K.I.S.S.

I was rather young when I first heard about K.I.S.S., and not the group of Americans who dressed in tight black leather and wear more make up then Zsa Zsa Gabor. I'm talking about K.I.S.S. - as in "Keep It Simple Stupid". This is a very good rule when cooking, especially if you're not Michel Roux .

Naked Chefs and Nude Foodies are all the rage and rightly so. Buying good ingredients and letting their flavours come through, without fuss, makes perfect sense to me.

My K.I.S.S Lamb is great for those of you who are inspired to try some Nude and Naked cooking!


KISS Lamb

2 Whole Lamb Ribs - the thin belly ribs
½ cup Fresh Rosemary Leaves removed from the stalks
Hand full of Sea Salt
Olive Oil

In your mortar and pestle place the salt and the rosemary and a little oil for lubrication and pound to a rough paste.
Spread this all over the lamb, top and bottom.
Place into your oven at 180°C for about an 1½ hours, until the meat is cooked.
I like to cook it for a long time so the fat renders out and you are left with soft meat with a crisp skin.

Pretty Pies Please

When I planned this meal, it was going to be really simple Pepper Steak Pot Pies, but as I am sure any cook will tell you - "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry".

It all started very efficiently with me making a simple filling, pre-heating the oven and then turning around to where the defrosting puff pastry should have been and ....... remembering that I never actually took it out of the freezer! Oh no, what now? I have to have supper ready in 45 minutes? Where are the cooking gods when you need them?

Once the colour returned to my face and the feeling to my legs, I sprang into action and not only did I save the day (Superman), I ended up with a really great meal!


The Steak and Mushroom Filling

500g Goulash
Flour for dusting the meat
1 Large Onion
Olive Oil
15ml Tomato Paste
10ml Chilli Powder (optional for those who are not spicy)
Salt and Pepper
½ a punnet of Mushrooms (cut into bite size pieces)

Fry the onion until soften, and remove from the pot.
Dust the meat in with the flour, removing any excess (as usual I do this in a bag).
Heat the pan, add some oil and fry the meat until browned.
Add the onions back into the pot.
Add a little water, tomato paste and chilli.
Cook on a low heat until the meat is tender.
Keep adding water, and build up a nice gravy.
In the last ½ hour add the mushrooms.
Allow to cool.

The Pastry

250g Flour
175g Cold Butter cut into rough blocks
85ml Ice cold Water
12ml Lemon Juice
2.5ml Salt

Place the flour. salt and butter in the food processor.
Pulse until you have what looks like bread crumbs (don't over mix)
Add the water and lemon until mixture just starts to come together.
Remove and then if you have time, allow it to cool in the fridge for about ½ an hour.
If you don't then proceed straight ahead, with rolling out the dough.
I make my pastry quite thin, about 3mm.
Cut disks, depending on the size pie you wish to make, mine were smaller than usual (about 15cm in diameter).
I only used the meat and mushrooms and left the gravy to serve on the side. If you have too much gravy inside, the pastry will become soggy - not good!
Place a spoon of the filling in the middle of the disk, egg wash the edges, bring together and crimp to seal.
Egg wash the top of the pies.
Bake at 190°C for about 25 -30 minutes.

Serve with chips and the gravy.


These pies would also work very well at a picnic, especially if you make the smaller size as I did.

A Little on the Side

I love this time of year when summer is trying to push winter away. The days are getting longer and warmer - Cape Town at it's best!

To celebrate this wonderful time of year, I made ice-cream and a little something on the side, Brandy Snap baskets.

They are very easy to make, the only problem is the mixture is so divine that I ended up with a lot less biscuits than the recipe stated. But I am sure you have more self control than me, so you won't have the same problem!


Brandy Snaps
14-18 Biscuits

50g Flour
5ml Ground Ginger
50g Butter
50g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
30ml Golden Syrup
Finely Grated Zest of 1 Lemon
5ml Lemon Juice

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.
Grease your baking trays.
Sift the flour and ginger.
In a sauce pan, melt the butter.
Add the sugar and syrup and stir while warming gently, do not allow it to become hot.
Remove from the heat and add the flour mix, zest and juice and stir well.
Make sure there are no lumps.
Put spoonfuls of the mix on your tray, allowing lots of room for them to spread.
Bake for 8 -10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, wait a few seconds and then using a palette knife gentle remove from the tray.
To make the baskets, mould the soft biscuit in greased patty tins or over an orange (or a rounded bowl).
Allow to cool before removing from the bowl.

I served mine with my homemade heaven Mint Choc-Chip Ice Cream.

Chocolate Heaven

There are few things in life as comforting as a nice cup of coffee and a biscuit and when that biscuit is home made it is even better.
My mother always baked biscuits, I however, am not that motivated. I get bored when I have to keep re-filling the tray and baking for what seems hours on end.

I found a recipe for ginger shortbread biscuits in a book I've had for ages. As my family are not crazy about ginger I adapted it and changed it into chocolate shortbread biscuits. They are dead easy - all done in the food processor and it only makes about 25 biscuits, so I could fit them all in the oven at the same time!



Chocolate Shortbread Biscuits

150g Cake Flour
25g Rice Flour
125g Soft Butter
40g Caramel Sugar
15ml Orange Zest finely grated
80g Dark Chocolate roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place all the ingredients in the processor and blitz until it comes together in a dough.
Roll the dough into balls the size of a large cherry tomato.
Using damp hands or a wet fork press down slightly.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove carefully and leave to cool on a rack.

Finding Balance

My husband hates eating vegetables. He knows he should eat them, and he really does try - bless his heart - but you can see that it really isn't fun for him. I on the other hand, love vegetables, so I guess we are a little like Jack Sprat who could eat no fat and his wife could eat no lean!

Like any good wife (what a terrible cliché), I try really hard to make vegetables different and appetising. Unfortunately he is a little old for me to try to encourage him with smiley carrot faces and cabbage hair! But I do on occasion try to incorporate flavours he does like, especially chilli. Those flavours are the inspiration for my Chinese Aubergine.

Chinese Aubergine

1 large Aubergine (Brinjal) cut into 1" dice
20ml Chinese Chilli Bean Sauce
15ml Sweet Soya
100g Tatsoi
1 bunch Spring Onions finely sliced
Garlic and Ginger chopped

In your wok heat a little oil and fry off the garlic and the ginger.
Add the brinjal and fry until it starts to brown.
Add the chilli bean sauce, the soya and a splash of water and cook until just done.
Stir in the tatsoi and allow to wilt.
Just before serving add the spring onions and stir through.
Works well with steamed with rice.