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.

Maple Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

1/3 cup soft butter
2 eggs
1 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups flour
10ml baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 cup rough chopped walnuts

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Beat together the butter, eggs and syrup.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and stir this into the egg mixture a bit at a time.

Beat with a whisk until smooth, then fold in the walnuts.

Pour into a greased 8-9 inch square cake pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through.

Allow the cake to cool completely before topping with maple butter icing.


To make the Maple Butter Icing:

30ml butter
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
5-10ml maple syrup

Melt the butter and blend in the icing sugar. Moisten to a spreading consistency with maple syrup.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

This English teatime cake is found in every museum and gallery café for good reason.

It is a wonderful pick-me-up in the afternoon.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
200g walnuts halves
200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
50ml coffee granules, dissolved in 30ml boiling water
200g self-raising flour

For the icing:
600g full-fat cream cheese
100g light brown sugar
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter a 20cm spring-form or loose bottomed cake tin, about 7cm deep, and line the bottom with baking paper.
Spread the walnuts out on a baking tray and place in the oven to very gently toast for about 7 minutes. They need to be just turning golden. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the nuts to cool. Roughly crush half of the walnuts with the side of a large knife and set aside. Reserve the remaining nuts for decoration.
In a bowl, cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the coffee. Fold in the flour and the crushed walnuts. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the inside edge of the tin and turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely –could take up to 2 hours – before icing it. In the meantime make the icing.
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese with the light brown sugar until creamy. Place the cooled cake on a serving plate or stand. Spread the mixture over the cake and cover with the reserved walnuts. Dust with icing sugar.
This cake will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Chicory Walnut and Stilton Salad

This delectable starter can be thrown together in a matter of minutes. Serve it on a large platter, making sure each chicory leaf is cradling some crumbled stilton, crushed walnuts and dressing – then you can dispense with the cutlery.

Ingredients:

4 heads of chicory

75g stilton

60g walnuts, toasted and lightly crushed

Dressing:

20-25ml runny honey

20-25ml English mustard

50ml walnut oil

50ml olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

Trim the bases of the chicory and separate the large outer leaves – save the tiny leaves around the core for another salad. Arrange the leaves around one large or two small platters. Crumble over the stilton and scatter over the crushed walnuts, distributing them evenly among the leaves.

In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle the dressing lightly over the salad. Serve immediately as a casual starter or a canapé, with a glass of white wine.

Banana Nut Muffins

As a family, we love to have muffins with breakfast.

With lots of fibre and minerals,

these banana muffins make a great energy boost for the start of your day.

Research has shown that banana,

believed to be the first fruit cultivated by man,

can increase alertness and help children with concentration in school.

You could say,

"A banana a day keeps the doctor away,"

as there is hardly an organ in the body that doesn't

benefit from this wonderful fruit.

All the more reason to eat banana muffins!

.

Ingredients:

500ml cake flour

250ml whole-wheat flour

250ml white sugar

250ml muscovardo sugar

10ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

2ml salt

250g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 extra-large eggs

175ml whole milk

10ml vanilla extract

2 mashed ripe bananas

1 ripe banana, chopped

250ml chopped walnuts or pecan nuts

250ml granola

250ml desiccated coconut

.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Line one full and one half large muffin pans (18 large muffin cups) with paper liners.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't over-mix.

Fold the chopped banana, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each to the top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.