Hi and welcome to my blog! My name is Karen and I love cooking simple, uncomplicated, flavourful food. My cooking is inspired by seasonal ingredients, punchy flavours, an awareness of sustainability and of course by the likes and dislikes of my family and friends that sit around my table as well as you, the virtual guests around my table!
I am a chef, recipe developer and food stylist and generate my own content. I am also completely addicted to recipe books, of which I have an extremely large collection but the essence of my food is about celebrating life and all the fabulousness that we can add by creating good food.
Thank you for reading my blog. Please keep on giving me feedback and may your kitchen, as mine, be filled with joy and the best tasting food!
These hasselback sweet potatoes are quite unique in that they are wonderfully fluffy and drenched in cinnamon-butter. Perfect as a meal with a salad or as a side to a meat dish.
enough sweet potatoes for six people
100g butter, melted
2,5ml salt
2,5ml ground cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Line a large oven tray with foil, shiny side facing down.
Cut the sweet potatoes into hasselbacks and place them in the prepared tin.
Melt the butter over low heat, add the salt and cinnamon and stir together.
Baste the sweet potatoes with the butter mixture – be liberal, the butter should dribble down each slice.
Place in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, basting 2 -3 times during the cooking time.
I would not go so far as to say ALL, but most South Africans enjoy homemade ginger beer. During the warm summers it is definitely the drink to serve as an ice cold thirst quencher! Warning: this is the real traditional ginger beer that becomes stronger the longer it is kept…not for the faint hearted!
4 litres warm water
45ml ground ginger
7,5ml cream of tartar
10g instant yeast
4 X 250ml sugar (i.e. 1000ml sugar)
10ml fresh ginger, grated
250ml raisins
Add all the ingredients to a large container (I use my stock pot) and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Cover the container with a large tea towel and leave to stand in a warm place, but not in direct sunlight, for 24 hours.
Pour the mixture through muslin cloth (or a clean tea towel) to strain.
Pour the ginger beer into clean bottles and add 5 fresh\new raisins to each bottle. DO NOT secure the cap of the bottle; simply place the cap onto the bottle for the first two days as the ginger beer will ferment and the gas in the bottle will expand.
Store in the refrigerator for three days before drinking.
If you like savoury biscuits, you might have just found a recipe that will become a reliable fall-back to accompany pre-dinner drinks! Deliciously crispy and very, very cheesy, these biscuits can double up as a carrier for dips or spreads. The recipe makes about 40 small biscuits.
100g butter, room temperature
230g cheddar cheese, grated
80g plain flour
1,2ml salt
Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment.
Cream the butter and then add the grated cheese, flour and salt.
Gather the ingredients to form a dough and transfer the dough to a floured working surface.
Shape the dough into a cylinder about 4cm in diameter.
Place the dough cylinder onto a piece of wax paper and lightly wrap it. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and lightly grease two baking sheets.
Slice the dough cylinder into 5mm thick rounds with a sharp serated knife. Arrange the rounds on the prepared baking sheet.
A chocolate salami makes a wonderful gift and a fabulous dessert. This recipe makes two large salami rolls. Keep refrigerated at all times.
250g dark chocolate, chopped
100g soft butter
150g caster sugar
3 large eggs
30ml vanilla
30ml cocoa powder
250g biscuits, e.g. ginger, Boudoir, Marie, Digestives
75g almonds, chopped
75g pecan nuts, chopped
50g pistachio nuts, shelled and chopped
15-30ml icing sugar, to decorate
Add the chopped chocolate to a heatproof glass bowl and place the bowl on a saucepan with about 5cm simmering water. Allow the chocolate to melt completely and set aside to cool.
Bash the biscuits into chunks – do not make it too small, about 0,5cm pieces. Put aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and light.
Gradually, and one by one, beat in the eggs. Do not panic if the mixture looks as though it wants to split at this stage.
Add the vanilla and sieved cocoa powder to the cooled chocolate.
Now beat in the egg mixture and follow with the chopped nuts and crushed biscuits.
Transfer the bowl to the fridge so that the mixture can firm up. This should take about 30 minutes.
Cover your work surface with clingfilm.
Roll the mixture into two log shapes that resemble salami. Each should be about 30cm long.
Cover each log with clingfilm and roll it, as if it were a rolling pin, to create a smooth cylinder. Twist and tie the ends.
Put the logs into the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, to set.
Take the salami out of the refrigerator and lay it on greaseproof paper. Rub some icing sugar over the outside and tie with string to give it an authentic look.
A Christmas lunch in our family would be incomplete without a gammon on the table. I like serving it with a fruit-based sauce and this year I am going with a delicious, tart plum sauce that cuts through the richness of the pork. I halve the plums which are not used for the sauce and roast them in the oven to serve on the side. If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, thin slices of gammon with mustard and rocket make a really good sandwich the next day….
one whole, de-boned gammon, mine was 2,3kg
2 onions, cut in quarters
2 carrots, roughly chopped into chunks
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
Glaze:
30ml soy sauce
30ml honey
juice of half an orange
10ml mustard
Plum sauce:
6 plums, pips removed and chopped
30ml balsamic vinegar
45ml brown sugar
zest and juice of one orange
a pinch of salt
3 whole star anise
Making the gammon:
Take out the largest saucepan you have and place the gammon into it.
Cover the meat with cold water and add the onion, carrots, bay leaf and peppercorns.
Bring the water to a boil and then lower the temperature to a simmer. Put on the lid and cook the gammon for 20 minutes of each 500g of its weight. (I had a gammon of 2,3kg which I cooked for 1 hour 40 minutes).
Turn off the heat and leave the meat in the liquid for at least 30 minutes. Remove from the liquid and cool until you can comfortably handle it.
If your gammon was tied in netting, cut it loose with a pair of scissors. Use a small sharp knife to peel off the outer skin, leaving the layer of fat. Score a diamond pattern in the fat.
Line an oven tray with foil and place the gammon in it.
Preheat your oven to 200℃.
Add all the ingredients for the glaze into a small bowl and mix well.
Brush about half the glaze onto the gammon and place the oven tray in the preheated oven.
Roast for 15 minutes and remove from the oven. Quickly brush on another layer of glaze and stick the meat back into the oven for 10 minutes. Repeat the glazing once more but leave the gammon to roast for 20 minutes.
Remove the roasting tray from the oven and allow it to stand for 10 minutes before carving.
Making the plum sauce:
Add all the sauce ingredients to a saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the plums are very soft. (About 10 minutes)
Add the pan juices from the rested gammon to the saucepan and blitz together with a stick blender.
Put the saucepan back onto the heat and simmer until you have a beautiful thick sauce.
Serve the sauce in a separate bowl with the gammon.
These zucchini fritters are my staple food whenever I’m in Greece. The zucchini and mint marry perfectly and makes for a memorable snack, in-betweener, breakfast or dinner when served with a tzatziki sauce!! They also pair perfectly with any finger food on a platter or simply as a side to any meat dish.
250ml cake flour
2,5ml salt
5ml baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
100ml milk
a handful of mint leaves, chopped
500ml zucchini, grated
Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a mixing bowl.
Add the egg and milk to a jug and give it a good whisk.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture in a thin stream, beating continuously until the ingredients come together as a smooth batter.
Now add the mint leaves and zucchini and stir through.
Heat enough oil to deep fry the fritters at about 170℃.
Scoop a spoonful of batter into the oil and fry until golden. About 3 minutes. Continue until no batter is left.
These no-bake clusters are effortless to make but ticks all the sweet-cravings boxes. Work quick as the mixture tends to go dry as it cools. Yields about 20 clusters, depending on the size of each.
60g butter
250ml sugar
60ml cocoa powder
60ml milk
5ml vanilla
375ml oats
125ml desiccated coconut
Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with baking paper.
Add the butter to a small saucepan and melt it over a low heat.
Add the sugar and cocoa powder and stir the mixture so that the sugar can melt.
Add the milk and keep stirring over a low heat for about 2 minutes.
Take the mixture off the heat and add the vanilla, oats and coconut. Mix well.
Spoon teaspoonsful of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets and allow to cool.
Place the clusters in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.
I was given the recipe for these meatballs by a Greek lady Athena, that lives on the island of Paros. They are delicious when eaten at room temperature with a yoghurt and mint dipping sauce, flatbread and salad.
1kg minced lamb
3 cloves garlic, minced
30ml finely chopped fresh mint
30ml thyme/oregano, chopped
250g dried apricots, chopped
10ml salt
2 eggs
Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Prepare an oven tray by covering the bottom with a very thin layer of vegetable oil.
Shape the lamb mixture into balls that are 3 – 4cm in diameter and arrange them on the baking tray.
Cook the meatballs for 15 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice during cooking, so that the meatballs cook and caramelise evenly.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
The meatballs freeze well and if you are prepping them for another day, allow them to cool completely and pack them into a zipper plastic bag. Simply defrost them at room temperature when you need to serve them. They should defrost within two hours.
Quick and easy to make, these snacks look beautiful packed into a glass container. Tie a ribbon around as a last-minute gift!
The recipe makes about 30 balls.
315g desiccated coconut
160g Jelly Tots
220g caster sugar
5 egg whites
Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Mix all the ingredients together with a spatula.
Scoop some mixture into your hands and shape it into balls about 3cm in diameter. Press the balls tightly – they do tend to be brittle at this stage. Arrange on the baking sheet.
My Whisk and I 