Overindulgence eventually gets to all of us

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Overindulgence eventually gets to all of us and my limit has definitely been reached. All the festive season entertaining followed by a 40^th birthday celebration this week-end brought me to seeking something simple and more gentle on the constitution.

For lunch my focus was the lovely organic sweet potatoes that I picked up at the fresh produce market: these I baked in the oven, sliced into rounds and arranged on a plate with some rocket leaves, crumbled over some goat’s cheese feta and dressed with balsamic vinegar, walnut oil and a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice. Served with a zesty wine it was just perfect.

The left over sweet potato made an equally delicious breakfast, this time served on a toasted baguette, spread with horseradish paste followed by sliced sweet potatoes, crumbled feta, balsamic and walnut dressing, a sprinkle of fresh lime juice, seasoned with black pepper and salt flakes. Yummy!

Both of the following make lovely light lunches, brunches or in smaller portions could be served as a starter.

Sweet potato, goat’s cheese & Rocket Salad

Ingredients/Method:

Baked sweet potato slices, crumbled goat’s feta served on rocket leaves, dressed with balsamic and walnut oil, drizzle over fresh lemon juice and season with black pepper and salt flakes. 

A different way

Sweet Potato, Horseradish & Goats cheese Baguette

Ingredients/Method:

On half a toasted baguette, spread some horseradish paste, top with slices of baked sweet potato, crumble over some goats feta and drizzle with balsamic and walnut oil and a sprinkle of fresh lime juice. Season with black pepper and salt flakes.

Food With Friends – a festive occasion

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apples, asparagus, blue cheese, Chefs, Cook Books, Cooking Through The Seasons, Cooks, eggs, feta cheese, food and drink, Food Blogs, Food Writing, garden salad, Lifestyle, olives, paoched eggs, potatoes, Prawns, red onion, roses champain, salad leaves, Spices, steamed rice, tarts, Tomato sauce, tomatoes, Vegetarian, vinaigrette

December brought with it the usual joy of sharing meals and enjoying quality time with family and friends. Keeping things simple yet festive was as always high on my list of priorities; these are some of my favourites dishes served this season.

For Christmas day

Prawns in spicy tomato sauce, served with steamed rice and a garden salad

Under the sway of the palms

Asparagus, red onion and blue cheese tart

Simple but fabulous warm Potato slices and olives, tossed together in an anchovy and garlic vinaigrette served with slivers of tuna and topped with a poached egg.

Unctuous & Delicious Autumnal Tart

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Balsamic Vinegar, Books, Butternut, Cape Town, Clifton Kitchen, Cook Books, Cooking Through The Seasons, Cooks, Food Writing, Foodblogs, Kate Abbott, Lifestyle, Pastry, Peppery greens, Pgotography, recipes, Rocket, Savoury Tart, Tart, Travel, travel Writing, Vegetarian, Watercress

Roasted Butternut Tart Served With Salad

Its cold, rain clouds are mustering over the sea, pregnant with anticipation of what’s to come. The  mixture of slate coloured hues across the expanse of sea make me feel hungry,  I need something bright and unctuous to feed my guests. In the larder I have a good stock of butternut and in the fridge some peppery greens, perfect ingredients for a delicious flaky autumnal tart.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6 – 8

· 1 quantity short crust pastry or pre-prepared puff pastry (recipe below)

· 5oo g roasted butternut chunks

· 20 fresh sage leaves

· 50 ml olive oil

· Salt and freshly ground pepper

· 100 g pecorino or mature cheddar

· 3 eggs

· 200 ml fresh cream

· Watercress or Rocket leaves

· Balsamic vinegar dressing

PREPARATION

Make the short crust pastry and refrigerate

Preheat the oven to 230C.

Peel and deseed the butternut and cut into chunks. Place into a roasting pan, scatter over 10 of the sage leaves torn into pieces, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for about 40 minutes, until nicely coloured and cooked through.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180C

Roll out the pastry and line a 23cm loose bottom baking tin. Blind bake at 180C, for 10-15 minutes.

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the base of the bottom of the pastry, top with the roasted butternut chunks. Scatter over the remainder of sage leaves.

Beat the egg and cream together, season with salt and pepper and pour over the tart filling. Bake at 180C for about 35 minutes. The tart should feel firm in the middle when gently touched.

Serve with a side salad of either watercress or rocket leaves dressed with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Best served at room temperature

Short Crust Pastry

INGREDIENTS

· 225g plain flour

· 110g butter, cut into cubes

· 1 whole egg

· 1 pinch of salt

· 3 tbsp. of iced water

PREPARATION

Place the flour and butter (sprinkled around the flour) in a food processor.
Place the lid on top and briefly blitz the mixture using the pulse button. Be careful not to over mix it.
Add the egg, salt and iced water. Briefly pulse the mixture again, the moment it starts to become crumbly, stop.
Gather it into your hands and gently pat it together. Do not knead it. Wrap it in cling film and put into the fridge.

Vegetable & Ricotta Torte

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This torte is one I make often using my favourite seasonal vegetables. It is wonderfully adaptable; to be enjoyed in either winter or summer, using whatever vegetables are in season. I usually make my own Ricotta, which I prefer; recipe included.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

140g broccoli spears

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion chopped,

2 courgettes (zucchini) finely sliced

2 garlic cloves finely chopped and bruised to release flavour

120 g baby spinach

1 tablespoon chopped lemon thyme or basil

80 g parmesan, grated

250 g ricotta

225 g mascarpone

25 g feta, finely crumbled

4-5 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the broccoli, cook until stems are soft. Drain and plunge into cold water for a few seconds to stop the cooking process and to retain the colour of the broccoli. Chop into small chunks.

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil, add the onion and cook over medium heat until soft. Turn up the heat and add the courgettes, cook until softened and golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two, then add the spinach, mix in and cook until the spinach has wilted.

Remove pan from heat, add the broccoli, the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set mixture aside to cool.

Lightly butter a 20 cm spring form tin and dust with some of the grated parmesan, about 1 tablespoon of cheese should do.

Mix together the ricotta, mascarpone, feta, eggs and about 50g of the parmesan. Add the mixture to the cooled vegetables, folding through to incorporate. Adjust seasoning.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and scatter over the remaining parmesan. Place the tin on a baking sheet which will catch any drips and place in the oven. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. When cooked the top should be golden brown and the mixture still slightly wobbly in the centre.

Remove and leave to rest and set for about 20 minutes before serving. At this point the torte may be cooled completely, then refrigerated and served chilled as a summer torte. Serve with a salad.

Home-made Ricotta

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk

½ tsp. sea salt

3 tablespoons of either distilled vinegar, fresh lemon or lime juice.

Method

Place the milk in a heavy bottom pot. Add salt and heat gently, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching until the milk reaches a temperature of about 80-90C, or if you don’t have a thermometer, heat until the milk starts to simmer and foam at sides. Do not boil.

Remove from heat and add vinegar or the lemon/lime juice. Give the mixture one or two stirs, and then leave alone for the curds to develop. This should take about 5 minutes.

Line a sieve with cheese cloth and place over a bowl. Gently pour the milk mixture into the cheesecloth, disturbing the curds as little as possible in the process. Leave to drain for 5 minutes then bring the ends of the cloth together and tie the bag to the tap over the sink and leave to continue draining for about 15 minutes. The ricotta is now ready to use. The longer it drains the drier the ricotta will be.

An Elegant and Easy Tart or Dessert

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Almond, Apricot, baking, Book, Clifton Kitchen, Cook Books, Dartois, Entertainment, food, Food Blogs, Jam, Kate Abbott, Life, Lifestyle, News, Photography, Photos, recipes, Travel, travel Writing, Writing

Apricot and Almond Jam Dartois

This easy recipe is named after a well-known French vaudeville artist François-Victor-Armand Dartois de Bourneville who lived in the 1700s. It is made from 2 layers of puff pastry which have either a sweet or savoury filling. This jam and apricot Dartois is quick to make and ideal for unexpected guests.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 packet frozen puff pastry – defrosted

400g apricot jam

200g sliced almonds

Icing sugar

250 ml double Cream

Half a lemon

Method

Defrost the pastry

Preheat the oven to 200C degrees

Mix the sliced almonds into the jam. Open the pastry and gently roll on a floured surface to provide two equal portions of either round or rectangle shape pastry. Place one portion of pastry on a non-stick baking tray and spread the surface with the jam and almond mixture leaving a thumb’s width border all round.

Lightly wet the pastry border and place the other rectangle of pastry over the jam and almond mixture, seal the 2 portions of pastry carefully together.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Remove Dartois from oven and dust lightly with icing sugar put back in oven and cook a further 5 minutes until sugar has lightly caramelised. Serve with lemon cream.

Lemon cream

Squeeze the juice from half a lemon. Add the juice slowly to the cream and beat in well. Put in a serving bowl and place in fridge to chill until ready to serve.

Cooking with Wine & Spirits

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baking, Chefs & Cooks, Clifton Kitchen, Cook Books, Cooking thorugh the seasons, Desserts, food and drink, Food Blogs, Lifestyle, liqueurs, Photography, raisins, recipes, Ricotta, Travel, wine

Article first published in SHOWCOOK http://www.showcook.com/2012/in-the-news/cooking-with-wine-spirits-kate-abbott/

There are many wines, domestic and imported, which are both a pleasure to drink and reasonably priced for cooking. The wine used for cooking may be either white or red and for savoury food should be dry rather than sweet. There are in my opinion only a few instances when a touch of sweetness is not out of place in meat cookery, for example the Madeira sauce served with ham and tongue.

If you are not sure how to buy wine and spirits for cooking, the best step would be to find a good, trustworthy wine merchant. Beware of bargains in wine, and never use wine in cooking that you would not drink. Of course this does not mean marinating a shoulder of venison in a precious expensive vintage Burgundy which deserves rather to be enjoyed in a glass, where it can be fully appreciated.

Wine is added to foods to enhance natural flavour. Colour too is a factor. White wine is usual for fish and poultry dishes. Red wine will add dark colour to meat, gravy, or to coq au vin. When wine is cooked the alcohol evaporates, leaving only the flavour of the fruit, and provides subtleties and nuances of flavour, aroma and bouquet to a dish. However moderation is important in order not to overwhelm the food. It is best not to use more wine than specified in a recipe on the assumption that if a little wine is good, more will be better. Too much wine can spoil a dish irreparably.

Other than its use in dessert, wine has three major uses in cooking. First, it is used with herbs and spices as a marinade, to season and to tenderize meat before braising or long slow cooking. The marinade is used in the cooking as well and becomes part of the sauce. When cooking fish, wine often forms part of the liquid for poaching, and also becomes part of the sauce. In both cases the wine is subjected to considerable cooking and thus reduced. In this instance it need not be of the highest quality, although it should still be good enough to drink.

The second use of wine in cooking is to make pan sauces. In this instance the wine is used to deglaze the pan in which meat, fish or poultry was roasted or sautéed, to dissolve the tasty bits that cling to the pan, and incorporate any juices. The pan should be very hot when the wine is added as this hastens the deglazing and the evaporation of the alcohol. The sauce is then reduced and poured over the food. The quick cooking approach of deglazing does not cause the wine to lose its bouquet which is why when deglazing it is preferable to select a wine of a slightly better quality than what you would use for marinades.

The third use of wine in cooking is as a final flavouring agent, in which case it is added at the very end of the cooking process, or just before serving. The sauce is not brought to the boil after the wine is added. Wines for this purpose are usually fortified, that is, strengthened with brandy such as Sherry, Madeira, or Port. When used in this fashion they provide excellent flavour to the dish.

The remainder of a bottle of wine used in cooking can be served with the meal, or the bottle can be tightly corked and laid on its side in the refrigerator until it is needed again for cooking, but should be used within a few days as wine tends to turn to vinegar rather quickly once exposed to air. Should this happen do not worry, the ‘turned’ wine need not go to waist, instead use it for making salad dressings.

When using wine and spirits in cooking, certain ones are indispensable; it would be good to have these on hand. You will need two kinds of wine, reds for cooking dark meats and game and white wine for fish and poultry dishes. Both kinds should be dry wines. For flaming you should have Cognac or another brandy. A Sherry and Madeira of excellent quality are useful for flavouring everything from soups to desserts. Good options to have on hand for desserts are dark rum, kirsch, and one of the liqueurs, such as Grand Marnier, Cointreau or Curaçao.

Wines are less important than liqueurs in flavouring desserts because the small amounts that can be added as flavouring would have little effect compared with the intensity of flavour that can be derived from an equal amount of rum, brandy, or a liqueur. The simplest way to of using liqueurs to flavour desserts is to add them to puddings, sauces, or whipped cream, or sprinkle over fresh or cooked fruit or over ice cream or sorbets.

Too much liqueur added to an ice cream or ice mixture will prevent it from freezing; too much liqueur added to anything can make a dish taste of nothing but liqueur. Use liqueurs in cooking as you do wine, discreetly.

The French and the Italians are skilled users of wine and spirits in many of their dishes, from the simplest to the most elaborate, often combining the flavouring agents of wine or spirits together with citrus peel, citrus juice and fragrant flower waters.

This typical Mediterranean Ricotta cake is airy, soft, and at the same time a little moist. Grand Marnier, orange flower water, and citrus zest intensify and perfume the cake with gorgeous flavour. It can be served as is, or with soft fruits, or with a dash of yoghurt flavoured with citrus juice, and or flower water and a little icing sugar to taste.

Sicilian Ricotta cake

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 tablespoon castor sugar for dusting the baking pan

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 table spoon Grand Marnier

1 tablespoon orange- flower water

55g seedless raisins

75 g unsalted butter

130 g caster sugar

2 large eggs

Orange zest from 1 orange

Lemon zest from I lemon

3 tablespoons flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

450 g Ricotta, drained and lightly mashed using a fork

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C

Lightly butter a 20cm spring form tin and dust bottom and sides with some castor sugar, discarding any excess.

Place the orange juice, Grand Marnier, and flower water in a small pan and heat to just warm. Add the raisins and leave to soak soften and absorb the liquid.

In a bowl cream the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and whisk till combined. Add the zest, flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Add the ricotta and whisk to incorporate. Fold in the raisins and their soaking liquid.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking pan and place in the middle of the oven, bake for about 60 minutes. Test for doneness after about 55 minutes by inserting a skewer in the middle of the cake. It is ready when the skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Turn out onto a plate. At this point the cake may be dusted lightly with some icing sugar.

Tip: if the cake starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with some aluminium foil for the rest of the baking period

Options: the raisins may be replaced with peeled and finely chopped apple or pear, cinnamon.

A Zephyr of Wind & an Awesome Sunset

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Blogging, Cape Town, Chefs, Cook Books, Cooks, flavoured butters, Food Blogs, Food Writing, greens, Life, News, Organic food, Organic meat, Photography, recipes, steak, Travel

A zephyr of wind rustles through the trees and gently blows my hair across my eyes. The sun is on the brink of setting over the ocean and the colours in the sky are quite magnificent. Sitting around the outside fire, glass of wine in hand the evening is blissfully perfect.

It is one of those lovely slow evenings and not to distract from the relaxed ambiance I decide to cook something quick and simple; a couple of steaks will do just nicely, drizzled with some herb flavoured butter and served with wilted greens, is just the thing I want for now. Here is the recipe.

Steak Served with Herb Butter

Ingredients

6 steaks about 4 cm thick, at room temperature (fillet, rump, or rib-eye)

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients

For the herb butter

90 g unsalted butter, at cool room temperature

1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs; rosemary, tarragon, thyme, marjoram, chives, flat leaf parsley, either singly or select a combination of the ones you like best.

1 anchovy fillet in oil, drained and finely chopped

Sea salt and ground pepper

Method for herb butter

To make the butter, in a small bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon. Stir in the herbs the anchovy and salt to taste and ½ teaspoon pepper.

Place the mixture on a sheet of cling film, roll up like a sausage and refrigerate.

Method for steak

Pre-heat a cast iron or heavy duty skillet over medium high heat.

Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper, rubbing the seasoning into the meat; brush both sides with olive oil.

Add steaks to the pan and cook until little droplets of juice form on the surface, about 4 minutes. Turn the steaks over and continue cooking until droplets of juice form on top again, another 3-4 minutes, about 6-8 minutes total cooking time for rare, and 10-12 minutes for medium. Transfer the steaks to a platter, cover with aluminium foil, and let rest for about 5 minutes.

To serve

Place each steak on individual warmed plates, top with 1 tablespoon of herb butter. Serve at once.

Accompaniment

Serve with wilted greens

Succulent Gourmet Burgers

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This evening’s un-planned meal is for three people, of which one is gluten Intolerant. Although I’m making hamburgers, I will serve them without the usual bun. Instead I opt to serve the burger on a bed of chilli and garlic peas.

Succulent Gourmet Burgers – Served on a bed of Chilli & Garlic Peas

For these burgers I have selected equal quantities of lamb, pork and beef, which I asked the butcher to mince for me. The texture I prefer is a coarse rather than fine mince.

serves 6

Ingredients

1 kg ground mince of your choice

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

3-4 medium tomatoes, sliced

3 onions sliced

2 table spoons olive oil

500 g peas

1 chilli finely diced

1 clove of garlic finely diced

15ml butter

Method

Prepare the dressing

Place the mince in a bowl and add the Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Using your hands work the mince and seasoning together until combined. Form into 6 patties of about 2cm thick.

Heat a large skillet, add the olive oil and when hot add the sliced onions. Cook until golden and slightly charred on the edges. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

Wipe the skillet with a paper towel and place back on the heat, when hot add the hamburgers. Cook them, turning once, pressing down with a spatula until done to the way you like them.

While the meat is cooking start the peas. Melt the butter in a pan; add the garlic and chilli and sauté for about ½ a minute. Add the peas and gently cook together for about 4-5 minutes.

Dressing Ingredients

185 ml good quality mayonnaise

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons milk

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

To make the dressing: put the mayonnaise in a bowl, whisk in the Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice, and a little salt and pepper. Then gradually whisk in the milk to make a thin sauce that just coats the back of the spoon. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

To serve

Place the peas in the centre of the plate, top with the burger, some onion and a few slices of tomato. Drizzle over some dressing.

Optional

Instead of serving the peas whole they can be roughly mashed.