Amaretti Strawberry Tiramisu

Spring = Strawberries and Cream !


This combination put together with the wonderful packet of Amarettis I received from Diletto online Deli to make a pud with.. too amazing and oh so very quick and easy to do.

Ingredients:


1 pkt Amaretti bisquits
1 tub Mascarpone
1 cup Greek Yogurt
5 squirts of Nomu vanilla paste
Icing sugar to taste
3 tots Amaretto Liqueur
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Strawberries
1 flaky chocolate


Method:
Find some nice glass bowls. Break about 4 Amaretti bisquits into the bottom of the bowl and soak with a 1/2 tot of Amaretto liqueur. While this soaks in mix the mascarpone with yogurt, vanilla paste, sugar, 1 tot of liqueur. Calculate about 1 handful strawberries per person. Mash the strawberries  just a bit to release the flavour and.sprinkle a bit of ground pepper over them.


Now assemble the dessert. On top of the Amarettis goes 1 layer of mascarpone mix, followed by a sprinkle of flakies, followed by a layer of strawberries and another layer of mascarpone.
I had some instant whipped cream in the fridge which went on top together with a few strawberries and whole  Amaretti bisquits...
The taste of all this is "devine doll " !!! so easy, so quick and everyone loves this sort of dessert.

Anglefish with Roasted Garlic & Ginger

Earlier on this month Francis Richter from www.diletto.co.za asked me if I would be interested to use one or two of his products that Diletto Online Deli sell. Have a look at their online Deli..

I chose the Oded’s Kitchen Roasted Garlic and Ginger paste which I used so successful tonight as you will see. The other product I chose was a bag of Amarettis (Italien bisquits) which I will use over the weekend to make a dessert.

Diletto delivered the goodies to my house yesterday, so tonight I got cooking J

After having been spoilt with fish from living for 26 years in Hout Bay, I had to make due with what I could find at the local Portuguese Fish monger and managed to get some fresh filleted Angelfish today here in Stellenbosch and had a bunch of fresh spring veggies still in my fridge. 

The fish was marinated in a mix of Oded Garlic and Ginger paste   mixed with olive oil, lemon zest of 1 whole lemon plus juice and some Thyme from my garden. Fried in the marinade for about 10 minutes. I then made a very asic sauce by adding one tsp of the Oded paste to 3 tbsp of crème fraiche and a squeeze of lemon. The flavour was very subtle and added a gentle taste to the already delicious Angle fish/

The veggies were sliced leeks, baby asparagus and thinly sliced courgettes.

I first fried (in olive oil)the leeks a bit as they take longer (frying pan covered with lid) And after 5 minutes added courgettes and asparagus. Again covered with lid for another 10 minutes. I added no herbs or spices as the intermingling flavours of these wonderful young spring veggies should not be tempered with !

For the potatoes I tried something new. I sliced the potato ( with skin) very thin on a mandolin, and on a baking sheet I mixed 1 tablespoon of olive oil with some shakes of Ina Paarman’s potato spice mix. In the oven at 200 deg C and after 15 minutes I had the most devine crispy non fatty chips you could wish for. Obviously turn them over once in between..

And that’s it.. the whole meal took less than 30 minutes and I will most definitely buy some of that Oded’s Roasted Garlic and Ginger again and also try out their other mixes. ( I saw that they make loads of different flavours at the Stellies food market on Saturday and Diletto carry a bunch more as well).

Rissoni & Spring Vegies

We just love  fresh new spring vegetables and recently only discovered Rissoni ( that's pasta that looks like rice) I must say that these wonderful little "corns" of pasta have me totally sold ! So yesterday with spring not playing ball and it really not being a day for a braai, I had to  instead of making  a spring vegie salad to go with the meat,  make something that was more comfort food for a cold and rainy day !

This is what I used :

Green beans (blanched)
thinly sliced courgettes
very young green asparagus
1 cup of baby peas

1/2 packet Rissoni pasta
about 3 Tbsp butter

Cook the pasta al dente, stirfry the vegies ( not too long please). Add the rissoni and butter and that's it !  just some salt and pepper.. and it tastes devine !

I guess this same mix could also be turned into a wonderful salad with a "gentle" vinaigrette/

Preserved Lemons

PRESERVED LEMONS MOROCCAN STYLE

Last year I had the good fortune to travel  around Morocco with a bunch of wonderful women who have become friends. One of the specialties I have brought back with me is how to preserve lemons. With autumn here and my lemon trees once again bulging at the seams with ripe lemons I picked a few this morning and will show you just how easy it is to preserve them in order to make those wonderful tangines or use them in  many other dishes.

Cut of each end of a lemon

Then quarter them

Next make one layer  lemons into a glass jar

And over with coarse salt.

Repeat until jar is full and seal with a preferably a plastic

lid.

For the next 3 days open the jars and top them up with more lemon pieces and salt,  this until you cannot get anymore in.

Leave them to cure for 30 days. When you want to use them, rinse off in cold water and remove the flesh (tends to be bitter)

I will post a Moroccan Lemon Chicken recipe during the course of next week as well.

Zucca

Zuccini - Zucca - Courgettes

It was such a glorious day yesterday that I took my Staffie and walked up the mountain behind my home. 

When I got back I had mail – not the virtual kind but good old snail mail from my dear sister in Brussels. She had promised me to send some very special Zucca seeds which is a strange looking Courgette from Italy and apparently tastes amazing. 

With this on my brain I made last night what is probably the fastest dinner (from taking stuff out of the fridge to having it on the table 15 minutes !) I have been doing Courgettes in this way for some time and as it is so different in flavour to the way one normally finds it, I am sharing this here. Don’t have a clue what I should call it, as it is my own invention.. but any suggestions would be appreciated JJJ ( photography not too great as done in a hurry but I’m sure you get the gist )

1 pkt Courgettes Dash of olive oil A few shakes of cumin powder 2 tbsp crème fraiche Salt & pepper 1 pkt of small cut skinless chicken breasts Chicken spice Smallish potatoes

Julienne the courgettes on thin setting of Mandolin Heat olive oil, chuck in the courgettes, sprinkle cumin, salt & pepper. Fry for no longer than a minute or two. They must be not tooo mushy) Add the crème fraiche. Mix well and take off the fire. Very quickly fry the chicken pieces ( I do mine never longer than a minutes so they stay tender. I cheated and just did them in the micro for 3 minutes

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Did not think it would happen..  but it did (agh shame) ...  so here for the weekend something  to remember this team by...  My way of doing a Bolognaise (rather lazy but delicious !)

1 large packet of ostrich or lean beef mince Olive oil 1/3 jar of mince spice 2 cans of tomato and onion mix 2 sachets of tomato puree ½ bottle of red wine 2 cloves of garlic 1 Tsp sugar 2 Bay leaves 1/3 jar of Italian mixed spice

Brown meat in Olive Oil and add mince spice. Add tomato onion mix, tomato puree, red wine, chopped garlic, sugar, bay leaves and Italian herbs. Bring to boil and cook on very low heat for 1 hour. Only use good imported Spaghetti and don’t overcook them. Once the Spaghetti is al dente (still with a bit of a bite to it) Rinse in cold water. Back into pot, drizzle with olive oil and add the Bolognaise.

Mixed Salad with Pork Fillet

What a wonderful Saturday in Stellenbosch it was yesterday ! perfect spring day with 25 deg C, the slow food market buzzing, and with the great company of girlfriends wandering through the market trying out food, clothes and all, buying goodies to come home to make a lekker lunch. Before heading to my place, we stopped off at one of my favourite wine estates Muratie. Muratie still has the charm of yesteryear compared to the glitz and glamour of the newer estates. So after sampling some of their best, we left with a car full of cases of their fabulous wines.

For lunch a made a huge salad of fresh vegies, topped with slices of spicy pieces of pork fillet and accompanied by fresh Fairview bread baked in this dark crust which so reminds me of the farmers bread in Basel, Switzerland where I grew up.

Ingredients for the Salad:

Mixed green lettuce leaves

cocktail tomatoes

Israeli little cucumber sliced on a Mandolin

Celery also finely sliced on Mandoline

Yellow pepper

sliced mushrooms

big juicy olives

2 hard boiled eggs

carrots finely julienned

Avocado 

1 pork fillet sliced and fried in about 2 Tbsp of Nomu pork rub and a handful of fresh sage leaves

Dressing was just Olive Oil

very good Balsamic

a bit of Verlaque with pomegranate 

tsp of Dijon mustard

salt & pepper

All washed down with lots of Boplas sparkling wine and lots of laughter and good stories

Moroccan Cauliflower Salad

Last year I had the good fortune of travelling with amazing women through Morocca. What an experience it was, from wandering through ancient riads to riding on a camel into the desert and spending the night under the stars !

Morocco is an amazing mix of different cultures and flavours. I was especially always taken by the incredible colours in nature, in their fabrics, mosaics, leather and also the food!. The way Moroccans eat salads is mostly with veggies that have first been cooked. So here is one of those delicious cooked salads made with cauliflower. I have done it with Cauliflower and Broccoli mixed to have a more colourful result.

 

½ head cauliflower ½ head broccoli 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp ground cumin 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Boil the cauliflower and broccoli for about 15 minutes. ( must not be too soft). Remove from pot and rinse in cold water. While cooking the cauliflower, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Lightly toast the ginger, paprika, cumin and cinnamon over medium-low heat in a small pan for 3-5 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from heat and whisk into the liquid mixture, combining thoroughly. Cut the cauliflower in 1/2-inch thick slices, transfer to a serving platter and drizzle all of the spiced oil over the slices. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve luke warm.

......and as for some "flavours" from Morroco:

Lunch Salads in Fez

The Blue City of Chechouan

Riad in Marrakesh