Overindulgence eventually gets to all of us

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baguette, Balsamic Vinegar, Brunches, Cape Town, Chefs, Clifton Kitchen, Clifton Kitchen - Cooking thorugh the seasons, Cook Books, Cooks, Easy Meals, feta cheese, Food Photography, Foodblogs, foodwriter, Goats cheese, Goats milk feta cheese, horseradish, ingredients, Kate Abbott, lemons, Lifestyle, limes, Rocket, Salads, Sweet Potatoes, Vegetarian, walnut oil

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.

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

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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.

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.

Who Has Snatched Our Spring Weather?

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Blogging, Books, Butternut, Cape Town, Coriander, food blog, ingredients, Life, News, Photography, recipes, Soups, Travel, Vegetarian, Writing

It seems to me the ever lengthening finger of winter is determined to hang in and because Clifton Kitchen is within a good spitting distance of the Atlantic sea, the chill in the air is seemingly a few degrees cooler than areas further up the mountain and therefor felt more keenly.

I need something warm and soothing on this evening’s menu. In the vegetable larder is a rather handsome looking butternut which should do quite nicely for what I have in mind; a gorgeous velvety smooth butternut soup – with just a hint of spice.

Velvety Smooth and Slightly Spiced Butternut Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

20 ml olive oil

500 g butternut roughly diced

1 large onion, roughly chopped

15 ml grated fresh ginger

1 medium sized chilli, chopped

5 ml salt

2 litres stock; vegetable or chicken

A small bunch of Fresh coriander stalks (save the leaves for the garnish)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Garnish

Croutons

Diced tomato

Fresh coriander leaves

Method

For the soup; heat the oil in a large pot, add the butternut and onion and sweat for about 5 minutes, taking care not to burn the onions. Add the remaining ingredients except the pepper, and gently bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until butternut is soft, about 20 minutes. Blend to a smooth puree. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

For the croutons you will need 4-6 slices white bread, crusts removed, cut into 1 cm cubes and 50 g butter. Melt the butter in a frying pan and gently fry the croutons until golden brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve the soup in bowls, top with a sprinkling of coriander, diced tomato and croutons

A New Cook Book On the Way

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Amazone.com, Books for Cooks, Cook Books, Food Blogs, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, recipes, River Cottage, Vegetarian

 

River Cottage Veg Every Day!

 

If you fancy a sneak preview of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s latest book ‘River Cottage Veg Every Day!’ (due for release mid-September) make sure you get your hands on a copy of this Saturday’s Guardian. You will find a selection of his favourite vegetarian recipes, tips and a little about his philosophy behind the book. River Cottage Veg Every Day! is, as the title suggests, a vegetable cookbook. Whether or not it’s a vegetarian cookbook depends perhaps on your point of view, and your food politics. It’s not written by a vegetarian, or with the intention of persuading you or anyone else to become a vegetarian. But in the sense that not one of the recipes contains a scrap of meat or fish, then it is indeed quite strictly vegetarian. Intrigued? Click here to find out more  http://www.rivercottage.net//   River Cottage Veg Every Day! is also available to pre-order from our River Cottage shop on Amazon.