys but you can always have a great steak or ribs as a main course!

Living on the south coast of the UK, I have access to really fresh mussels and this is important, the fresher the better. If you are lucky enough to live on a breach where you can go and pick your own, send us a pic so we can all be jealous.

“Tip”

Do not scrub the shells as the colour will transfer during cooking giving an unappetising grey colour to the dish. Discard any mussels that float or remain open when tapped against the side of the sink and never eat any that don’t open after cooking.

SERVES 4: PREP: 10MINS: COOK TIME: 15MINS

Ingredients for the Moules Marinières:

2kg Fresh Mussels
250 ml fish stock

Ingredients for the (Roux) Creamy garlic sauce:

250g butter
100g flour
750ml milk
500ml fish stock
100ml fresh cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 x Cloves garlic, finely chopped

Method of cooking the (Roux) Creamy garlic sauce:

Preheat the braai to 180°C 350°F.
Melt the butter and add flour. Stir until a roux is formed.
Heat together the milk and 500ml of the fish stock, then gradually add them to the roux, stirring, making sure no lumps form.
Add the cream and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add seasoning, garlic and set aside to be added back to the mussels later.

Method of cooking the Mussels:

Preheat the braai to 300°C 572°F.
Wash the mussels under cold running water in a sink, removing any beards and barnacles. “There's no substitute for the sea-fresh taste of fresh mussels. But don't try to cut corners. It's vital that you clean the mussels and remove the beards. The end result is well worth the labour.”
Place an empty saucepan (just large enough to hold the mussels) over a high heat on the braai and allow to get very hot.
Pour in the mussels and a loud hissing noises will be heard, then pour in the 250ml fish stock (this will boil rapidly) and cover immediately with a lid.
After about 5 minutes the mussels will open and most of the moisture should have evaporated.
Reduce the heat, then add the creamy garlic sauce to the saucepan and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Remove the mussels from the saucepan with a slotted spoon, discarding any that have not opened properly. Place in a serving bowl and pour over the creamy garlic sauce. Garnish with the leeks, carrots and chives. All that is left to do is serve with some freshly made bread (see my recipe here) or some shop bought French bread if you are short of time and serve immediately.

It smelt absolutely fantastic, unfortunately as I’m allergic to shell fish I could not try them but the look on Jans’ face said everything :-) . Enjoy, this dish just looks fantastic and it only takes a few minutes to make. As usual please leave any thoughts or suggestions in the comments area below.

Until next week,

Au revoir

Beef Tagine with Sweet Potatoes on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:05:23 +0000

Beef Tagine with Sweet Potatoes on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Just a Thought!

Somebody asked me the other day why I keep on promoting the BigGreenEgg, am I on their payroll? I wish!

Well, just to confirm in case I haven’t mentioned it in the past, I'm not. I decided to do this blog after I saw this braai in action, MAN "I thought that this was just the best braai I had ever come across". In fact, just for the record, I struggle to get the BigGreenEggUK or even the USA mother company to recognise this blog. Or in fact even get them to retweet or post this blog on their Facebook or Twitter!!! Not sure why? You guys can help me, please, by retweeting or blogging about this if you want? I think that I'm doing a great job promoting their products.

However, even after my little rant, I must confess that we do sell these braai's and some of their product, just because I personally think that they are great and you can see what we sell by clicking here. I don't think that I'm swayed in anyway because we sell these products but if you think I'm blinkered, please feel free to let me know.

Well, on with this weeks recipe, I knew it was too good to last and summer is over here in the UK, lasted a week this year LOL. Well lets hope not but you never know in this country, so I'm going back to cooking some warm winter dish this week, a tagine. Don't worry if you haven’t got a tagine, you can do this in a potjie or just any heavy sauce pan if needs be.

The traditional tagine pot is formed entirely of a heavy clay, a base that is flat and circular with low sides and a large cone or dome shaped lid that sits on the base during cooking. The lid is designed to help the return of all condensation back into the bottom stopping the dish from drying out and producing a fantastic gravy. With the lid removed the base can be taken to the table for serving. However recently manufacturers have made tagine's with heavy cast-iron bottoms that can be heated and cooked on a braai or stove to a high temperature. I wish I had bought one of these as the tagine I used has cracked. So if you haven't got one with a cast iron bottom brown your meat off in a frying pan.

It wasn’t until I started to eat this meal that I realised that all a tagine is is basically a Northern African Potjie! In fact, this recipe is pretty much a curry for all intents and purposes, similar to the Durban Curry’s from home but with a slight twist, it's cooked in a tagine/potjie. In fact, in traditional Moroccan cooking they would even place hot charcoals on the lid, just like we do with a potjie.

Once again this week I will be giving away 2 bottles of Mrs Balls Peach Chutney just to help make you feel at home when you eat this. See the end of the blog for details, now on with the cooking.

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 15MINS: COOK TIME:2-3hrs

Ingredients for the Tagine:

1kg x Blade or chuck steak (I used Blade)
1 x Brown onion, finely chopped
½tsp x Cayenne pepper
½tsp x Ground cumin
1tsp x Ground turmeric
1tsp x Sea Salt
½tsp x Freshly ground black pepper
½tsp x Ground ginger
1tsp x Paprika
2tbsp x Chopped flat- leaf (Italian) parsley
2tbsp x Chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
2 x Tomatoes large of 4 small, peeled and sliced
500g x Sweet potatoes, orange ones are best for this recipe
3 x Tbsp olive oil for cooking

Method of cooking the Tagine:

Preheat the braai to 180°C 350°F
Trim the steak of any fat, sinew and cut into 2.5 cm pieces. Heat haft the oil in a tagine or frying pan and brown the beef over high heat. Set aside in a dish to be returned to the onions in due course.
Add the onion and the remaining oil to the pan and gently cook for 10 minutes, or until the onion have softened.

Add the cayenne pepper, cumin, turmeric, ginger and paprika and cook for a few seconds, then add the salt and black pepper.
Return the beef to the tagine along with the parsley, coriander and 270ml water.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 11/2hr or until the meat is almost tender.
While this is cooking peel the tomatoes. To do this score a cross on each them using a knife.
Plunge them into a bowl of boiling water for 20 seconds and then straight into a bowl of cold water to cool.
Remove from the water and peel the skin away, this should just slip off easily, then slice.

Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into 2 cm slices and leave in cold water until required, this will prevent them discolouring.
Next drain the sweet potatoes and layer them on top of the beef.
Then place the sliced tomatoes on top.
Cover with the lid of the tagine and cook for a further 30mins.
Remove lid and let the braai get hotter up to 220°c 425°F, cook until the tomatoes and sweet potatoes have browned off a little.

All that remains to do is serve with rice or some couscous a fresh salad and of course some Mrs Ball Chutney South Africans pretty mush eat everything with this LOL.

This week we are giving away 2 bottles of Mrs Ball Peach Chutney so you can try this great recipe out. Once again all you have to do is please leave a comment and you could be 1 of 2 lucky people that get a chance to make this really great recipe. Entries will close on the 24th May 2013, give this a try it's worth the time, promise!

T-Bone Steak with Monkey Gland Sauce on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:26:20 +0000

T-Bone Steak with Monkey Gland Sauce on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

To non-South Africans this must sound like and outrageously unappetising dish, LOL! But I can assure “No” monkeys or any other parts of a animal went into making this fantastic sauce. It is not known where this name comes from but it is such an inherent part of South African cuisine that I just had to make this before this blog ends in a couple on months time. However you can read a couple of accounts of stories which claim to know the true origins of this sauce but I would not guarantee this, however the second account does sound genuine.

Monkey gland sauce is a traditional South African sweet and hot sauce for steak but is great with any braaied meat, chicken, pork or even Boerewors. This recipe is just fantastic and it only take a couple of minutes to make, you can cheat if you want and buy one of the pre-made Steers sauces that we sell but its just not going to be as good. Take the time to make this, I promise you will not regret it, it was just fabulous “even if I say so myself”. This is my version of this classic SA sauce so I hope that you like it!

Also you could win a bottle of Mrs Balls Hot Chutney, see the end of the blog for details.

Ask your butcher to cut T-Bone steak thick, (if you're not South African you can always share this huge amount of meat with somebody you love) if they are thick you can cook it for a little longer and still have it rare/medium rare and lovely and hot at the same time. Allow one steak per person if they are big meat eater otherwise, one will be more that enough between two.

To see how to cook the perfect steak just click here, to go to the blog I did last year on this or checkout the video I did on how to cook the perfect steak on our youtube channel.

All you need do is now make the sauce below and pour it over the steaks and serve.

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 5MINS: COOK TIME: 4-6MINS

Ingredients for the Monkey Gland Sauce:

Olive oil for frying
1 x Large red onion sliced
1/2 x Cup water
2 x Large tomatoes diced (can of tomatoes work just as well)
1 x Cup of All Gold Tomato sauce
1/2 x Cup of Worcestershire sauce
3 x Coves of garlic finely chopped
1 x Cup of Mrs Ball Hot/Ex-Hot chutney
1/2 x Cup of brown sugar
2Tbsp x Safari Vinegar
1Tsp x Tabasco sauce
20g x Piece of fresh ginger finely chopped

Method for making the Monkey Gland Sauce:

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F)
Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet or frying pan.
Add the onions and sauté with ginger and garlic until soft.
Add remaining ingredients into a bowl, mix well and simmer for a few minutes.
Set aside to use later.

BIG TIP, always let the meat rest for at least 5-10 minutes after it comes off the braai so that it relaxes and re-absorbs the juices. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

This was just the perfect carnivores meal and if you wish to wash it down with a glass of Nederburg Baronne red wine even better.

We are giving away 2 bottles of Mrs Ball Hot Chutney this week, so you can try this great recipe out.

All you have to do is please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 2 lucky people that get a chance to make this really great South African traditional sauce. Also I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook. Entries will close on the 16th May 2013.

Peppers Stuffed with Boerewors on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:30:48 +0000

Peppers Stuffed with Boerewors on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Hi and welcome to this weeks Braai blog.

The sun's been out and shinning for over a week now and everybody seems a great deal happier so, it's time to try something from the sunny Mediterranean with a twist. This week I'm going to make stuffed peppers/capsicums. I've used three different coloured peppers but you don't have to you can use green, red, yellow or orange. It really doesn't matter what colour they are as its just different stages of ripening. However here is the twist I'm going to make this out of our Beef & Pork boerewors, it just makes this dish feel more South African.

We will be giving away to 2 free packs of this Boerewors to some lucky winners this week. All you have to do is leave a comment in our comment section at the end of this blog.

SERVES 6: PREP: 20MINS: COOK TIME:20MINS

Stuffing Ingredients:

700g Beef & Pork Boerewors (1 of our packs) or minced plain pork or beef if you prefer
6 x Peppers what ever colour you fancy
90ml x Olive oil
1 x onion, finely chopped
100g x pine nuts, roughly chopped
3 x garlic cloves, crushed
40g x parsley, roughly chopped
5 g x rosemary, roughly chopped
2tsp x fennel seeds, ground
55g x fresh breadcrumbs
250g x ricotta cheese
25g x grated Parmesan cheese
1 x egg
grated zest of 1 large lemon

Method of making and cooking the stuffed peppers:

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts until the onion is soft and the pine nuts are light golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes more, then set aside to cool.
Take the boerewors sausage meat out of the skins.
Put the herbs, fennel seeds, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the boerewors mince.
Add the cooled onion and pine nuts, season with salt and pepper and mix briefly until all the ingredients are combined.
Cut the tops of the peppers off carefully and then scoop out the insides of all the seeds.
Next spoon the mixture into a pepper so that they come just over the top of the peppers. Repeat with the rest of the mixture and peppers.
Replace the tops back on to the stuffed pepper and they are now ready to cook.
There are a couple of ways that you can cook this dish, I tried both and I think cooking them directly over the braai on a low heat for 15-20 mins is the best. The peppers will protect the stuffing and you will get that charcoal flavour from the braai that we all love. The other way is to place them in a potjie and cook like you would a pot roast for 20-30 mins with the sauce around the peppers or not. Its your choice!

Sauce Ingredients:

800g x tomatoes or
2 x 400 g tins tomatoes
125 ml x Good red wine

Method of making Sauce:

To make the sauce, if you are using fresh tomatoes, score a cross in the top of each one, plunge them into boiling water for 20 seconds, then drain and peel the skin away from the cross.
Finely chop the flesh. Add the tomatoes and wine to the saucepan, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.
Cover the saucepan and, cook for a further 10 minutes.

Now all you need to do is serve this with some Tastic Rice and the tomato sauce on the side, magic. This makes a change to traditionally stuffer peppers and the boerewors takes on a different flavour with the added herbs, give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

We are going to be giving away 2 Packs of Beef & Pork Boerewors this week so please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 2 lucky people that get a chance to make this recipe. Also I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking and please feel free to leave suggestions as to what you would like to see me cook in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately this will only be open to people who live on the UK mainland as we cannot deliver any further afield. However please feel free to leave your comment, no matter where you live in the world, we always appreciate your thoughts . Entries will close on the 10th May 2013 and we will post the lucky winners in the comment section below. So be sure to check back and see if you’ve won.

Until next week Happy Braaiing, Larry

Coleslaw, Ribs and Wings on the Braai!

Larry Susman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:03:16 +0000

Coleslaw, Ribs and Wings on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, summer is nearly here and we have seen the sun on several occasions this week, so I'm going to make a salad to go with what I think is a great meal on the braai. I've made some coleslaw, OK! Its not a meat dish but this salad has a vinegar mix that has to be cooked on the braai, so please don’t think that I'm cheating!! To accompany this slaw, I cooked some ribs and wings and when they are put together they make the perfect meal. Just needed some boerewors as well to finish this off perfectly but forgot to bring it along to cook, du!!

Below is a recipe for the rib rub that I used and then basted them with Jimmy’s sauce to finish them off. On the chicken wings I used Nando's Hot sauce and you can purchase this from our web site or make your own rub following this recipe on a past blog. You can follow the links to see how I cooked these two dishes in the past just by clicking on the links above.

SERVES 6: PREP: 15MINS: MARINATE 1HR: COOK TIME:4-5HR

Rub  Ingredients:

1 tsp garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Sea salt

Ribs:

1.5kg Baby Back ribs (3 racks)
1 x Jimmy's Braai Sauce
Method: Check out this edition of my blog to see how to braai them.

SERVES 6: PREP: 15MINS: COOK TIME:10MINS:

Coleslaw vinegar mix:

This will make quite a lot of mix, so you can either cut the amounts down or save some to use at a later date.

125g Sugar
1 cup of white vinegar
½ Cup Salt
¼ Cup white pepper

Coleslaw Ingredients:

1 Head shredded cabbage
1/8 Cup vegetable oil
Pinch celery seeds
30g Sesame seeds, toasted
1/8 Cup vinegar mix

Method of making the vinegar mix:

Place the vinegar in a heavy saucepan on the braai, bring it to the boil.
Once the vinegar is boiling add the sugar and the salt slowly. Make sure that you stir this constantly until everything has dissolved.
Take it off the heat to cool then in a separate mixing bowl place the white pepper then slowly pour the vinegar mixture into it whilst whisking, cover and leave to cool.
Next toast off the sesame seeds until they are a golden brown.

Method of making the Coleslaw:

Place the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl.
Sprinkle the oil over the top and mix thoroughly.
Sprinkle half the celery seeds and the sesame seeds over the top and mix again.
Now pour the vinegar mix over the whole lot and give it a quick mix, sprinkle the remainder of the seeds over the top and serve straight away.
Coleslaw is best served while the cabbage is crisp and crunchy, so don’t leave this to sit around for a long time as this sauce will break the cabbage down very quickly.

Its as simple as that but it takes a little effort to make but its worth the time and tastes so different to your regular coleslaw covered in salad cream or mayo.

This will make the perfect accompaniment to the meat that you wish to cook and eat with this.

As normal, I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking so feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook in future. Enjoy Larry.

Orange & Lemon Peppered Monkfish on the Braai

Larry Susman — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:30:13 +0000

Orange & Lemon Peppered Monkfish on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Howzit folks,

Well with still no signs of summer we keep the faith and Braai! This week I'm back in training for a big ride in Wales in June so I have to loose a few pounds so I'm cooking some fish this week as an effort to eat a little lighter if not healthier. I hesitate when I say this as because all South African men (I assume as I'm one) think that a meal without red meat is only a snack! However I'm cooking Monkfish which is in my opinion one of the fishes that can destroy that myth that fish is not filling.

It's a very ugly fish but man it's tasty, with a unique, firm-textured and meaty white flesh. Monkfish has an extraordinary appearance, with a flattened head, tapering body and mottled-brown, glossy skin. But once the fish has been filleted and the central bone removed, there are no others, you are ready to go without the frea of choking on any bones.

“Tip” Monkfish is usually sold with the head removed, the remaining body is called the ‘tail’. The tail is sold in steaks the meat is also harvested from the head also monkfish cheeks are considered a delicacy but I've never tried them (on the list of things to do when I get desperate). The loose dark skin of this fish is easy to strip away this revealing a pink, glassy membrane that needs to be pulled away and discarded. If left on it will shrink around the meat during cooking, making it tough.

Throughout the world the texture of the tail meat of fish of the monkfish has sometimes been compared to lobster tail and has been alluded to as the "poor man's lobster. Although today it commands prices equivalent to and in some cases exceeding that of lobster.

SERVES 4-6 : PREP: 15 MINS : MARINATE 1hr : COOK TIME : 16-20 MINS

Fish Ingredients:

2 x Monkfish tails, about 500g each, skinned and cut into 4 fillets
1 x Orange Sliced
1 x Lemon Sliced
6 x Fresh Thyme or Lemon Thyme sprigs
Salt & Pepper to taste

Marinade Ingredients:

1 x Orange
1 x Lemon
6 x Fresh Thyme or Lemon Thyme sprigs
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Green Peppercorns, crushed
Salt to taste

Method how to prepare Monkfish:

Rinse the Monkfish under cold running water and then pat dry with kitchen paper and place in a shallow dish.
Cut the oranges and lemons into slices.
Place one fillet of monkfish cut side up onto the work surface and place the citrus slices alternatively over it.
Top this with some thyme and then place another fillet on top.
Next, tie them securely together with some string and repeat with the others.
Sprinkle with the remaining thyme.
Lay them in a shallow no metallic dish.

Method how to prepare Marinade:

Squeeze the juice from the remaining fruits into a jug.
Add the olive oil, mix and season to taste.
Spoon the mixture over the fish and cover with cling film.
Leave to marinade for up to 1hr, spooning the mixture over the fish tails a few times.
Finally take out of the fridge and sprinkle the crushed peppercorns over the fish and massage gently into the flesh.
Preheat the Braai to 180°C (360°F).
To cook could not be simpler, place them on the braai to cook for 18 mins turning regularly.
Use the remaining marinade to baste the fish as it cooks.
If you do this the sweetness of the oranges will caramelise on the Braai and this just adds to the whole dish.

It's as simple as that, boil a few new potatoes and serve with fresh salad or even some grilled asparagus. All you meat eating guys out there believe me when I say this fish is worth a try you will end up with a fantastic dish that is full of flavour and will fill you up.

I'm not a great fish lover but boy was this great. I hope that you are all enjoying my ventures? If so or not as the case maybe, please feel free to let me know below. Keep well until next week. Larry