Proudly South African

South Africa as a wonderfully proud food history. It's a melting pot of cultures, young and old, which have helped to develop a cuisine that has lots of flavour and is not afraid to use spices. It also involves using cuts of meat, which might normally be thrown away.

Here in the Cape, the Dutch relied heavily on the Malay salves to do all the work, (lucky for us, or we could be living in little blue houses on a canal, eating bread and cheese), evident in the architecture, furniture building and the food.

Because of these wonderfully colourful people (the slaves that is) we have some of the most beautiful buildings, hand craved and crafted furniture and food that you would sell your house and furniture for!

One such dish is the sosatie. Food on a stick is not the clever part, it's the combination of flavours which make, what should be a tough piece of old mutton, into a succulent cube of heaven, kebab steeped in a spicy curry marinade. The secret to a good sosatie is also in the cooking of the marinade and a good bit of fat is essential.

I took the not so humble sosatie to a new level last night, using lamb cutlets. The result was very good and the meat was soft, succulent and loaded with flavour.

Lamb chop Sosaties

5 Lamb chop Cutlets
2 Tablespoons Spice Mecca Sosatie Spice
2 Tablespoons Crushed Garlic and Ginger Paste
½ cup Red Wine Vinegar
½ cup Plain Yogurt
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Salt

Marinade the chops in the above for 24 hours (or overnight) - the more you marinade it, the softer the meat becomes.

Grill the chops on a hot griddle pan or over the coals until just done.
Best served with creamy mustard mash.

“A cat will be your friend, but never your slave.”

Quick Comfort

After eating out twice this week, going to sleep with indigestion from eating too much wonderful food, we had to take it slow last night. My poor digestive system has been in over drive.

I made a very simple pasta dish, the sauce takes as long to cook as the pasta. This is a Nigella style dish - quick and easy, but with lots of flavour.


Shrimp Pasta with Tomato Pesto

500g Shrimp (these were the very small shrimp)
1 Thinly sliced Onion
30ml NoMU Tomato & Chilli Stir
30ml Tomato Paste
10ml Crushed Dried Chilli
10ml Dried Italian Mixed herbs
Black Pepper
Juice of ½ a lemon
15ml Sugar
10 - 15ml Fish Sauce
Water

Fry the onions until soft.
Add the rest of the ingredients (except the shrimp) and stir in enough water to make a sauce.
Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer slowly while you cook you pasta.
Check the seasoning on of the sauce and adjust if necessary.
Just before the pasta is ready, add the shrimp to the sauce and let it cook for about 30 seconds.
Cook your pasta - which ever shape you enjoy the most.
Serve the pasta and sauce together and enjoy!

No cooking - just eating and shooting!

I have been spoilt rotten for the last 2 days, I have not had to (or wanted to) cook anything! We've been living the high life, eating out 2 nights in a row. I will admit I am very keen to have a good home cooked meal tonight.

I haven't been a total sloth, I did go hiking on Monday after work and managed to shoot some buck!

I also have these wonderful pictures for all you golf lovers (like me), of the new course being constructed next to the Football stadium in Mouille Point.

Resturant Review - Jacky’s Chinese Restaurant.

I have never done a restaurant review on blogs before, but they say you should try everything at least once - except suicide, so here goes.

Jacky's Chinese Restaurant, Delmar Centre Panorama was where we found ourselves last night, a farewell dinner for my parents who leave today for Australia.

Jacky's is a little different from your normal Chinese restaurant. Firstly you don't see any Chinese people eating there, secondly the owners are friendly and speak perfect English and don't try to give you the normal Chinese restaurant "bum's rush" and thirdly the food is very Westernized - no Abalone, shark's fin or tofu anywhere.


There are no menus, the closest thing to a menu is this board on the wall.

It is a buffet (eat all you can) meal. They have 2 kinds of sushi (nothing raw) and 20 different main meals.

Even a vegetarian will not leave hungry, although they may miss out not having tofu! They have soup, prawn toast and spring rolls for starters, made fresh and re-stocked the whole night. The spring rolls are crispy and great with their sweet and sour sauce.

I can highly recommend the beef fillet in black bean sauce and the Thai green curry. The soup, chicken and sweetcorn, was the low point of the night - it was far too glutinous for me.

You can order dessert afterwards (or before if that's what you want), which is not part of the buffet. Keith and I shared a mint tartufo - very good, but hardly Chinese.

Booking is recommended, when we phoned at 6.30pm we managed to secure the very last table. The restaurant was packed full by 7.30pm and they were turning people away after that. It is very noisy, so don't think romantic meal for 2, think "all you can eat North of the boerewors curtain"! There is ample secure parking at the centre.

The drinks are very reasonable, soft drinks are R10 and local beers are R12. Wine is also sold by the bottle or the glass at R16 a glass.

If you looking for a big meal, not authentic Chinese, then Jacky's is your place. You might enjoy what Brian Berkman had to say here. I think he sums it up best - I quote : "At this price, I think Jacky’s is the best deal in town"

I would like to end off with this photo of my parents and a goodbye wish to them as they take a 3 month holiday to Australia to visit my sister. I pray God keeps you safe and gives you the best holiday, which you so richly deserve. I love you both so much and I am counting the days to your return!

Silver and Red

Yesterday I was catching up on food blogs and reading how the girls (and boys) in the Northern hemisphere are enjoying their summer. It's amazing how only a few short months ago I was complaining about how hot it was and crying for a respite. Now I'm sitting under my blankets and my fingers are blue with cold. How difficult I am to please!

All the dreaming about summer, got me thinking back to a summer camp I attended as a teenager. It was in the middle of summer, in one of the hottest areas in South Africa - Beaufort East, on the banks of the Orange River. Every day the temperature would rise well into the late 40's (°C). It was wonderful, we would go swimming in the river and then laze around all afternoon.

The one session I remember was the "Colour me Beautiful" course. We took all our clothes and the instructors showed us which combinations of colours best suited our complexion. I was told to wear red and silver, which in the 80's was not what I wanted to hear- we were into bright pink and dark purple (wore together). Lucky for me, I out grew my purple dungeree's and BIG shoulder padded pink shirt, with matching pink shoes and belt!

So, what exactly did I learn? Silver and red are a great combination when you talking grilled Silvers and Red pepper sauce, which is exactly what I made for supper last night.


For the fish I took Silvers fillets and brushed them with olive oil, dusted with Jenny Morris Zesty Fish spice and rubbed in some peri-peri sauce. I then grilled them for 15 minutes under a hot grill until just done.

The sauce is very easy. Take one red pepper and roast until the skin is starting to blacken. Place the peppers in a plastic bag for 5 mintues and then rub the skin off. In a blender, place the peppers, the juice of half a lemon, 1 garlic clove, ½ teaspoon of Jenny Morris Chilli and Lime Spice and a little olive oil - blend until smooth and creamy. Serve the fish with char-grilled pak choi (with black sesame seeds) and roasted potatoes - That is a real "Colour me beautiful" plate of food.