What’s In Season For Spring

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Chefs, Cook Books, Entertaining, food and drink, Food and Wine, Food Blogs, Fruit and vegetables, Menu, Seasonal produce, South African Food Blogs, Spring, Spring Lamb

We flow into September and with that comes the joy of finding new spring produce. The food markets are particularly colourful with their display of wonderful goods.

Early spring brings in the new and everything seems so bright and cheerful. It’s a time to celebrate with tiny green peas, tender lamb and sweet little leeks.

Baby leeks are gorgeous and can be used in their entirety, just trim off the base. I like to cook leeks with a butter or olive oil a sprinkle of salt, cook over gentle heat until they are just soft and wilted to bring out their sweetness. For a light treat serve them with smoked salmon on toast. I also, like to serve them as a warm salad with goat’s cheese and Hazelnut dressing.

Spring lamb from the Karroo is another wonderful treat; it has a delicate taste and should have a rosy pink flesh and pure white fat. I cook it very gently so that it is still pink in the middle when serving.

Glorious spring peas are so sweet and delicious. Beware of buying fresh shelled peas though as they quickly turn starchy. Try to buy pods that are full and heavy for their size with a crisp snap to them when broken.

Also in season are:

Fruit:

apples, cumquats, grapefruit, lemons, mandarins, oranges, papayas, paw-paws, pineapples, tangelos

Vegetables:

artichokes, asparagus, avocados, broad beans, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, morels, onions, potatoes, pumpkins, silver beet, spinach

Wintery Sunlight, Alfresco Dinning & Portable Heaters

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Alfresco dining, Cape Wine Farm, Cape Winelands, Cardamom, Coconut cream, Country Life, Entertaining, Food and Wine, Garlic Stock, ginger, Gourmet, Prawns, Risotto, S.A. Food Blogs, Seafood, Seasonal produce, Sweet Paprika, wine

Soft wintery sunlight filtered through the trees cascading over the patio dining area of restaurant Terrior on the wine farm Kleine Zalza. It was just a bit too nippy to enjoy alfresco dinning and for that reason we found a table near the warmth of the portable heaters.

Memorable of the dishes selected was the Coconut and lemongrass prawn risotto which I decided to make and this is my adaptation, replacing the lemongrass which I did not have any of, with cardamom and I have to say the end result was superb.

Prawn and coconut Risotto infused with cardamom

serves 4

Ingredients

Sufficient prawns for four people peeled but keep the tails intact

1 can of coconut cream

500- 700ml chicken stock

15 ml butter

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion finely diced

A thumb size piece of ginger finely chopped

½ tsp. leaf masala (optional)

1 tsp. sweet paprika

The seeds from 3 cardamom pods, crushed

Black pepper

1½ cups risotto rice

½ cup vermouth or dry sherry

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

Salt to taste

½ cup finely grated parmesan

Season to taste

Method

Heat the stock and coconut cream in separate pots.

Once the coconut cream comes up to heat, turn down to a gentle simmer. Add the shelled prawns and poach them in the liquid until the prawns start to curl, remove the prawns to a bowl and drizzle over some olive oil.

In a pan heat the butter and oil, add the onions, ginger, leaf masala, sweet paprika, the cardamom pod seeds, ground black pepper and sauté until onions are soft and translucent. Add the vermouth and sauté until absorbed.

Ladle alternate amounts of stock and coconut cream into the risotto rice, ensure each ladle of liquid is well absorbed before adding the next amount of liquid, stirring frequently; add the garlic and some salt, half way through the cooking process. Continue cooking until the rice reaches a point where the grains are cooked and the rice will no longer absorb any more liquid. About 15-20 minutes. Check for seasoning

Add the prawns and parmesan, folding them through the rice.

Garnish

Reserve two or three prawns for each dish; place on top of each serving of risotto together with a little sprig of either baby cress or coriander and some finely diced tomatoes.

Accompaniments

Serve with a side salad of peppery leaves and some crusty bread.

Notes:

The cardamom pod seeds have a lemony fragrance and I used these to replace the lemongrass used in the original dish. You could also use grated lemon or lime rind, but this would need to be folded in at the end of the cooking process.

The Grouse Season, A Birthday & Roasted Salmon Wrapped In Parma Ham

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baby potatoes, Butter, Butternut, Chefs, Country Living, food and drink, Food and Wine, Food Blogs, Gourmet, Grouse Season, Lime Jelly, Lime marmalade, limes, Norwegian Salmon, Olive oil, Parma Ham, Rocket, South African Food Blogs, Stock, Watercress

It is the 12^th of August, the start of the grouse season in the U.K and for some a prompt reminder of my birthday. My day has been flooded with telephone calls, emails and sms’ from friends and family scattered all over the world, to wish me a lovely day, and some messages from people that I have not heard from in ages.

It’s raining like mad in Cape Town, so I am rather pleased not to be going out for dinner, instead we are celebrating at Clifton House and on Sunday we have booked a table for lunch at Terroir in the Cape wine-lands.

The meal for this evening is Roasted Norwegian salmon wrapped in Parma ham served with creamed butternut, baby potatoes, a seasonal salad and a garnish of lime jelly.

Roasted Norwegian Salmon wrapped in Parma ham served with a lime Jelly

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 portions of Norwegian salmon

Parma ham, sufficient to wrap each portion of salmon

Salt and pepper

8 Baby potatoes

1 medium butternut peeled and diced

Sage leaves. A small bunch finely chopped

Olive oil

15 ml of butter

125 ml stock or water

Salt and pepper

Garnish: lime jelly, slices of lime wedges or a dash of lime marmalade

For the salad

Watercress

Rocket

Vinaigrette

Method

Set the oven to 175C

Season each portion of salmon and wrap in Parma ham, place on a baking tray and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Pop into pre-heated oven and roast for about 25-30 minutes.

Place the potatoes in a pot with sufficient water to cover, add salt and cook for about 20-25 minutes or until done.

In a large pan heat some oil and a blob of butter, add the butternut together with the sage and sauté for a few minutes, season and add a little stock or water to just cover the butternut, place the lid on the pan and cook until done, about 20-25 minutes. Once cooked, blend to a nice creamy consistency with a hand blender. Check for seasoning.

Serve the salmon with the creamy butternut, potatoes, the garnish and a side salad of watercress and rocket tossed in vinaigrette.

Where Have All The Good Eggs Gone…?

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Bacon, Black Pepper, Breakfast, Brunch, Cape Town, Chefs, cooking, Country Living, Egg yolk, eggs, Eggs Benedict, Entertainment, Food and Wine, Food Blogs, Gourmet, Hollandaise sauce, Muffin (English), Poached egg, recipe, S.A. Food Blogs, Salt, Vinegar

Trying to find really fresh eggs is becoming as scarce as hens’ teeth. The eggs on offer are usually more than a week old, the whites runny and the yolk flattened. A fresh egg should have a rounded plump yolk, the white should have a thick gelatinous layer that clings all-round the yolk, followed by a thinner outer layer. After one week the yolk is flatter and the two separate textures of white are not quite so visible.

I am yet to be satisfied with the disappointing supply of eggs which the local supermarkets are selling; they are old and miserable in every way, literally falling apart as you crack the egg open. There is absolutely no visible difference between the two white textures in fact the whites are runny, barely able to hold the now very flat yolk, in most cases actually falling away from the egg yolk.

It is impossible to poach stale eggs, so when these gorgeously fresh beauties arrived from a good organic, free ranging happy chicken source, I could not resist and made this treat of deliciously oozing poached eggs on toast with a fancy name.

Eggs Benedict served with Bacon on Toasted Muffin

Serves 1

Ingredients

For the sauce

30 ml white wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

75 g butter

1 extra large egg yolk

1 tsp. lemon juice

Salt

Other ingredients

1-2 eggs

2 rashers of back bacon

1 English muffin split in half

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

In a small pan simmer the vinegar with the Bay leaf until the vinegar is reduced by half, remove the bay leaf and leave the vinegar to cool. Melt the butter but do not boil, and leave to cool to blood heat.

A hand held blender is best for such a small quantity; place the egg yolk, lemon juice and a pinch of salt in a suitable bowl and blend until frothy, pour in the butter in a steady stream alternating with the vinegar until both are incorporated, and a thick creamy sauce has formed. Adjust the seasoning.

Grill the bacon, soft poach the eggs in a pan of simmering water, and toast the muffin.

To assemble

Place the bacon onto the toasted muffin, top with the well-drained poached egg and drizzle with some Hollandaise sauce, season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy the moment, I did.