Monster meatball!

I'm all in favour of cutting down work in the kitchen and one of the best ways to do this, I think, is not to fiddle with things. Why make a meatball mixture and spend an hour separating, rolling and frying 20 little meatballs, when you can just put a humungus one in the pan and cut it up afterwards? Maybe you like all the sides to be brown and crisp, but it can also dry the meat out, and my version is cooked in 15 minutes.

This is a large dinner plate, although it appears to be a side plate!

This particular meatball was made with beef mince, chopped onion, a slice of white bread, an egg, dried thyme, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard (essential in a meatball!), a liberal amount of Himalayan rock salt, white pepper and a few teaspoons of ground cumin. Mmm, mmm!

Serve on mash with lots of chutney or sweet chilli sauce, and your favourite vegetables or a salad.

Livening up a chicken breast

If there is one thing that I am guaranteed not to look forward to eating, it is a chicken breast. The slightest bit of overcooking and you are left with a dry, stringy and dare I say tasteless bit of protein. Apart from keeping a watchful eye on it and making sure that you are not cooking the tastier bits such as thighs and drumsticks, which take much longer, in the same dish, the way to add excitement to chicken breast is to stuff them.

A breast that is still on the bone is always more tender and tastier than deboned - perhaps that's because all meat cooked on the bone seems to benefit from it - and these can be stuffed just as successfully. All you need is a sharp boning knife to make a slit that doesn't quite separate the two halves of a breast. Each flap should be the same thickness, about 1cm, and you can then fill the pocket with mouthwatering stuffings - whatever takes your fancy.

Last night I filled them with pesto made from olive oil, parmesan and pecorino cheese, basil, chilli and ground almonds. Make sure that the open side faces upwards and secure with a couple of toothpicks. Cook for a short time - 15 to 20 minutes at 180 deg C should be more than adequate. Only cook just before eating, as chicken breast doesn't improve with standing!

Serve with basmati rice and a salad or some lightly steamed vegetables. Mmmm!

Basic mince - how to cook and tasty extras

We tend to forget that not everyone knows basic cooking skills and take for granted that everyday meals don't require a recipe or guidance. Here are some tips for tasty beef mince meals.

Basic mince:
Use 400g or so of mince until you know how much you eat per person. Everyone has their own capacity! This should feed 3 or 4 people as there is always something added.

Heat 2 Tablesp oil in a pan or pot over medium heat and add a large onion, sliced or chopped depending on how energetic you are feeling. Once it has softened, turn the heat up and add the mince - a higher heat enables you to break it up quicker. It doesn't matter if it is still frozen - keep turning it and peeling off the browned surface, using a fork to crumble the meat. Once all lumps are gone, turn the heat down and add 1 teasp of salt and some white pepper. This is your basic mixture to which you add whatever floats your boat!

Savoury mince:

Add the following to basic mince: beef stock powder, allspice powder (1/2 teasp), bay leaf, a little water to prevent burning. Add your vegetables to the mince and cook it all together. Much easier to clean one pot!

Tomato-based mince:

When cooking the onion for basic mince, add 1 sliced celery stalk (not leaves), 1 peeled and grated carrot and a clove or two of garlic. Once basic mince is crumbled, add 1 tin chopped tomatoes (or fresh) and 2 Tablesp tomato paste (alternatively just use 1 tin tomato puree), 1 teasp sugar, a bay leaf and 2 teasp dried oreganum. You can also add beef stock powder if you wish. Cover with a lid and cook for 30 - 40 mins, ensuring it does not boil, it should just simmer (odd bubble popping). If the liquid evaporates (it shouldn't because tomatoes produce liquid), add a little hot water. The flavour develops better if you make it early in the day or even the day before and keep in the fridge till heating with your vegetables. The celery adds a richness to the flavour and the sugar takes away the sharpness of the tomato. This is very good topped with mashed potato or even easier, plopped on top of the mash.

Further additions to tomato-based mince for bolognaise sauce:
1/2 teasp nutmeg, 1/2 cup red wine.

Will think of others for another time!

Getting your daily dose of spices

Our bodies benefit greatly from the ingestion of a multitude of spices, and what better way to do so than in the form of curry? A curry does not have to be too spicy or overwhelmingly hot, but there is no doubt that chilli peppers, once you have acquired a taste for them, contribute towards natural mood enhancement. The accompaniments for curry - yoghurt, coconut, banana, cucumber and avocado - should also form a regular part of our diets. To me, it constitutes an ideal meal!

Tonight I am making mince curry and will throw the rice into the same pot, as it saves on washing up afterwards!

Mince curry:

Heat a little coconut oil or butter/oil of choice and saute finely sliced onion, garlic and fresh ginger until transparent. Add 1Tbs each of cumin, coriander, turmeric, commercial curry powder and chutney, 1 teasp each of dried chilli (or however you like it) and salt, a bay leaf, stick of cinnamon or cassia, and stir constantly for about a minute. Do not allow to burn. If it is too hot, add a dash of hot water (not cold, you don't want to crack a pot), taking care not to burn yourself on the steam, and then add the mince. Break it up with a fork until all crumbly, add 1/2 cup water and simmer for about 15 minutes.

A can of beans or a cup of frozen peas are a nice addition to extend the dish. Add this when you add the rice - preferably basmati - if there is no liquid in the curry, add 2 cups hot water to 1 cup rice - give it a good stir and simmer on low for 15 minutes by which time the water should be absorbed and the rice cooked to perfection. Beware of burning if you have added baked beans, as the tomato/sugar content seems to sit on the bottom. If it only 'catches' slightly, this always enhances the flavour, I think, but this kind of timing only comes with practice!

Enjoy!

Homemade chocolates without the guilt!

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe! Today I want to share one of life's great treats - real chocolate - that's actually good for you!

The health benefits of many South American foods are being introduced to the rest of the world and in the main are referred to as superfoods for their extremely high nutritional content. It seems that the native peoples of South America needed an extra boost to compensate for the extremes of climate and altitude that they endured!

Raw cacao is said to have one of the highest antioxidant properties, as well as being conducive to happiness. This easy method of producing chocolate that hasn't been subjected to high temperatures or any additives is ideal for those seeking chocolate satisfaction without the guilt:

500g raw cacao paste
250g cacao butter
1/4 cup agave syrup or more if you really have a sweet tooth
Chopped raw almonds and cranberries

Melt the first three ingredients in a double boiler, or even just over hot water, making sure it melts but doesn't heat. Constant stirring ensures a speedy result. Add sufficient almonds and cranberries to make about double the mixture. This will extend the volume of chocolates and allow you to eat more than one at a time. Spoon the mixture into ice trays - takes a bit of practice as it is very thin and can be messy. Place in deep freeze or fridge to set, knock out of trays and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

You should try not to eat more than 20g of chocolate per day, simply for the caloric value. It might have a similar effect to caffeine and keep you awake.

Whatever the claims made with regard to the nutritive properties of any food, I can say with certainty that these delicious treats sure beat any commercial chocolate out there!

Nice n spicy!

I cooked my first Thai green curry the other day and it was a resounding success, despite not having all the ingredients, so imagine how good it would have been if I had had a mango!

This is how I did it, and I would say that a wok is definitely the best pan to use:

1 cup coconut milk
1Tbsp chopped fresh ginger (must be fresh, not ground)
1Tbsp soy sauce
1Tbsp brown sugar
1Tbsp fish sauce (if you don't have this, mash an anchovy!)
1Tbsp cornflour
1Tblsp lime juice
1 teasp chopped fresh garlic (don't buy it ready chopped - that stuff is dreadful)
2 teasp oil (peanut, sunflower, grapeseed...)
2 teasp green curry paste (less if you don't want it too hot or more if you do)
750g of cut up chicken, no bones (I use thigh meat because I like it to have flavour)
1 red pepper cut into strips
2 or 3 large spring onions, chopped coarsely
Handful of chopped fresh basil
Handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced, if you like

Mix first 9 ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Heat oil in wok and cook chicken until just done (you will have to check this yourself - timing depends entirely on the heat source), then remove and add onion and pepper to the wok, stirring for a few minutes to soften. Add sauce, basil and coriander and chicken and warm through. If you boil it to thicken the sauce, you may well find that it separates as happens with coconut milk, but if you don't mind the unattractive appearance, the enjoyment of this dish will outweigh its aesthetics. You can add the mango and warm it slightly if you like it.

I unfortunately enjoyed this so much that I had two helpings, so make sure that you only cook enough for one serving each!

More tips from my kitchen

What I put into chicken curry:  Onion (lots - it makes the gravy); fresh ginger  (1cm), garlic (2 cloves); bay leaves;  2tsp ground cumin, 2tsp ground coriander, 6 cardamoms (split - very important otherwise if you bite them they ruin the taste of the curry, but if opened will enhance it); 1tsp ground turmeric (not too much or it will be bitter); cloves - not in the picture (forgot to put them on the plate!); star anise (one star is enough); 1tsp salt; as much chilli as you like (the hot part is the bit that joins the pips to the outside - so take that out if you just want the flavour, but DO NOT touch your face and particularly your eyes after touching chilli - wash your hands extremely well. You can cheat by buying it in a jar - high quality pure chilli only.  The fresh coriander is chopped and added to the curry just before serving.

These spices will be enough for a curry for 4. If you are making more, add proportionally.

For lamb curry, leave out the cloves and add a nice blob of tamarind paste or if you do not have any, some apricot jam will do!

Here is a guaranteed way to never cry over your onions again:

No more tears! Fold back skin to root end. Hold as shown and slice down only to about 1.5cm from fold. This will ensure that you do not cut into the section where the root and the bulb are joined. I have not cried since I discovered this!

Yummy baked chicken

Baked chicken is always a favourite in our household, mainly because it's always a surprise and also because it never really comes out the same. I have various versions and like to keep everyone guessing as to which combination it will be. The accompaniments are always the same: rice, peas, carrots, squash, that kind of thing, whatever you fancy, but the chicken is as follows:

Chicken - I use thighs because I think they are the tastiest part of the chicken. Use enough for the number of people you are cooking for, according to their capacity! Place a layer of thickly sliced onion in the bottom of a shallow casserole dish. Put the chicken pieces, skin side up, on top and pour any of the following over it. Ensure that the quantity is not too skimpy - there is nothing worse than not enough sauce to pour over the whole plate!

1. Mix 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup chutney, 1/2 cup syrup, 2 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Add chilli if liked. Pour over chicken and cover with lid or tin foil, bake for 30 mins at 180 deg C, take off foil and cook another 15 mins until skin is brown and crisp.

2. Mix 1 cup orange juice (or peach or mango), 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup chutney. Cook as above.

Experience will tell you whether to cook at a lower temperature and when the cut-off point is between cooked to perfection and burnt! Never wander off and check Facebook or emails when this critical point is about to be reached.

A meatless meal

Sometimes I just get tired of meat and long for a big plate of vegetables! I'm sure you do too, and here is the easiest way to solve that:

Lightly steam a selection of your favourite vegetables. My preference is: carrots, butternut, peas, beans, broccoli, celery and chopped spinach. Make a cheese sauce with plenty of mustard, or a white sauce to which a teaspoon of cayenne pepper has been added. Cayenne is exceptionally good for a variety of ailments and you should use it at every opportunity. There should be enough sauce to completely coat the cooked vegetables - there is nothing worse than a thin layer on top! I also add onions which have first been softened in a little grapeseed or olive oil, as the flavour is much better when a little brown. These should be added to the vegetables which you have placed in a suitable ovenproof dish and then the sauce poured over and cajoled into all the gaps with a spoon. You can see strips of streaky bacon on top - this is for the meat-eaters, or alternatively you can spread a layer of mashed potatoes like a pie crust, brushed with melted butter before putting into a hot oven for about 15 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp or the potato golden brown.

If you don't fancy a rich sauce, rather put big chunks of feta cheese all over the place to give it a bit of body before putting in the oven.

Delicious!

Traditional South African Bobotie

This is a couple of steps up from plain old meatloaf! You can add as much curry powder as you like, but it is actually the taste of the lemon leaves that gives it the memorable flavour.

1kg mince (beef or lamb, or you can use leftover minced roast meat)
Mix 1 slice white bread with milk (most recipes tell you to pour a cup of milk over the bread then squeeze it out. This is totally unnecessary. Just use enough milk to wet the bread.
Slice 2 onions thinly and simmer briefly in water to soften, then drain.

Combine these ingredients with the following:
1 egg
1 Tablesp curry powder or more if you like
2 teasp salt and 1/2 teasp pepper
1/2 (Tablesp turmeric
2 Tablesp vinegar
1/2 cup roughly chopped raw almonds
1/2 cup seedless raisins (I prefer unbleached sultanas)

Wet your hands with cold water and mix everything thoroughly with your hands. The water will prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands and it is more effective and creatively satisfying to get involved with your ingredients rather than poking around with utensils. Our hands were designed as the original utensils.

Pat into an ovenproof dish not more than 3 inches deep. Roll up 6 or 8 fresh lemon leaves and press them upright into the meat. Bake at 180 deg C for 45 minutes (adapt according to the size of the dish), then remove from oven. Beat 1 egg with 1/2 cup milk and pour over the bobotie. Return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes until  slightly browned.

Serve with rice and plenty of chutney.

One of our most traditional  and well-loved dishes here in South Africa.

Comfort food

When the days start to grow cooler, my thoughts turn to comfort food - one-dish, multiple ingredient recipes that are full of rich flavour and satisfyingly filling. If minced lamb is available, that is best, but otherwise leftover roast lamb, finely chopped or minced can be used and the cooking time reduced.

Chop 2 onions and fry until softened in oil of your choice - I prefer grapeseed oil which is healthy and has a higher flashpoint than sunflower.
Add 500g minced lamb and fry until crumbly and browned.
Add 2 grated carrots, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon each of thyme and rosemary and 300ml beef stock. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can add any other vegetables you like, but then adjust the seasoning upwards. I like to add peas.
Simmer for about 40 minutes. Better if made in morning so that flavour can develop.

Put in baking dish and cover with a layer of fluffy mashed potato - no recipe needed for that!

Brush with milk and bake at 180 deg. C for about 30 mins or until topping is crisp and golden.

A delicious, tummy-warming treat!

At last! A recipe.

If any one has been relying on this blog to feed themselves, they will doubtless be starving by now! I will endeavour to redeem myself by sharing one of my favourite chicken dishes that requires almost no effort but may contain ingredients that won't be in your pantry. They should be, as they are a versatile addition to many otherwise plain dishes.

CHICKEN WITH CAPERS, PRUNES AND RED WINE

Feeds 4.

8 chicken pieces - I always use thighs as I find them the meatiest and most even shaped for cooking. Breast meat is best left for those who enjoy being martyrs.
3 cloves garlic - or to taste.
1 cup pitted prunes - buy unpitted, much cheaper and slice open very easily to remove stones. Never leave a stone in a prune (or an olive) unless you enjoy being at the dentist.
2 Tblespoons capers - children are unlikely to enjoy these, so don't waste this delectable dish on them.
2 bay leaves
2 Tblespoons brown sugar (don't know why - plenty sugar in prunes).
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 of fresh
1 cup red wine - nothing you wouldn't drink on its own.
Salt and pepper to taste.

If you like, you can brown the chicken skin in a hot pan for aesthetic appeal, but completely unnecessary. Put all ingredients in ovenproof casserole, cover and bake at 180 deg C for 40 minutes, then remove lid, baste chicken with sauce and cook uncovered for 15 minutes until appetisingly browned.

A taste sensation!

Utensils

There is nothing more satisfying to the eye than a kitchen filled with beautiful utensils (cooking tools - Chambers 21st Century Dictionary), and wouldn't we all love to have a complete set of that boldly coloured, cast iron, enamelled French cookware (if they would like to sponsor this blog, I will gladly mention the name and include numerous artistic photographs), or the fabulous medical grade stainless steel waterless cookware that lasts longer than any marriage and has a pot that costs more than a small stove. However, unless you put in the effort, even the most expensive pots will not produce a better meal than a cheap aluminium saucepan from the local hardware store (okay, maybe a little exaggeration - I personally cannot bring myself to cook in aluminium).

A set of stainless steel 18/10 grade pots and frying pans will set you up for life. Experience has taught me that coated pans do not last and I have wondered how, if the material used is non-stick, they make it stick to the pan in the first place. Also, it is supposedly indestructible even though it can chip off, and I don't really fancy having it going through my digestive system or even perhaps becoming part of it. A heavy bottomed pan is essential, as it won't warp and create an uneven surface for stoves with solid plates or a ceramic top.

A gas hob and electric oven are, for me, the ideal arrangement, but always keep a spare gas cylinder, as there is nothing worse than running out of gas as you are beginning dinner.

The most useful item in a kitchen is the hand-held, stick blender with the chopping bowl attachment; this saves an awful lot of washing up by using it directly in the pot of soup that you want to puree or potatoes you want to crush with a little butter and not much fuss.

You can get away with very little in the way of knick-knack type of gadgets, as long as you have a very good set of super-sharp knives and a top quality vegetable peeler. Once you have experience in chopping vegetables, you really will find that manual is the way to go. I have a drawer filled with gadgets collected over the years that are just too much bother to use e.g. a garlic crusher is no better than pressing the flat side of a large knife onto the garlic clove - same result, instantly.

Another essential - a dishwasher - don't believe it when you tell yourself you would never need it because there are only two of you. Just have enough plates for 2 days!

Last item - microwave - useful for defrosting and warming up.

Organising yourself in the kitchen

The secret to stress-free cooking and an enjoyable time in the kitchen is organisation. For me, the most important rule is: Clean As You Go! The first step is to fill the sink with hot, soapy water. I can't bear having dirty hands, so this is the easiest way to keep rinsing them off between handling ingredients, plus you can instantly wash those funny little items that don't fit in the dishwasher or only need a rinse because they aren't actually dirty. The ideal situation to be in once the food is cooking itself is to be stacking the last item in the dishwasher and wiping the surfaces clean. This also keeps the flies away. If you live in Kommetjie, it seems that the crayfishing season coincides with a huge leap in the fly population, the reason for which we draw our own conclusions but probably relates in large part to bait that gets dumped on the rocks or in public bins.

Once the sink is filled, assemble your ingredients. There is nothing worse than being halfway through a recipe and finding that the bottle of red wine that was in the back of the cupboard is no longer there, or that someone put the last of the parmesan on their potato the night before. Try to train your family to tell you when they use the last teabag or ate the nachos you were keeping for the Chilli Con Carne.

If you are anything like me, I buy ingredients that get put on a high shelf and forget about them, so that by the time I think of using them and have climbed the kitchen stepladder to find them, they are already 5 years out of date! This hasn't happened so frequently of late, as I have become much better in this department, mainly because after a really thorough baboon raid through the kitchen, you have to throw everything out and start again!

Unless you are making baked goods, I have never found it necessary to worry with exact measures. If you use a teacup to measure with, just ensure that everything goes into the recipe via the same cup and not a mug halfway through. Experience will very quickly teach you how to estimate everything with your eye and a couple of spoons! I would rather err on the generous side, particularly when making a sauce, as these can reduce to nothing very quickly if you have your temperatures too high.

The final important things to have handy are: the refuse bin to dispose of waste as it occurs, and a container with a lid for the vegetable waste to be separated for the compost heap or the porcupine (if you have one!) as you prepare your vegetables.

Next time I will talk about the tools and utensils that I can't do without.

Cooking needn't be a chore

We spend an inordinately large proportion of our time in the kitchen, either cooking or cleaning up afterwards, and for so many it is nothing but a chore that must be endured. Producing  food that excites your taste buds should be one of life's great pleasures, a showcase for your creative talents. If it is also pleasing on the eye, then you are producing a work of art to rival anything produced on canvas, and can be justifiably proud of your achievement. But nothing is gained without a certain amount of drudgery as well, and unless you are a celebrity chef on TV, you will have to chop your own onions and wash your own dishes. However, you are just as capable as they are of producing restaurant-quality meals in your own kitchen, with just a little enthusiasm, the right ingredients and utensils and, most importantly, perfect preparation. Without organising your work area, cooking can rapidly deteriorate into an unsatisfying pastime and the likelihood of tinned spaghetti on toast for dinner looms on the horizon.

In my next blog, I will make suggestions to lighten the load. In the meantime, here is an easy way to make red onion marmalade to accompany a cheese platter while you read your recipe books:

3 large red onions
3 Tblsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt to taste

Peel and slice onions. Melt butter in heavy pan over medium heat then add onions and sugar. Stir occasionally as they cook to a glossy, caramelized texture, about 20 minutes. Add wine and vinegar, bring to a slight boil, then turn down to low and simmer for about an hour until liquid has evaporated and the onions are a dark, glossy red and add salt to taste.

Eat hot or cold as a condiment. Keep in fridge and eat within a week. This will not be difficult.