Vegetable & Ricotta Torte

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Books, broccoli, Cape Town, Clifton Kitchen, Cook Books, Cooking thorugh the seasons, feta, food and drink, food and travel writing, Food Blogs, gluten free, Kate Abbott, Lifestyle, Mascarpone, News, onion, Parmesan, Photography, Pie, recipes, Ricotta, spinach, Torte, travel Writing, Vegetables, Writing

 

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.

Long Distance Tea for Two

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baking, Blog, Books, Cape Town, Clifton Kitchen, Devonshire Honey Cake, Entertainment, food, Hi tea, honey, Lifestyle, Photography, Photos, recipes, tea, Travel, travel Writing, Writing

My long distance correspondent Harold Boardman sent me this delicious recipe for an easy to make cake. It is wonderfully moist, fragrant with honey and just perfect for a chilly afternoon tea, or if you prefer, serve it warm with some custard and you have a lovely dessert.

The cakes flavour can be mild or strong depending on the type of honey you use for the final glaze.

Hi Kate,

I may have mentioned I don’t do baking but this recipe is so simple I had a go earlier with average results!! In the hands of an expert like your good self it will probably taste excellent – hope you try it and mention it in your blog !!

Harold.

Thank you Harold, I love the cake and I am enjoying it with my tea.

Devonshire Honey Cake

Ingredients

250g clear honey, plus about 2 tbsp. extra to glaze

225g unsalted butter

100g dark muscovado sugar

3 large eggs beaten

300g self-raising flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas 3/or fan oven fan 140C.

Butter and line a 20cm round loose bottomed cake tin.

Cut the butter into pieces and drop into a medium pan with the honey and sugar. Melt slowly over a low heat. When the mixture looks quite liquid, increase the heat under the pan and boil for about one minute. Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes, to prevent the eggs cooking when they are mixed in.

Beat the eggs into the melted honey mixture using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour into a large bowl and pour in the egg and honey mixture, beating until you have a smooth, quite runny batter.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour until the cake is well-risen, golden brown and springs back when pressed. A skewer pushed into the centre of the cake should come out clean.

Turn the cake out on a wire rack. Warm 2 tablespoons honey in a small pan and brush over the top of the cake to give a sticky glaze, then leave to cool. Keeps for 4-5 days wrapped, in an airtight tin.

Succulent Gourmet Burgers

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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.

Farewell To Summer …..

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Autumn, Blogging News, Books, Books for Cooks, Bread, Food Blogs, Food styling, Food writer, Foods in season, Fruit, Life, Mayonnaise, nuts and seeds, organic, Photography, recipe, stews, Travel, Vegetables, Writing

In Season For March

With the month of March comes the dancing in of autumn, the days are cooling and the mornings are noticeably darker. It is time to welcome back stews and other autumnal treats.

Apples continue to be in season and make wonderful warm desserts or can simply be cut into quarters, sautéed in butter until softened and slightly caramelized, to serve with roast pork or with game birds such as pheasant. The classic Waldorf salad becomes one of my favourite light lunches or side dishes at this time of the year; all the ingredients required to make it of which apple is just one component, are of course in season, providing a perfect end result.

Enjoy the last of the blackberries; and spoil your family with this easy tart. Blind bake a short crust pastry case and when cooled fill with following mixture. For the filling you will need seeds from 1 vanilla pod, 250 ml Mascarpone, and 100 ml pouring cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, 40 ml Vin Santo. Whip all the ingredients together until nice and shiny. Fill the cooked and cooled pastry case with the mixture and top with blackberries. Drizzle over the top with a little blackberry jam, gently heated and thinned with a little water or Vin Santo, cooled before drizzling over the tart.

Capsicums are at their peak from summer to autumn, make the most of them while in season. I love them simply roasted then sprinkled with herbs, salt and olive oil and eaten with sourdough or ciabatta bread; wonderful served either hot or cold and goes well with lamb, chicken, or grilled beef.

Eggplant with its alluring shinny purple black skin is a wonderful carrier of flavours and as such can completely transform a dish. Dusted with flour, fried and layered with a freshly made tomato sauce, basil leaves, parmesan and buffalo mozzarella, then baked, provides an unctuous simple dish to serve either as a starter or a main meal together with some bread; I usually choose a sourdough loaf.

Tomatoes; picking them fresh from my garden, still warm from the sun, served on toasted bruschetta or sourdough, sprinkled with salt flakes and drizzled with peppery olive oil is another one of my favourite light lunches.

Super markets although convenient, I have to say don’t sell the bright flavoured tomatoes I am seeking. Instead and sadly to say, I find the tomatoes they offer to be lacklustre, hard and rather devoid of flavour. If you want great tomatoes, seek out the organic growers at your nearest farmers market, or try growing your own, it is a lot of fun and extremely rewarding.

Also in Season:

Fruit

Apples, avocado, bananas, berries, figs, grapes, lemons, limes, melon, nectarines, oranges, papaya, passion fruit, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries

Vegetables

Asian greens, beans, capsicum, celery, chillies, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, shallots, silver beet, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomatoes, zucchini

Other

Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, Olives

Classical Waldorf Salad

This is an iconic and classical recipe and one with a long pedigree. For best results use the tender stalks from the inner part of the celery

Ingredients

75 g walnuts toasted and a few extra to garnish

2 red apples

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tender celery stalks, finely sliced

1 radicchio leaves torn into bite size pieces

2 Witlof leaves separated

200 g red seedless grapes

1 cup parsley leaves, use flat leaf parsley

Mayonnaise

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp. red wine or chardonnay vinegar

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

130 ml olive oil

25 ml walnut oil

Lemon juice to taste

Makes about 200ml

Garnish

A few leaves from the heart of the celery

A few extra walnuts toasted

Method

To make the mayonnaise: place the egg yolks, vinegar and mustard in a food processor and process for a few seconds. Combine the two oils and with motor running add the oils in a thin steady stream. The mixture should come together in a nice thick emulsion. Add lemon juice, to taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cut the apple into julienne (small strips) place in a bowl and combine with half the lemon juice. Add walnuts, celery, radicchio, witlof, grapes and parsley. Add 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and remaining lemon juice. Toss to combine and season to taste. Scatter with a few celery leaves from the heart of the celery and a few extra walnuts and serve.

My Favourite…. Confit of Summer fresh Sweet Peppers

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Cape Town, Cape Town Cooks, capsicum, Chefs, Confit, Cook Books, cooking, Cooks, food, Food Blogs, Life, Lifestyle, Olive oil, Photography, recipes, summer produce, Sweet peppers, Travel, travel Writing, Writing

Shelves are overflowing with wonderful summer produce and the array of capsicums at the moment is a cornucopia of delight. I love them raw in salads, grilled, baked with various fillings or as I am doing today, confit of sweet peppers. The peppers taste superb if they are grilled on a barbecue, but as I don’t have the barbecue fired up,  instead I am grilling them over the gas flame.

Confit vegetables are so wonderfully versatile. You can serve them as tapas, or as a topping on toasted country bread, they are absolutely gorgeous in pasta dishes, or serve them in salads. Today I eat them warm, stuffed into pita bread and topped with feta cheese.

The confit of peppers can be kept in their preserving oil in the fridge for about two weeks, presuming they last that long. To serve them warm, simply heat them under a grill or in a saucepan with a splash of the preserving oil.

Confit of summer fresh sweet peppers

Ingredients

500 g red peppers (or mixed colours if you wish)

600 ml light olive oil

2-3 sprigs of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 sprig rosemary, about 6 cm in length

2 garlic cloves sliced

1 tsp. peppercorns, lightly crushed

Method

Rub the pepper all over with a light film of oil, and then grill them turning frequently until the skin is blackened and blistered all over. Then plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Remove and peel. Cut the peppers lengthways, remove the membrane and seeds and cut each half into two.

Heat the oil in a saucepan until very hot, but not smoking. Add the peppers, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary, garlic and peppercorns. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the peppers to cool in the saucepan. Transfer the cooled peppers to a jar; pour in oil to cover, then seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

In Place of Foie Gras–Try This …

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Chicken liver, Christmas, Cook Books, festive chicken liver tart, Festive Season Foods, Foie Gras, Food Blogs, Life, News, Party food, Photography, recipe, Travel, Writing

Festive Chicken Liver Tart

Christmas is just days away and soon my family and friends will gather around the festively decorated, long dining table.

On occasions like this I like to treat my family and friends with beautiful, tasty food that is just a little bit special. This gorgeous tart is a lovely starter and has replaced the usual Foie Gras as I am put off by the methods applied in its production.

Chicken livers are a regular feature on my menu so I constantly look for different ways to prepare and serve them. This is a particularly delicious tart and one that my family and friends enjoy too.

Liver has an affinity with sweetness; in this recipe it is provided by sultanas heated in brandy. This can be omitted if you wish, but then I suggest you serve a little sweet chutney on the side.

Ingredients for the pastry

1 egg plus some extra beaten egg to brush the pastry

150 g unsalted butter, softened

250 g plain flour

5 ml salt

15 ml milk

Ingredients for the filling

1 tablespoon sultanas

15 ml Armagnac

15 ml water

150 g chicken livers, washed and trimmed

1 shallot, chopped

1 clove of garlic, a large one, crushed

1 egg

250 ml double cream

15 ml chopped basil leaves

Freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Start by making the pastry. Place the eggs and butter in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the flour and salt and mix to incorporate. Add the milk and knead 2 or 3 times to amalgamate all the ingredients. Leave the pastry to rest for 1 hour before using.

Roll out pastry and line a 25cm non-stick tart tin with detachable base. Chill the pastry for 15 minutes.

Put the sultanas, Armagnac and water in a pan, bring to the boil the turn off the heat and leave to cool and to allow the sultanas to swell and absorb the Armagnac flavour.

Place the livers, shallot and garlic in a blender and process to a puree. Add the egg, cream, basil and grated nutmeg, add any remaining liquid from the sultanas, add salt and pepper and process to combine.

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Prick the tart base with a fork then brush the pastry all over with beaten egg. Place the pastry in the centre of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce the temperature to 160C

Sprinkle the sultanas over the base of the pastry case, pour in the chicken liver filling and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and leave to settle for a few minutes before cutting.

Serve with baby salad leaves that have been lightly tossed in a vinaigrette dressing.

The Christmas Cake I Bake the Most Often

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Alomonds, baking, Books, Books for Cooks, Brandy, Candied orange peel, Cape Town, Chefs, Christmas, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, Cooks, Currants, Food Blogs, Food Writing, Life, Photography, raisins, recipes, Sultanas, Travel, Writing

Of the many Christmas cake recipes under my sleeve, this one I enjoy making the most often. It is moist, not too dark or overly rich and always a pleaser at family gatherings. For me it also doubles as a perfectly lovely Christmas dessert.  An added bonus is that it is also very easy to make. The cake is delicious served with coffee, tea or sweet wine.

Christmas Cake

Serves 12

Prep time 30 minutes. Cooking time 5 hours plus cooling

Ingredients

Part 1

500 gm. sultanas

500 gm. raisins

250 gm. currants

250 gm. chopped candied orange or dried orange peel

180 ml brandy

Part 2

200 gm. blanched almonds

400 gm. butter

450 gm. brown sugar

9 eggs, lightly beaten

450 gm. plain flour

½ tsp. baking powder

Method

Start the first part of this recipe the day before. Combine the dried fruit, candied orange and brandy in a large bowl, cover and leave to macerate overnight.

You will need a 23cm square cake tin for this recipe. Line the base with a double layer of brown paper, and then line the sides with four layers of brown paper. Cut a further layer for the top of the cake. Lightly grease and snip a few holes in it and set aside while you mix your ingredients for the cake.

Preheat the oven to 130C.

Finely chop about 150gm of the almonds, reserving about 100gm to decorate the top of the cake.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy; add the egg mixture a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Then stir in the fruit and chopped almonds, add the flour and baking powder, stir until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the top and decorate with the reserved almonds.

Cover the cake with prepared brown paper and bake on lowest oven shelf for 5 hours. Turn off the heat and cool in the oven overnight.

This cake makes a lovely Christmas gift.