food and drink – Page 5 – Notes from the Cape

Published August 11, 2012

Dried Snoek

It is snoek season. At this time of year, thousands of snoek swim past our shores, and many of them are caught and end up for sale all over the place. You can buy it dried and smoked in supermarkets, or buy a while fish on the side of the road to cook on the braai.They are also incredibly cheap; you can buy a while fish (easily enough for 6 people), for about R20 ($3) on the side of the road. They almost give them away.

The only problem with snoek is that it is full of tiny sharp bones, and no matter how careful you are, you always seem to end up with a bone sticking into your cheek as you eat. So eating snoek is slow process.

On Wednesday I saw something a little strange, About 2-300 snoek were literally being dried on the side of the road. Some enterprising person had strung up some fencing and was drying the fish on it, no doubt for resale later. I am sure that the local health inspector would not be too impressed with this open-air fish drying factory on the side of the road. But at least somebody is being an entrepreneur.

You can find out more about snoek on the I&J website.

(Update – comments closed because this page is not a marketplace for dried snoek).

Cape Town Food and Drink

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Published July 15, 2012

My favourite things

Two of my favourite things to celebrate the end of birthday week.

Some Absinthe (which makes the heart grow fonder) to kindle the creative spirit (thanks Kirsten for the gift),

and even though it was freezing cold and raining today, pork ribs. They were cooked to perfection by my brother Andrew, who unexpectedly arrived last night from Johannesburg to join my birthday celebrations.

Cape Town Food and Drink

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Malva Pudding

We had a yummy Malva Pudding for dessert last night, and the left-overs were a perfect opportunity to do some food shooting. Malva Pudding is a sponge-based dessert, made with plenty of butter, lots of sugar, and often generous lashings of brandy as well. It is a traditional South-African dessert, and is really yummy.

There are two ways to make it.

1) Goto Woolworths and buy it, or

2) You download the recipe, and make it yourself, but it is a lot of work.

The one shot above is alas from Woolworths, but was excellent indeed. And with the preparation consisting of warming it in the oven for about 15 minutes, you simply cannot go wrong.

Cape Town

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Published May 28, 2012

Absinthe

Absinthe from Jorgensen Distillery in Wellington

On Saturday we spent a wonderful afternoon with Dawn and Roger Jorgensen, owners of the wonderful Jorgensen Distillery in Wellington. They have a remarkable selection of spirits that are distilled on their farm, with almost all ingredients organic, and many of them grown on their own farm.

They are both wonderful people, and it amazing to spend time with such people so passionate about their art (and after the afternoon, I am convinced that it is indeed an art, even sometimes bordering on alchemy). We tasted some of their 67% proof absinthe served traditionally over sugar and a slotted spoon. After that taste, I am hooked. It is a remarkable drink that defies description, suffice to say it is a life-changing taste. A little like French Pasties mixed with the herbal flavours of Jagermeister, although that is bar far not a fair description.

Absinthe from Jorgensen Distillery in Wellington

Absinthe is not the only drink they make, the also have a yummy gin, vodka, limoncello, and a very interesting bay liqueur (and plenty of others as well). Lois loved their chilli vodka, but that is only for really serious chilli eaters (and for me to say that is something). But after all, Lois is the chilli queen.

Gin from Jorgensen Distillery in Wellington

Needless to say, we left the distillery a little heavier, with the sound of glass bottles clinking on the back seat of our car.

The bad news is this is specialist stuff, it is not in every bottle store. The good news is that some specialise shops sell their spirits, and you can buy online from their website, so no excuse not to buy and try for yourself.

Now, where did I put the sugar cubes?

Cape Town

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Published April 10, 2012

Chillin’ out

We seem to have so many yummy chilli’s for sale at the moment. From fiery hot Habenero’s, to the unpredictable jalapeno’s, to these mysterious long and yellow chillies. I have often seen long red and green chilli’s, but these yellow folk are new to me.

When I started enjoying hot food in the 80’s, I struggled to get any chilli’s, and now there is so much choice available. It is simply amazing. You seldom find a meal in my house that doesn’t include fresh or dried chilli’s, and (just in case) there is always plenty of chilli sauce on the table!

The best part is that while I eat hot chilli, my wife eats chilli much hotter that I do, so I never have to worry about making it too hot for her. The round and yellow chillies above are Habanero chillies, which are about as hot as you can commercially buy. Just about right for Lois.

Cape Town

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Published March 20, 2012

In the cellar

In the distant past, I was very lucky to make wine at Buitenverwachting wine farm in Constantia, so it was great to be back in the cellar at the weekend (even if just for a few minutes to collect some stuff ). While I was there I grabbed this photo of these barrels in the maturation cellar. Each barrel contains 225l wine. At a rough estimate, this room contains about 200 barrels, which is 45,000l wine.

That should be enough to keep anybody quiet for a few days.Buitenverwachting , which means “Beyond Expectation”, makes some of the top wines in South Africa. Get a bottle of the Christine if you can find one, truly amazing.

Cape Town

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Published February 13, 2012

Chicken burger

Chicken burger for lunch. I saw a Woolworths truck with a photo of a burger on the side which inspired me to shoot my own version. What do you think?

Food and Drink

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Welcome relief

This mornings rain was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the last couple of weeks. The garden loved the extra water, which was especially good for my chilli plants. The plant in the photo is a peppadew, which is a uniquely South African hybrid between a chilli and a baby tomato. While it is spicy, it should be mild enough for most people. I love just chomping on them, or adding them to sandwiches or salad.

You are welcome to pop over and try some, otherwise most South African shops will have them (and certainly most shops in South Africa).

Cape Town Food and Drink

cape town chillis food and drink rain

Summer Braai

There is nothing like an evening Braai to end off a long weekend, especially when it is one of those rare wind-free hot summer evenings.

Here’s hoping for some more wonderful summer weather.

Cape Town Travel

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Published December 14, 2011

Mushrooms in Delaware

I took these pictures ages ago on my phone while going for a walk last August in Delaware. And then I forgot completely about them.

Anyway, this patch of monster mushrooms were growing on somebody’s front lawn, and all I can think of is how good they would taste lightly fried with olive oil and fresh garlic. That is of course assuming they don’t kill me in the process! I have no idea what mushrooms you can or cannot eat, so then only mushrooms that I eat come wrapped straight from the shelves of the supermarket.

I took these shots about 2 days before Hurricane Irene, so I hope the little folk living underneath them survived the storm!

Travel

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