Add to Taste

Palms Market - West Coast comes to Cape Town

2012-02-12T03:03:00.000-08:00

A few years ago the idea of a Saturday market was a dream. Something that happened in Europe, far away from where we were. The closest we could find here in Cape Town was a flee market and apart from a few Tannies (for my overseas readers, directly translated that means Aunty and is a less formal but still respectful way of referring to a lady) who made jam at home and oily fast food, these markets were a culinary dead end.

Suddenly, everything changed and every weekend there was news of a new market opening somewhere in the city. Slowly but surely, no matter which part of town you lived in, there was a market near you. Understandably, a lot of traders wanted there products in all the markets and so it didn't matter much which you went to they all had more, or less the same produce. So the markets had to come up with something else to set them apart. Each market seems to cater for a different sort of crowd and those that focus on their patron have done the best.

Then one evening I get a DM from @sergleo asking if I wanted to come to the opening of a new market at The Palms Lifestyle Centre and I was more than keen to discover this new market. What would their "special something" be? How would they differentiate themselves from the already jam packed market offerings? I can't lie, I am a sucker for new things, a marketers dream, so there was no reason for me not to go.

We arrived wa-ay too early on Saturday morning due to earlier plans actioning way too fast. We had a cup of coffee and while TheHusband kept TheBug happy I walked around, watching trader set up, snapping pictures and slowly discovering what it was that made The Palms Market stand out. The underlying theme became clear. Fresh food from Die Platteland.

Over the next couple of posts I will showcase the traders that were there on the first day. From fresh oysters, to crisp wines, fabrics, flowers, fruit and tea. Stay tuned and I will show you a whole new market.

Monthly Mingle - Heart Healthy

2012-01-31T05:17:00.000-08:00

When I got February as my month for the Monthly Mingle I knew I wanted it to tie in to Valentines day. I didn't want it to be too cliched though and thought long and hard about what I could use that would not exclude people and what hadn't been used before.

I decided to go with Heart Healthy. A little bit cheesy, a tiny bit punny but connected it was. You need your heart to love and then to live a long happy life with the one you love. Having a healthy heart means you can spend lots of time doing fun things with all the people you love. From going on adventures with your partner to running around the garden with your kids (or furkids)

What does Heart Healthy mean?

Foods that heal and boost our health. From whole grains, to Omega 3's. Lots of good fats and fruit and veg. Low-sodium and low-cholesterol. Everyone thinks that all results in boring food. This month I challenge you to create delicious food that won't only warm the heart but keep it healthy

This is how it works:

Create a dish that fits the Heart Healthy theme

Post about it on your blog between now and 29 February (entries must be in English, please).

Your creation must exclusively be prepared for the current Monthly Mingle theme and cannot be submitted to any other blog event.

You must provide a link to the Monthly Mingle page and this post and send the details to me goldenangel[at]gmail[dot]com

If you have any questions just give me a shout. Looking forward to some delicious and healthy recipes :)

Ready Steady Cook 2012

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

A while back I hosted a very successful Ready Steady Cook competition on my blog. I had a lot of fun hosting it but because I had offered prizes there was no way I could take part. That's why I farmed out my idea to anyone willing to bite so that I could have a chance to cook in it myself. Tandy over at Lavender & Lime was quick to offer her blog as host and after a few false starts away we went.

My 7 mystery ingredients were:

Chicken breasts

Bacon

Zucchini

Red Onions

Peas

Almonds

Plums.

Those together with the option of following pantry ingredients:

Milk/Cream
Eggs

Flour (or a flour substitute)
Lemons
Garlic

Ginger

Chillies

Fresh Herbs

Dried Herbs

Dried Spices

Sugar (or a sugar substitute)
Butter/margarine

Salt

Pepper

Oil – any of your choice

Vinegar

Pasta / Noodles / Rice

Tinned Tomatoes

Tinned Chickpeas

Chocolate / Cacao

Created the following 3 dishes:

Starter Spicey Zucchini and bacon bake.

What you need (makes 2)

4 Zucchini

2 eggs

Garlic

Origano

Cayene pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

butter/oil for greasing

4 Rashers streaky bacon

What to do

Grease your ramekins, butter works best because the bacon sticks to it nicely. In a food processor wizz up the zucchini and garlic. Season liberally (zucchinis can be bland) and add the origano and cayene pepper. Line the ramekins with the bacon and pour in the zucchini mixture. I had a few extra pieces of bacon which I chopped up and put on top. Put in a 180°C oven for 30 minutes or until set then turn on grill till the edges of the bacon are crispy.

Caramelised onion, pea and chicken courgettini

What you need

4 zucchinis

1 red onion

garlic

2 chicken breast fillets

1 punnet sweetpeas

handful fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

What to do

Slice the zucchini into super thin strips either using a mandolin or a peeler. Put in a bowl and cover with salted boiling water. Leave to one side. Slice the onion into rings or half rings. Pop a pan on the heat with some olive oil, throw the onion in and then cover with water. Once the zucchini strips are soft and supple drain them. Slice up some garlic and add to the onion just as the water starts to dry out entirely. Slice up the chicken into strips and season. Stir the onions and garlic till they just start to brown then add in the chicken. When then chicken is cooked and browned nicely, slice up the fresh basil and peas and add to the dish. Toss the zucchini with some olive oil and taste for seasoning. Serve the chicken on top of the zucchini as you would over pasta.

Plum and Almond crumble

What you need

100g (+ small amount for greasing) butter

200g + 2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

100g ground almonds

1 plum

What to do

Cream the 200g sugar and the butter until creamy then add the egg. Mix well then add the almonds. Spoon the mixture into a small baking dish. Slice the plum into half moons and then sprinkle over the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Pop in a 180°C oven for about 30min or until plum pieces are really soft and the whole dessert is bubbly.

Chinese Custard Tarts - Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

Every culture seems to have a New Year of their own at different times of the year. I know for me as a Jew there are 2 New Years, Passover in Spring and "The Head of The Year" Rosh Hashana in Autumn. Then there is the secular New Year which by all accounts is just an excuse for a party.

While the only tradition for secular New Year seems to be bubbly, cultural New Years all have their traditional foods. When Butterfingers asked on twitter for volunteers to do blog posts for the Chinese New Year I jumped up and waved like an eager school child. I then went about my day and weeks as if I had all the time in the world.

On Thursday it suddenly dawned on me how little time I had left and rushed back to my email to check the links we were sent to help find recipes and there they were, Chinese Custard Tarts. Having bought phyllo and eggs just that day I knew that these would be my addition to the list. My recipe, an adaptation of Ching-He Huangs version, is super easy & super quick.

What you need:

Phyllo pastry
butter for greasing and for the phyllo sheets
2 small eggs
75g vanilla castor sugar (or add a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
375ml evaporated milk

What to do: Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly grease a 12 hole pan with some butter. Cut the phyllo into squares that just cover the hole, I used 3 squares per hole twisting them slightly each time to create a flower like shape. Brush each layer with butter before putting it in. Put the filling ingredients into a small bowl and beat lightly until smooth and then pour into the moulds leaving about 6 mm from the top. Bake the tarts for about 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 150°C and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the custard sets.

You can serve them hot out the oven or cold, either way they taste delicious

For the rest of the recipes, hop over to Butterfingers' Blog

Buffet style sweet & sour dumplings

2011-11-30T01:21:00.000-08:00

When TheHusband and I started dating I was living in a digs in "Little Mowbray". I wasn't really a student at the time but my friends were and well I was tired of living at home. My relationship with my parents was strained from moving out of home and smoking and (not really) working for my dad.

In walking distance from our house we had some great food options. Some for the begining of the month (Greek and Chai Yo), one for mid month and special (read: reasons to get drunk) occasions (Fat Cactus) and one for just before the end of the month (when you know you really shouldn't but you really don't want to eat at home) and that was a "chinese" buffet place. I forget the name, it changed so often as did the clientèle. They are no longer there, I believe their fatal mistake was adding a sushi bar (which was not all you can eat like their buffet)
You can learn to make all these different kinds of cuisine that meet any need if you attend culinary schools in Ohio.

TheHusband and I often went there as it was normally quiet in the week and they didn't seem to care that we sat there talking till midnight while they packed up around us. Some of my deepest and darkest secrets were shared with J in the dimmed and slightly steamed (a result of many chaffing dishes) restaurant and I remember the place with much warmth and love.

They had firm favourites on offer. Chicken sweetcorn soup, prawn chips, spring rolls, kung pow chicken, steamed rice, egg fried ice, bbq ribs and sweet and sour chicken or pork. Those little deep fried dumplings were my weakness. I would always try something else but those little balls always featured.

The only other place I know that makes them are Tong Lok and well, I didn't much feel like going out to get some. Somehow making them myself seemed like a lot less work. I was wrong but it was completely worth it in the end. Tasted so much better home made and fresh out the wok.

Buffet Style Sweet and Sour Dumplings

You will need:
3 boneless chicken breasts
Enough peanut or sunflower oil for deep frying
For the batter:
1 cup flour
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup water

What to do:
Cut the breast into about 2cm chunks. Whisk together the dry ingredients and in a seperate bowl whisk together the egg and milk until well combined then add in the water. Slowly add the liquids into the dry ingredients until it forms a batter and all the ingredients are combined well. Put the chicken pieces into the batter and mix well till they are all well coated. DO NOT REMOVE from the batter. Heat the oil to a high heat and then bring the plate to medium. Drop the pieces directly from the batter into the oil (I used chopsticks to do this). Be careful not to over crowd your pieces. Constantly turn them (I found that if I let them brown one side first they got bottom heavy and refused to turn over) until golden brown all over. Place them on paper towels to drain and cool a little. Serve with a sweet and sour sauce or some sweet chilli sauce and steamed or egg fried rice.

Anything for love "huevos" rancheros

2011-09-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

If you have a partner you have been where I was this morning. Dreaming from the night before about using my texmex left overs for my very first attempt at Huevos Rancheros. Getting up I asked "TheHusband" if he would like a cheese omelette and got a resounding "yes" so bounced (as much as an 8 months pregnant lady can) off into the kitchen to make our respective breakfasts. I open the carton of eggs only to discover 2 lonely eggs staring back at me.

What do I do? Tell make TheHusband porridge and hope he forgets he was offered eggs, or give up on my breakfast fantasies? As you may have guessed from the title of this post I chose to forfeit the eggs. I however do not regret it as my breakfast was delicious (and ultimately way too much for me anyway)

I started off heating though the salsa I made the night before

2 tomatoes

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh chopped cilantro.

When that started bubbling away I threw in what was left of my texmex mince:

1kg beef mince (80/20 - thank you africanmeat)

1 large white onion (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

1 tbs smoked paprika

2 tbs cocoa powder

1 tin "Italian" tomatoes (garlic and oregano added)

1 cup veg stock

1 tsp packed dark brown sugar

Salt and lemon pepper to taste

Fry off the onions until just starting to brown, on a high heat add the mince and cook. When the meat has a nice colour to it, add the garlic and the paprika. Stir well then add the tinned tomatoes, the veg stock. Stir in the cocoa powder and the sugar and season lightly. Let it cook on a medium heat for as long as possible, just before serving check seasoning again and adjust as needed.

I heated up a skillet to lightly fry my homemade flour tortilla:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

70ml sunflower oil

1 1/2 cups hot water

Mix all the ingredients together one by one, kneed till everything is incorporated and allow to rest, covered with a tea towel, for 15 minutes. Roll into balls weighing approx. 1,5oz and place on a floured surface. Cover and allow to rest for 10 more minutes. Roll out the tortillas and place between sheets of wax paper. Heat a skillet really hot and place the tortilla down, when it just starts to bubble turn it over. It will puff up. Keep it on that side for about half a minute then flip it again, half a minute then done. I made 18 so I placed them in tinfoil in a warmed oven till ready to eat.

I spooned the mince and salsa mixture onto my tortilla, sprinkled some grated cheese, added some fresh avo, sour cream and fresh cilantro.

I planned to eat it with my hands till I realised the tortilla was just not big enough (I need a larger skillet)

Le Creuset & Silwood treat us for a night

2011-08-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Picture yourself on a boat on a river...or alternatively in a car on the M5, with 2 fabulous food bloggers (Butterfingers & FoodandtheFab), heading towards an evening of unknown decadence. You have the menu in front of you. It seems basic but you know there is going to be more. Often words are not enough to give you an idea of what to expect and having a air of mystery behind an event can lend to words what nothing else can, almost tangible excitement for the potential of what lies ahead.
If you would love to have time to go to such an event, but still want to update your websites, the free content for websites from Article Writing Services will allow you to go have fun.

Inevitably the journey is not an easy one, home time traffic and the general rat's nest type city planning that is the Southern Suburbs means that we arrive at our destination a little after previously thought time but still in time and ready for action. First though...parking.

For me the best part of these evening, when bloggers or tweeters get together is that we are never bored in each other's company. We "chat" to each other all day but never lack for things to discuss when face to face and so started our Silwood & Le Creuset evening. Many of us had already met, some had only ever tweeted and 1 or 2 were names known only from their comments on our blogs. The other fun part about these events is that the magpie in me is satisfied, goodie bags, no matter how much loot they contain are always a welcome site. Boy were we spoiled with the ones that waited of us at our workstations. Le Creuset really pulled out all the stops and I love every piece I was given.

We were kept on our toes from beginning to end, with our lovely instructor Gary showing us some nifty tricks along the way, like how to finely chop and onion, or crush garlic with your knife. For me the most valuable lesson was that of time management. How many of us cook each course as far as possible before starting the next one? Not this time, the stuffing for the chicken was cooking while the whisky for the custard was going and all the while some peppers and tomatoes were roasting and each of those belong to their own delicious course. His handy helpers John and Jess made sure we had what ever we needed (where can I buy some of those?) when we needed it and helped make sure we had nice clean stations to work from (no really, is it wrong to keep culinary students in your pantry?)

The other lesson I learned on the night is how entertaining MattAllison can be when you give him a couple of empty glasses of wine on an empty stomach (and on that note, Gillian & Deon from Le Creuset, made sure all our glasses were never empty - even my lemonade).

From roasted red pepper and tomato soup to, what most of us ACTUALLY had for dinner, Bread & Butter Cappuccinos. Poaching stuffed chicken (beating it to a pulp before hand). We had some great food forming out of what seemed like a little bit of chaos. To be honest though, I prefer a little chaos in my kitchen, some how the food tastes better :)

Thank you for a wonderful evening. To Le Creuset for inviting me and for the wonderful gifts (2 large ramekins, a 10cm mini cocote and 19cm rectangular dish), Silwood for hosting us and teaching us a thing or 2 and to the other bloggers who really made it a fun and enjoyable night.

The recipes will be popping up now and again as I remake them at home to share with you.

Truffle Salt Risotto

2011-07-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

I was never very good at physics, in fact I was shocking (no pun intended). Even if I memorised the rhymes till I turned blue in the face, when it came down to a test or making something work I didn't know my positives from my negatives and failed every time. On the other hand, when it came to chemistry I was "Queen of the Lab", I loved the way things worked and how 1+1 did not always =2. Unfortunately at my school we just had "science" as a subject and so, although my chemistry scores were FANTASTIC, my physics scores were so flat I had to drop "science" as a subject.

I had to find another subject, still in the "sciences" faculty which would let me continue my love for chemistry without having to face those dreaded physics lessons ever again. I chose "home economics" and I guess that is where my love for cooking began. I saw the chemistry in it straight away, so while for many of my classmates it was just a "science" subject to add onto their qualification at the end of their high school career, for me it was just like being in a lab, different tools, different chemicals but still reactions that created something beyond what you would have imagined when everything started.

In those 1 and 3/4 years that I was in Mrs Roy's class I had flops and successes, learned how to make choux pastry and that souffles were not as scary as pop culture made them out to be. This was the first time I had made risotto. One of the most incredible reactions in the kitchen. Without an ounce of dairy, one of the creamiest dishes in creation forms right in front of you and the flavour options...endless. However, that was also the last time I had the chance to do that experiment, not for lack of trying. Sad but true.
If you were not able to take a home economics class in high school, but would love to learn to cook, you may want to find out more information on online cooking schools.

A long while back @SagraFoods gave me a beautiful jar of gold flecked truffle salt. I was ready to use it the minute it was delivered, but living at my mom's house, I had to wait...patiently. It wasn't easy. Every time I opened the store cupboard, the rich, earthy aroma of the truffle salt tickled my nose, drawing me closer. I had to resist until my very own lab...kitchen...was ready. As promised though, the first people to try a dish with this salt would be my family.

I looked for a recipe that would really make the salt shine, but still had some skill involved and it dawned on me, risotto would be the perfect platform for just that. Ready to go I told my family exactly what they were having for dinner and I was so excited, until the very day the magic was meant to happen, when I realised I hadn't made this dish in 10 years. Excitement turned to nerves and I lost my confidence, I even admitted to @polkadotcupcake how scared I was. Even so, I went ahead and I didn't regret it for a moment. Their were no fireworks, explosions or fizzing and popping, just the slow, steady, rich, alchemy that I remembered from my schooldays.

Truffle Salt Risotto
what you need:
1-1.5l vegetable stock
1 tbs dried or crushed garlic
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
olive oil
knob of butter
400g Arborio rice
1 tbs lemon rind
2 tbs truffle salt
grated Parmesan

Optional: Most recipes include a glass of white wine. My mother really doesn't like food cooked with wine so I omitted it.

What to do:

Heat up the stock and keep it warm. Put the garlic in with the stock. In the meantime heat up oil and butter and fry up the onion and celery until translucent. Add the rice and make sure it is well coated with the oil butter mixture and let it cook for a few seconds (at this point if you are using it, add the wine and cook until the rice absorbs it). At this point start adding the stock, 1 cup at a time into the rice, stirring gently until each cup is absorbed (if you find that you are running out of stock before you rice is ready, add a bit more boiling water to the stock). When the rice is ready (should be soft and creamy but not mushy) add the lemon zest and stir until well incorporated. Take off the heat and add the truffle salt, stirring well. Season to taste. Serve with the Parmesan on the table.

Breedekloof Soetes & Soup 2011 weekend

2011-07-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Wine. Soup. Market. Cabaret. Witblitz. If any of those words make you smile then check out what Breedekloof wine estates has coming up to make you smile some more:

WARM UP THIS WINTER AT SOETES & SOUP: 22-23 July 2011

Beat away the wintry blues at the annual Breedekloof Soetes & Soup 2011 weekend which takes place on Friday 22 July and Saturday 23 July. Live music, a farmer’s market and Witblits tastings, as well as exhibitions of art, clothing and jewellery are on the menu.

Highlights include a Cabaret show hosted by Seven Oaks and Waboomsrivier Cellar, featuring Phantom of the Opera star Rory Rootenberg, and Bob & Sop at Opstal Estate – an evening of food, wine and music featuring covers of artists named Bob (Dylan, Marley, Geldof and Seger).

This fun-filled event hosted by wineries in the Rawsonville, Slanghoek, Goudini, and Breede River areas, combats the chills by serving cups of steaming hot homemade country soup accompanied by a glass of multiple award-winning soetes (dessert wines) including Hanepoot, Noble Late Harvest, Red Jerepigo and Port.

Visitors buy a Breedekloof Soetes & Soup enamel mug and coupon booklet for R15 per person at their first winery and use these to enjoy complimentary cups of homemade country soup and discounts of between 10% and 25% on red and fortified wines at each of the participating wineries.

Opstal Estate will host Opstal Vars - a farmers/fresh produce market with music, food stalls, jewellery, paintings and entertainment for kids.

Badsberg will offer a 15% discount on reds and selected dessert wines. There will also be homemade country soups and freshly baked bread made the traditional woodfire way by Kleinplasie Museum and a Witblits tasting hosted by Kleinplasie Museum.

Slanghoek Cellar will host red wine barrel tastings with the winemaker and cooper demonstrations - the art of wine barrel making. Daschbosh Cellar has a full programme of kiddies entertainment including Sand Art, decorate your own cupcake and braai your own “stokbrood”.

Bergsig Estate will host live music and offer Soup & Wine Pairings at R40 per person - soups include Green Pepper, Seafood, Spicy Tomato, Hungarian Goulash and Chocolate. The Bistro will serve an A’ la Carte menu.

The region’s diverse range of accommodation venues have a Soetes & Soup weekend special where you pay for two nights and get the third night free.

The Breedekloof is a family destination and the wineries cater for kids. Visit www.breedekloof.com for more information, or email info@breedekloof.com or call (023) 349 1791.

Sour Cream Brownies - Rich and delicious

2011-07-06T09:56:00.001-07:00

I have always been a lover of "loot", I am never one to turn down a gift for any reason. Sure, I will do the polite "aw you didn't have to" but I will be very glad you did. I am equally excited about giving gifts and often leave gift buying for the last minute to avoid having to wait to see someone's reaction to a gift I bought which I felt was perfect for them. Sometimes I make it the other person's challenge by giving them the gift early and informing them that they cannot open it until the big day arrives. On the same level I tend to wait till after a party to open my gift, a little challenge to myself, something fun to have once all the guests have left and the party is over.

Such it was with the "brownie baking pan" that Nicola, from Wots for Lunch, gave me for my housewarming. She didn't make it easy, telling me she saw it at home and thought it was something I would definitely want. She did say if she got it wrong I could exchange it but I knew it would be so right. In the time that I have known Nicola, every gift she has given me has been thoughtful and just right.

As some may know I had a #FoodieWarming. My housewarmings are going in stages, my flat is smallish and I wasn't sure what my limit was. As usual I totally over catered for the event (except on the tortilla's side, I didn't make enough) and was left with plenty food at the end of the night. What could be frozen was and what couldn't, was used (salsa makes great omlettes). I wasn't sure what to do with all the left over sour cream but when I saw Nicola's gift I knew that somewhere in the world wide web there must be a recipe for Sour Cream brownies and I was so right.

Sour cream brownies
(recipe adapted from TLC - how stuff works)
What you need:
1/2 cup butter softned
1 cup caramel sugar (you can use light brown sugar too)
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup NoMu cocoa ( I mention brand because their cocoa is very potent, other brands use 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup milk
1 bar dark chocolate (I had a bar of Lindt Dark Chocolate Mousse - it was either that or Madagasse)
What to do:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter a 33X22cm pan or brownie pan.
Cream butter and sugar in large bowl until blended.
Add egg, sour cream and vanilla; beat until light.
Add cocoa, baking soda and salt; beat until smooth.
Alternate flour and milk well mixed.
Stir in chocolate.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until center springs back when touched. Cool in pan on wire rack.
Cut into which ever shape you like or if you lucky like me the pan has already done that for you.

Serve with a cold glass of milk.

Flapjacks & The Green Pan - Recipe & Review

2011-06-28T01:05:00.000-07:00

I was never built to be a full time slave. I run out of steam way to quickly and concentration is not my strong suit. So when I was given the opportunity to work at a job which kept me busy for only 5 hours out of the day I was ready and waiting. Of course a full time job pays better and longer hours at the office mean less chance for me to spend money but it also means spending every hour after lunchtime wishing I was home or finding way to keep my eyelids from shutting on me.

The other problem with being stuck at an office is following people on twitter who do things like go out for lunches or, as @rethavs did today, make yummy things for lunch. Then you are stuck staring at pictures, coming up with escape schemes until it's time to go home and by then all your energy is sapped and you make hot dogs for supper or go out instead.

I was already home when the offending image was posted onto twitter and decided that this would be the perfect time to do a long overdue test of my Green Pan.

Everyone who has ever made flapjacks or their daintier cousins know that these are some seriously sticky things before they are cooked. If you don't get the right amount of oil in their you don't get a good result. Too much and they soak it all up, too little and you'll be scraping your pan for days. So what better way to test this seemingly amazing pan? I used no oil, butter, grease, spray&cook, suntan lotion or any other kind of lubricant, just the pan...face to face with the sticky and delicious flapjack batter.

The result? Perfect flapjacks! I will admit now that this is not the first time the pan was used, it gets used often for scrambled eggs and omelettes, so this was not just because it's brand new. As for the flapjacks, this recipe is a keeper.

(Adapted from cookbook.co.za's recipe)

What you need:

1 1/2 cups cake flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch salt (about 1/4 teaspoon)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 jumbo eggs 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract1/4 cup melted butter

What to do:

Sift or whisk dry ingredients together. Add the milk and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well between each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Lastly whisk in the melted butter. Heat the pan on a medium heat and pour on a measure of the batter (all depends how big or small you want the flapjack to be) and cook on one side till bubbles form, pop and don't refill with batter. Flip over and cook till golden brown underneath. Serve warm with anything you like. mmm Nutella.

Disclaimer: The Green Pan was a prize I received at the Food Blogger's Indaba but my review is honest and nothing was left out

Caramel Bread

2011-06-22T01:48:00.000-07:00

TheHusbands brother loves to cook. So when we're up for a visit I try and see where his interest lie and how well he executes them. So far I have seen him do 2 things. 1) Wreck a really good piece of meat and 2) Caramel Bread.

His way: Buy bread dough from the grocery store, make little balls, place in a baking tin and cover with Caramel Sugar and Cream. Leave to rise then bake.

This is the way I have been doing it. It's one of those dessert you can whip up real quick, everyone loves it and there is only 1 dirty dish (and sometimes a dirty drip tray if I underestimate how much it bubbles over)

It really is a self saucing dessert. The caramel sugar melts into the cream and soaks into the dough as it bakes. If you put in enough cream (and it doesn't all boil over onto your drip tray) there will be some caramel sauce left over too.

So the other day, while cooking up a cottage pie I sat waiting for the bing of my oven timer and realised "I need dessert!". How could I have people over for supper and not give them something sweet to end with? Caramel bread came to mind. Smells great, tastes delicious, minimum effort. I checked my watch, 17:00, there would be no way that PnP would still have raw dough for sale.

This lead me a to google search for a simple white bread recipe and I stumbled on this recipe. Checked my pantry (cupboard), checked the fridge, inspected my counter and found everything except bread flour. So did I give up? No! See I am a cook not a baker so I have no regard for exact ingredients...pffft. I used cake flour instead. I can tell you that on this one occasion my contempt for recipes paid off well (nothing exploded either, bonus!)

What you need:

1 cup milk

2 tbs butter

1 1/2 cup warm water
2 packets dry yeast
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
6/7 cups flour (use bread if you have it, cake if you don't)
1 cup cream (or more if you have a deep enough dish)
1 cup caramel sugar

What to do:
Melt the butter in the milk in a saucepan on a low heat. Once melted put aside to cool. Mix the yeast and 1/2 cup of warm water together and put aside too. In a large bowl mix together the sugar, salt and water together. Once cooled add the milk and butter mixture. Make sure the mixture is not too warm before adding the yeast mixture, you don't want to kill the yeast. Mix the flour in one cup at a time until you get a nice smooth and slightly sticky dough, not too sticky though. Kneed it and then pop it into a well oiled bowl, flip it over so that the dough is coated in oil and then cover and leave to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. Knock it down and leave it for another 30 minutes. Greece a baking tin of your choice and and make balls of dough. The size is your choice depending on the baking tin you use but the balls are important. Sprinkle the caramel sugar over everthing keeps a little aside to sprinkle ontop. Pour the cream over. Cover and let rise for at least 20 more minutes. Before popping it into the oven at 180°C sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top. Bake until golden brown and serve warm.
Can also be served the next day with some extra caramel sauce and a cup of coffee

Homemade Lux - A father's post for father's day

2011-06-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

When you say "midlife crisis" you immediately think of balding men with hairy chests sporting gold chains, luxury cars and models on their arms. In my world, my dad's midlife crisis has been nothing short of delicious. It started a simply with an interest in creating labaneh like we had had in Israel and progressed...um....naturally into sausages, so that he could make my mom's favourite salami but without pork and from there the very natural step towards smoking.

In the beginning it went slowly slowly as he learned things from YouTube and the internet and then came The Food Network, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and suddenly we had BBQ sauces and dry rubs and all this led him to this forum, and all smokin' hell broke loose. If it could be smoked it was and trust me in their world, everything was fair game until proven otherwise and my dad took to it like a witch...er...duck to water.

So I decided to introduce you lot to my dad through one of his posts (He is so cute when he photographs his food that I am not even slightly annoyed but very amused by the fact that he is now doing exactly what he used to tease me for doing) Here he is Ladies and Gentleman (please excuse his English, it is his 3rd language after all):

First the results (sorry could not help my self)

it was Wednesday i could not take it any more...so i got a whole salmon i fillet it and remove the bones.trimmed the belly and the side off the fish (don't throw )

In a cure it go's(i love dill and pepper so i add in) for 48 hours then to ice bath 90 minutes

and to the frig for 36 hours.

It takes looooong time so we will do the cream cheese for the sandwich

you know the Pieces thet i trimmed i smoked it in a aluminum pen for 3 hours mix it with salt,pepper and

butter and i got a yummmmy spread.

OK it is ready now in to the smoker it gos for 4 hours cold smoke

Now for the long 4 hours ............................................................................ OK it is finish

Yummmy Thanks AL

Al is SmokinAl, one of his forum buddies. You can find my dad and all his posts as africanmeat

Planet restaurant - out of this world (what can I say, queen of cheese)

2011-06-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

All images courtesy of Mount Nelson Hotel

Lets for a moment talk "Portion size". When were you last at a place where the portions were just right? Where you could comfortably make your way through three courses without feeling the need to deflate at the end? I can tell you that that was a small but very important part of what made my dinner at Planet so wonderful, but I am skipping ahead to the end and that's not fair for anyone. Especially not you.

It starts with having a brilliant sister, who wows enough staff members into giving her a well-deserved "You make a difference" award, the "Employee of the month" accolade at The Mount Nelson Hotel. The next step for this is a plan for two sisters, whose relationship is a lot like dark chocolate: on a good day smooth and rich and on other days a little too bitter. With age the palette matures and dark chocolate becomes more of a pleasure than anything else. Days like those lead to plans like these. Both on the same page, equally in need of some comfort and pampering, we decided to use The Sister's reward of a "A night at the Nellie".

Luxury in the bedroom, luxury in the bathroom and to crown the whole occasion, luxury on the tongue as we headed downstairs for dinner at the Planet. A short wait for the rest of the guests, Mr Entertainment, Mr Fabulous and Ms Chatty, in Planet Bar with my virgin cocktail and some yummy nibbly things (oh, the maturity in my words often pains me). Final guest arrives and we wonder off down the passage of mirrors, star signs twinkling in the background as Mr Entertainment declares "That's my star-sign!" "You're Aries?" "No! Tauro" and with that the tone was set for the night

Champagne was served (a nice vintage of Appletiser for me) and a beautiful little plate of amuse-bouche delights was placed on the table. Tiny tastes from popovers to springrolls and our tastebuds were jerking the reins to get going. Looking through the menu only served to send their nostrils flaring as we diligently chose a range of dishes so that allowed us to taste as much of the menu as possible. I was intrigued and delighted to see an entirely vegan journey option as well as many vegan dishes to chose from. It's not often that fine dining and ethical eating meet in such spectacular ways.

From terrines to salads everybody shared, well except for The Sister, who held on tight to her collection of bite size morsels each one with salmon as their star ingredients. The brightest star in the starters was most definitely the crumbed and feta stuffed pepperdews that came with the smoked crocodile salad. My choice, the lentil salad, was surprisingly light and very refreshing. For a legume known for it's meatiness the salad turned out to be the perfect prelude to my main.

There too, with Liezl expertly guiding our galloping tastebuds in the right direction, we each picked a dish we could share. Blown away by the presentation and care that was taken to make each dish not only beautiful to the eye but colourful on the tongue. We were delighted by the potato foam served with the fillet, a cloud of comfort, tasting like home but with the texture of heaven. My star for this course had to be my very own kudu pie, how such a petite parcel could carry so much flavour without exploding was beyond comprehension. My kudu steak, butternut mash and the bean salad that came with it all served only to make the dish even brighter.

On to dessert and on most occasions this is the point where the tastebuds have come to a comfortable trot, the sky-carriage heavy from over indulgence, slowing down to an almost intangible pace. Not this time, flanks glistening from excitement at the thought of more delights in store, decision time came again and this time the good of the group was forgotten. The favourite pretasting was "The Nutty one" but having had it at Taste of Cape Town I was too curious, too intrigued by all the creatively named dessert on the menu to have the same thing again and so "Chocolate..." and it's description (chocolate souffle, chocolate mouse, salted caramel, chocolate bellinis...) won me over. The star, however, in this galaxy was by far The Sister's choice "Whiter shades of pale" Meringue, white chocolate, heaven, cream, magic...all on one plate.

Good chats, raucous laughter and great company were our companions on this journey, friendly and attentive service our guides and every moment was savoured and enjoyed.

The winter menu has now been launched, with the dishes I described saying farewell as the seasons change and with them the produce changes only to be replaced by what I can only believe will be equally inspiring dishes.

At R300 pp for a 6 course Journey menu, it is really worth every penny, the only part you will be disappointed by is, that at some point, you will have to land.

Orange Yoghurt Cake

2011-05-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

To be honest, this post was meant to hold a good ol' South African dessert. Only fair after the All American post before it but not all is fair in pregnancy and cravings and so the Local is Lekker post will have to wait.

Don't you worry though, this post is full of sweetness just right for the winter season. The perfect cake to bake if you don't want to spend too long out from under the covers and ready so quick you could probably bake it just before guest arrive for coffee.

Let em take you back to Tuesday afternoon. After checking with the whole family what the plans were for supper I was left with "make something" and my porridge brain shut down and no ideas other than "spaghetti bolognese" would come up. There was no mince and what I really wanted to do was curl up under a blanket and stare blankly at the TV screen. The latter won and I was delighted that "up next" on the Food Network was Ina Garten. Aha! I thought, she will definitely have something that will inspire dinner.

I was wrong, between the Baked Salmon (I don't like salmon, yes yes I know) and the Oriental noodle salad (Don't get me wrong, it looked good...and summery) nothing really caught my eye. Why do I bring up her show then? Well her dessert, lemon yoghurt cake, did. Off I ran to get pen and paper and rewound the segment to copy down ingredients and instructions and then rushed off to the kitchen, forgetting the warmth of the blanket and the vapid calm of watching TV

Into the kitchen I dashed and checked the fridge. Plain yoghurt...hmm just 1 small tub but I did have some leftover inkomazi/maas (Leben or sour milk), that should work. Then turn to the fruit bowl to check for lemons...plenty but the oranges...ooo. With that a cake was born.

A perfectly easy cake and one I have never baked before so perfectly fitting for Tandy Sinclair's competition to win Le Creuset competition (click the link to see their amazing range)

What you need: (adapted from the Lemon Yoghurt cake by Ina Garten)
For the cake:
1.5 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup plain yoghurt
1/3 cup Maas (Leben or sour milk. You can also use a whole cup of yoghurt)
1 cup sugar
3 Jumbo eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp orange zest
0.5 cup vegetable oil
For the glaze:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup orange juice

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 24cm springform pan. Sift all the dry ingredients together. In a separate combine the yoghurt, maas, sugar, eggs, vanilla and zest. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined and then add the oil. Mix till all is combined but do not over mix. Pour into your pan and bake for 30-35 min checking to see if it baked through. While it cools slightly (too cold and it won't soak up the glaze) heat up the sugar and juice until clear. Pour over your cake.
Serve with a couple of slices of orange and a dusting of icing sugar.

Oh, I ended up making potato and leek soup for supper, wonderful how a little baking can get the creative kitchen juices flowing.

Oreos - Home made is better

2011-05-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

As much as we like to deny it, our lives are full of America. The TV shows we watch and the foods we crave, the good ol' US of A is all around us. It frustrate my husband no end that we are "allowing them" to brainwash us with their cool shows and delicious fast food but I am not complaining. Some things are just better with a twang.

One such thing, is the oreo. How we all rejoiced when they originator of the "but you can have the rest of my meeelk" graced our shores and several years on the cookie, and the iconic advert, still remain firm favourites. So, on one quiet and creative afternoon I thought "well how hard can it be?" and dived head first into the millions of results google handed me. Many very american short cuts like "chocolate cookie mix" later I finally found food networks version and made a few tweaks to match what I had (I was not in the mood to go shopping, if I was I would have just BOUGHT oreos and settled down with a glass of meeeelk)

What you need:

For the Dough:

1 1/3 cups NoMu cocoa
1 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
225g unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Filling:

115g unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

What to do:

Prepare the dough: Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and salt in a large bowl.Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, incorporating each ingredient before adding the next. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Divide the dough into 2 pieces; place one piece between 2 lightly floured sheets of baking paper and roll into a half centimetre thick rectangle. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Refrigerate both rectangles, covered with the baking sheets, until firm, at least 1 hour or up to several days.

Using a 4cm round cutter, cut the dough into 64 circles on the baking paper. It's easier to move the dough in between then the individual cookies. (You can reroll the scraps once.) Place the cookies about 4cm. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.

Bake the cookies until they are set and slightly darker around the edges, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Using a mixer, cream the butter and vanilla until creamy. Beat in the icing sugar and lemon.

Flip half of the cookies upside down and top each with 1 level tablespoon of filling. Press the remaining cookies on top to make sandwiches.

Serve with a glass of cold milk and make sure your dogee doesn't get any cho'clate

Roasted veg with Walnut & Rocket Pesto

2011-03-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

Winter has come for a quick educational* before it's arrival in a month or so and with it come the visions of warm comforting food and snuggling up with a hot drink while watching TV or reading a good book. It brings to mind the Afrikaans saying "Maagies vol ogies toe" meaning when the tummy is full the eyes want to close. This is all well and good if you hadn't had a pig-out weekend like mine.

Hummus im Basar on Sunday night, Romanian Kebabs with wedges on Monday (forgive me, it was a public holiday and I had forgotten it was meant to be meat-free) and then all-you-can-eat sushi on Tuesday night. I was looking for something comforting and warm but still light and healthy.

I first thought about what I would consider "Light & Healthy" and vegetables came to mind. Then the "Warming" aspect and roasting sounded like a grand idea. Next it was about what to serve it with and cous cous just was naturally at the top of the list. Relaying my idea to my father (who was also a little fed up with the heavy eating) I came up with the last minute idea of adding a little bit of feta to the mix. Viola!

Popping into the shop I looked around for some nice roasting veggies and was about to head downstairs for some more veggie hunting (after picking up some Willie's Cocoa for next to nothing" when I saw it was almost FOUR. Why is this a problem? Well see, we are currently living with my parents and the domestic worker leaves at 16:00 but some one has to be home when she leaves. So off I rushed with what ever I had, which in the end proved to be plenty.

When it came to assembly I realised that as much as I enjoy the olive oil + rosemary combination on roast veg, I felt like something a little different. I recalled a jar of Walnut and Rocket pesto sitting in my fridge and from there a star was born.

What you need:
1 Packet carrot balls (or chop up some carrots)
4 or 5 baby peeled onions (the kind that are perfect for pickling)
4 small mixed sweet peppers, sliced into quarters
1 small brinjal, cut up in cubes, salted and rinsed
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, peeledA
1 jar pesto princess walnut and rocket pesto (or make your own if you can't get any)
1 packet vine ripened cherry tomatoes, on the vine
2 cups instant cous cous
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups boiling water
1 cup crumbled feta (we used a combination of black pepper feta and Fairview's no-brine feta)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Throw all the vegetables, except the tomatoes into a baking dish.
Coat with the pesto and pop into the oven.
Set a time for 20 minutes.
At 20 minutes take the veg out and give them a stir, pop in the tomatoes.
Roast for another 10-15 minutes then turn the oven off but leave the veggies inside.

In a large bowl pour the 2 cups of cous cous.
Sprinkle the salt over the top and then pour in the boiling water.
Cover with a tea towel.
After about 5 minutes use a fork to break up the cous cous.
Cover and leave until ready to serve.

Serve the vegetables on top of the cous cous and sprinkle some (or lots) of feta to finish.

The verdict? 3 out of 5 people said it hit the spot. Of the other 2 the one doesn't eat roast veg (she got roasted butternut and loved it) and the other is TheHusband who complained that it wasn't meat :)

*An educational is a fact-finding trip that companies make before using a service provider

Disclaimer: Pesto Princess did give me the pesto for free but I was under no obligation to write a favourable review.

Hot water crust pie

2011-02-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

Pie, I think there is a version in almost every culture. Short crust, puff or none at all the crust vary and some are easier then others. I have always used store bought *ashamed* and sometimes, for sweet pies I made short crust. I was about to pop some puff pastry out the fridge for a chicken pie when my sister gave me a "look". See the whole family is on a health drive and well, puff pastry if full of that heavenly evil "butter".

We both concluded that if I made my own pastry, even if it had butter in it, it would have a lot less than the store bought puff pastry.

I remembered seeing, on one of those in between sections on Food Network, something about "Hot water crust pasty" and googled around till I found a recipe I was happy to work from and then promptly changed it completely. Those that bake will know, changing a recipe before even trying it is like playing with fire but I figured what the hell. I had a really tasty filling and back-up puff pastry in the fridge.

Hot water crust pastry (makes 2 pies)

What you need:225g Whole brown bread flour
225g Whole rye flour
2 tsp salt (the stone ground flours need a little more salt then regular flour I find)
200g butter
225ml chicken stock (My filling was made with shredded chicken which I boiled so I used the stock from that)

What to do:In a mixing bowl whisk the flours and salt together (whisking adds air that you would normally get from sifting, but since I used whole flours sifting wasn't an option). Make a well in the centre. Melt the butter in the stock. Pour into the well and mix immediatly until combined. Knead the dough a little.

From this point use however you want. The hot water crust pastry is worked with warm, unlike shortcrust that must be chilled.

Note: Any fat can be used where the butter is used so you can replace it with margarine to create an equally great vegan crust.

Baked Doughnut Peaches

2011-01-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

I kept seeing tweets about doughnut peaches and my curiosity was piqued. I had never seen or heard of such things and so the minute I was at Woolworths and saw them I popped them in my trolly, not knowing what their destinies were but knowing that somehow there would be an oven, my mouth and my tummy involved.

Friday night rolled around since I planned a lightish dinner (red thai curry with brown and wild rice) so I decided dessert was in order. Poaching the peaches sounded like a great idea but I decided a little googling for more options couldn't hurt. So off I went and found this recipe. Brilliant! That was what I would do. I knew we had Lemon Verbena in the garden (Interesting Fact: called Melissa in hebrew) and so all I needed was the cookies.

We only had plain butter cookies in the cupboard and no almond essence, so I crumbled them up, put in some vanilla essence and some Cap'ian Morgan and left them to dry as the peaches soaked in the syrup.

The peaches baked beautifully and when you broke through the crumbed surface you found what can only be described as peachy custard, soft, creamy and just sweet enough to satisfy the sweet tooth without making holes in it

What you need:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 whole lemon verbena leaves or grated zest of 2 lemons

6 doughnut peaches

About ½ cup flour

1 large egg

1 packet Leibniz Butter Biscuits, crushed
½ tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp rum
Vanilla bean ice cream for serving

What to do:

Place the sugar, water, and lemon verbena leaves or lemon zest in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. When the sugar has dissolved, remove the mixture from the hat. Cool the syrup completely.

Skin the peaches. To loosen their skins and make peeling easier, Plunge the peaches into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds and then into a bowl of ice water. Peel the skin. Carefully run a small paring knife around the stones, then poke the stones out, leaving a hole in the center.

Pour the syrup into a glass or ceramic dish (large pie plate will do) and place the peeled peaches in the cooled verbena syrup to macerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours, turning them occasionally. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Place the flour in a small bowl. In another small bowl, whisk the egg to break it up. In a shallow dish, combine the biscuits with the vanilla and rum. Arrange the bowls of flour and egg and the dish of crumbs side by side. Remove a peach from the syrup and let it drain slightly, then dip it in the flour to lightly coat. Shake off the excess, then dip it in the egg to coat. Shake off any excess, then roll in the crumbs. Press the crumbs to pack them. Place the crumb-covered peach on the prepared baking sheet. Continue the dipping and crumb-coating process with the remaining peaches. Pack any leftover crumbs into the stone holes, dividing the crumbs between the peaches. The crumb-coated peaches can be refrigerated for up to 4 hours before baking.

When ready to bake, center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the peaches for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan from front to back and continue to bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until golden on the outside and the peaches are tender when pierced with a tester. Remove from the oven and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Meringues - Angel food

2011-01-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

For my birthday TheHusband told me to pick a spot for breakfast, he wasn't sure he would be able to join us for lunch so we wanted to spend some time together. I chose to go to MissK. The food was really good but what really got my attention and stuck in my mind were their giant meringues. Brittle and crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, I loved every sweet bite.

A few moths later my father decided to try a gellato recipe that uses a bazillion egg yolks, well 8 of them and I decided that it was the perfect opportunity for me to make meringues. So I popped on to google to find the perfect meringue recipe, I found one and my apologies to the blogger who's page I found it on but I seem to have lost the link.

The idea is simple:

Sift your egg whites through a fine sieve

Weigh them

Coat the mixing bowl with lemon (cut the lemon in half and rub it on the bowl)

Pop in the egg whites and start whisking

weigh out twice as much castor sugar

when the egg whites reach the foamy stage slowly start adding the sugar and whisk till stiff.

Take a large spoon and spoon big blobs of meringue onto a baking sheet (or pipe them on prettily if you must)

Then pop into the oven on 110°C with the oven door open for about 1 hour, then drop to 90°C till dried out. (these temperatures my vary depending on your oven)

For a little variation mix some strawberry essense into the egg white mixture and make strawberry meringues

Spinach and Mushroom parcels - Meat Free Monday

2011-01-16T23:09:00.000-08:00

The last 2 weeks have been rather tedious. I was helping my dad out answering phones while his receptionist was away on annual leave. I spent many an hour playing facebook games and wishing I had uploaded some images for blogging. I was not on my own computer so had no pictures with me and so you didn't get any new recipes to try. Sorry :(

However you did get a new look and feel, like a new space to visit. They say a change is as good as a holiday :)

So it is Monday again and with it comes the dulcet sounds of my family moaning at me that they don't understand how 1 day a week can make a difference. With it also comes me ignoring them. Some weeks I just quietly make my own little meal to eat, others I make a dish with several components so those who choose to can eat Meat-free and other days I make something so delicious, they don't care if there is meat or not.

Such was the case with these little phyllo parcels. With the meatiness of the wild mushrooms and the creaminess of the spinach, these edible presents ticked every box in the house.

What you need:

3 bags baby spinach

1 box mixed wild mushrooms

1 tub fat free smooth cottage cheese

1 onion

1 medium potato

½ fairview single salad serving feta (or 1 wheel)

garlic

smoked paprika

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Phyllo pastry

What to do:

Wash the spinach very well (rule of thumb is at least 7 times, no one likes sandy spinach)

Chop half the onion finely, do the same with the potato (the pieces should all be roughly the same size and very small). Heat up some olive oil in a wok or large pan. Saute the onions and potatoes then add the spinach and mix till wilted (depending on the size of your wok/pan you made need to add the spinach in stages). When all the spinach has wilted add the garlic ad stir well. Then add the cottage cheese and crumble in the feta. Turn off the heat and stir well. Slice the other half of the onion into slivers. In another pan toss the onion and the smoked paprika in some heated olive oil, then add the mushrooms and fry until browned. Add the mushrooms to the spinach mixture, mix well then season to taste.

Cut your phyllo into long strips (I use scissors). Brush one piece with olive oil and stick another piece on top of it. Spoon some filling into it and fold as you wish, using a little more olive oil to seal it. Heat up the oven nice and hot and turn on the grill and grill until golden brown and crispy (you filling is cooked and should be warm, if the filling has cooled then place the parcels into the oven at 180°c for a few minutes and then pop them under the grill)

You can serve them steaming hot, or even instead of sandwiches for school or work the next day

Feb 2011 Sushi Club - Make Your Own

2011-01-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

So for some time now people have been discussing doing a sushi course of some sort as our sushi club event. After overhearing some vague details at a party I contacted BlowFish and got some more information:

p.s. Everything in Italics below is from their press release

Blowfish Sushi Courses

The Japanese consider food an art and it is said that it should be viewed with

appreciation. The art of Sushi making has been refined and perfected by their people.

Therefore we use our best sushi chefs to teach the age old secrets and techniques of sushi

making. This unique concept has been voted as one of Cape Town’s top team-building

exercises. This 2 hour sushi lesson in which students are thought all five types of Sushi is

not only fun but you’ll be thought a new skill which you can entertain you guests with at

home. We would like to invite you to join us in orchestrating your own masterpieces. To

avoid disappointment please contact Blowfish to make your booking in advance.

Introductory Course

Blowfish provides all materials and products needed for the course. Each person will cut,

roll and garnish their own platter and enjoy their masterpieces at the end of the evening.

• Basic information on Sushi making

• Garnish making (Cucumber garnishing)

• Sashimi Slicing

• Nigiri Making

• Maki Rolling

• Californian Rolling

R275 per person, maximum 20 people per lesson.

The classes are first and last Thursday of the month. Now if we can get 10+ people we can have our own private lesson so, after some twitter discussion, I figured if we can get the 10+ then the date will be anounced closer to the time, most likely Monday 28 February 2011.

So you just need to sign up in the comments section and go!

Best of 2010

2011-01-03T03:55:00.000-08:00

Well a few bloggers have done this and so I decided, why not? It gives me a chance to see what really stood out for me this year and maybe get some feedback from my readers.

My most read blog post of 2010:
Red Velvet Cupcakes with 959 Pageviews

My greatest foodie achievement of 2010:
Winning the Fairview bloggers challenge

My proudest moment:
Watching the results of the Ready Steady Cook challenge come to life

Homemade product that beats shop bought:
Thai sweet chilli sauce

Favourite restaurant reviewed:
Without a doubt La Mouette

That is all I can think of for now, if you want me to add any links as a question I can answer with a link :)

Breyani - David Kramer's recipe

2010-12-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

I had no idea what to expect. I mean I have had a nibble of his work here and there, but never a complete David Kramer creation, from start to finish. Paired with a glass of Solms Delta Cape Jazz it was a sumptuous evening.

David Kramer and 10 other brilliant preformers lit the concert hall at the baxter on a night of Wine and Theatre (you thought I would say food, didn't yeah) but David Kramer's Breyani recipe requires no rice, or spices, nor chicken or prawns. Still many left the evening bursting at the seems filled with delight (and a glass or 2 of Vastrap or Langarm)

Greeted in the early evening by men in shiney hats, ready to pour happiness into a glass, many milled around chatting, meeting and tweeting (a screen was set up to follow all the tweets) awaiting the presentation of the classic Cape Town dish

David Kramer's Briyani

What you need:
Die Sonskyn Sisters (Ruth Hector and Elspeth Davids) on vocals
Nielen Prinsloo on Blue Grass Banjo
Camillo Lombard on piano accordion
Gammie Lakay on acoustic lead guitar
Donveno Prins on sax
Jacques Steyn plays mandolin and bass
Charlie Rhode on banjo
Howard Links on banjo and bass
Loukmaan Adams on vocals and ghoema drum
David Kramer to taste

What to do:
Take some David Kramer old favourites, mix in some restrung old folk songs, some tribute songs and a willing stage an audience. Mix for +/- 2 hours and pour out the doors

Sushi for beginners

2010-12-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

I am one of those people who wishes the "sushi fad" will pass, I have been wishing this since it started being a fad. Since people started eating sushi with a knife and fork, with salt and pepper. Since people started putting biltong and cream cheese in sushi. What do greek restaurants have to do with sushi exactly? I may be unpopular for my thoughts but so be it. I started eating sushi 15 years ago when it cost a lot less because it was less in demand and I would really like it to stop being a luxury already.

It's not all bad though, while in most places sushi is still stupidly expensive, without it being a fad we wouldn't have great all you can eat specials. Sushi supplies are also a lot more readily available in shops all over the place. So not all bad because it means I get to make sushi.

There are 2 secrets to great sushi. The rice and the fish. The rice needs to be slightly sticky but not mushy and the fish needs to be as fresh as possible. If you have those 2 things right, the rest is all just practice, practice, practice.

I learned by watching sushi chefs when ever possible, for me the videos and "sushi making kit" booklets were just confusing but watching masters at work put it all in perspective. I roll the pieces with my hands then shape with the mat, I find that the easiest. You, however, must do what feels right. Make sure your nori is fresh, if it's not 100% fresh, toast it a little. Fill it with what ever your hear desires and remember to clingwrap your mat.

Sushi rice

What you need:

4 cups sushi rice

4 cups water

1 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tsp salt

What to do:

Soak the rice for an hour. Drain then put in a pot with a tight fitting lid and add the 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil, cover and drop to the lowest heat possible. KEEP COVERED, do not lift the lid. Cook for 15 minutes then take off the heat. DO NOT LIFT THE LID! Steam for another 15.

In the meantime heat up the vinegar with the salt and sugar till everything dissolves.

When the rice has steamed, you can now take the lid off (no more shouting I promise), pour the rice into a plastic or wooden bowl. Pour the vinegar solution over the rice, dispersing it evenly. Mix the rice using a cutting motion to avoid squishing (yes, squishing is a perfectly acceptable word) the grains.

Allow to cool.

As for the actual rolling part, that is something you need to see but make sure to make the rice layer thin and don't press the rice down or squish it too much