Festive Christmas Starter

Tags

Apple, Bresola, Cape Town, Chefs & Cooks, Christmas, Cifton Kitchen, fennel, food and drink, Food Blogs, Food Writing, grapeseed oil, Olive oil, recipe, Starters

A tasty and visually pleasing starter to brighten the Christmas table and very easy to prepare. For vegetarians you could exchange the Bresaola for a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and capers

Insalata Bresaola

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 fennel bulbs; rinsed and trimmed

1 granny smith apple, washed and dried, keep skin on.

100g thinly sliced Bresaola

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons water

100g natural yoghurt

4 tablespoons Grapeseed or olive oil

a gentle splash of Pernod anise or Ricard Pastis (optional)

Salt and pepper

Dill or fennel fronds to garnish

Method

In bowl, mix the lemon juice with 2 tablespoons water set aside.

Cut the fennel into thin slices. Cut the apple into thin slices, then briefly dip the apple slices in the lemon juice water to keep the pulp from darkening. Toss the apple and fennel together, season to taste with salt and pepper and place a portion on each plate. Arrange the Bresaola slices in the middle and drizzle with the dressing.

Dressing

In a bowl mix the yoghurt with oil, Pernod, salt and pepper. Set aside

Garnish

With dill or fennel fronds.

Note

Bresaola is dried salted beef available from delicatessens.

Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis, are both anise-flavoured liqueurs and are often referred to simply as Pernod or Ricard.

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Chopped Egg & Onion with Lemon Thyme

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Cape Town, Chefs & Cooks, Chopped Egg & Onion, Clifton Kitchen - Cooking thorugh the seasons, Food Blogs, Food Writing, Kate Abbott, Lemon Thyme, Lifestyle, Light Lunch, Light meals, Mayonnaise, Mustard, onions, Photography, South African Food Blogs, Spring onions, Wholegrain mustard

This recipe is lovely to serve as a starter or a light lunch. As simple as the ingredients may sound, the end result is high in flavour; delicious served sprinkled with chopped parsley, onion rings, and piled on toast, or used as sandwich filling. I love it just on a bed of crisp lettuce leaves.

 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

8 hardboiled eggs, shelled and finely chopped – or if you prefer coarsely chopped

6 spring onions or 1 small onion, very finely chopped

A sprig of finely chopped fresh lemon thyme – about a ¼ of a tsp. once chopped

4 tablespoons good quality mayonnaise or sufficient mayonnaise to bind the mixture together

1 tsp. French whole grain mustard

Fresh parsley finely chopped to garnish or fold into the mixture

Method

Place the chopped egg and onion in a bowl and season well with salt and black pepper

Mix the mayonnaise and mustard together, then add to the chopped eggs and onions and combine all ingredients together. Chill for 15-30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop

Serve with a garnish of parsley

Options:

You could replace the Lemon Thyme with Dill or Tarragon

You could also add some fresh cooked and flaked crab or steamed, shelled and roughly diced prawns to the mixture which will take it to a whole new level.

Food For a Crowd

Tags

Appitizer, Books, Calzone, Cape Town, Cefs, Cooks, Entertaining, feta, food, Food Blogs, Life, News, Photography, Pizza, Proscuitto, recipes, spinach, Travel, Writing

Calzone can be filled with anything you have at hand making it perfect food for feeding a crowd, especially handy at this time of the year when we entertain a lot. It’s also easy to make but does require a little forward planning.

The flavourful marriage of spinach, rocket and prosciutto together with feta cheese is one of my favourite combinations.

Serves 8-10  as a starter or appetizer

or

Serves 6 as a main meal with salad

For the dough

500 g flour. I use 00 flour

200 g semolina, and a little extra for dusting

1 tablespoon activated instant dry yeast

10 ml sea salt

40 ml olive oil

400 ml water

For the filling

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 garlic cloves thinly sliced

300 g baby spinach

250 g rocket, small leaves are best

salt and pepper to taste

12-14 slices of prosciutto

Method

In a bowl combine the flour, semolina, yeast and 10 ml sea salt. Make a well in the centre, add olive oil and about 400ml water, stir to combine. Turn dough onto a clean work surface, knead until combined and smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with tea towel, and place in a warm place to prove until double in size. This will take about 45-50 minutes.

In the meantime sauté the garlic in olive oil in a pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes, add spinach and rocket and cook until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 250C.

Prepare the base

You will need an oven tray measuring 40 x 25cm. Scatter a base of oven tray with semolina. Roll two thirds of the dough slightly larger than the baking tray (45 x 30 cm) and place the dough on the tray.

Arrange wilted greens over the dough, leaving a 3cm boarder. Scatter with basil, feta and prosciutto, fold in border, moisten the border with egg wash and set aside. Roll out remaining dough to 40cm x 25cm, place over prepared base and press edges together to seal. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until dough has risen slightly, about 25-30 minutes. Cut slits in top, place in oven and bake until golden brown (10-15) minutes.

Cut into serving portions and serve either with a salad or as an appetizer