As we try to stick to a fairly low carb diet most of the time, I haven’t made fresh pasta for ages.  This was a great excuse to make ravioli for date night.

As every date night is a special occasion I decided to push the boat out and make 3 different types of ravioli with 3 different sauces.

Veal & Spinach Ravioli in a Walnut Sauce, Ostrich & Pancetta Ravioli in a Porcini Sauce and Venison & Butternut Ravioli in a Sage Butter Sauce.

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People tend to associate ramen noodles with the dried noodles you zap in the microwave for a quick cheap meal.  This does not compare with freshly made Japanese ramen noodles.

Ramen also refers to the Japanese dish of noodles served in a broth and topped with meat and/or vegetables.  I decided to make ramen noodles with a miso broth and miso roasted pork belly for this week’s date night.

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I have not made nearly enough curries or South East Asian food lately, so  Beef Rendang was a good choice for this week’s date night.

Rendang originated in Indonesia and spread to Malaysia and Singapore when the Minangkabau settlers migrated to those countries.  This is a slow cooked dry curry, rich with spices and  full of flavour.

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Legend has it that in 1574  there was a glassmaker’s assistant in Milan whose nickname was Zaffereno (Saffron).  He always mixed a bit of saffron into the colours for the stained glass to make it more vivid. The glassmaker used to joke that he’ll be putting it into risotto next.  When the  glassmaker’s daughter got married he did just that.  The steaming pots of golden rice was a huge success with the guests and it became a classic Milanese dish.

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Here in South Africa we tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to making curry.  Chicken, lamb and beef are usually the meat of choice, whether we are making an Indian or a traditional South African curry.

As goat curry is a very popular dish in India, we decided to make a curry with some of the springbok that we have in our freezer. Now I know that springbok meat and goat meat are not the same thing, but finding goat meat in South Africa is a bit of a challenge.  To take the fusion food thing a bit further we decided to make a potjie (a traditional South Africa dish cooked in a cast iron pot over an open fire).

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