Three of my Favourite Ingredients

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avocado, Cape Town Chef Cooks, Chillies, Clifton Kitchen - Cooking thorugh the seasons, food and drink, food and travel writing, Food Blogs, Food Writing, healthy food, Healthy Meals, ingredients, Kate Abbott, Lifestyle, Light meals, Olive oil, Photography, Poached egg, recipes, smoked salmon

I love Avocado, smoked salmon and eggs, and in this recipe I have combined them to produce a dish that is full of fantastic flavour. It is healthy and easy to prepare and is one of my favourite meals for lunch or brunch.

Ingredients

Toasted wholegrain brown bread

A few slivers of smoked salmon

A few slices of avocado

A soft boiled or poached egg

Lemon juice

Olive oil chilli dressing

Black pepper

Sea salt flakes

Method

Cut the toast in half and place the toast on a plate; drape over a few slivers of smoked salmon followed by a few slivers of avocado. Place the poached egg on the plate next to the smoked salmon and avocado.

Sprinkle over some lemon juice and dress with the chilli dressing and some black pepper. Season the egg with a little salt.

For the chilli dressing

Ingredients

2 medium hot chillies

Juice from one lime

Pinch of salt

Pinch of sugar

Olive oil

Method

Place the chillies, lime juice, salt, and sugar in a container and blitz with a hand held blender until you have a rough mixture. Stir in some olive oil and serve.

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Cooking Should Always be a Delight for all the Senses.

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Books, Cape Town, Chillies, Entertaining, feta, Food Blogging, Food Writing, Goats milk feta cheese, Herbs, Life, News, Photography, Quick meals, recipes, Rocket, Sandwiches, Travel

While snipping herbs, large white butterflies dance around me and chase one another over fennel, oregano and thyme, the latter which has just come into flower. This is how cooking should always be, a delight for all the senses.

A friend has popped in unexpectedly for lunch and I have very little time to cook but I want to provide something that is delicious yet quick to make. I have some crisp bread rolls and fresh goat’s feta so I make chilli feta sandwiches for the two of us which we eat at the kitchen counter while we catch up on each other’s news.

Chilli, Feta & Rocket Sandwich

Serves 2 as a light snack

Ingredients

2 red chillies, finely chopped. I like medium hot

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

A little olive oil

A few sprigs of fresh lemon thyme

200g feta cheese, more or less

Fresh coriander leaves, a handful, roughly chopped

Lemon juice

Rocket leaves, about 6 leaves per sandwich

Fresh bread rolls

Method

Warm a the olive oil in a shallow pan, add the chillies, spring onions and garlic and sauté over gentle heat, stirring from time to time until ingredients have softened and released their flavours .

Remove the leaves from the thyme stalks, chop roughly then stir into the ingredients in the pan. Put the feta in the pan, spoon a little of the chillies, spring onions, garlic and thyme mixture over the cheese and leave for a few minutes until the cheese is warm and starting to soften around the edges. Add the chopped coriander leaves and a drizzle of lemon juice.

Place the feta and seasoning in between pieces of bread, and tuck in some rocket leaves. Cut into fingers and serve.

It’s Almost Time to Bring the Patio Umbrellas out of Storage

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Basmati Rice, Blogging, Books, Books for Cooks, Cape Town, Chillies, Cooks, Eggs Soy sauce, Entertaining, Entertainment, farm fresh eggs, food and drink, Food Blogs, Food Writing, In Season, News, organic, Peanut oil, PhotographyLife, Prawns, recipes, Sesame oil, Spring, Spring onions, Travel, Writing

I wake an hour earlier than usual, to a light filled bedroom, not the usual overcast, dark days of the past few weeks. It’s going to be a sunny, breezy day, but temperature wise still cold enough to warrant warm clothing.

I cannot help but welcome the change in weather with open arms; I notice the lizard sprawled on the sunlit flagstones and wonder if it’s almost time to bring the patio umbrellas out of storage.

The afternoon cools dramatically and a chilly breeze blows in through the kitchen where I sip aromatic coffee while planning the evening meal. There will be three of us for supper and I want something that is quick to prepare yet feels like a special treat. I have some lovely fresh prawns, chillies, fresh coriander and farm fresh organic eggs, perfect for a dish of spicy prawn and scrambled eggs, dressed with soy and sesame infused sauce, served together with a bowl of basmati rice.

This is a delightful main course, simple yet full on flavour, perfect for a lunch or supper dish. It’s one I enjoy and so too the friends I have shared it with. To ring the changes I sometimes replace the prawns with firm fish, scallops or pork.

Spicy Prawn Scrambled Eggs Dressed with Soy & Sesame infused Sauce

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

4 – 5 eggs

60 ml peanut or other vegetable oil

600 g prawns, peeled and cleaned

3-4 spring onions finely chopped with some of the green part included

Dried chilli flakes

Sprinkle of salt 

Sauce Dressing

80 ml light soy sauce

2 tsp. white sugar

4-6 drops sesame oil

80 ml water

Accompaniment

Basmati Rice

Garnish

Chopped green parts of spring onion

Method

While the rice is almost cooked start making the sauce. Put all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to the boil then remove from the heat.

Break eggs in a bowl and whisk lightly for a few seconds, add the tiniest bit of salt and pepper. Season the prawns with chilli flakes. 

Heat a wok or a frying pan until almost smoking then add half the oil, leave to heat through for a few seconds then add the prawns and cook until almost done. Remove prawns and wipe wok with some paper towels. Put wok back on the heat, add the balance of the oil, add the egg mixture and stir fry until just beginning to set. At this point add the prawns and the chopped spring onions and gently toss together for a few more seconds to combine.

Remove from the heat and transfer the egg and prawns to a plate and pour over the warm sauce sprinkle over some chopped green parts of spring onion and serve with Basmati rice.

Note: when adding salt to season the ingredients prior to cooking, do so sparingly and  keep in mind the saltiness of the soy sauce in the dressing.

Chilli Pepper Jam

Tags

apple cider vinegar, Chilli Jam, Chillies, cooking, food, Hot Chilli, recipes, wine

It is the end of the chilli season in my garden but I have to say it has been a fruitful year, my chilli bushes produced an abundance of gorgeous fruit in all shapes and sizes. I used them in salsa, dips, jams, relishes, sauces, cooking and dried some for use in various spice mixes.

This is a rather nice chilli jam recipe which when served, people tend to wade through by the spoonful.

Ingredients

230 g hot chilli pepper, seeded, halved

754 g  yellow and red bell peppers, seeded, halved

950 ml (2 cups) apple cider vinegar

908 g  sugar

Method

In a non-re-active pot combine the peppers with apple cider vinegar. Cover with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes or until the peppers have softened. Drain the pepper mixture in a colander pressing gently with the back of a wooden spoon to extract the excess liquid.

Transfer to the chillies to a blender and puree the peppers. Press the puree through a sieve to remove the skins, discard the skin.

Place a pot on medium heat, add the puree and the sugar a little at a time, mix until sugar has dissolved. Continue to cook for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove when mixture resembles a jam texture. Allow to cool and transfer into jars.