I was given a few of these little numbers for my birthday. I know, they do look a little gimmicky and silly, but believe it or not, they are so useful. I don’t know about you, but I spend my life looking for measuring spoons in my drawers. They always come on a ring and [...]
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This is a lovely salad to do in winter. It can be served warm or cold and is wonderfully filling. The colors are really beautiful and the salad is altogether quite impressive.
sticky orange pork fillet, sliced onto roasted butternut and beetroot with a sweet and sour sauce
serves 6
ingredients
2 pork fillets, trimmed
½ cup oyster sauce
¼ [...]
Serves 6
ingredients
8 large croissants, sliced thickly
150 g good dark chocolate
100g slab dark chocolate, broken into pieces
75 g butter
425 ml whipping cream
4 tablespoons dark rum
110 g caster sugar
good pinch cinnamon
3 large eggs
For the meringue:
3 egg white
180g castor sugar
method
• Butter the sides of a pyrex/lasagne dish.
• Place the 150g chocolate, whipping cream, [...]
serves 6
ingredients
1,5 kg butternut, peeled and cut into a large dice
1 large onion, peeled and cut into chunky wedges
20g rosemary, pulled off the stalk
60ml olive oil
6 cloves garlic, whole
Salt and pepper
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1,2l chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
method
• Preheat the oven to 200̊C.
• Throw the butternut, onion, garlic and [...]
We had a little girls dinner at home the other night. You know the kind, lots and lots of wine, diet the next day resolutions, followed by a hefty amount of husband/boyfriend/ex-boyfriend bashing. The more wine we have, the harder it is to get a word in as the conversation gets louder and more animated! [...]
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I’m partial to a few things naked – Gerard Butler, Hugh Jackman and Jude Law come to mind. But one thing I can’t “bare” is an undressed salad. I know it’s precious and a little bit demanding, not to mention particularly unfriendly to the thighs, but in my mind a salad leaf needs at least [...]
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This is a delicious recipe that takes no more than fifteen minutes to make. You could easily pick up all the ingredients on your way home from work. The trick when you start is to boil the kettle and fill the pasta pot with boiling water to get it going quickly. You should manage to [...]
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I don’t know what makes cupcakes more delightful than say a slice of cake or a sweet muffin. I think it has something to do with the fact that it is small enough not to share and can be decorated as intricately or extravagantly as you’d like. Cupcakes have become a really fashionable gift to [...]
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When I was in Thailand the flavour that struck me the most were the combination of fresh lime, chilli, fish sauce and coriander. A fresh tasting saltiness with a clean chilli sting that is so refreshing. This combination with crunchy fresh vegetables makes for a meal that is not only a feast of textures, it [...]
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Mayonnaise is one of those things we always buy at the shops and would never consider making ourselves. Either because there is a chance it can split and then what? Or because of the preconception that it is difficult to make. Let me tell you, it is as easy as anything. As long as you [...]
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After a brief reprieve, winter is back in Cape Town. It’s clouding over, starting to drizzle and getting absolutely freezing! I find there is nothing more satisfying on a “chilli” day than a hot, tasty curry. I am not a massive fan of curries that are dark and rich, having spent hours cooking on the [...]
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This is a really simple chocolate cake that can be used for cupcakes too. It can just have a chocolate butter icing and jam in the middle if you aren’t feeling up to being creative. A good one to keep as a basic because once you get the hang of it, it is the easiest [...]
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A few friends have shown an interest in the equipment that I use when I’m cooking. Having been in the food hood for quite a while, I have collected a mountain of absolutely useless crap that I often can’t even remember the time-saving benefit of. However, once in a while I grab something fabulous that [...]
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This is a stunning summer pasta recipe. It can be served hot or cold and be prepared quite well in advance. It is still delicious the next day too, if you don’t mind that the mint has gone a little black! It is quite important to season it well to bring out the subtle lemon [...]
I may be getting a little repetitive here, but I am a firm believer in less is more in a salad. Lettuce, tomato and cucumber are not a standard salad base that other ingredients are added to! When you are making a salad, the way to do it is to combine three or four delicious [...]
Snacks are often an absolute pain to do when you are concentrating on banging out a meal for friends. This recipe is really quick and easy to do and always taste great. They are pretty rustic looking and go really well with a few dips and some tasty olives. I always have a few rolls [...]
If you watch any of Jamie Oliver’s shows you’ll see this amazing little grating tool that he uses all the time to grate parmesan, lemon zest and a few other bits and bobs. It’s a called a Microplane. Basically a hand held grater. You may say “oh but I have one of those”. Let me [...]
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My mother has a bee in her bonnet about making rusks at the moment. She got this recipe from a friend at work, translated it from Afrikaans into English and is churning them out faster than we can dunk them in a cup of tea! She maintains they are the best rusks she has ever [...]
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It was a great friend’s birthday luncheon on Sunday and the venue was Simon’s. I groaned a sigh of “ugh” on receiving the invite, because I remember Simon’s being a bastion of the Southern Suburbs culinary mediocrity I have become so accustomed to since moving to the dark side. Well I was very pleasantly surprised.
Because [...]
Everybody gets absolutely terrified when they even think about throwing together a little crème brulee. It’s up there with a soufflé as the epitome of domestic goddess-ness when cooking for friends. I suppose it’s one of those desserts that can really be a flop and you can end up with a bowl of scrambled egg [...]
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I have always been a little unsure about eating liver. I find it very strong and sometimes a bit grainy on the palate. This recipe has been a bit of a revelation for me, because for the first time I like liver! The secret is to really blitz it in the food processor so that [...]
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Serves 6
Ingredients
4 large racks of un-smoked pork belly ribs
for the bbq marinade:
1 cup peach chutney
½ cup soya sauce
¼ cup sweet soya sauce
¼ cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon honey
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
juice of 1 lemon
½ cup water
½ cup KLIPDRIFT GOLD brandy
Method
Preheat the oven to [...]
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serves 8 – 10
ingredients
2kg beef fillet, trimmed and tied
80g fresh rocket
100g parmesan shavings
500g rosa tomatoes
olive oil for roasting
salt and pepper
for the marinade:
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
a handful of rosemary, chopped
80g soft butter
a drizzle of olive oil
lots of salt and pepper
method
Preheat the oven to 200̊C.
Place the rosa tomatoes on a roasting tray and [...]
Extra crispy potato wedges
Prick the potatoes (1 per person) and bake them whole on 200̊C until soft (about and hour). While they are still hot, place an oven tray in the oven with olive oil drizzled on the bottom. Cut the hot potatoes into chunky wedges and place on the hot baking tray. Drizzle with [...]
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makes 24
ingredients
24 strips of samoosa pastry (purr)
water for brushing
for the filling:
500g sweet potato, peeled and cubed
a drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper
½ onion, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 handfuls of English spinach
100g goat’s chevin
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil for frying
special equipment
a pastry brush
method
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Place the sweet potato [...]
makes 12 large or 24 small
ingredients
1 cup water
½ cup butter
1 cup flour
a pinch of salt
3 – 4 eggs
for the cream filling:
350ml cream
4 tablespoons muscovado sugar
1 espresso, cold
for the ganache topping
250g dark chocolate
100ml cream
2 tablespoons butter
special equipment
a piping bag with a plain nozzle
method
To make the pastry:
place the water and the butter in a small sauce pan [...]
serves 12
ingredients
4 pears, each cored and cut into 10 wedged slices
2 lemons, zest and juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 red chili, chopped
200g sliced black forest ham
120g ripe brie cheese/gorgonzola
20g wild rocket
special equipment
a grill pan
tongs
method
In a bowl, mix the pear slices with the chili, lemon and olive oil.
Place the grill pan on the stove and heat until [...]
These little babies are my most popular canape. They look like they take hours to make, but are absolutely simple and beyond delicious. I serve them at room temperature so they can be plated in advance if you are expecting guests. Try them.
Roasted tomato and goat’s cheese tartlets
Makes 24 mini tartlets
Ingredients
1 roll frozen puff pastry, [...]
I don’t always have a sweet tooth, and very very rarely before lunch time. I find the world’s fascination with sickly sweet, cake flavoured muffins at breakfast time quite odd. Give me something made from feather-light French or Danish pastry, or for goodness sake, make it savoury! That’s why I absolutely love cheese muffins. In [...]
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Winter is slowly coming to Cape Town, which for me, means lots of warm home-made meals. This moussaka is a very simple recipe that is deliciously cheesy with a hint of cinnamon. I make it with beef mince, because I always have some in the freezer, but traditionally you should use lamb. Lamb mince is [...]
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I ate this a few times in Thailand, but really fell in love with it when I was living in Oranjezicht in Cape Town. The reason being that Saigon Restaurant was my local takeaway spot. I always had it with noodles because I’m not a massive rice fan, but it is best served with sticky [...]
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I last visited Thailand about 5 years ago, and the one thing that remains imprinted on my nasal passages is the smell of Bangkok. It was a smell so foreign to me at the time, that it almost put me off the place altogether. It was not until I had a pad thai cooked by [...]
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