Pasta, Avocado and Corn Salad

Gorgeous creamy avocados are readily available at present here in Natal. 

They lend themselves exquisitely to this blend with sweetcorn and tomato; 

adding a little chilli gives it a marvellous zing. 

Give it a try!

Ingredients:

375g snail pasta

15ml olive oil

1 ripe avocado, peeled, stoned and cubed

30ml lemon juice

410g can whole kernel sweetcorn, drained

3 firm, ripe tomatoes cut into small cubes

1 green pepper, deseeded and cubed

5ml chilli powder

125ml vinaigrette

Method:

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and toss with the oil.

Mix together the pasta, corn, tomato and green pepper. 

Mix the chilli powder into the vinaigrette and toss in the pasta. 

Toss the avocado with lemon juice and gently mix into the salad.

Mild Curry Puffs

These delicious curry puffs can be made with 

shop-bought puff pastry, 

as long as you use all-butter pastry. 

If you prefer to make your own pastry, 

then use flaky pastry or puff pastry. 

Ingredients:
500g ready-made puff pastry

Filling:
150g beef or lamb mince
80ml sweetcorn
1 red chilli
1 cm root ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
10ml mild curry powder
a handful of coriander leaves, chopped
2-3 curry leaves, shredded
1 small onion, chopped fine
2.5ml salt
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
10ml sunflower oil

Method:

Add the oil to a frying pan and sauté the onions, garlic and ginger until soft, but not coloured. I add the salt at this stage, which helps them to soften by drawing out their liquid into the pan. This also prevents them caramelising. 

Add the curry powder and mix through the onions. Now add the beef or lamb mince and stir until browned.

Add the sweetcorn and combine with the mince mixture.

Take off the heat and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes. If the filling is too hot when put into the pastry, the pastry melts, stretches and breaks. When the filling has cooled completely, add the coriander and mix through.

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Roll out your pastry to 3-4mm thick. Cut the pastry into 7-8cm squares.

Place a tablespoon of filling in the middle of each square, being careful not to allow the filling to spill over the edges. Brush the edges with beaten egg. Fold the pastry over to form a triangle and seal along the edges with a fork. Use a sharp knife to make a tiny cross on the top of each puff to allow the steam to vent while cooking before you egg wash the top of each pastry. 

Place the pastries on a baking tray and put in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to take them off the tray. Place the pies on a cooling rack and serve them warm. They are nice warm than piping hot, then you get to taste them, and they are delicious.

Enjoy!

July Fruit and Vegetables

Summer is now well entrenched and, as far as fruit and vegetables are concerned, we are in our seventh heaven; Nature truly spoils us this month with a luscious array of colourful produce. Whole ranges of tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn and other quintessential summer vegetables are available in copious quantities.

July sees a glut of tomatoes, which although they are not one of the UK's great crops as we don't get enough sun for them under normal conditions, those grown under' plastic' give the Mediterranean tomatoes a run for their money while the weather is good. All sorts of tomatoes are available: the beef tomato, which is great for salads and cooking, cherry tomatoes, wonderful in salads and pastas, and plum tomatoes, too tough for eating raw, but with solid flesh and good flavour that make them perfect for curries and sauces are the best to look for.

Summer is also salad season, and July is one of the peak months for salad ingredients: lettuces, cucumbers and spring onions as well as the ubiquitous tomato. To complete any salad, a dressing made with the new season garlic, which should now be available from France and Italy, puts the finishing touch.

The two other vegetable stars of July are sweetcorn and peas, a couple of vegetables that are not worth buying fresh any time other than now. I can't think of any vegetable more delicious than peas straight out of the pod or a mealie cob picked from the maize field, boiled and served with butter soon after picking! Both of these vegetables, when picked, are packed full of sugar that can make them additively sweet. But that sugar doesn't last very long. These vegetables continue to act as if they were still 'alive' after picking, using their sugar as food or converting it into starch. Sugar loss can be as high as 40% in 6 hours, which leads to a drastic drop in sweetness. The solution is to buy directly from a farm where they are picked daily, or even more frequently, or to pick them yourself and cook them immediately, where possible. If you can't cook them on the same day as picking, refrigeration storage will slow the rate of sugar loss.

Summer fruits are at their best in July, with mountains of berries and stone fruits just begging to be used. With the wonderful weather to begin the month, the English strawberries are ripening under the warm sunshine and the first raspberries are appearing with their succulent combination of acidity and sweetness. This is the time to use these berry fruits, for jam-making, baking, fruit salads or just enjoying them one berry at a time straight from the bush if you should be so lucky. July is probably the best month for making jams and preserves. The cheapest way to buy, which is important for jam makers, is by going to a 'Pick Your Own Farm', or if you don't have one in your area, is to find a farmer's market, where the quality will be good and the prices reasonable.

Cherries, peaches and nectarines should also be making a good showing this month, but choose these fruit carefully as they are picked while under-ripe to help them withstand the long journey they make to grace the shelves of our stores. sometimes they don't ripen; a trick to get them to ripen is to store them in the fridge in a paper bag. Some supermarkets sell ripe-picked stone fruit at a premium price; they may deserve the premium, but sometimes not. Less than perfect fruit can be used for puddings and preserves.

Of the fruit that is available in July, apart from our own previously mentioned berries and stone-fruit, much of the best fruit comes from more southerly climes. Melons are in good supply, succulent and sweet, making them suitable for fruit salads and for serving with cold meats, hams and spicy sausages.

A fruit that is available most of the year, but at it's best in summer is the mango, which come from Pakistan and India. If you are lucky enough to live near an Asian food store, they may have boxes of this delicious fruit from a source of their own at a more reasonable price than you may find in your local supermarket.

Mealie Bread

In South Africa, Corn or Maize is known as “mealies.” For many people they are part of their daily diet where they are ground to make Mielie Meal and then made into dishes like ‘Sadza’. Normally the mealies are left on the stalks in the field until the crop has dried out, before harvesting. However, to make mealie bread, the cobs are harvested when still young and green when the kernels are still moist. There are a number of recipes to make bread from Mealies that are not only delicious but really easy to make. I have gathered together four recipes, the first one uses corn off the cob, but the others use tinned sweetcorn.

Traditional Steamed Green Mealie Bread

To make this bread you need to use a slightly green mealie (at the hard dough stage). You will know if it is right, if you take a kernel and press it and some liquid should come out, but most of the starchy kernel should remain between fingers.

Ingredients:

750 ml Fresh green mealies, cut off the cob

75 ml flour

25 ml sugar

10 ml baking powder or sachet yeast

5 ml salt

30 ml butter

Method:

Cut the kernels off cob and then rub the cob with the back of a knife to remove remaining portions of kernels.

Mash/mince these green mealies.

Mix together all the ingredients.

Moisten a cotton cloth and sprinkle with a light coat of flour and then put in a colander.

Pour mixture into cloth and bind tightly, but allow space for bread to rise.

If using yeast, use buttered tins and allow mixture to stand till bubbling and started rising. Cover tightly and steam for 2 – 2.5 hours.

Serve hot from the pan with butter – and a dusting of pepper

Cheesy Mealie Bread

Cheesy Mealie Bread

Ingredients:

480 g cake flour

20ml baking powder

pinch of salt

50 ml sugar

30 ml cooking oil

2 eggs, beaten

200 ml milk

1 x 410g can cream style sweetcorn or fresh baked corn

100 g strong cheese , grated

a little grated onion

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl

Beat together with oil, eggs and milk and add to the flour mixture

Add the rest of the ingredients, mix thoroughly and place in well-greased circular pot

Sprinkle a little cheese, onion and parsley on the top

Bake for about an hour (this may vary depending on your oven)

Sour Cream Mealie Bread

This is a sumptuous mealie bread that’s great for a special occasion. Make it basic or sizzling with hot chilli and serve with lashings of butter. Instead of frozen or tinned whole kernels, you could use fresh green mealies, cut from the cob if they are available. Yum yum yum!

Ingredients:

250ml mealie meal, corn meal or polenta

250ml cake flour

5ml baking powder

2.5ml bicarbonate of soda

5ml salt

15ml sugar

125ml cream style sweetcorn

125ml frozen sweetcorn, or tinned whole kernel sweetcorn, drained

125ml sour cream

200ml milk

2 eggs

30ml vegetable oil

1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (optional)

30ml extra mealie meal

Oil to coat the pan

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together the cream style sweetcorn, frozen sweetcorn, sour cream, milk, eggs and vegetable oil. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients along with the chopped chilli (optional). Mix gently just until the ingredients are all moistened.

Oil an 8 inch loose base cake tin and coat with 30ml mealie meal. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the pan comes out clean.

Cool slightly in the pan before transferring to a serving plate and cutting into wedges.

Lay-Z Mealie Bread

This is one of my favourite South African recipes and the best bit is that it is so easy.

Ingredients:

2 cups basic bread ready-mix

1 cup creamed corn (Usually found tinned)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup whole milk

2 ounces butter, melted

Method: Place the biscuit mix, creamed corn, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg and milk, and stir just until combined. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9″ baking pan. Place the mealie mixture into the pan, and coat with the melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes. Easypeasy!

Corned Beef and Corn Bread

Corned beef, or bully beef, go so well with sweetcorn, they are like husband and wife.

This 'Cornbread' comes from an old South African recipe book of mine.

It's down to earth cooking and I trust you will enjoy it as much as my family do.

Ingredients:

500 g plain flour

12 g salt

25 g fresh yeast

40 g butter

290 ml water

1 can sweetcorn, drained

1 small can corned beef

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Place the flour, salt, yeast, butter and water in a mixing bowl. Mix roughly with your hands and then tip onto a work surface and knead for 5 minutes.

Return the dough to the bowl and set aside to rise for 1 hour.

Mix the corned beef and sweetcorn. Shape the dough into a ball, place on a lined baking tray and use a cook's knife to mark a cross on the top of the loaf. Leave to rise for 45 minutes.

Bake the loaf for 25 minutes until risen.