Cooking fresh food and drinking divine Cape wines in Melkbosstrand Cape Town
I stumbled across this Ottolenghi style oxtail casserole using ingredients like cinnamon, star anise and orange peel, as well as gremolata as a topping. Seeing that winter is upon us and I had some oxtail in the freezer, I decided to give it a go.
Looking for something different to do with my monster T-bone steaks, I came across this recipe for a Californian-style, coffee-based rub for beef.
This is a very easy recipe where you can basically use any type of stewing beef meat and any good quality fortified wine. The anchovies can be omitted, but it does provide that extra umami taste to the dish.
So what constitutes the perfect steak sandwich ? I take a look at some of the main criteria which for me contributes to a good steak sandwich and which should be kept in mind when preparing one.
We already did a biltong and blue cheese soup before in this article, but I decided to do it again, this time with a bit of twist.
If you stay in Cape Town, and love Portuguese cuisine, you probably would have visited Dias Tavern and Vasco da Gama Taverna. Both of these restaurants boast a delicious trinchado dish.
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.
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.