Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Pear and walnut salad.


S2

20-30g butter
30ml white wine vinega
r
15ml b
rown sugar
1 pea
r, quartered and cored
60ml walnuts
30g
rocket
6 slices of c
reamy blue cheese

Melt the butte
r along with the vinegar and sugar in a frying pan. Add the pear and walnut and cook till the pear gets soft, about 5 minutes.
Place the
rocket on a plate, top with pear and walnuts, finish with the cheese and drizzle with olive oil.

d
rink: l'ormarins sauvignon blanc 2006

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Suong Kho, sort of.

Not sure how authentic this dish is as i couldnt find a complete recipe, so had to guess a few things. However, it worked out very nice.

S4

600g chopped pork spare ribs
15ml vegetable oil
15ml b
rown sugar
30ml fish sauce
5ml pap
rika powder
1 ga
rlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
100g of small
Rosa tomatoes
250ml wate
r
s&p

M
elt the sugar in oil in a pot for a couple of minutes. Turn up the heat to max and saute the pork in batches, just to get the color right. After all the meat is sealed, throw it back in the pot. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for about a minute before adding the water and fish sauce. Season to taste and let it simmer till the sauce is reduced to 1/3, about 45 minutes.Serve with jasmine rice and the tomatoes. Garnish with chopped garlic chives and some of the sauce.

drink: st.george beer

Garlic and capers spaghetti.


S4

700g spaghetti
200g bacon
3 big cloves of garlic, chopped
70ml cape
rs, drained
80g
rocket, roughly chopped
1 la
rge red chili, thinly sliced
1oml of lemon zest
45ml lemon juice
250ml g
rated Parmesan
black peppe
r
olive oil

Cook the pasta in a la
rge pot with lots of salt. Meanwhile fry the bacon till crisp.
Saute the cape
rs and the garlic for about 2 minutes on medium heat in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chili, zest and lemon juice and stir for one min, then take the pan of the heat.
D
rain the pasta once its done and toss with the garlic mix. Then add the rocket and Parmesan.
Se
rve with bacon strewn on top along with black paper and some extra Parmesan.

d
rink: hartenberg merlot, 2003

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Lemon and cream pasta.


S4

400g pasta
150ml cream
150ml Parmesan
, grated
125ml basil, roughly chopped
15-25ml lemon juice
10ml lemon zest
peppe
r

B
ring a big pot with water to the boil, add a lot of salt.
Cook the pasta acco
rding to the packets intructions. Drain and throw back into the pot and stir in the other ingridients, toss well. Serve with some extra grated Parmesan on top.

d
rink: water

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Chili and lemon kingklip.


S2

2x200-250g kingklip fillets or other firm white fish
600g medium sized potatoes, sliced thinly lengthwise
1 onion, sliced
1 teaspoon chili flakes
3 plum tomatoes, deseeded and cut into thin wedges
zest of one lemon
olive oil
s&p
knob of butte
r

P
reheat the oven to 220c.
Sp
read baking paper on a baking tray and toss the potato on it. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Cook for about 35-40 minutes or until golden and crisp.
When 15 min o
r so remains on the potato, heat a saute or frying pan with 15ml oil.
Mix the onion and chili flakes in the pan and cook fo
r three min. Meanwhile, season the fillets with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes each side over medium heat. Once done, remove from heat but keep warm. Add the tomatoes and lemon zest to the pan and turn up the heat. Cook for 4 minutes, season to taste and add the butter just before serving.

d
rink: a nice chenin blanc or a light pinotage

Monday, May 14, 2007

Whitechoc mousse with blueberries.


S4

150g white chocolate
500ml pouring cream
45ml hot wate
r
10ml gelatine powde
r
250ml bluebe
rries, fresh or frozen

Dissolve the gelatine in the wate
r. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan along with the cream. Then pour in the gelatine and let it cook for one min.
Take of the heat, t
ransfer to a bowl and place in a ice bath to cool.
Sti
r in the berries and portion the mix into glasses.
Chill fo
r 2 hours.

d
rink: single espresso

Noodle soup with five spice beef.

Due to a small emergency the beef got a tad to medium, should be medium rare for this dish.

S4

500g rump steak
400g rice noodles
500ml chicken stock
or deli bought chicken stock
1
rec chili, deseeded and chopped
2 scallions, chopped
15ml g
rated ginger
7,5ml five spice powde
r
5ml chili powde
r
45ml vegetable oil

Cook the noodles acco
rding to instructions.
Combine the stock, chili and ginge
r in a pot and bring to the boil, then turn down and keep warm.
Mix the five spice powde
r and chili powder in the oil. Toss the beed in the mix.
F
ry the beef over high heat for about 3 min each side.
Portion the noodles into bowls, slice up the beef and place on the plates and scatte
r the onions over the dish. Finish with pouring the stock around the dish.

drink: black label

Mozzarella and rocket salad.


S4

3 slices of nice white bread, torn into pieces
100g
rockets
100-150g mozzarella, to
rn
4 plum tomatoes, sliced
30g tapenade
12 basil leaves
60ml olive oil
30ml red wine vinegar

P
reheat the oven to 225c. Toss the bread with 30ml of the olive oil and cook it in the oven for 8-10 min or till crusty and golden.
Place the
rocket, tomatoes, mozzarella and bread on four plates. Top with the tapenade and basil leaves. Drizzle with the dressing.

d
rink: nothing

Sunday, May 13, 2007

rocket penne with grilled proscuitto.


S4

400-500g penne
15 slices of prosciutto (about 150g)
150g
rocket
30ml olive oil
30ml balsam vinega
r
s&p

Sta
rt by turning on the grill in the oven.
Cook pasta according to instructions. When its about 3 min to go on the pasta, put the prosciutto on a baking tray under the grill , remove when the pasta is drained and returned to the pot.
Toss the rocket, oil and vinegar with the pasta in the pan, season to taste.
Se
rve with the prosciutto on top and a side salad of tomato, cucumber and chopped onion drizzled with olive oil.

d
rink: water

Friday, May 11, 2007

Big dish.

Since i haven't updated in a while, i thought id do it with a massive dish, so here it comes.


S2

beef:
1 400-500g rump steak
1 orange, zest and juice
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp Dijon
3 crushed garlic cloves
salt to season

chicken:
4 chicken thighs, deboned
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp mustard powder

salad:
1 lebanese cucumber or 1/2 a normal cucumber
1/2 red onion, sliced
250g canned corn, drained
250g red kidney beans, drained
3 plum tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
1 small red chili, deseeded and chopped

dressing:
30ml olive oil
30ml white wine vinegar
10 leaves of fresh mint
2 cloves of garlic

Score the beef and combine the marinade, season and drop the beef into the marinade.
Combine the paste for the chicken and dress it.
In a blender, mix the dressing well.
Fry the chicken 7 minutes on each side, when you flip the chicken add the beef into another pan and fry for 3 min each side for medium rare, let the beef rest for a minute or two while the chicken gets ready.
In a bowl, combine the salad and dress it with the mint dressing.
Divide the rump in two, serve with 2 chicken thighs each with some extra mint leaves as garnish.

drink: peroni