Category: Uncategorized

Four-bird-roast with all the bells & whistles

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Heard of ‘Turducken’ before? Well this four-bird-roast is kind of like that, with extra quail thrown in the mix to liven things up a bit!
It’s a turkey, stuffed with chicken, duck & quail – all perfectly deboned of course.
It’s really a Christmas roast, or perhaps better suited to a Sunday lunch extravaganza… We decided to enjoy ours mid-week, mid-Feb, you know, live a little!

The menu includes:
Four-bird-roast
Cauli-mash
Tomatoes in olive oil
Creamy mushroom sauce
Cucumber & corn salad

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For the roast:
Rub with olive oil, salt & pepper and cover with foil.
Roast in a pre-heated oven of 180C for an hour. Remove foil and roast uncovered for another hour {for a 2kg roast}.
They also come with a nifty little pop-up timer to signal when it’s ready. But yes, work on 2 hours.
Once your bird is cooked, let it rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting.

For the cauli-mash:
Steam or boil a large head of cauliflower until tender, then purée using a food processor / blender / stick blender.
Add a large chunk of butter and season with salt & black pepper.

For the tomatoes:
Use a pan just big enough for the amount of tomatoes you want to use and cover the bottom with olive oil. Fill the pan with small tomatoes {cherry is best} and let it cook until the skins burst. Don’t throw away the oil! This is the most amazing sauce for the cauli-mash.

For the mushroom sauce:
Dice an onion and sauté in olive oil and butter.
Add sliced mushrooms, oregano & garlic and sauté until the mushrooms are cooked and browned.
Season with salt & pepper and add about a cup of cream. Reduce the heat and let it reduce to a thickish sauce.
Add a ladle of the juices from the roast and stir well to ensure everything is mixed properly. Deeelish!

{Enjoy this feast with any green salad – I just made a very simple salad using up some leftover bits from the fridge: diced cucumber, sweet corn kernels, lettuce, olive oil, white wine vinegar and a lemon & black pepper seasoning.}

X

Grilled yellowtail – fresh from the sea

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Fish is one of those things that is best kept simple. Forget complicated sauces – your best bet is freshly squeezed lemon juice and perhaps a bit of butter. Add some salt & pepper and you’re done.
While visiting Mom-in-law at the coast, I decided a nice fresh fish will be in order for dinner. That, some crisp white wine, fresh sea air and a salad – yum!

We bought 2 freshly caught yellowtails from a local fishmonger and decided to braai them.

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The fish were scaled and gutted – all I had to do was prep them for the braai:
Sprinkle generously with salt {on the inside}, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, some black pepper and melted butter. I also placed a few slices of lemon inside while the fish ‘rested’ and waited for the braai.

They went onto the grill closed {with lemons inside} until the outside was nicely cooked and golden brown, slightly charred. We then opened them up and removed the lemon slices, placed the whole fish open and inside down on the grill for a few minutes, just allowing the inside to cook. Be careful not to overcook, fish is very delicate and must be just cooked, never overcooked!

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Perfect meal for a {VERY} hot summer’s eve! Enjoy! X

Veggie curry – our lunchtime staple in India

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It feels like a lifetime ago, our year-and-a-half-stint in India… It’s only been {almost} a year now since we’ve been back, but it seriously feels like ages ago and I haven’t really cooked anything Indian since!
So, in this blazing summer heat, I decided to make a nice veggie curry for lunch – mild enough for the boys to enjoy {toddler of 2 and a half, and baby of 10 months}.
This curry is so simple, yet truly flavourful. Just because it wasn’t overly spicy doesn’t mean it was bland.
I learnt to make curries from our nanny we had in India, dear Annu, as well as some local food magazines and on our trip to south India, where we stayed in a ‘homestay’ near Kerala.

This is not from a recipe, I just used the spices I had and from what I know work well together.

You will need:
1 small aubergine, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 potatoes, diced {I had some leftover from bad ol’ December that I needed to use!}
1 large sweet potato, diced
1 cup {roughly} frozen peas defrosted in some hot water, just enough to cover the peas {the water will also go into the curry}
Whole coriander seeds
Yellow mustard seeds
Mild curry powder {includes turmeric and other spices}
Cumin powder
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
Cream
Tomato paste
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Start by sautéing the onion in olive oil. Add all the spices and fry until the mustard seeds start to pop. {I didn’t measure the spices! but I probably used about a tsp of each…}
Add the veggies, tomato paste {about a tbs} and cream {half a cup} and another half a cup of water. Add enough salt, probably about a tbs and let it all simmer away until the potatoes are soft. Season generously with salt & pepper.

Garnish with fresh coriander.
Enjoy! X

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Super Summer Salads

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With a low supply of veggies in the fridge, I’ve been faced with a bit of a dilemma… What shall I put in the salad?
Here are two options for super tasty salads, even without a large selection of fresh goodies:

Rocket, halloumi & tomato salad:

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Grill a few slices of halloumi cheese, until just melted.
Use yellow and red Roma tomatoes and slice them in half, toss with rocket leaves, olive oil and salt.
Add halloumi and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Grilled pepper, tomato & rocket salad:

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Roast a red pepper under a hot grill, turning every now and again, until it’s charred all over. Place in a bowl and cover with clingwrap. Let it cool and then gently peel off the skin and remove seeds.
Toss pieces of the grilled pepper with rocket and halved Roma tomatoes. Add feta cheese and drizzle with olive oil.

Fast, fresh and delicious – the perfect accompaniment to roast lamb or chicken {or any meat really!}.

Enjoy! X
{The rocket came from our veggie garden, and so did some of the red tomatoes.}

Prune, rocket & halloumi salad

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A very easy dish – quick, flavourful and exciting – and quite extraordinary!

You will need:

Rocket leaves
Dried prunes
Halloumi cheese
Dried fennel seeds
Freshly ground sea salt
Olive oil

Grind the fennel & salt in a mortar & pestle.
Toss the rocket and prunes together, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the fennel salt.
Grill the halloumi on a hot griddle pan until just melted, let it cool slightly and cut into smaller pieces.
Add to salad and voila!

Enjoy! X

Rub-a-dub-dub {grilled} pork

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How I do like a bit of pork… Yep – steak is always great, but give me a nice bit of roasted or grilled pork any day – YUM.
Ok, so with quite a busy weekend behind us, I’m now catching up a bit from last week and posting this delicious rubbed and grilled pork recipe.
{Our very dear friends have finally tied the knot on Saturday, after SEVEN years, in a tranquil country garden setting. Our kids stayed at home with another dear friend of mine – a first for them to be without us for the night – and all went well! Ah – bliss – a good weekend indeed!}

Right, here’s the recipe:

You will need the following for the rub:

Coriander seeds
Yellow mustard seeds
Fresh garlic
Brown sugar
Olive oil
Freshly ground sea salt
Pepper

Dry roast the coriander & mustard seeds in a pan until nice and toasted.
Place everything in a mortar & pestle and get your young child to grind everything into a nice paste.

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Use thick pork steaks with a bit of fat running through it and rub generously with the rub. Let them ‘marinate’ for at least an hour before grilling, just to give all the flavours a chance to mingle and absorb into the meat.

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Braai or grill the steaks on a hot grill, turning every 5 minutes or so until they are cooked, but still juicy, and a nice golden brown colour.
Delicious served with gem squash {with a dollop of butter and a sprinkle of salt}. X

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A great {and not boring} green salad

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A green salad that gets you up and going, but thankfully not the usual boring old green salad…
Surprisingly simple too – yet packed with flavour.

{Roasted zucchini, feta & avo salad}

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You will need:

3 medium zucchini
1 ripe avo
Cos lettuce leaves
Feta cheese
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

Thinly slice the zucchini with a vegetable peeler or mandolin, toss with olive and sprinkle with salt.
Roast in the oven under a hot grill for about half an hour, rotating the zucchini every now and then to ensure they all roast evenly.
As soon as they’re ready and out of the oven, sprinkle large chunks of feta on top and let it mingle and cool.
Toss with lettuce leaves, add diced avo. You don’t even need any extra olive oil or dressing, just use the oil from the roasted zucchini – voila!

Simple, delicious and totally tasty – oh, and healthy too! Fit for any detox!

Enjoy! X

Chocolate Luurv…

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Ah – chocolate – the food of love…!
Triple layers of rich, dark chocolate cake, each sandwiching a decadent layer of chocolate ganache and cream – enveloped in a chocolate ganache frosting and adorned with a pretty heart.
{Are you drooling yet?!}
X

Beef steak, crème fraîche with a kick & roasted tomato salsa

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I’ve been craving a good beef steak for a while now – it’s been mostly lamb lately! Not that I can complain – lamb is a real treat and I do love it – but a change is also good.
I adapted the recipe from The Real Meal Revolution, my current favourite cookbook. Not only are the recipes great, they’re also healthy and so yum you will think it must be bad…
I must also say that the recipes are very simple and just focus on delicious ingredients – my way of cooking for sure! I often just tweak them here and there to suit what I have on hand, or based on what I feel like.

This dish was fab – loads of flavour, loads of tummy-filling-goodness and didn’t take that long to make:
{Beef steak, crème fraîche with a kick & roasted tomato salsa}

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{not the best photo I’ve ever taken – but hey…}

For the steak:
2 beef steaks {preferably rump, I used sirloin, about 500g total}
1 tsp coriander seeds {roasted and then ground}
Freshly ground sea salt
Black pepper
Olive oil

Rub the steaks with all the above ingredients and let it sit for about half an hour before cooking.
Cook on a hot grill for about 2 minutes on each side to seal the meat and then finish off in an oven of 180C until medium-to-rare {or however you like your steaks}.
Of course, we used our Big Green Egg for the entire cooking process!

For the crème fraîche:
Half a cup of crème fraîche
2 tsp hot English mustard

Mix these together and keep in the fridge until you are ready to dish up.

For the salsa:
A cup of small rosa tomatoes
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
Sweet basil, torn
1 Chorizo sausage, chopped and fried

Place the tomatoes under a hot grill and let them roast until slightly charred. Chop the tomatoes and mix with the chorizo.
Let it cool slightly, then add the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper. Let that marinade for a bit.
Add the vinegar and sprinkle with basil.

Now honestly, what is better than a big chunk of beef steak topped with a meaty salsa?! And yet, it is still refreshing and ‘light’ to eat and doesn’t feel like you’re in some greasy diner in Louisiana somewhere… {No offense to anyone in Louisiana, but I know what goes down there… Shrimp stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and deep-fried, served with a side of green beans and mince! Yep, that really happened! I suppose it can be called Banting…}

Anyhoo, back to the steak – another great one from Real Meal Revolution cookbook and a definite must-cook!

Serve the salsa over the steak and top with the crème fraîche.

Enjoy! X