Cooking fresh food and drinking divine Cape wines in Melkbosstrand Cape Town
I love pomegranate molasses. It’s tartness and sweetness gives a wonderful taste to sauces, dressings, dips and even drinks. It goes particularly well with chicken. Scouring the web for a chicken pomegranate recipe I came across a one-pot Ottolenghi recipe for Chicken with Prunes and Pomegranate Molasses.
A visit to the Asian grocery store in Milnerton’s China Town inspired me to try and cook an authentic Chinese Red Cooked Beef dish for date night. We do not eat Chinese food that often – the American Chinese versions of chow mein and chop suey that you get in most Chinese restaurants here does not appeal to us. As is often the case, if you want to get close to any authentic ethnic cuisine you have to cook it yourself.
I decided to cook Moroccan food for date night last week as my preserved lemons were a month old and finally ready to use. I love Paul Wolfert’s recipes so decided to make her Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives for our Moroccan date night.
This is a classic traditional Moroccan tagine recipe. I won’t call my effort a tagine though as I did not cook it in a tagine pot. Every time I pass Le Creuset I want to buy one but then I hear the “but how often will you use it” voice in my head.
We recently had the in-laws over for an 8 course Italian style dinner to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. I originally wanted to cook Braciole (a type of roulade) as a main course. I made Braciole 3 Ways (with 3 different fillings) last year and it was delicious. Adrienne really wanted to braai. We compromised and went for a South African/Italian style fusion dish by cooking a rump steak with a braciole style filling over the coals.
We have not had proper Mexican food in ages. Most “Mexican” restaurants around here is decidedly more Tex Mex – load of tacos and chilli poppers but sadly not a Mole or Recado Rojo sauce in sight. Not that we don’t enjoy Tex Mex occasionally but it doesn’t come close to the real deal. I made Chicken Mole Poblano and Adrienne made Achiote Chicken and Ancho Pork a while back. Since then our Ancho (dried Poblano) and Guajillo (dried MIrasol) chillies have been sitting in the back of the food cupboard. To make up for this travesty I decided to make 3 main dishes for our Mexican date night.
Heritage Day on 24 September is a day where South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their culture. Having a braai (barbeque) is very much part of the South African culture so this day is also known as National Braai Day. Boerewors is probably the most “South African” meat that you can braai so we decided to make our own for the occasion.
I got the original recipe from Jess Pryles for this twice cooked drunken beef short ribs from here, but I altered it quite a bit for our taste. Although this recipe is quite straight forward it does take some time to prepare. This dish is perfect for those cold winter evenings when you crave “comfort food”.
We’re having a cold and rainy start to spring in Cape Town. No one is complaining though as we need every drop of rain we can get. As I always want to make soup when it rains I decided to make Tom Kha Gai from one of my favourite food blogs – She Simmers.
Looking for a recipe for our Brazilian datenight I came across Xinxim de Galinha (Brazilian Chicken Stew). How could I not make something with such a fabulous name ? This famous Brazilian chicken, shrimp and nut stew comes from Bahia – an Afro-Brazilian region.
It’s already August and I realized that I’ve only made a vindaloo and butter chicken this winter. Not that you cannot make a curry any time of the year but spicy food always seems nicer on a cold day. As it’s a chilly week in Cape Town it seemed like the perfect time for a Lamb Rogan Josh.