Cooking fresh food and drinking divine Cape wines in Melkbosstrand Cape Town
Bisque is a culinary method that brings out the full flavor of crustaceans that may not meet market standards. In a classic bisque, the shells are finely ground into a paste, which is then used to thicken the soup. Despite having obtained perfect crayfish, I wanted to explore the art of making a bisque. Here is my interpretation of a delightful crayfish bisque.
This black mussel and white wine dish is one of my favourite starters to make when we are having people over. It is very easy to prepare and the whole dish can be done under 90 minutes from scratch. As a starter this can easily serve 12 people if you add some bread. Obviously it can also be served as a mains, but be careful, it is very rich.
This dish almost seems Arabic instead of European with the use of sultanas and pine nuts. This is not surprising as Sicily was under Arab rule from 827 to 1061 and Sicilian cuisine was strongly influenced by the Arabs.
Laksa is a popular noodle soup in Malaysia, Indonesia and Southern Thailand. We love soup, noodles and curry, so I decided to make a Malaysian curry laksa for this week’s date night starter. There are many versions of this dish and I opted for Penang Curry Mee.
Sometimes the simplest food is the tastiest – Beef Espetada being a prime example. A dish from the island of Madeira, large chunks of beef are rubbed with garlic, salt and bay leaves. It is then skewered and cooked over an open fire.
When you think of Jamaica you think of relaxed island vibes, rum cocktails and food flavoured with chilli, all spice and thyme. This inspired me to try the quintessential Jamaican dishes of Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas for this week’s Jamaican date night.
This is actually a date night from December but totally forgot about it with all the Silly Season chaos.
There’s so much more to Indian cuisine than the Butter Chicken, Vindaloo, Madras and Korma’s we see on local menus.
Goa – a coastal region in western India is well known for it’s seafood dishes. Goan cuisine is heavily influenced by its Hindu origins, Muslim rule and subsequent Portuguese colonialisation.
This prawn curry starts of with a masala of spices, garlic, ginger and vinegar (the Portugese influence), before coconut milk is added to make a creamy curry full of flavour.
One of Belgium’s classic dishes is Moules Frites – mussels steamed in a white wine sauce with fries. Adrienne makes a great mussel potjie in a garlic cream sauce, so the challenge was on to see whether I could make a mussel dish that would measure up.
Comfort food was in order for this week’s date night and nothing says comfort more than slow cooked Cajun Seafood Gumbo.
I wanted to redeem myself after overcooking the beef fillet at the girls’ lunch in June, so I decided to make Beef Wellington for date night. Keeping in line with the English theme, I made Haddock Fish Cakes for a starter and Lemon Posset for dessert.