I have got very green neighbours across the road. They have an amazing ability to plant almost anything, and it grows wonderfully in their garden, which means that they are often eating wonderfully fresh, organic and tasty vegetables.

From time to time, some of these veges make their way across the road to our house. So, we were very pleasantly surprised when on Christmas Eve, Eric knocked on the door with a basked full of fresh produce from their garden.

Basket of fresh Vegetables

Cape Gooseberries, green beans and radishes

Fresh Fennel

Cape Gooseberries – these ended up on the dessert

Radishes – they lasted about 5 minutes

And finally, fresh strawberries. Nothing like the strawberries from the store.

What I love about their fresh veges is how tasty they are – they are so full of flavour. I used to grow fresh vegetables, but it was so much work that I eventually gave it up. I have no idea how Anya finds the time, but I hope she keeps it up!

Thanks guys; keep them coming!

The braai is probably one of South Africa’s most traditional meals. It is practised by all cultures in South Africa, and as often as possible! Probably the only thing that will prevent a South African from having a braai is a rugby game, in which case they will probably simply braai before or after the game!

If you drive through any suburb in South Africa on a summer weekend, you will smell the delicious smell of grilling meat.

Braaing is a very casual and social affair, but there it is taken quite seriously by the cook. You simply NEVER interfere with somebody else’s braai without asking them very politely first (even if the meat is burning!)

So, what exactly is a braai?

Very simple really, it is a South African BBQ. However, it is almost always cooked on wood or charcoal – very seldom on gas. A braai will typically consist of one or more of the following:

• lamb cutlets (chops)
• sausage (boere wors – literally farm sausage made from beef)
• traditional pork sausages
• beef steak
• chicken pieces or kebabs
• beef or pork ribs

Let’s get going

You will need a braai (in which to make the fire). Many public picnic sites have brick braai’s available, or a Weber will do. You will also need wood or charcoal – we often buy “brikettes”, which are small round compressed pieces of charcoal.

Blitz, which is a paraffin-based firelighter, helps to get the fire going, but if you are a boy scout, matches and an axe will do!

Put a few pieces of the blitz (firelighter) onto the grid

Light the blitz. and give the coals a few minutes to start burning. Note that with the braai, you will always use “direct heat”.

Lighting the wood fire

Some nice coals starting to burn – it should take about 40 minutes to get good coals.

While waiting for the wood to burn, cook some garlic bread on the fire.

Garlic bread ready to eat – yummy!

From top to bottom - wors (beef sausage), chicken, and chicken kebabs in the front. You can also see some ostrich kebabs at the top on the far right.

Braaing is thirsty work – you will need plenty of liquid refreshments

When you can hold your hand above the grid for three seconds, you are ready to cook. Put the meat onto the grid, turning every few minutes or so.

Looking good – almost ready to eat.

After about two beers (40 minutes or so), you are ready to eat, so dig in!

Ready to eat – looks great, doesn’t it?

After a good braai, the plates will be empty!

One more think, we often have “bring and braai’s”, in which the host supplies the fire, rolls and salads, and the guests all bring their own meat and drinks. Simple and easy.

Tomatoe filling

Here is the filling – cherry tomatoes, basic, garlic and onions

Pastry Brush

So we don’t have a rolling pin, but you can always improvise!

Pastry BrushMore of the pastry brush - egg all over his face! Finished!

Here is the finished pie - yummy!

Ready to eat

Ok, here is the recipe – sorry it is not metric, you will have to convert:

MAKES ONE 10-INCH PIE; SERVES 8

Gruyère cheese and cherry tomatoes provide a savory version of that summer classic, the double-crusted fruit pie. Resist the temptation to eat this pie straight from the oven. Wait until it has reached room temperature; the juice from the tomatoes will have had time to collect. Serve it as a light lunch or as a side dish.

Ingredients

• 2¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 2½ teaspoons sugar
• 1¼ cups grated Gruyère cheese
• 1 cup (2 sticks) plus 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds assorted cherry tomatoes
• ½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg

Method

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine 2½ cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1 cup grated cheese. Add 1 cup butter pieces; process until mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. With machine running, gradually pour ¼ cup of ice water through the feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without becoming wet or sticky; do not process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount of the mixture together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
2. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each into a disk; wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.
3. Melt remaining tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent and softened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool slightly.
4. Place tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss with remaining ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, 1½ teaspoons salt, and 1½ teaspoons sugar, and the basil and pepper; when the onion mixture is cooled, add to tomato mixture; toss to combine. Transfer the mixture to a deep 9- or 10-inch pie plate. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll out half the dough into a circle 1 inch larger than the pie plate. (The remaining dough may be frozen up to 2 months for later use.) Transfer rolled dough to top of plate; tuck in edges to seal. Make 3 to 4 small slits in the top crust; form a decorative edge.
6. In a small bowl, mix the egg with 1 teaspoon water for an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the crust; sprinkle the crust with the remaining ¼ cup of grated cheese. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet to catch drips; bake until the crust is golden and the insides are bubbling, about 50 minutes. Bring to room temperature, and serve.

For the whole of Sunday, I had Mexican food on my brain, so I had to do something about it. I think that the bottle of Habanero sauce that Carlos gave us was a major cause of this problem.

So, when Sunday evening arrived, I simply had to cook up some Nacho’s.

Grilled Nacho’s with chicken and bacon

This is the world’s easiest, and probably the world’s most unhealthy meal, but it is so good. It is very simple to make.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 T chopped fresh garlic
• 100g chicken breast per person, chopped
• chilli sauce or about 3-4 fresh chillis (ok I like it hot)
• 1 Packet of unflavoured nachos
• 1 red or orange pepper, diced
• 100g cheddar/mozzarella cheese, grated

Method

• Fry an onion and a generous amount of garlic.
• Add about 100g chopped chicken breast, and fry.
• Add chilli sauce or fresh chopped chilli (I was lazy and threw in some peri-peri sauce)
• Put some Nachos in a heat-proof oven dish
• Put the fried ingredients onto the Nacho’s
• Add some freshly chopped red or orange pepper
• Add grated cheddar/mozzarella cheese
• Grill until golden
• Add some fresh chilli
• Serve with guacamole and salsa

Lois is vegetarian, so just skip the meet if you would prefer. I also found about 1/4 packet of bacon in the freezer which I added as well.

Here’s the vegetarian version

Tags: food Nachos, chilli

One of the great things about summer in Cape Town, is the ample supply of fresh yellow-fin tuna.

There is nothing that can beat freshly seared tuna, cooked on hot coals. It is a gloriously warm summer evening, so I decided to cook fresh tuna on my father’s old gas grille. You need to heat the grill at least 1/2 hour before cooking, and cook the tuna for about a minute MAX each side, but it is magic, tender and melting in the month. Just look at how it turned out.

The grill entered our family in the early 80′s, so it has been in the family for over 30 years. My father gave it to me in a weak moment a few years ago, and has been asking for it back ever since.

It still cooks the best beef steaks in Africa, and as you can see, the best tuna as well.

Tags: Cape Town, tuna, braai, gas cooking

We have just got back from the Diemersfontein Pinotage on Tap festival in Wellington. And that is exactly what it is – Pinotage on Tap.

When you arrive, you are given a wine glass and a picnic hamper, and from then on you help yourself to the new release of the Diemersfontein Pinotage – straight from the barrel.

Pinotage on Tap

The Diemersfontein is famous for it’s chocolate flavours, hence its nick-name “the Chocolate Pinotage”. It really tastes like rich dark chocolate.

No Imitations!

Aside from the picnic hamper, there is loads of food, including strawberries and a chocolate fountain – all you had to do was to help yourself.

Strawberries and chocolate fountain

Live music was provided, the highlight for me being James Stuart (remember the Usual and Bright Blue?)

James Stuart

It was a very relaxing and chilled out Saturday afternoon, but if you did feel at all stressed, you could go and shoot some paintball.

Paintball!

We were very lucky with the weather. It was raining all week, but Saturday dawned sunny and clear, but the ground was still very wet – just have a look at my foot. I suppose that this is a bit like a more civilized version of Woodstock!

Muddy feet

Lynne, Craig and Lois

Our good friends Rory and Lynne

We went up to Wellington with Rory and Lynne, and we spent the night at a really lovely guest house, ending off the evening with a chilled out braai, and then a well deserved sleep!

Pinotage is a uniquely South African grape.

Don’t forget the September 24 is National Braai day (BBQ for the rest of the world). It has been cunningly planned to be on the same day as Heritage day, which is of course a public holiday.

Braai Day – 2005

So, don’t forget to invite all your friends, buy some wors and chops, and go and have a letter South African braai (oh, don’t forget the beer).

Beer Chicken – Braai Day 2006

Or, you can do what we are doing and have a braai on Tuesday evening, so we can sleep late on Wednesday.

To find out more about braai’s, have a look at Wikipedia

I just had to share this picture of our supper last night – boiled artichoke with Ranch dressing.

Ingredients

• artichokes
• Ranch Dressing

Method

• boil artichokes for an hour
• drain artichokes
• smother in dressing
• refrigerate if you like
• eat

My chilli treas have gone completely crazy this year – there are so many chilli’s on the tree’s that they actually being pulled down by the shear weight of the chilli.

I am going to eat what I can, but I think that we are going to have figure out how to make some pickled chillis, or perhaps grind them and make some chilli sauce!

Any suggestions?

As some of you say in a previous post, I saw the Blue Man Group recently when I was in Las Vegas. It was one of the most strange shows that I have ever seen, but it was awesome!

So, here is a desser that they will enjoy – Blue Pears! It is really easy to make – but it is fantastic, and a great party trick at the end of an evening.

Ingredients

• 6 pears (one each)
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup  blue Curacao liquer
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup fructose (or sugar)

Method

• Combine the water, Curacao, fructose & lemon juice in a saucepan.
• Peal and add the pears, and bring to the boil.
• Simmer on a gentle heat for abour 1 hour, until the pears are soft but still firm.
• Allow to cool, and refrigerate until ready to eat.
• Serve with icecream and maple syrup.

The recipe is from a book called "The Anti-Ageing cookbook", so it must be good for you! Ok, so the icecream is an extra addition.

You could probably make the pears any color by cooking in vodka and adding whatever food colouring you like – could be intresting – enjoy!