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Clifton Kitchen – Cooking Through The Seasons

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Clifton Kitchen – Cooking Through The Seasons

Tag Archives: In Season

Mini Ham & Rocket Omelettes served with Balsamic Fig Jam

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by Kate Abbott - Clifton Kitchen in Easy Meals, eggs, Elegant meals, Entertaining, Light Lunches, light meals, Starters, Quick meals

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

balsamic figs, Balsamic Vinegar, Blogs, Brunch, Cape Town, Chefs, Clifton Kitchen, Cooking thorugh the seasons, Cooks, dinner, Easy Entertaining, Easy Meals, figs, food, Food Writing, Gruyère, Ham, In Season, ingredients, Kate Abbott, Light Lunch, lunch, Omelettes, Photography, recipes, Rocket, salad leaves, Salads, Serrano Ham

The versatile egg once again becomes a platform for a delicious light lunch, brunch or dinner. In this recipe the omelette is used as a wrap, stuffed with beautiful Serrano Ham and peppery salad leaves. It works equally well using chopped cooked prawns in a mild curry dressing. The combinations are up to your imagination. 

 

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Serves 4

Ingredients

1 onion finely chopped (about 80g) or finely chopped spring onions white part only

Salt, a pinch

15ml olive oil

10g butter

2 extra-large eggs, gently beaten and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper

8 slices of Serrano Ham or the equivalent

A hand full of peppery salad leaves such as rocket or watercress gently tossed through a dressing of 15 ml of olive oil, a little lemon juice and a grinding of black pepper

4 thin slivers of gruyere cheese (optional)

Balsamic fig jam to serve (optional)

Method

Melt the olive oil and butter in a pan, add the chopped onion, season lightly with some salt and cook gently until softened and golden in colour. Set aside to cool slightly then add the softened onions to the beaten egg mixture.

Heat up the smallest frying pan you have, such as a one egg pan or a blini pan; add a drop or two of olive oil to the pan. Place a thin layer of the omelette mix in the pan and let cook over gentle heat until the egg mixture is almost set about 2 minutes, flip over and cook the other side for about 30 seconds. Remove and place the omelette on some grease proof paper while you continue to cook the rest.

To assemble

Place 2 slices of Serrano ham on one half side of the omelette cover with a thin slice of gruyere cheese and top with the salad leaves. Fold the other half of the omelette over the filling, giving a gentle squeeze to keep it together. Plate and serve with some balsamic fig jam.

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It’s Autumn & Temperatures are Dropping

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by Kate Abbott - Clifton Kitchen in Autumn foods, In Season, Pasta recipes, Vegetables

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Autumn foods, beetroot, Books, Cape Town, Chefs, Clifton Kitchen - Cooking thorugh the seasons, Cooks, Fettuccini, food and drink, Food Blogging, Food Writing, In Season, Lifestyle, Pasta, Photography, recipes, Travel

In season for May and June

Header for in seasons for May and June

It’s time to select and cook with the best that autumn has to offer and what better place to be than in the cosy warmth of kitchen.

The view from my kitchen at the moment is of a large deep sea fishing trawler that has run aground on the beach in front of my home. The poor souls on board are hoping that the rainy and windy weather will improve sufficiently for the large tugs that are on standby, to be able to tow them back into the water. But I digress; it is time for me to focus on food.

My autumn box of produce has arrived, filled with lovely things from which to create some warming autumn meals, and a friend who is a regular guest for dinner, brought me a pheasant and a beautiful piece of fresh skinned and boned fillet of cob.

The way I like to prepare this fish is to cut it into portions and place in a baking dish, generously drizzled with olive oil. To this I add anchovies, rosemary sprigs, Kalamata olives and the juice of two lemons and season with a little salt and some pepper, then cover the fish with thin slices of lemon and bake in a hot oven to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.

For the pheasant, I simply roast the bird whole with a prune stuffing and some sage butter tucked under the skin and baste frequently throughout the cooking process. Another good way to cook pheasant is to pot roast. Pheasant legs can also be braised with butter, shallots, Calvados and tart green apples and finished with a little crème fraîche.

Also in today’s box are half a dozen apples. A hardy fruit with a long shelf life, the apple can be harvested in summer and kept in cold storage during the winter months. Apples form the basis of many of my desserts, from the English apple Charlotte to the French tarte aux pommes. It is also a classic match for pork and a good counter point for bitter type cheeses such as cheddar.

Apples in my home are eaten raw, grated, sliced cooked, poached, stewed or baked into puddings, pies and tarts. Stewed and pureed they can be used in sweet and savoury sauces. Ring the changes and serve apple as a vegetable. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut and core unpeeled apple into wedges, cut peeled Spanish onion into wedges, place in a roasting pan. Scatter with sage leaves, drizzle with olive oil and cider vinegar and season with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a light sprinkling of brown sugar. Roast for about 30 minutes until golden and tender. This accompaniment is nice to serve with roast pork or pork sausages.

Lemons are one of my favourite ingredients. They invigorate food, add colour, good to squeeze over roast lamb or stuffed into chicken either fresh or as a preserve. Lemons also make wonderful desserts such as saucy lemon pudding, lemon soufflé or lemon posset. Now is a good time to preserve lemons in salt, they will be ready to use when winter sets in and until then they will brighten up the kitchen shelf looking like little jars of sunshine.

In the markets you will find lots of baby cauliflower, large and colourful ones too. This is an understated vegetable that can be fantastic if cooked with a delicate hand and some imagination. Serve cauliflower cheese with lamb or as a gratin, blanched then laid in a pan and covered with a thin layer of béchamel sauce, flavoured with bay leaf, nutmeg, a sprinkle of gruyere cheese and a few blobs of butter; this is a good accompaniment to steak or chicken. Or sauté in olive oil and butter together with some onions, and potatoes until cooked, add a dash of cream and seasoning then blend into a soft creamy puree.

Look for sweet purple bulbs of green garlic; much milder than mature garlic and nice to cook in a frittata. Just soften the garlic in butter, and then add eggs, parsley and chives and you have a wonderful quick and delicious meal.

Meat wise now is the time to seek out a good butcher who should have really good supplies organically farmed pork and beef.

Also in season are:

Fruit

Apples, avocado, bananas, cumquats, custard apples, grapes, grapefruit, kiwifruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, melons, nuts, oranges, papaya, passion fruit, pears, persimmons, quince, rhubarb

Vegetables

Asian greens, beans, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, capsicums, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chillies, cucumbers, daikon, eggplant, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuces, mushrooms, okra, olives, onions, parsnips, peas, potatoes, pumpkins, shallots, silver beat, spinach, squash, swedes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, witlof, zucchini.

My dinner this evening will be ….

Fettuccini served with Baby Beetroot and Bitter Greens.

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Serves 3-4

Ingredients

500 g Fettuccini

3 baby beetroot with leaves, washed

2-3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to serve

100 ml water

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

50 g butter

100 g stinging nettles (or baby spinach)

Crumbled soft goats cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Wash the beetroot, trim the leaves and reserve. Place the baby beetroot in a roasting pan, drizzle with half the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the water to the pan, cover the pan with foil and roast the beetroot at 220C until tender, this will take about an hour. Once the beet root is cooked let cool, then peel and slice and set aside.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for the time specified on the packet.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a frying pan over medium high heat, add the rest of the olive oil, butter and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 20 seconds, add the nettles, and beetroot leaves and cook until leaves wilt, about 2 minutes. Add the beetroot slices and toss together. Scatter over goats’ cheese, drizzle with a little extra olive oil, check for seasoning and serve immediately.

Autumn’s Rich Colours Flood the Kitchen

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by Kate Abbott - Clifton Kitchen in Autumn foods, In Season

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Autumn, Books, Books for Cooks, Egg Recipes, eggs, food and drink, Food Blogs, French Tarragon, Fruit, In Season, Life, Mushrooms, olives, pears, Photography, Travel, Vegetables

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In season for April

Autumn’s rich colours flood the kitchen and in my organic box are pears, shallots, silver beet, freshly foraged mushrooms and farm fresh organic eggs.

Shallots are small delicious morsels of the allium family. Their flavour is more subtle than common onions. They are quite delicious when caramelised and served as a shallot tarte tatin with goats cheese or as a caramelized shallot and pear salad.

The elegant fragrant sweet pears are wonderful baked with honey, butter, cinnamon and a vanilla pod until they are soft and lightly caramelised, served with a dollop of double cream or poached in red wine syrup flavoured with orange zest and star anise.

Enjoy a simple sauté of silver beet with garlic and a splash of oil from a jar or tin of anchovies. Don’t discard the thick crisp stems. Instead blanch them in salty water, drain and place in a baking dish, add a little cream or a béchamel sauce, some cheese such as Gruyere and a sprinkle of nutmeg and you have a delicious gratin to serve as a side dish.

Enjoy the last of the French tarragon before it goes dormant during the cold months ahead. It is wonderful in most savoury dishes and sauces such as béarnaise and of course tarragon chicken, a perfect meal for when evenings start to cool.

For a simple yet beautiful dish for breakfast or light lunch, there is little to beat the sublime combination of a soft boiled organic egg, homemade aioli, a sprinkle of celery salt and smoked paprika and finished off with fried celery leaves, then garnish with some capers.

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Also in season

Fruit

Apples, bananas, figs,, grapes, guavas. Kiwi fruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges, papaya, passion fruit, plums, pomegranate, quince, rhubarb, olives, tomatoes

Vegetables

Asian greens, avocado, beans, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, carrots, celeriac, celery, daikon, eggplant, fennel, garlic, ginger, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onions, parsnips, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, swedes, turnips, witlof, zucchini

Herbs and seasonings

Garlic, ginger, last of the French tarragon, horseradish

Ancient & Noble Fruits are In Season

02 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by Kate Abbott - Clifton Kitchen in In Season, Salads, Starters

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Blogs, Books, Cape Town, Chefs, Cook Books, Cooks, figs, food, Food Writing, Fruit and vegetables, Grapes, Herbs, In Season, Life, Photography, Sardines, Spices, Travel, travel Writing, Veal

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In Season for February

Delicate and sweetly sensual, the fig is now in season; its arrival is one of the great pleasures of the long hot summer. Figs and grapes are considered to be ancient noble fruits. Most of the varieties grown locally in most gardens including my own, are the common green skinned variety, but there are also purple skinned varieties.

Once ripened the fig is extremely perishable and best consumed straight away or stored at the most for two to three days in the fridge.

Figs make a great salad when teamed with rocket leaves, torn basil and buffalo mozzarella, drizzled with a little aged balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. They also make wonderful accompaniments to many cheeses, poultry, and cured pork. They are also beautiful served as a dessert.

But today I am using the noble fruit in a beautiful salad.

fig salad with fig leaf and cream cloth

Salad of Fig, Manchego Cheese & Walnuts, served with a Grape Dressing

Serves 6

Ingredients

110 g walnuts lightly roasted

100 g rocket

6 figs torn into chunks

120 g Manchego cheese, shaved

Dressing

½ tablespoons honey

1½ tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar

2 shallots finely chopped

80 ml walnut or olive oil

200 g red or black grapes cut in half

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Method

For the dressing; whisk the honey, vinegar, chopped shallots and oil in a bowl to combine, then add the grapes and season to taste.

To assemble; toss the figs, rocket and walnuts together, then divide among the plates, and drizzle with the grape dressing, then scatter the Manchego cheese shavings over the top of each salad.

Also in season:

Fruits:

Avocado, bananas, Blackberries, figs, grapes, guavas, kiwifruit, lychees, mangoes, honeydew melons, rock melons, nectarines, oranges, passion fruit, peaches, plums, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, watermelon

Vegetables:

Beans, Borlotti beans, butter beans, capsicum, celery, chillies, cucumbers, eggplant, fennel, leeks, lettuce, okra, onions, peas, radishes, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchini

Herbs & Spices:

Basil, Chervil, Rocket,  Tarragon, Young ginger,

Fish & Meat:

Calamari, Sardines, Veal

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

11 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by Kate Abbott - Clifton Kitchen in Fish, Seafood, Quick meals

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

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.

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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.

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