Cooking fresh food and drinking divine Cape wines in Melkbosstrand Cape Town
As winter approaches, I was in search of a comforting dish for a chilly evening. That’s when I came across Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for Yemeni Oxtail Soup with Zhoug. Having experimented with several oxtail casseroles in the past, I was eager for a different taste, and the addition of the zhoug condiment did not disappoint.
During my visit to Aveiro in Portugal a few years ago, I had the pleasure of tasting the most delectable beef cheeks I have ever had! The unforgettable taste of that dish stayed with me, and I have always had the desire to replicate it. Therefore, I present to you my version of Portuguese beef cheeks served on a bed of creamy polenta.
I recently got my hands on wild boar and seeing that cider and sage are commonly used with pork, I decided to improvise and use an apple and beer with a browned sage sauce instead to contribute to the rustic flavours and image of the wild boar.
A salteña is a baked empanada that originates from Bolivia. Typically, it is a savory pastry that is filled with beef, pork, or chicken mixed with a sweet, slightly spicy sauce. This sauce typically contains olives, raisins, and potatoes.
This rigatoni with fennel sausage and pecorino and anchovy pesto dish is a recipe I got from Yotam Ottolenghi and can be found here.
Tagliata di manzo is an Italian beef fillet recipe traditionally served with only arugula (rocket) and cheese. This recipe enhances the dish by adding balsamic vinegar and thyme.
I recently went on a charcuterie course hosted by Richard Bosman and one of the sausages we made was an Italian sausage called Salsiccia. Being quite a hot day and looking for something light, I decided to use this sausage for this Italian sausage salad.
This is an extremely easy recipe which can be prepared in minutes. The original recipe uses skinless chicken breasts, but I opted for pork fillet. Don’t be shy with the sage and serve with your starch of choice.
This is a bit of a fusion Mediterranean dish with a whole, deboned chicken stuffed with a thyme bread crumb filling, layered on prosciutto and then covered with sunflower seeds and Parmesan cheese. It is served with some grilled tomatoes and aubergine covered in a thyme and honey yoghurt sauce.
I recently got my hands on some very good quality warthog stewing meat. While searching for a suitable recipe, I stumbled upon this recipe by Nico Verster – Slow-roasted warthog potjie with dukka spice – which had me instantly intrigued. Dukka (or dukkah or duqqa) is an Egyptian seed and nut condiment where warthog is a venison meat often used in South African cuisine and cooked in a potjie which is a traditional way of cooking food in a cast iron pot. Fusion food indeed!