Tomato & Green Bean Salad served with Basil & Olive oil infusion

Tags

Basil, Black Pepper, Cape Town, Cape Town Food Blogs, Chefs & Cooks, cherry tomatoes, Clifton Kitchen, Cooking Through The Seasons, Food writer, Food Writing, Green Beans, Healthy Meals, Kate Abbott, Lifestyle, Olive oil, Photography, Quick meals, Salads, Seas salt, South African Food Blogs, Tomato and Green bean salad, Vegetarian

With summer comes the wonderful abundance of fresh garden produce. Green beans, cherry tomatoes and beautiful sweet Basil are popped into my garden basket; with these few ingredients I will make a salad that is enormously satisfying. Infusing the basil in the olive oil brings out its wonderful aromatic flavour, and together with the tomatoes provides beautiful summery notes to this gorgeous salad.

The salad may be served as a starter or as a light lunch, the latter served with some nice French baguette and a glass of crisp white wine.

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a light lunch

Ingredients

2 cups of fresh green beans

½ cup fresh basil leaves

5 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil

2 cups cherry tomatoes cut into half or into quarters

Flaked sea salt & freshly ground black Pepper – season to taste

Method

Top and Tail the green beans then blanch them in boiling salted water; remove when they have turned bright green and are still slightly crisp (about 4-5 minutes), refresh in cold water. Cut the beans into three or four pieces and set aside.

Gently tear the basil leaves into small pieces; reserve a few leaves to use later as garnish.

Pour the olive oil in a pan, add the torn basil leaves and heat gently for about 1-2 minutes, until the basil begins to sizzle, change colour and crisp up slightly.

Place the chopped cherry tomatoes and cooked green beans in a bowl; pour over the basil infused oil with the gently sizzled basil leaves; season with flaked sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss together gently and leave for 15-30 minutes to allow all the flavours to infuse and for the basil infused olive oil to mingle with the tomato juices.

To serve: garnish with a few fresh basil leaves.

Succulent Gourmet Burgers

Tags

Cape Town, Chefs, Cook Books, Cooks, food blog, Food styling, gluten free, Hamburger, meat patties, Photography, Quick meals, recipe, Travel, Writing

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.

Cooking Should Always be a Delight for all the Senses.

Tags

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.

Something Warm & Comforting to Soothe a Sad Moment

Tags

Basil, Blogging News, Books, Cape Town, Cape Town Cooks, Chefs, Cooks, Easy Meals, Food Blogs, Life, Mozzarella, News, Pancetta, Photography, Quick meals, recipes, Rocket, Sandwiches, Travel, Writing

The noticeable absence of summer weather, and the overcast and wintery conditions of the day somehow suite the sadness I feel inside. Friends are in the process of a bitter divorce and another has departed this planet.

So with all this unwanted gloomy news I head for the kitchen, I want something to soothe the soul, it will not be the usual savoir faire, but instead I think I will have a warm oozy Mozzarella Pancetta Sandwich.

Mozzarella Pancetta Sandwiches

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 slices of good quality bread; sour dough or ciabata

Butter

1/2 tsp. Lemon zest

A squeeze of lemon juice

100g Buffalo mozzarella or bocconcini

4–6 Basil leaves, torn

4-6 rocket leaves, tossed in olive oil

8 slices Pancetta

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cook the pancetta until crispy either in a pan or under the grill, then set aside on kitchen paper to drain.

Slice the mozzarella into about  1 cm discs and marinate for a few minutes with the lemon zest, lemon juice, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Butter each slice of bread. Place 2 of the slices, butter side down on top of a chopping board and divide the marinated mozzarella between them. Add the torn basil leaves, rocket, salt and pepper to taste and the crispy pancetta. Top with the other slice of bread, butter side facing up and gently fry the sandwiches in a heavy based frying pan over a moderate heat until they are golden on both sides. Remove and slice into fingers and serve

Lunch was Devine – Panini Topped with Chicken Bacon Lettuce & Aioli

Tags

Bacon, Cape Town, Chefs, chicken, Clifton Kitchen, Food Blogs, Guests, Lettuce, Light meals, Quick meals, S.A. Food Blogs, Tomatoes. Aioli

It is always nice when the unexpected visit melds into an unplanned moment resulting in a divine lunch for two.

This particular recipe is a classic and makes a good, light but satisfying meal. The added bonus is that it can be made and assembled in no time at all.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Some cold chicken, a couple of pieces

2 Panini or whatever bread is at hand

2 rasher of grilled bacon per person

2 tomatoes thickly sliced and  lightly pan fried in the bacon juices

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Balsamic vinegar

Some lettuce washed and shredded or some fresh watercress

Aioli or mayonnaise

Method

Roughly shred the chicken flesh. Cut the Panini in half. Put the shredded chicken on the bread, add the warm bacon rashers, the roast tomatoes and season. Drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, top with the lettuce and a dollop of aioli or mayonnaise on top. Place on a plate with the top half of the Panini placed at an angle on the bottom piece.