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