Rub-a-dub-dub {grilled} pork

February 10, 2014February 10, 20141 Comment

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.

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.

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

Red Velvet brownies

February 6, 2014Leave a comment

Ooey-gooey red velvet yumminess! Red Velvet brownies – these are perfect to have on hand during the month of luurv. Such a treat!
X

A great {and not boring} green salad

February 4, 2014February 4, 2014Leave a comment

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}

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…

February 4, 2014February 4, 2014Leave a comment

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

Valentines Red Velvet

February 4, 2014Leave a comment

Who doesn’t LOVE red velvet cake?! I know I do!
Rich, decadent, moist and super satisfying – not quite chocolate but not a boring old sponge either – definitely in a league of its own.
I’ve got a series of valentines treats lined up, this being the first one:

Double-layer red velvet cake, covered in cream cheese frosting and topped with even more decadent red velvet truffles – Y.U.M!
And of course, perfectly presented for Valentines Day.

And what would Valentines be without a sweet little cupcake..?

Spicy bacon nuts – a Life Changer

January 31, 2014Leave a comment

So, I joined a new gym where the goal is to guide you every step of the way through weekly assessments, personal trainers on hand and nutritional guidance…
At my assessment yesterday, I had a Daniel Lugo type character {from Pain & Gain movie} helping me and he reckons I should start off with a detox {before anyone can start their training there, they have to do a week’s detox}. I should only eat leafy dark greens and protein.
Right.
Well, it’s not far off from what we actually eat, but come on, not even a splash of milk in my coffee? Ok.
Like he said: ‘your coffee should be how you like your Nigerians – strong and black…’ Seriously.

Anyways, back to the point – so detox it is – and armed with these yummy nuts I’m ready to go!
{From Real Meal Revolution cookbook – totally Banting and totally Paleo! All protein.}

You will need:
250g streaky bacon
4 cups of assorted nuts {macadamia, Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds}
2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch of nutmeg

Grill the bacon in the oven until nice and crispy. Place onto paper towel and keep the fat.
Next, dry roast the nuts in a large pan until golden. Add the butter and bacon fat. Add spices and toast until fragrant and dark brown.
Remove from heat, add the chopped bacon and a few drops of water.
‘Dry’ in the oven for 5 minutes at 160C.
Let it cool and keep in an airtight container.

Perfect for daytime snacking or adding to a salad or veggies.

Here’s my version:

Heidi has 12 strips of bacon, she grills them and eats 2. She adds 4 cups of spiced nuts.
What does Heidi have now?
Happiness, Heidi has happiness! 😉

Nutty carrot & cream cheese cake

January 27, 2014Leave a comment

Carrot cake is such an understated and unpretentious cake – but done right and it is a magnificent and heavenly treat. It should be light and fluffy, yet ‘solid’, filled with crunchy pecan nuts and layers of cream cheese frrrrosting…

It’s also a cake that I’ve never made before – yes I love to eat it, it’s one of my all-time faves, I’ve just never made it.
So, I decided to make it a few weeks ago for our dinner guests – we had so many carrots from the garden and it seemed the perfect time to give it a go! I used a recipe from my all-time Domestic-Goddess-Hero – the one and only, Martha Stewart. {Ha – you thought I was going to say Nigella..! Nope, I love her too, but Martha will always be the best!}

The cake was to-die-for, BUT I somehow tried to remove one layer from the baking tin too soon and ended up with a bit of a lopsided cake…

So… I made another batch! This time round, I made a small cake and 10 cupcakes. {I was planning on making cupcakes for my husband, decorated especially for his Xterra triathlon event, so I just decided to make carrot cupcakes instead.}

The result – 10 yummy scrummy carrot cupcakes, topped with cream cheese frosting and finished off with fondant icing with the Xterra logo and some fun pics:

The cake also came out really well – perfect size for a small family – enrobed in deliciously rich and fluffy cream cheese frosting and chopped pecans:

You will need:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda {bicarbonate of soda}
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
340g butter, at room temp, plus extra for the pans
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
450g grated carrots {8-10 medium carrots}
2 cups pecan nuts {1 cup finely chopped for the batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for the outside of the cake}

Start off by pre-heating the oven to 175C and preparing your pans:
Butter, line with baking paper and butter again {only the bottoms} 3x 23cm cake pans; OR if you want some cupcakes too, prepare 2x 15cm cake pans and 10x cupcake cases.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg – set aside.
Beat the butter and sugars in a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one and mix well after each addition. Add the vanilla, water and carrots – mix well.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and then the pecans.
Make sure everything is well incorporated and divide between pans.
If you are making the large cake with 3 layers, bake for approx 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For the smaller, 2 layer cake, bake for approx 45 minutes {until toothpick comes out clean}.
Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes.

For the frosting:
250g butter, at room temp
250g cream cheese, at room temp
3 cups icing sugar

Mix together until light and fluffy.

To assemble:
Using a serrated knife, carefully trim the rounded top off one of the cakes. Use that one on the bottom and spread a decent layer of frosting on top. Place the other layer on top and cover the top and sides of the entire cake with frosting. Cover the sides of the cake with the rest of the pecans.

If you’re making cupcakes, you can either just pipe the frosting on as you normally would, or, to make a fondant outer, first spread a thin layer of cream cheese frosting on top of the cupcake, then cover with fondant and decorate as you want.

Enjoy! X

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

January 23, 20141 Comment

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}

{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

Cauli ‘couscous’

January 21, 2014January 21, 2014Leave a comment

Cauliflower – the ‘new’ potato! That’s like saying orange is the new black…
Look, like orange {as in the colour – not the fruit}, cauliflower is not for everyone – but me, I like it! {I don’t care much for orange though…}
I find it much lighter than potato and it lends an interesting twist to the meal.
Hubby – not such a fan…! Although he did enjoy the cauli-mash.
With my blender well and truly broken from a previous terrine-blending-exercise, I had to settle for slightly more course couscous, as I had to crumble the raw cauliflower with my fingers. {Stick blender did not do the trick – it made it into a mush.}
Right, so with my slightly large couscous as a base, I whipped up quite a tasty Mediterranean-inspired couscous salad.

You will need:
Cauliflower, crumbled or blitzed into a crumbly texture
Olive oil
Salt
Wholegrain mustard
Small Roma tomatoes
Green pepper
Chorizo sausages
Sundried tomatoes
Feta cheese
Fresh sweet basil leaves
Olives
Bird’s eye chili, finely chopped {adds a nice kick!}

Pour boiling water over the cauliflower couscous and let it sit for 15minutes or so. Drain through a sieve and drizzle with olive oil and about a tsp of wholegrain mustard. Season with fine salt and mix well.
Fry the chorizo in olive oil and add diced green pepper & chili – fry until well cooked and golden – then let it cool to room temperature.
Toss all the other ingredients together {as much of each as you like}, as well as the couscous and chorizo & peppers.

Such a perfect meal on a hot summer’s eve – and quick to make too! Enjoy with a cold glass of dry white vino. Cheers! X

Roast butternut & rocket salad

January 20, 2014January 20, 20141 Comment

Our veggie garden has been delivering some yummy goods for the past month or so, including a few giant varieties… Well, sadly, it is coming to an end now and I need to plant new seeds. Sweet basil is still thriving and so are the tomatoes {except that something is eating it!}, but everything else is starting to come to an end.
I picked these butternuts – they were HUGE but didn’t really look like butternuts, so I thought, well let me use it and see how it turns out…

Turns out, these taste almost like normal butternuts, or a cross between a regular butternut and baby marrow, and they’re just much lighter and sort of longer…
Anyways – I’ll have to read up on this variety.
Here they are in my roast butternut & rocket salad – simple and delicious:

Cut the butternut and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and your favourite ‘sprinkle’. {I used Peppadew spice.}
Roast for an hour at 180C until they’re tender. Just before they’re done, add some pine nuts and return to the oven to finish roasting.
Let it cool slightly and toss with fresh rocket leaves & olive oil. Season with ground sea salt.
Add a few dollops of cream cheese.
Enjoy! X