Pasta Slaw

Coleslaw is one of South Africa’s favourite salads, but we got tired of the ubiquitous cabbage and carrot smothered with mayonnaise and added pasta to it for an interesting variation.

I like to add a few extra special touches to this salad, which always goes down a treat, such as a couple of handfuls of raisins, sultanas or chopped dried apricots and some chopped nuts such as macadamias, pecans, walnuts or cashew nuts. Mix some fruit or nuts into the salad and sprinkle some on top to garnish.

Ingredients:

250g Elbow Macaroni

15ml olive oil

¼ cabbage, shredded finely

2 ribs of celery, finely sliced

1 large carrot, grated

½ 470g can crushed pineapple

250ml mayonnaise

60ml snipped chives

100ml sultanas (optional)

100g chopped macadamia nuts (optional)

Method:

Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions. Drain well and mix with the oil.

Combine the pasta, cabbage, celery, carrot, pineapple and some of the sultanas and macadamia nuts, if using, reserving some of each of the dried fruit and nuts for garnish, then mix in the mayonnaise.

Garnish with sultanas and macadamia nuts, if using, and snipped chives.

Texas-Style Barbeque Chicken with Carrot and Red Cabbage Slaw

Texas-Style Barbeque Chicken 

with Carrot and Red Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

4 chicken quarters, skinned

For the Texas Dry Rub

15ml sea salt

15ml paprika

15ml golden caster sugar

15ml dry mustard powder

Zest of 1 lemon

2.5ml cayenne pepper

5ml freshly ground black pepper

6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

For the Slaw

½ cucumber, cut into julienne strips

1 large carrot, coarsely grated

¼ red cabbage, finely shredded

50ml red wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Mix together the dry rub in a bowl. Rub over the chicken and leave for at least an hour, or preferably overnight in the fridge.

Combine the salad ingredients in a bowl. Season and toss together to mix well.

Cook the chicken on the barbeque, braai or under a medium-hot grill for 10-12 minutes on each side, or until cooked through – when pierced with a skewer the juices should run clear.

Serve with the prepared slaw.

Beef and Onion Suet Pudding

This slow-cooked pie with a suet pastry crust is comfort food heaven. Suet pastry is an old family favourite and the first pastry I learned to make. It’s as easy as pie! This pastry is typically English and can be used for savoury and sweet dishes; for the latter you might want to add about 60-100g caster sugar to use for puddings.

Ingredients:
For the filling:
750g stewing beef , diced
50ml plain flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
60ml olive oil
150g whole baby onions, peeled
1 onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
150ml beer
300ml beef stock

For the suet pastry:
500g self-raising flour
250g beef suet
325ml water
Pinch salt

For the cabbage:
50g butter
1 conical cabbage, core removed, shredded
50ml chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

Method:
For the filling, preheat the oven to 150C.

Mix the beef, flour and seasoning together in a bowl.

Heat some of the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole until hot. Shake the excess flour from the beef and fry, in batches, for 4-5 minutes, or until browned all over. Remove the beef and set aside.

Add the remaining olive oil and onions to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes, or until softened and just coloured.

Return the beef to the casserole and add the garlic and beer. Continue to cook until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half then add the beef stock and bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours.

Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside to cool completely.

For the suet pastry, mix the self-raising flour, suet, water and salt in a bowl to form a soft dough. Do not overwork the pastry.

Roll out three-quarters of the pastry to a 1cm/½in thickness and use it to line a 1.2 litre pudding basin. Fill with the cold cooked beef filling and moisten the pastry around the rim of the basin with water.

Roll the remaining dough to a 1cm thickness and place over the top of the basin. Pinch the edges firmly together and trim off any excess.

Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper and a single sheet of aluminium foil. Tie around the top edge with string.

Steam the pudding for 1½ hours in a steamer, or on an upturned plate in a covered saucepan half-filled with water.

For the cabbage, heat a frying pan until hot, add the butter, cabbage and 50ml water and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just tender. Stir in the parsley, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve the pudding in slices with the cabbage alongside.

Fruit and Vegetables in May

As summer approaches, long warm days tempt us outdoors for braais, barbecues and picnics. May is a good month for veggie-lover. It's the first month to provide new and welcome produce for the year. There are two undisputed May champions: asparagus and new potatoes, particularly Jersey Royals. Both asparagus and new potatoes, which rank among the worlds great delicacies, may be expensive early in the season, but they are worth every penny for their unique flavour. Later in the month as they become more abundant their price comes down.

Asparagus should be bought, if possible, from a good supplier on the day of picking and eaten on the same day for the best results. Their hard, bright spears lose some of their lustre after even a day in the fridge. If you do buy more than you can eat in one day, keep them loosely wrapped in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. any less than perfect asparagus can be used in things like soups. pies and risottos.

When buying asparagus - or 'sparrow grass' as it was originally called - look closely at the individual spears and squeeze them if you can; they should be rock hard, like any good vegetable, with no sign of wrinkles, and a spear, when held by the end and shaken, should not be flexible enough to bend. The root-ends may be white, where sunlight was kept from them as they were hidden in the soil, but if there is too much white you will loose too much when trimming. The green tops of the spears should be really green, with no hints of the yellow or brown that indicates they are less than fresh. When you get the asparagus home, wash it well to remove any sand or grit that may still be attached to it.

Jersey Royals have a creamy texture and complex flavour that are have no equal and range in size from barely more then an olive to larger than an egg. Squeeze them between thumb and forefinger to check for freshness; if they dent at all, they are far from fresh, but don't be alarmed if the skin appears to be falling off; this is normal for this type of potato. Prepare them by washing only; they do not need to be peeled as the skins have flavour and nutrients. If they are gritty, soak them in warm water to clean them. Boil them whole or slice and saute them for delicious hot accompaniments to a main course or for cold salads.

While new potatoes and asparagus are the stars of May, it is also a good month for a lot of other vegetables as it's the beginning of summer where dining is concerned. Look out for the first sweet and tender broad beans that will be appearing now; it's worth the extra work to shell and skin them before serving, but the small fresh baby broad beans may not even need to be skinned.

Other interesting vegetables this month include spring greens, cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli, and towards the end of the month the first of the British grown garden peas should appear. Peas should be eaten as soon after picking as possible as their sweetness and succulence begin to wain soon after picking, so don't be persuaded to buy the Spanish imports: they have come so far and it may be days since they were picked before they grace your table. Coming into the stores should be baby leeks, which are great for steaming or stir-frying. British baby spinach will also become available this month, ideal for salads as well as cooking. Watercress will also be available to add crunch to salads and stir-frys. Spring cabbage varieties, will also be gracing the shelves this month. Radishes will begin to appear to grace your salads with bite and heat.

Apart from rhubarb, most fruits available this month are imported. May is a good month for mangoes and pineapples as well as the ubiquitous banana.

Buckwheat and Apple Crumpets with Braised Cabbage and Bacon

These would probably be better known as pancakes, which most people think of as an American idea, but they actually come from Europe, especially the Saxon or Germanic peoples, including the British. In South Africa we call them crumpets, which are usually sweet, but those who are of Dutch heritage also make savoury varieties. They are wonderful for breakfast when you have time to make them, or served with a meat course as a side dish.

Ingredients:

For the pancake batter:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

220 ml milk, plus a little extra if necessary

1 apple, peeled and grated

200 g buckwheat flour

10ml baking powder

30ml oatmeal

butter, for frying

For the braised cabbage:

1 small/medium savoy cabbage, cored and cut into wedges

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

5ml fresh thyme, leaves

30ml maple syrup

75 ml cider vinegar

100 g butter, diced

To serve:

12 slices lean bacon

apple sauce

6 bags maple syrup

thick crème fraiche

Method:

For the pancake batter:

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk, then stir in the apple. Sift in the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, sprinkle over the oatmeal and fold in until just combined, adding a little more milk if necessary. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to rest the batter for 30 minutes.

For the cabbage:

Preheat the oven to 190C. Put the cabbage on a large sheet of tinfoil, top with onion, garlic, thyme, maple syrup and cider vinegar. Dot with butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Seal the foil edges, put the packet on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes. Heat a little butter in a heavy-based non-stick frying pan, add spoonfuls of pancake batter and cook until the pancakes begin to bubble on the surface, then flip them over and continue to cook till golden.

Cook the bacon on a griddle until done to your liking. To serve, put the pancakes on serving plates, top with apple sauce, braised cabbage, bacon and crème fraiche and drizzle with maple syrup.

Mini Pork Wellingtons

Beef fillet is so expensive and pork fillets are always available

and inexpensive in comparison

so I like to use them for this twist on a British classic.

I'm allergic to mushrooms, so I use corgette,

which has a similar flavour and texture,

but you are welcome to use mushrooms if you choose.

It's nice to make individual wellingtons like this;

they are so impressive when entertaining friends.

.

Ingredients:
sunflower oil for frying
1 x 150g pork tenderloin fillets
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
25g butter
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 a cooking apple, peeled, cored and diced
half a courgette, peeled and sliced (or thinly sliced mushrooms, about 100g)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
30ml double cream
500g ready-made puff pastry
palin flour for dusting
100g parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 egg, beaten
30ml milk

.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C.

Heat a little sunflower oil in a large frying pan. Season the pork fillets, then fry for 8-10 minutes, turning regularly, or until browned on all sides. Remove the pork from the pan and set aside to cool.

Add the butter to the frying pan and fry the garlic, shallots and apple for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.

Add the courgettes and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper; then stir in the cream. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured work surface. Scatter over the parmesan, then fold the pastry in half. Roll the pastry out again and cut into four rectangular pieces.

For the egg wash, beat the egg and milk together in a bowl.

Spoon some apple and courgette mixture into the middle of each piece of pastry and place the pork on top. Brush the edge of the pastry with the egg wash. Form the pastry into a parcel around the pork and seal the edges. Brush the remaining egg wash over each wellington.

Place the pastry parcels on a baking tray with the pastry seam on the bottom. Bake the pork Wellingtons in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is risen and golden-brown.

To serve, carve the Wellingtons into thick slices and place on top of a vegetable serving and pour over a sauce or gravy. These go well with Rosemary Braised Cabbage and Port and Red Wine Sauce.

Sweet Spring Cabbage Cannelloni

These spring cabbage cannelloni are great as a vegetarian supper.

The best cabbages to use for this are sugar loaf or Chinese cabbage.

This recipe can also be made with broccoli, baby spinach or Swiss chard.

The cheese you use does not have to be Cheddar;

as long as it is a flavoursome cheese that can be crumbled or grated, that is fine.

Ingredients:
4 dried lasagne sheets
500g spring cabbage, cleaned and sliced.
50g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes, skinned and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
30ml runny honey
5ml dried oregano
125ml double cream
50g strong Cheddar cheese, grated

Method:
Cook the lasagne sheets in a large pan of boiling water for about 7 minutes.
Drain, rinse in hot water and lay out on a board ready for filling.
Melt the butter in a wok on a medium heat.
Add the onion and garlic, cooking gently until the onion is translucent and tender.
Add the cabbage, tomatoes and seasoning and stir-fry for a few minutes to cook the cabbage.
Add the honey and oregano and stir-fry for a further minute or two.
Remove from the heat and divide into 4 portions.
Put a portion of mixture across the short end of each of the four lasagne sheets.
Carefully roll up each sheet and place in an oven proof dish with the join side down.
Pour on the cream evenly over all four rolls and scatter the grated cheese over the top.
Place under the grill until brown and bubbling.
Serve immediately.

Rosemary Braised Cabbage

This is cabbage to die for doll!

I'm not that fond of cabbage -

I went to boarding school, LOL -

But this is something else!

Using a mixture of cabbage and cauliflower or broccoli

makes colour, texture and taste more interesting.

Ingredients:
1 savoy cabbage, tough stalk removed and roughly chopped
30ml olive oil
6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut across into 1 inch strips
15ml chopped fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
150ml chicken stock
1 small can chick peas
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
90g butter

Method:
Add the olive oil to a thick-based pan and fry off the bacon.
After a minute add the rosemary and garlic and mix to combine the flavours.
When the bacon is golden brown, add the cabbage and a little stock, put the lid on the pan and steam the cabbage for a minute or two.
Add the rest of your stock, season with salt and pepper and stir.
Replace the lid and simmer for 10-12 minutes, adding the chick peas after about 7 minutes.
When the cabbage is tender enough to eat but still holds its colour, take the pan off the heat. Drain off the vegetables and transfer to a hot serving dish.
Return the remaining stock in the pan to the heat and heat for about 5 minutes to reduce.
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the butter.
Pour over the cabbage in the serving dish.
Leave for about 5 minutes before serving.

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