>> Recipe: Thai green curry

Nothing beats a curry. Ever. Especially not this one. Reasons...it take about 20 minutes, it's idiot
proof and tastes beautiful. I got this recipe from one of my favourite food blogs - The Food Fox,
plus it was photographed by one of my personal photography heroes (and lucky us - also our wedding
photographer) Tasha Seccombe. I love spicy food, so bad that I find myself from time to time taking
the Tabasco bottle, dropping some sauce in my hand and taking a lick. Just for a rush. However, don't
be alarmed, you can make this recipe to your own level of tolerance by just reducing the amount of
green chillies you put in. Also, its fabulous because you make your own paste, and it's really a lot
easier than you might think. I used hake medallions for my recipe, but you can use chicken breasts or
prawns too, and it's equally delicious. I also like to add some green peas and mini corn, just to flesh
it out a bit. Truly one of my staple recipes, and worth a try!

Photo by Tasha Seccombe

Ingredients

2-3 fresh green chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 T chopped fresh ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1 T dried fine coriander
1/2 T dried fine cumin
handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
2-3 T water
2 T vegetable oil
1 can coconut milk
4 chicken breasts, skinless, sliced into thin strips
1 T sugar
a few drops fish sauce or just salt
1 T lime juice
salt to taste
fresh coriander for garnish
Thai rice to serve with


Method

1. In a food processor (or using a mortar & pestle), add chillies, ginger, garlic, dried coriander, cumin,
fresh coriander and process to a paste. Add a few tablespoons of water to created a more workable consistency.
2. In a large saucepan or wok, heat oil over high heat. Add paste all at once, frying quickly for 1-2
minutes, stirring continuously. Add coconut milk, turn heat down to medium, and bring to a simmer.
Now add sliced chicken and cook in liquid for 5 minutes, covered.
3. Add sugar, fish sauce, lemon/lime juice, and season well with salt. Simmer for another 5 minutes,
then remove from heat.
4. Serve on Thai rice, and top with fresh coriander leaves.

Below is my own attempt. My picture isn't half as sexy as the one above, so I'll make it small...

>> Recipe: The truth about beer bread

If it's true what they say that the path to a man's heart is through his stomach....
then beer bread must be a highway. I mean, beer (the original man's drink of choice),
plus bread (the one thing that most men say they couldn't live without).
Yeah, beer bread should actually then be compared to some kind of love drug.

That said, I am concerned that most of you readers might start to think that I always
measure my food creations to the level of love my husband has for me... I am always
writing things like "I felt like a really good wife indeed" and "Johan loved it, yeah"
and well ... exactly what I said below next to my picture. The truth is: I am not trying
to get him to love me more, actually I know Johan loves me about as much as any man
could possibly love a woman. Back to the truth... I love my husband by cooking for him,
plus he is the only person that ALWAYS HAS TO eat what I make, and he usually doesn't
complain, not even about the disasters. I try lots of new things, and if Johan loves it,
then it's the biggest and most rewarding compliment of all.
I read yesterday (in the menu of a little Italian restaurant in Linden):

Cooking is like love. It must be entered into with abandon or not at all.

So I always cook with love, and to love, and to be loved in return. 

And bear bread, is looooove all over:-)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (sifted)
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 can beer
1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 cup will do just fine)

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and beer. Pour into a greased loaf pan. 

Pour melted butter over mixture. Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.

This recipe makes a very hearty bread with a crunchy, buttery crust. If you prefer a softer 

crust (like a traditional bread) mix the butter into the batter instead of pouring it over 

the top. Sifting flour for bread recipes is a must-do. Most people just scoop the 1 cup measure 

in the flour canister and level it off. That compacts the flour and will turn your bread into a 

"hard biscuit". That's because they aren't sifting their flour! If you do not have a sifter, 

use a spoon to spoon the flour into the 1 cup measure. Try it once the "correct" way and you 

will see an amazing difference in the end product. I sprinkle some course salt over the top
before I bake it, just for some extra texture.

>>Recipe: Yes you can...

...screw up an apple crumble...you can take my word for it. Apple crumble is probably the easiest
most delicious thing that can come from 30 minutes... it's so easy a toddler can make it, except if
your parents in law are coming over for lunch... Hey, I managed to drown, burn, smoke and destroy
my mother's day apple crumble with great embarrassment, and I still need to gather up enough courage
to actually invite them over for an all-anzel-made sunday lunch again.

That said, don't worry, this recipe is actually perfect if you follow it properly and remember not
to tipple the butter and drown, burn, smoke and destroy it. This week, I halved the recipe to make
the perfect mid-week desert for two. I also prefer to use fresh green apples, not that there is
anything wrong with tinned apples, I just feel like fresh apples are more flavourful and keep that
wonderful shape and texture that makes this dish look so yummy.

As a fun twist from time to time, you can add walnuts/almonds, or even fresh berries to the filling.
Serve this recipy with whipped or runny cream, but if you have a real sweet tooth...runny custard is
the bomb! The filling turns into a soft, fruity, sticky toffy, wonderfully contrasted with the crunchy
crumble and cool cream or custard.

Filling:

4 green apples, peeled, cored and cubed
raisins to taste
cinnamon to taste (about a heaped teaspoon)
80 g brown sugar

Mix all these ingredients together and place it in a butter greased oven-proof dish.

Crumble:

300 g flour
A pinch of salt
100 g brown sugar
200 g butter, cubed and at room temperature

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together. Add the butter and rub it into the mixture with your fingers.
When the mix becomes well combined, crumble it over the apples and bake for 30-45 minutes at 180 degrees.

And that is it... easy right? Mmmm yeah, I still wonder...

>>Recipe: Sinful apple cider pork belly with mustard mash

This weekend, all was right with the universe. There is just nothing like a really lazzzzy weekend. I literally didn't have a single worry and all I had to do is tend to my garden, read a book and cook. And what a weekend for cooking it was, with flawless after flawless dishes just falling out of my kitchen. Happy Anzel.

But back to the recipy at hand, this one is for Charlotte. Charlotte is a friend of mine from work and she is always talking about how amazing pork belly is, so this weekend I decided to give it a go for the first time. I kind of winged this recipe with simple flavours that I thought would go well together.  The apples and onions makes a sort of sticky marmalade with subtle flavours of star anise and fennel. I wouldn't exactly call this diet-food... but this little piggy didn't fail in blowing Johan's socks off, and I felt like a very good wife indeed:-)

Ingredients

1 kg pork belly, skin scored (ask your butcher because the skin is super tough, and your knife might suck)
1tsp fennel seeds
4 cardamon pods, crushed
2 star anise
salt and pepper to season the pork
4 green apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin wedges
1 red onion, cut into rings
Some fresh fennel leaves to taste
2 bay leaves
1 Savanna (330 ml), or any other apple cider (you can also use dry white wine)
500 ml chicken stock
3 garlic cloves

Method

Turn the oven to it's highest temperature.
Heat all the spiced over medium heat for a minute or two so the flavours can develop. Season the pork with salt,pepper and the prepared spices by rubbing it in between the sections of scored skin. The star anise can be placed with the apples at the bottom of the dish.

Place the apples, onion, fennel leaves and bay leaves at the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Place the seasoned pork belly on top of the apples and put it in the prepared oven until the skin is crispy (about 15 minutes). Remove the pork from the oven, add the garlic, apple cider and stock (be very careful not to get the skin wet), and then place the pork back into the oven at 180 degrees to roast for about one and a half hours or until ready. Only add stock up to the part of meat where the skin starts, depending on the depth of your dish. The crackling should be crispy and golden.

Serve the pork belly with some mustard mash (just add cream and whole grain mustard to mash) and steamed green beans. Garnish with fresh fennel. Be-au- ti-ful!

>> Recipe - Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Jerk is a style of cooking where meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a hot spice mixture. The term jerk was derived from the Spanish word charqui meaning dried meat, which eventually became jerky in English or biltong is Afrikaans... To be honest, I don't really see the "dried meat" connection in the dish that I made, but is was still pretty good, so good that even a jerk will say it was good :-))) (yeaaah, I'm not too good at telling jokes am I...) Anyways, this chicken is utterly delicious, so easy to make and is the perfect mid-week alternative to the regular old baked chicken. Plus it smells pretty fabulous too, you'll want to move to Jamaica. Serve this dish with some Jamaican fried rice and green veggies.

Prepare the marinade

1–2 Scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1tsp ground cloves
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground nutmeg
2tsp ground allspice
5–7 thyme sprigs, leaves only (you will need about 2 tbsp)
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

Ingredients for cooking the chicken

4 large chicken legs, skin on, cut into drumsticks and thighs

Olive oil, for frying

2tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Rice, to serve

4–5 thyme sprigs, to garnish (optional)

 

Method

1. First prepare the marinade by combining all the ingredients with a good grinding of black pepper and a dash of oil. Rub the marinade into the chicken pieces, massaging it into the scored meat. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour (or, better still, overnight).
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
3. Heat a large ovenproof pan over a medium-high heat and add a dash of oil. Fry the chicken pieces for about 10 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Add the Worcestershire sauce and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Cover with an ovenproof lid or foil and place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until cooked through (if your pan isn’t ovenproof, simply transfer the chicken to a roasting tray). Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes if the chicken needs colouring a little more.
5. Serve the chicken hot with rice.

>>Recipe - Fiery lamb shanks and mash

Who doesn't love a piece of meat that is so tender it falls of the bone! In a world of food, that is possibly one of my favourite dishes, and it can't fail to please. What is also really great is that it's super easy to make, especially if you know that you'll be having guest over. Just pop it in the oven and forget about it for 3 hours. A lot of people might think that lamb shank is super expensive an therefor they don't cook with it as often, however, I made this recipe with only two pieces of shank for us two and the whole dish cost just about R100. I recently got myself a very useful cookbook: Gordon Ramsey's ultimate cookery course (based on the tv series - 100 recipes to stake your life on). It's brilliant, and all the recipes are super easy to cook and doesn't include a load if weird ingredients. I got his recipe from that book and cooked it for us last Sunday. It's a winner, I promise.

Ingredients

4 lamb shanks

Olive oil, for frying

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 onion, peeled and thickly sliced

2 bay leaves

1 x 750ml bottle red wine

500ml chicken stock

Small handful of mint leaves, to garnish 

For the marinade

1-2 green chillies, deseeded and sliced, to taste

1-2 red chillies, deseeded and sliced, to taste

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half

3 garlic cloves, peeled, roughly chopped and crushed

Olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Method

1. First prepare the marinade. Mix the chillies (use only one of each if you don't like hot dishes), smoked paprika, oregano, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, garlic, 1tablespoon of olive oil and seasoning together. Rub the mixture into the lamb so that it is well flavoured. You can cook the lamb straight away, but if you have time, cover and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour, or even overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3.
3. Heat a large casserole dish on the hob and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Brown the lamb in it for about 6 minutes until coloured on all sides, then add the chillies and cinnamon from the marinade.
4. Add the carrots, onion and bay leaves to the casserole and brown for a minute or two. Lift the lamb so that it is resting on top of the onions and carrots. Add the red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits from the bottom, then bring to the boil and cook for 7-8 minutes to reduce the liquid by half. Add the chicken stock; bring to the boil, then transfer, uncovered, to the preheated oven. Cook for 3 hours until the meat is really tender and the sauce reduced. (If the tops of the shanks look like they might be drying out, just baste and occasionally turn them.)
5. Remove the cooked meat from the oven and serve garnished with torn mint leaves and the cooking juices spooned on top.

>>Recipe - Cake-tin Chicken Pie

Yesterday was a public holiday, and I thought I could treat my husband with one of his favourite dishes: home made chicken pie. Last week I watched an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate cookery course (100 recipes to stake your life on), and he used phyllo pastry to sort of wrap up a pie, in a cake-tin. It looked so pretty, and I wanted to try it with one of my own chicken pie fillings.

And wow, I think it turned out to be the best chicken pie I have ever baked! The pastry is made by using layers of buttered phyllo pastry lined in a buttered cake tin. I then filled the pie with the filling, put an extra 4 layers of pastry on top, and then I simply folded it all into the centre. This pie is a thing of beauty when it comes out of the oven, and it doesn't even run all over the place when you cut it. My only mistake might have been to over-brown the top, by not putting foil over the top in time...oops.

I start by roasting a chicken with lemon and herbs (I love the tangy zestiness that the lemon later gives to the stock), and then I made a stock from the bones and used it to make the sauce. It is all round amazing flavour.

I just really love the pastry, so try it yourself with a different filling or just use my recipe.

Ingredients for roasting the chicken

1 whole chicken
A little olive oil
Ina Paarman chicken spice
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
Half a lemon
1 onion cut into quarters
1 cup of water

Lightly oil the chicken and season with the Ina Paarman spice both outside and inside the chicken. Put the lemon, cloves and bay leaf on the inside of the chicken. Place the chicken in an oven dish, spread the onion around it and pour the water in the bottom of the dish. Bake the chicken for +/- 1 hour at 180 degrees, or until perfectly done.

Now, debone the chicken, placing the meat in one dish, and all the skin, bones, onions, left-over spice and lemon in a deepish pot. Add 3 cups of water to the bones and bring to the boil. Simmer thereafter for 20-30 minute, or until the flavour has developed. Strain the stock and set aside for the sauce.You will need 500ml stock, so if you don't have enough just add milk until you have the amount you need.

Ingredients for the filling

500 g mushrooms
A hand-full of fresh chopped parsley
60 g butter (be generous)
40 g flour (be stingy)
1 pack of Ina Paarman mushroom sauce
5ml english mustard powder, soaked in 30 ml water to develop the flavour
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the mushrooms and parsley and mix them in with the chicken meat. Melt the butter and add the flour. Now, add the stock in small amounts as if you are making a white sauce. Add the Ina Paarman sauce and mustard, and mix well.

Combine the sauce with the chicken and mushroom mixture and season to taste.

Now for the pastry

Butter a cake-tin. Lightly brush about 12 sheets of phyllo pastry with butter and layer inside the cake tin so the pastry makes flaps around the tin. Fill the cake-tin with the chicken filling, layer 4 more sheets of buttered pastry on top, and then fold all the flaps to the inside. Lightly butter the top of the pie, and bake in a prepared oven at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes. Cover the top of the pie with foil (so it doesn't over-brown), and then bake for another 10 minutes or until filling is completely heated through.

Remove from the oven and let the pie cool for at least 5 minutes before removing the cake-tin.

>> Recipe - Potato and leek soup

A couple of weeks ago, Johan and I got sick at the same time. Lucky us, the only not so bad thing about being sick, is if you get to stay home with your best friend for the day. I felt like making us something quick and easy for lunch, that will also make us feel a bit healthier too, and what is better than soup for the sick?

Potato and Leek soup is so tasty, and very simple to make. You just toss some potatoes and leeks in a pot with stock, puree and voilà! The French actually serve this soup cold, and call it Vichyssoise. If you feel like it, you can add some bacon bits for extra saltiness and crunch. I took a quick pic before serving, and it really tastes just as good as it looks.

Ingredients

2 big leeks, washed and chopped into circles
2 big potatoes, peeled and chopped into squares
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups of good chicken/vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
1 cup of milk
Some chives and sour cream for serving

Method

Place the leeks, potato and butter in a medium size pot and sweat off for a couple of minutes, or until the leeks start to caramelise slightly.  Add the stock and cook for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Puree the mixture and let it cool down slightly before adding the milk and seasoning.

Like I said, you can serve this soup hot of cold. Garnish with sour cream and chives and serve with hot and crunchy garlic bread and butter.

>> Recipe - Spiced red wine pears with chocolate sauce and mascarpone

I have a very fond memory of one winter a couple of years ago... When I was a student, I spent a lot of time with Johan and his family at their home, since it could get quite lonely in my little 3 by 3. Johan's mom always made the best food, and one night I walked into her kitchen, the whole house smelling like heaven...she was making red wine spiced poached pears, and since that night I've never had a desert that I loved more.

So last weekend, right out of the blue, I decided that I must try making poached pears myself. I got the same feeling as that night when our house started to float with the smells of star anise, cinnamon and berries. It smells beautiful...

I whipped up some quick chocolate sauce and served the pears with a dollop of mascarpone cheese and some of the red wine syrup.
It was melt in our mouths, could not get enough delightfulness! And yes, this is the picture I took myself before serving it, not a stock image. I try my hand at some food styling every now and then:-) Yum.

 

Ingredients

500ml dry red wine

70 g caster sugar

2 whole star anise 

2 x 7cm cinnamon sticks

3 black pepper corns

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

1 vanilla bean, split

4 just ripe pears, peeled

For the chocolate sauce

1 slab of milk chocolate

20 ml milk

When the pears are ready, melt the chocolate over boiling water and add the milk. Stir until it turns into a smooth sauce.

Method 

Combine the wine, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, bay leave and cloves in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Add the pears and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, turning occasionally, for 1 hour or until pears are tender. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pears to a heatproof bowl.

Increase heat to high and bring the syrup to the boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly. Pour over the pears and set aside. I like to serve the pears warm, but they can also be covered and cooled in the fridge for about 4 hours.

Make the chocolate sauce and smear some on a pretty serving plate. Place a pear on top of the sauce and drizzle with syrup. Serve with a dollop of mascarpone.

>>Recipe - Paella on the fire

Last weekend, our friends Heather and Marius came over and we made Paella. This was a first for me, and I won't lie, I was very happy to be in the company of people that actually knew what they were doing. My first attempt at adding rice, turned into rice crispies.....yup. As much as I love cooking, I have a lot to learn:-) 

So what is Paella? Paella is a rice dish that originated in the mid-19th century on the east coast of Spain. Paella mixta (mixed paella) is a free-style combination of chicken/rabbit, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Other core ingredients include olive oil and saffron, but since saffron is friggen expensive, we used turmeric and it's still amazing. Paella is a seriously attractive dish, and actually much easier to prepare than I thought. The most important thing to consider is probably timing and you also need the correct pan. The word Paella is actually derived from the old french word for pan, which in turn comes from the Latin patella, which means pan as well. The pan is big but shallow, and we put it straight on the webber.

This is a recipy I got from my mother in law (she is the most amazing cook), and its been tried and tested many times. Try it, it's great to share between friends:-) However, if you're afraid of creepy crawlies, then look away now!

Ingredients

15 ml butter
30 ml oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken, cut into pieces
5 ml chicken stock (use ina paarman's powder stock, it's good)
2 cups raw rice (tastic)
2 big leeks
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2-3 gloves of garlic
1 can (400 g) whole peeled tomatoes
10 ml tomato paste
2.5 ml sugar
pinch cayenne pepper
2.5 ml tumeric, or a pinch of saffron...
500 ml chicken stock
250 ml dry white wine
200 g fresh fish
200 g calamari
500 g mussels
500 g prawns
125 ml black olives
dash of olive oil
125 ml chopped parsley
some frozen peas

Method

Heat the butter and oil in your paella pan over the fire. Season the chicken with the powder stock, salt and pepper, and then brown the chicken in the oil and butter. Cover and braise for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the rice to the pan (make sure it is not too hot, or your rice will turn to rice crispies like mine), and stir fry until golden. Add the leeks, pepper and garlic, and stir-fry until limp. Add the tomatoes, paste, sugar, cayenne pepper, turmeric, stock and wine. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. You can add more boiling water to the mix if it becomes too dry.

Once the chicken looks cooked, add the fish, calamari, prawns and mussels, cover and cook until all the seafood is ready. Add the peas and wait until defrosted and warm. Toss to blend, add the olives and oil, and top with fresh parsley.

Serve with good country-style bread and a green salad.
Delicioso!