PICK A FINGER




To be honest I don’t like sardines or cabbage or beans or brown rice…I do like feta though. 
So this week’s Freshly Blogged ingredients was really a challenge for me – to cook something 
that I’d be happy to eat with ingredients I really don’t like. 
This was more determination than inspiration. But I think I succeeded…
I polished the plate after taking the photo.

If you agree, please vote for my recipe here!


Ingredients

Rice cake
¾ cup PnP Brown Rice
1l hot water
2 sachets Ina Paarman concentrated vegetable stock
1 cup chopped cabbage
½ cup chopped green beans
1 disk PnP Plain Feta Cheese, roughly crumbled
2/3 cup grated Emmentaler cheese

Sardine Pâté
1 sardine (from a can of Lucky Star Pilchards in tomato sauce)
40ml PnP Greek Style yoghurt
½ tbs Ina Paarman Lemon & Rosemary seasoning

Fish Fingers
4 sardines (from a can of Lucky Star Pilchards in tomato sauce)
80ml cake flour
2 tsp Robertson’s Garlic Salt
1 tsp Robertson’s White Pepper
1 disk PnP Plain Feta Cheese
1 medium egg

Garnish
PnP Cayenne pepper
Crumbled PnP Plain Feta Cheese

Instructions

Bring water to the boil, add the stock sachets then add the rice.
Let it simmer for 45 minutes.

In a food processor, blend all the pâté ingredients together until it resembles the smooth texture of a pâté. Scoop into a zip lock bag.

Next add all the fish finger ingredients to the food processor 
(it’s ok if there is still a little bit of leftovers from the pâté in the processor). 
Use the pulse function of the food processor – you don’t want to overdo it, 
you just want to cut up the fish and feta and get the egg to bind it all together.
If the mixture is still quite runny, add some more flour 
(egg & fish sizes differ so your mixture might be wetter / dryer than mine). 
Flatten out the mixture on a cutting board or on baking paper using a spatula.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan (medium to high heat).
Using a large (sharp) knife cut off 10cm x 2cm fingers one at a time. 
It’ll probably stick to the knife, then just allow it slide off the knife into the pan.
Once crispy on the bottom side, carefully turn them over. 
They only need to be turned once.

After the fish fingers are done, add the cabbage to the pan and flash fry for a couple of minutes 
then drain on paper towel.

Once the rice has cooked for 45 minutes, add the beans to the same pot and let it simmer for another 15 minutes.
Drain and return the rice & beans to the pot, also add the cabbage and feta cheese and set aside. 
Mix well and press the mixture into a cookie cutter or other object to form a “cake”.

The rules for this challenge prevented me from using the oven so I used a blowtorch to melt the 
emmentaler cheese over the rice cake but you can just pop it under the grill.

To assemble:
Cut open 1 corner of the zip lock bag and use it as a piping bag to pipe dollops of the pâté onto each fish finger. 
Garnish with crumbled feta.
Sprinkle cayenne pepper over the melted cheese top of the rice cake.


Disclaimer: For this recipe and for the upcoming challenges, I'm using and promoting PnP specific ingredients - it is a PnP competition after all! If, during the competition, I come across a PnP ingredient which I feel is inferior I will suggest an alternative in the recipe. But so far the ingredients have been great so I doubt that will be necessary!


KAROO TAPAS


Round 3...

For this week's Freshly Blogged challenge we were given typical South African ingredients - maize meal, ostrich, pinotage. I decided to make ostrich sosaties (skewers), sweet corn soufflés and a pinotage onion marmelade.
You can read more about the competition here

The competition is getting stiff and I need all the votes I can get! Please take a minute and 
vote for my recipe here


Ingredients
Ostrich skewers
500g ostrich sausage
1 cup of PnP dried peaches and mangoes
wooden skewers
100ml PnP hot chutney

Onion marmalade
2 medium onions
250ml Drostdy-Hof Pinotage (you know what to do with the rest of the bottle)
100ml white sugar
Fresh sugar snaps (for garnish)

Sweetcorn soufflé
60ml butter
60ml maize meal
3ml salt
5ml mustard powder
5ml dried chilli flakes
250ml milk
4 sweet corns
4 eggs, separated

Instructions
Start a coal fire
Boil the kettle, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, clean the sweet corns, pour your first glass of pinotage.
Soak the skewers in hot water and in a separate bowl soak the dried fruit – both for 5 min.
Take the sausage and carefully twist it a couple of times every 5cm and cut into smaller sausages.
Drain the fruit.
Now thread the sausages and fruit onto the skewers.
Place the whole sweet corns in a bowl, add about 1cm of hot water and close with a lid. 
Pop it in the microwave for 5 min.

Cut off the 2 ends of the onion (roots and stalk sides). Now cut them in half (around it’s belly). 
Remove the outer layer of 2 onion halves as in the picture.
Roughly chop up the rest.
Heat oil in a pan and sauté the onions. 
Add the red wine and sugar and let it reduce until it becomes syrupy.

Grill the corn over the hot coals until charred. Cut down the sides of the corn to remove the kernels.
In a blender, chop up the corn kernels for about 20 sec.
Melt butter in a double boiler 
(one pot that rests on another one, the bottom one on the stove and half filled with hot water).
Add the maize meal, salt, mustard powder and chilli and stir constantly.
Gradually stir in the milk and boil until thick.
Mix in the sweet corn and egg yolks. Remove from heat.
Whisk the egg whites until peaks start to form and carefully fold it into the mixture.
Pour into greased ramekins and put the ramekins in an oven tray that is filled with 1cm of hot water.
Bake for 40 minutes.

Braai (grill) the skewers over the coals. You want a low heat otherwise the fruit will quickly burn.
Turn them every 5 minutes and baste with chutney after every turn.
The sausages are cooked when you twist them slightly and they break open. (Roughly 20 minutes)

Spoon some of the onion marmalade into the 2 onion “cups” and serve with the fresh sugar snaps.
 Using a sharp knife remove the soufflés from the ramekins.

Plate up and enjoy!


CHOCOLATE & COCKTAIL PAIRING




When I received an invite to the launch of Tanqueray’s new partnership with Lindt, I was confused and intrigued. Gin cocktails and chocolates?

The event was hosted at the Lindt chocolate studio in Design Quarter, Fourways.
We were served an abundance of cocktails, one of which we made ourselves and the rest served up by the expert mixologist. Each cocktail was paired with a specific variety from the Lindt Excellence range.

The 2 that stood out for me was the wasabi, cucumber and lime cocktail, called a Tanqueray Dragon served with Lindt Excellence Wasabi as well as the Flipped Symphony (among other things a raw egg is 
added before shaking it) that was paired with Lindt white milk chocolate.

The Lindt chocolatiers showed off their skills and produced beautiful plates of dessert. A spicy chocolate fondant, passion fruit and white milk chocolate aero, chocolate soil and vanilla marshmallow twirls.

It wasn’t just about eating and drinking, we actually learnt a thing or two about gin, like: 
- London Dry gin is just a variety of gin (like a Bordeaux blend is just a style of wine)
- Gin is flavoured with botanicals. Tanqueray for example is flavoured with juniper berries,
coriander seeds, angelica root and liquorice.
Gin originated in Holland. Rumour has it that English troops coined the phrase “Dutch courage” 
after observing the “calming” effect gin had on Dutch soldiers before going into battle….









One must take a lesson out of everything in life, right? 
But I can’t decide whether the lesson is that: 
(1) One can have gin with everything, even your dessert; or
(2) One can have chocolate with everything, even your gin…


FRENCH BUNNY CHOW




For week 2 of the Pick n Pay Freshly Blogged competition our challenge was called "Meaty Moment" 
and the ingredients we were given were:
- Knorr Beef Stock Pot
- Beef suet
- Typical soup vegetables (carrot, celery, potato)
- Beef shin
- Star anise
- White wine vinegar

For the duration of the competition we may use pantry ingredients including flour, sugar, eggs, milk, salt, pepper and a few other basics. We were also allowed to omit one of the above ingredients, add one 
grocery item and 2 fresh ingredients.

I decided to omit the star anise (I'm just not a big fan) and to add puff pastry, an onion and tomatoes.


If you like what you see - please go and vote for my recipe by clicking here!

For me a stew needs a starch to wipe up the last bit of sauce on the plate – like a good bunny chow. 
However, I decided to go with something a bit more French and a bit less Durban – a puff pastry casing called a vol-au-vent.

Beef Suet was a new experience to me and I’ll definitely use it more often. It is dirt cheap plus it 
adds a layer of richness to the dish that vegetable oil simply doesn’t have.
Beef shin is a tough, sinewy cut of meat and needs to be pressure cooked or slow cooked. I used a pressure cooker but that step in the recipe could easily be replaced with 4 hours in a slow cooker.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients

500g beef shin
75ml minced beef suet
1 punnet PnP soup mix (containing 1 potato, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk – no leafs)
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
20ml PnP white wine vinegar
1 Knorr Beef Stock Pot dissolved in 2 cups of boiling water
1 roll puff pastry, thawed
1 egg,  egg white & yolk mixed

Instructions

Remove the outer layer of skin/sinew from each piece of meat and cut into cubes. 
Keep any bones.
Heat a pressure cooker on the stove to a high heat, add 60ml of beef suet and stir until melted.
Add the chopped onions and sauté for 4 minutes.
Add the remaining tablespoon of suet, then the beef including the bones (they add lots of flavour).
Add a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Brown the meat – the more it sticks to the bottom of the pot, the better!
Add the vinegar and scrape loose all the bits at the bottom of the pot.
Add the vegetables and stir for a few minutes.
Add the stock and close the lid of the pressure cooker.
Cook for 1 hour (from the time of closing the lid)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Use a cookie cutter or other object to cut 4 circles (10cm diameter) from the puff pastry.
Then use a smaller object to press another circle in the middle of each bigger circle – 
don’t cut right through the dough.
Put them on a sheet of baking paper and brush with the egg.
Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cut out the crust of each inner circle.
Scoop the filling into each casing (remove any bones!) and cover with the cut out lid.

Disclaimer: For this recipe and for the upcoming challenges, I'm using and promoting PnP specific ingredients - it is a PnP competition after all! If, during the competition, I come across a PnP ingredient which I feel is inferior I will suggest an alternative in the recipe. But so far the ingredients have been great so I doubt that will be necessary!


VEGETARIAN THAI EGG WRAP & CRUNCHY NOODLES




I am taking part in an exciting food blogger competition hosted by Pick n Pay called Freshly Blogged. 
40 Food bloggers were selected to take part and each week we are given a theme and a "mystery box" 
of ingredients with which we have to create a recipe and blog about it. I also have a basic pantry 
(oil, eggs, flour, milk etc) at my disposal for all the recipes. 
The recipes are uploaded on the freshly blogged website after which I may upload it here 
on my own blog.

Each week 5 bloggers are eliminated until there are only 3 left. The grand finale is a live cook-off 
at the Taste of Joburg festival later this year.

So... if you like what you see here, PLEASE go and vote for my recipe each week on Freshly Blogged!

With this challenge my aim was to figure out a new, fresh way of presenting a typical hodgepodge stir fry. 
I love stir fry but I must admit they don't often look very appealing. Phyllo pastry was one option
 given to us or I could use some of our “pantry ingredients” which is what I decided to do. 
The idea of an egg pocket was born within which I could neatly package the stir fry.
Now that my stir fry wasn't going to be plated on a bed of noodles, I decided to serve the noodles as a 
side dish. Even though typical fried noodle dishes are made with rice noodles or vermicelli, I only had 
access to instant noodles and so the next experiment was born. To my surprise it turned out quite well!




Recipe (serves 2 people)

Stir Fry vegetables
200g frozen Fundis Wok Thai vegetables
½ tsp P’nP crushed garlic, ginger & dhania paste
100g fresh pineapple, diced into cubes

Egg wrap
4 eggs

Crunchy noodles
1 packet P’nP Sweet Thai Chilli Instant Noodles

Orange Syrup
1 tbs white sugar
juice of 1 orange

salt & pepper
vegetable oil
fresh coriander leaves

Instructions

Noodles part 1
Bring a pot of water to the boil, add a pinch of salt.
Break up the noodle cake and add it to the boiling water. Cook for 1 minute.
Strain the noodles and let them dry out completely.

Egg Wrap
Beat 2 eggs together and pour it into a non-stick pan over moderate heat. 
(Add oil first if you’re afraid it will stick). 
Tilt the pan to all sides to make sure that you get the egg evenly distributed and end up with an 
egg “pancake” with no holes.
Turn off the heat and cover with a lid to ensure the top of the “pancake” is also cooked.
Repeat for the second wrap.

Pineapple
Heat up a wok (moderate to high heat) and add a teaspoon of oil.
Add the pineapple and toss them around until they caramelise. 
Remove the pineapple and return the wok to the heat.

Noodles part 2
In the noodle pot, heat a cup of oil to a very high heat.
Sprinkle the noodle seasoning over the dried out noodles.
Fry the noodles for 1 minute, strain them and place it on paper towel to absorb the oil.

Orange Syrup
Wipe the egg wrap pan with paper towel and then bring it up to a moderate heat.
Add the orange juice and sugar and let it reduce until it becomes sticky syrup.

Vegetables
Add a teaspoon of oil to the hot wok, then add the paste.
Add the frozen vegetables and keep stirring to ensure evenly cooked vegetables.
Add a good pinch of salt. 
I didn't add salt to the omelette - the idea is a salty stir fry inside a neutral egg wrap.
Cook the vegetables for a few minutes until almost cooked through and add the caramelised pineapple.
Turn off the heat.

Assembling the egg wrap.
Place the “pancake” on a plate and spoon half the mixture into the middle of the “pancake”.
Fold all 4 sides towards the middle so that the vegetables are tucked into this egg pocket.
Turn the egg pocket over - you want the 4 tucked in side to sit on the plate.
Cut a cross into the flat surface of the pocket and fold open the 4 corners.
Reheat in the microwave.
Sprinkle black pepper over the wrap and garnish with fresh coriander.


Add the crunchy noodles and orange syrup to accompany the egg wrap.

Disclaimer: For this recipe and for the upcoming challenges, I'm using and promoting PnP specific ingredients - it is a PnP competition after all! If, during the competition, I come across a PnP ingredient which I feel is inferior I will suggest an alternative in the recipe. But so far the ingredients have been great so I doubt that will be necessary!

TASTE BUDS VERSION 2.0




Welcome to the new Taste Buds.
A fresh new look to set the scene for things to come.

Thanks so much to my friend Lia for her creativity and hard work!
You can't choose your family but you can choose your friends so make sure there is a doctor, 
a lawyer, a tax expert and a designer in your circle of friends.

To see more of Lia check out her blog, diditellulove, and for her new range of pretty products visit Met Liefde