Tag: Braai

Introducing the Paleo ‘Boerie’ Burger…

Leave a comment

It’s been a while since we’ve made paleo burgers, don’t ask me why… It’s such a yummy, easy & quick supper and tastes waaaay better than a normal bun burger. {Trust me on this one!}
So while I’ve been battling to come up with new food ideas and scrummaging through the freezer, I decided to make boetie burgers! That’s like a hamburger, but made from Boerewors meat. {Boerewors is a traditional South African sausage, made from minced beef, pork and/or lamb coriander and other spices and has quite a distinct flavour. It’s not a very fatty sausage.}
I also recently heard Wimpy’s new ad for their boerie burgers but haven’t seen or tasted it, so no idea what it actually is, but it did give me an idea!
Now, I’m sure you’ve seen {and hopefully made} my Paleo burgers, where I use thick slices of grilled aubergine as the ‘bun’? Well, same concept, but instead of using regular minced meat for the patty, I used Boerewors meat.

So, here it is:
Roughly 500g boerewors, removed from the outer casing
A handful of fresh coriander
Salt
1 egg

For the construction of the burger {add or omit as you please}:
Thick slices of aubergine, brushed with olive oil and grilled
Grilled bacon
Slices of fresh tomato
Caramelised onions
Sliced mozzarella
Fresh baby leaves
Cream cheese mixed with fresh avo, salt & pepper

Remove the boerewors meat from the outer casing and mix it with a spoon to combine properly. Add chopped coriander, salt and egg.
Mix it well to combine and shape into burger patties.
Grill until just cooked.

Use the aubergine slices to contain everything and layer all the rest inbetween.

Enjoy! X

20140404-152128.jpg

20140404-152159.jpg

20140404-152231.jpg

Advertisement

Thick cut grilled rump steak with caramelised tomatoes & onions

2 Comments

Nothing beats a good steak, but it’s also so easy to get wrong…
I honestly never order steak at a restaurant, because I am convinced I’ll have a better one at home. Steaks should be kept simple, paired with something fresh and tasty, not covered in some bland sauce.

I asked my butcher for a very thick cut rump steak – perfect for serving nice and rare, with a beautiful fatty strip on the outside, grilled to perfection.
I rubbed the steak with olive oil, freshly ground course salt and black pepper.

20140311-175713.jpg
You will need:
Large, thick cut rump steak {probably 1kg}
Olive oil
Freshly ground sea salt & black pepper
Mixed baby salad leaves
Avocado
Rosa tomatoes
1 onion
1 tbs honey
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
Halloumi cheese

Slice the onion and sauté in butter. Once it’s soft, add honey and balsamic vinegar and let it caramelise on a low heat. Add tomatoes and let it all caramelise some more. {You can make this quite a bit in advance and just reheat before serving.}

Rub the steak with olive oil, salt & pepper and let it sit for a while before grilling. You also need the steak to be at room temperature before cooking it to ensure even cooking and so that you don’t have an ice cold centre if you’re doing a rare steak.
Grilling the steak is the best idea – either on your Big Green Egg {best!} or Weber or just a normal braai.
Make sure the grill is very hot. Cook the steak for about 5 minutes on each side and again for another 2 minutes each side. You will need to check the steak and see that it’s to your liking.

While the steak rests, grill halloumi slices in a hot pan until just melted.

Now, place a handful of salad leaves on the plate, top with a few slices of avocado.
Slice the steak and arrange a few slices on top of the salad. Top the steak with halloumi cheese and then the tomatoes & onions.
Season with salt & pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Enjoy with a glass of crisp Sauvignon Blanc – yes, white wine with red meat..! {Shock, horror, gasp!}
It’s such a refreshing meal, with the creaminess of the halloumi cheese, essentially a salad, and it goes so well with the white wine. A red wine would just be too heavy.

Anyways – give it a try and enjoy! X

20140311-175804.jpg

Grilled yellowtail – fresh from the sea

Leave a comment

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.

20140219-095548.jpg
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!

20140219-100246.jpg
Perfect meal for a {VERY} hot summer’s eve! Enjoy! X

Rub-a-dub-dub {grilled} pork

1 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.

20140210-174305.jpg

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.

20140210-174432.jpg

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

20140210-174623.jpg

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

1 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}

20140123-124428.jpg
{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

Best Steak – Ever!

Leave a comment

What a busy week {2 weeks actually!}… Phew! I’ve been meaning to post this and I honestly thought that I had – well, it turned out I haven’t! Oh well… Here it is – our grilled rump steak that we also entered into a steak cooking competition.
This is a giant rump – matured – rubbed with garlic, olive oil, black pepper and sea salt.

20131203-194406.jpg

We grilled or braaid {on 250C} the steak for about 3 minutes on each side and again 2 minutes a side {to create your char-marks}, then decreased the heat to 180C and baked it for about 7minutes. We used a big Green Egg but a Webber will do. You just want the outside to sear on a high heat and then because it’s such a thick steak, you need to lower the heat and bake it to get some heat to the centre. Ours was medium rare – perfect!
As it came off the grill, I placed dollops of coriander & chili butter on top and let it melt into the meat. {Simply chop a handful of coriander and 2 red chilies and mix with about 2 tbs of butter.}

Serve with a salad of butter lettuce, sweet basil, rosa tomatoes and olive oil.

Enjoy! X

Summer Lamb Roast

1 Comment

Ah – the Sunday roast… Surely a tradition in most homes?

With meat-galore and starchy side dishes until the cows come home… To me, the traditional Sunday Roast lunch is more suited to Winter – a kind of comfort meal.

So what to do when it’s Summer or Spring and you feel like making a roast? Well, just skip the heavy side dishes and focus on light and bright salads and veg.

My perfect Summer Roast Lamb:

Roast lamb with a herby rub {sea salt, rosemary, garlic, mustard, black pepper, paprika, brown sugar, lemon zest, nutmeg and bay leaf}

Steamed asparagus with garlic, butter and sea salt

Minty green salad {granny smith apples, mint leaves & cucumber}

Mint dressing for both salad & lamb {fresh mint, whole coriander seeds, apple cider vinegar & honey}

What you need to do:

Rub a leg of lamb (I used 1.3kg leg) with olive oil and your rub mixture an hour or more before cooking for all the flavours to absorb into the meat as much as possible. You can make your own rub with the above ingredients, or buy a ready-made version. I used the Lamb Rub from Woolies – simply divine.

Place the lamb in an oven dish (no lid) and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hrs at 180C – in an oven, Weber or Big Green Egg. I used the Egg of course! {We actually cooked the lamb directly on the grill and used a drip tray underneath, so you get a nice golden crust on all sides of the meat!}

For your salad, cut an apple and cucumber into thin slices and add a handful of roughly chopped mint. {Each person can add their own dressing}

For the asparagus, break off the woody end bit off the stems and steam or boil with a tbs of butter and chopped garlic clove until just cooked. They should still be crunchy – please, no  and limp asparagus!

For the dressing:

Grind a handful of mint leaves and a tsp of coriander seeds in a mortar & pestle until you have a course paste. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar and a tbs of honey. Mix well and keep in a little jug for serving.

Keep an eye on the lamb and don’t let it dry out. It should be moist and juicy and just the teensiest bit pink.

Serve with a Chardonnay and enjoy! X

Summer Lamb Roast

Summer Lamb Roast

Midweek Braai

1 Comment

It’s been a while since we just plain braaid {is that even a word?!}, so last night we had boerewors and grilled sweet potatoes on the braai, along with a strawberry summer salad.

We’re a bit deprived in the sleep department and decided that a round of sleep training is {very} due for our oldest, Seb… of course, when you sleep train, you have to be devoted to it, blah-de-blah-blah… and then sometimes you have to compromise a bit on dinner. But – if you keep it nice and simple and fire up the braai a bit later when said kiddos are in bed, you can have your cake {dinner} and eat it too!

That’s exactly what we did last night – hubby put Seb to bed while I prepared everything for our braai and got things going. All I had to do was season the sweet potatoes and wrap in tinfoil and make the salad.

For the sweet potatoes:

Use however many you want – I made 4

Wash the sweet potatoes and leave the skin on

Cut a slit on either side of the sweet potato and spread on a dollop of butter

Season with peppadew spice {or any favourite spice or rub}

Wrap in tinfoil with the shiny side on the inside

The sweet potatoes should go onto the grill first, as they take about 45-60minutes to cook. You want them to be nice and soft and allow the butter and seasoning to ‘absorb’ properly. When those are ready, you can put on the boerewors and grill for about 15 minutes on each side – or until cooked {but still juicy!}.

For the salad:

Baby spinach leaves

Rocket leaves

Ripe strawberries

Goats cheese

Balsamic vinegar

Cut strawberries into slices and toss with the leaves. Add chunks of goats cheese and dress with balsamic vinegar.

So simple, yet delicious and perfect for a stressful day. Enjoy! X

Midweek Braai image

Grilled Aubergine Burgers

Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but I love aubergines (eggplant / brinjals)!

I’ve realised that a lot of people don’t know what to do with them, or haven’t even tried them before. They’re usually a hit with vegetarians because of their fleshy texture and is often used as a meat-substitute – but not in our house – no way! We love meat! So what better way to have aubergine, than with meat, on a burger!

This is a good paleo-friendly burger version – using grilled aubergine slices as the ‘bun’. You can put anything you feel like on your burger, but here’s what I did:

Grilled aubergine slices (brush with olive oil and grill on a griddle pan or straight on the braai / barbecue)

Sliced fresh tomatoes

Lettuce leaves

Fairview Blue en Blanc cheese (a creamy camembert-type cheese with blue vein running through – simply scrummy!)

Caramelised onion (onions sautéed in butter with a drizzle of honey and a splash of balsamic vinegar – sauté until nice and caramelised)

Burger patties (I used blouwildebeest – will also work nicely with ostrich or beef)

And last but DEFINITELY not least – grilled bacon strips

Assemble everything inbetween aubergine slices, secure with toothpicks and enjoy!

Aubergine burgers

#BraaiDay – Roast Pork Neck with Apple & Sage stuffing

Leave a comment

Our Braai Day feast consisted of:

Corn bread & chicken liver paté for starters

Roast (and lightly smoked) pork neck stuffed with Apple & Sage

Roast beet & goats cheese salad

Buttery roasted sweet potato

Peach tart for dessert

Roast Pork:

2kg deboned pork neck

Woolworths BBQ rub (a brown sugar & coriander rub)

2 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored & cubed

butter

4 slices of thick white bread, crusts removed and cubed

8 fresh sage leaves

handful of dried apples

olive oil

brown sugar

1 onion, diced

1 egg, beaten

Slice pork neck open length-wise, but not all the way through – you should be able to fold open and have one large piece of pork.

Deboned pork neck

Rub with olive oil and BBQ rub – I used about half a pot – inside and outside. Fold the pork neck closed, place in a casserole, clingwrap and refrigerate overnight.

In a skillet or casserole, sauté onions, apples & sage until soft. Remove from heat and add bread, salt & pepper, egg and half a cup of brown sugar. Let this mixture cool before stuffing the pork.

Remove pork from fridge a while before stuffing, allowing it to get to room temperature.

Fold open the pork and spread stuffing mixture over the entire piece of pork.

Stuffing on pork

Roll up up gently, keeping all the stuffing inside. Fasten with string or secure with toothpicks.

Roast or smoke for 2 hours at 120C. (We smoked it low & slow, just to give it a hint of smokiness – but you can just roast it too.)

Roast pork

Roast beet & goats cheese salad:

Place beets into a casserole & rub with olive oil, balsamic & salt. Roast until tender (2hrs). Let them cool, peel and cut into quarters.

Toss cooled en roasted beets with mixed salad leaves, goats cheese chunks and ribboned cucumber. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and serve with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

image

Buttery sweet potatoes:

Cut sweet potatoes into quarters, place dollops of butter on top and inbetween, sprinkle with peppadew spice and roast for 2hrs with the pork (in a separate casserole).

Corn bread: (recipe from Sarie.com)

500g self-raising flour

3ml salt

50ml sugar

30ml sunflower oil

2 eggs – beaten

200ml evaporated milk

1 can of creamed corn

100g grated cheddar

1tbs chopped parsley

Mix flour, salt & sugar. Whisk together oil, eggs & milk and add to flour mixture. Add rest of ingredients and mix well.

Place in a greased black ‘braai’ pot and bake on the coals (also place hot coals on top of the lid) for an hour.

image

Chicken liver paté: 

1kg chicken livers, cleaned

1 onion

1 cup of brandy

salt & pepper

1/2 cup of cream

bay leaves

butter

Soak chicken livers in brandy for an hour (do not discard liquid). Sauté onions in butter until soft. Remove livers from brandy. Add to onions and fry until cooked and no longer pink. Season with salt & pepper. Add cream. Transfer to blender and blend to a smooth consistency. Add the brandy that you soaked the livers in. Add half a cup of butter (soft) and blend until properly mixed.

Pour into desired dishes and top with melted butter and a bay leaf – refrigerate overnight.

Serve with corn bread.

image

Peach tart:

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of milk

1 cup of flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

3 dessert peaches

Cream together sugar & butter. Add milk And mix. Add eggs and mix again. Sift together flour, baking powder & salt and add to egg mixture. Place in greased tart dish, top with thinly sliced peaches and bake at 180C for 40 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

image

Enjoy! X