Taste-and-Treats on the West Coast

Last Saturday was the annual Moonstruck charity event on 4th Beach Clifton. What a great event and thank goodness we went early and found a lekker spot against the rocks as it ended up being 36 000 people on that beach. The concert was organised by Radio 702 and one of the performers was Vivky Samson who finished her set with her signature song that makes every expat overseas homesick with a dose of "wet eyes" - My African Dream - brings goosebumps every time I hear it. No vino allowed unfortunately but we all brought some nice munchies. One of my friends had Coronation Chicken. I must say it was the first time I ate this really nice way of using up day-old chicken as with me having done my apprenticeship in a German kitchen,  there was definitely no coronation :):):):).... We had something similar and called it Hawaiian Chicken Salad.. So here goes with the South African version of Coronation Chicken: Ingredients: 2 either freshly cooked or day-old chicken brea...

My sister lives in Brussels and this is one of her favourite meals for lunch and she kindly passed her recipe on to me. The combination of beef and chorizo works so well and gives the whole meal a bit of a zing which I love. ( I am not too fond of those extreme hot sort of dishes which most South Africans love so much). Having received one of those amazing Smoking Shed hampers last Sunday at the Food Bloggers Indaba, I also added a spoon of smoked bell pepper to the soup part of the dish.. and it made it WOW ..:) J MEATBALLS 1/2 lb   lean ground beef 1/2 lb   chorizo sausage , casing removed  1   egg , beaten 2   garlic cloves , minced 1/2   carrot , grated 1/2 cup   cooked rice 1/2 cup   coriander , chopped 1/2 teaspoon   salt 1/4 teaspoon   pepper 1 teaspoon   ground cumin ALBONDIGAS SOUP 6 cups   chicken stock  1/2 cup   onion, chopped 3 stalks ...

I just read Pink's fab blog  showing Beetroot sprouts.. pink sprouts look so amazing.. and as we all know just how healthy sprouts are..  little nosey me went off on a tangent and found them ! You can buy every kind of sprout online from a place in PE at very reasonable prices http://www.sproutingseeds.co.za am soooooooo  exited as  lets face it  nothing could be more healthy that  fresh sprouts !!! so go for it...  and their prices are discounted by 5% until tomorrow ( opening offer) have a great weekend all xoxo GLOSSARY OF SEEDS Here is alphabetical quick-link list of all of the seeds available from Umuthi Sprouting Seeds with brief descriptions. Just a Reminder: All of the sprouting seeds are suitable for planting in the vegetable garden as well.  Adzuki Beans (Organic) for Sprouts   have a distinctive sweet, nutty flavour, ideal for stir fries and veggie burgers. Alfalfa Sprouting Seeds , kno...

It was only in the last couple of months that I have started to use beetroot in my recipes. This deeply red vegetable had always been relegated to opening a jar of pickled beetroot, and then I only ever opened one of those jars because the man in my house loves this stuff. I just could never get my head around it. However ...........  I then discovered roasted beetroot ( very yummy with creme fraiche and some balsamic glaze) and I was hooked !  so here in my pursuit of different ways of creating summer salads that are "skinny" is the Raw beetroot ! :) How to: Peel and grate about 4 beetroot Grate 2 large carrots Add 1 handful dried cranberries Add 1 handful pine nuts Add 1 handful sprouted chickpeas Mix:  Juice of 1 lemon 1 tbsp tamarind paste 2 to 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp soya sauce That's all..  It is a wonderful fresh tasting salad that can be eaten right away and even tastes nice the following day. ( Perfect for lunch boxes to take to the off...

Being a Granny to a 2 year old has certain duties attached to it... one of them is the making of a birthday cake! I love birthday cakes, especially those that don’t come from some shop but are homemade. So there I was last week with the task to produce a “beach cake”.. as Connor and his family live next to the beach it was definitely the way to go. I am fortunate enough to live in Cape Town where we have a shop that just does baking stuff and equipment! ( Baking Tin in Claremont). Having scoured the shop for anything beachy I started the elimination of my chocolate recipes in the many books lining my shelves. I decided on the absolute yummiest one I could find which is David Lebowitz. This recipe comes out of his wonderful book called “The Sweet Life in Paris” and can be bought here from Amazon.com. For the beach cake: 250 g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate ( I used half & half) 8 tbsp ( 120 g) unsalted butter 1/3 cup ( 65 g) sugar 4 large eggs at room temperature sepa...

Pork Fillet is a low fat meat . Combined with herbs and spices and roasted in the oven it makes a very delectable meal. I have one of those small Romertopf clay pots which can do this sort of meal perfectly well. The way I did it last night was as follows: 2 tbsp olive oil into the pot mixed with Nomu pork rub ( about 1 heaped tbsp). Rub the porkfillet with this all over. In the space left over in the dish I cut a bunch of vegies, using yellow pepper, baby onions, tomato and courgette, as well a a few self=sprouted chickpeas for the crunch :):) I also love adding cut up cucumber and celery as these are what the diet people call "free  vegies" ... and for anyone who thinks that cucumber does not do well cooked..... Its Delicious ! I then sprinkled roast veg herb mixture over the vegies and another dash of olive oil. Into the oven at 180 deg C for about 45 minutes, leaving the lid off for the last 15 minutes.

Beetroot Mousse December 7, 2011 in Uncategorized 2 Comments » Tags: beetroot , mousse , verrine Last night I hosted another dinner for 14 Americans and as a couple of them were vegetarians I did not do my normal “fishy” sort of starter. I am currently reading loads of recipes on verrines from books a friend of mine lent me… Oh so many incredible variations are there and all are easy to make and delicious. What appeals to me particularly is that the quantities are small, basically just a taste and not any more these huge quantities of food from yesteryear… Look at these awesome colours !! Ingredients: (for about 10 smallish glasses/portions) 1 pkt Beetroot ( about 8 pieces) 1 tub Creme Fraiche 1 tub Cream Cheese Juice of 1 lemon Salt & pepper Boil the beetroot the night before. Peel and cut into quarters. In liquidizer mix beetroot, creme fraiche and cream cheese to a smooth consistency. Add lemon, salt and pepper… and that’s it ! Let is go very cold in th...