Author: Karen Claassen

This classic Italian salad is always a crowd pleaser and can be adapted to suit the occasion. Insalata Caprese literally translated means Salad of Capri, as this is where the idea originated. The classic salad is prepared by layering alternating slices of tomato and mozzarella, adding a basil leaf between each, on a large shallow platter. To round it off, it is drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

When I have guests I like preparing an individual caprese for each person, but still present it on a platter. Simply slice a tomato without cutting it through and add the mozzarella and basil.

An al fresco platter that really works well and adds some substance to the meal is to add cooked artichoke and/or grilled zucchini.

Another variation to this classic is to drizzle with a balsamic reduction or one of my favourites, to drizzle some basil pesto over the salad.

Whatever your variation, serve your summer platter with some crusty baguette, focaccia or ciabatta to make an easy stress-free meal.

Many South African families have memories of cake tins filled to the brim with these coffee biscuits. They are delicious sandwiched together with a coffee filling but as good, as a single biscuit. Do take care when storing the sandwiched biscuits, they do tend to become soggy after a week.

125g butter, room temperature

125ml brown sugar

125ml golden syrup

80ml strong coffee

5ml vanilla

560ml flour

10ml bicarbonate of soda

Preheat your oven to 160℃ and grease two large baking sheets.

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy and fluffy.

Add the golden syrup with the engine running and then add the coffee and vanilla. Mix until incorporated.

Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl and add spoonfuls to the butter mixture while continuing to beat the mixture.

Now scoop a teaspoon of the mixture into your hands and shape into a ball about the size of a walnut. Space the dough balls evenly on the baking sheets and flatten them slightly with your fingers or the tine of a fork.

Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes.

Allow the biscuits to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a clean tea towel to cool completely.

You may keep the biscuits as they are, as singles, or sandwich them together with a coffee filling.

Coffee filling:

30g butter

about half an egg yolk (I know, but one full yolk is too much!!)

250ml icing sugar, sifted

5ml instant coffee

30ml milk

Add all the above ingredients to a small mixing bowl and beat together by hand.

Eat the sandwiched biscuits within one week as they tend to become soft when kept for longer.

This recipe provides for a very large batch of rusks – half it if you wish or bake it all and and share amongst your friends.

750ml boiling water

250g butter, cubed

1 tin condensed milk

250ml sugar

30ml salt

4 eggs, lightly beaten

30g instant yeast

2,5kg flour

250g chocolate chips

Pour the boiling water into a very large mixing bowl and add the cubed butter.

Stir until the butter has melted.

Add the condensed milk, sugar, salt and eggs.

Dissolve the yeast in about 50ml lukewarm water and add it to the butter mixture.

Cover the mixture with a tea towel and allow to stand for one hour.

Add the flour and chocolate chips to the wet ingredients. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow to proof for another hour.

Preheat your oven to 170℃ and grease three large bread loaf tins.

Pinch off pieces of dough the size of golf balls and pack them tightly in the prepared tins.

Cover the tins a last time and proof for 20 minutes.

Now bake the rusks for one hour.

Once the rusks have cooled down, break them into individual pieces, pack them on a baking sheet and dry them overnight (6 – 8 hours) in the oven at 50℃.

Store the rusks in an airtight container.

Any chicken that is dry is a disaster and especially so when it comes to wings. I pre-cook my wings, marinade them, at this stage it may or may not be frozen and then when I grill them to char, I baste them with the marinade. This recipe guarantees you delicious, moist wings that stick to your fingers.

24 – 30 chicken wings

125ml olive oil

125ml soy sauce

125ml honey

125ml chilli sauce (or sweet chilli sauce if you are not fond of the heat)

juice of 2 limes

3 garlic cloves, minced

Fill a very large saucepan or stock pot with chicken stock, bring it to the boil and drop the chicken wings in it. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour the marinade into an oven tray.

Once the wings are done cooking, scoop them out of the stock and directly into the marinade. Scoop the marinade over the wings so that all of the wings are covered in sauce. The quicker you get the wings from the stock to the marinade, the less time for the chicken to dry out.

Leave the wings to cool in the marinade, turning them once or twice.

Once the chicken has completely cooled, you may wrap the oven tray with plastic wrap until you are ready to grill them or you may at this stage store the wings and the marinade in a resealable bag and freeze until needed.

If you are cooking the wings on an open fire you will need medium to hot coals. Baste the wings with the leftover marinade until beautifully charred and sticky.

If you opt to cook the wings in an oven: preheat your oven to 200℃, place the wings on cooking racks and cook for 5 minutes. Baste and turn the wings and cook for another 5 minutes.

Impress your dinner guests with this easy to make activated charcoal tagliatelle. Much easier to work with than squid ink, activated charcoal has claims to benefit your digestive tract. You can buy Activated Charcoal from health shops but a few supermarkets also keep it. The recipe provides for 4 – 6 portions.

500ml bread flour

15ml activated charcoal powder

1,2ml salt

about 250ml water

Add the bread flour, charcoal and salt to a large mixing bowl and stir through with your hands.

Start adding the water to the flour mixture. Do not add all of the water at once as it might be too much liquid. Add some water, mix through, if you need more water add some and mix through….. You should have enough water for the dough to come together comfortably without it feeling and sounding soggy. Remember: you can add more water if you need it but you can not remove it.

Now transfer the dough to a work surface and knead it for a full 5 minutes. If you rest/cheat in between, you should knead some more. You are looking for a silky smooth dough that springs back when you lightly indent it with your finger.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Put the dough through your pasta machine and then through the tagliatelle cutter.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes.

Drain the tagliatelle and drizzle with a good olive oil.

Serve with fresh tomato, basil and olives.

This no-bake cheesecake says summer like nothing else. Serve it as a teatime treat or as a dessert, it is creamy, fresh and deliciously cool on a summer’s day.

Take the cream cheese for this recipe from the refrigerator an hour before you start mixing the cheesecake. A soft cream cheese gives a much smoother and even result.

For the base:

200g digestive biscuits

60g butter, melted

about 15 large, fresh strawberries

Lightly spray the sides of a loose-bottomed cake tin with cooking spray.

Put the biscuits into a plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin.

Melt the butter and mix it with the biscuit crumbs.

Spoon the crumb mixture into the cake tin and press it to the bottom of the cake tin with the back of a spoon. Get the base as even as possible.

Now cut off the bottom part of each strawberry and cut it in half. “Sit” the strawberries against the side of the cake tin with the cut sides facing towards the tin and the levelled bottoms on the crumb base.

Put aside.

For the filling:

12,5ml granulated gelatine

125ml sugar

250ml boiling water

500g cream cheese, softened

5ml vanilla

Add the gelatine and sugar to a mixing bowl and give it a mix through.

Add the boiling water to the mixture and stir constantly for 5 minutes, until all the gelatine has dissolved and the mixture has cooled slightly. This is important!

Add the cream cheese and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat the mixture until creamy. Scrape the mixture down once or twice, in between beating.

Turn the mixer onto low speed and gradually, a little at a time, add the gelatine mixture. Beat the mixture until it is blended after each addition of gelatine and before adding the rest.

Refrigerate the mixture in the mixing bowl for one hour, stirring it with a spatula every 15 minutes, until thick.

Gently spoon the cream cheese mixture into the prepared cake tin and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Keep the cheesecake in the refrigerator.

These melt-in-the-mouth biscuits are a firm family favourite and has become a symbol of December holidays. I bake many batches of these (please don’t ask!) and keep some “hidden away” as they keep really well. To store them, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar on the bottom of a plastic container with a lid and then line the container with baking paper.

These tiny biscuits are also the perfect baking project for tiny hands as the dough handles easily and not much can go wrong.

This recipe makes about 50 small biscuits.

125g butter, room temperature

125ml sugar

1 egg

375ml cake flour

125ml custard powder

3ml baking powder

2ml salt

Take the butter from the fridge at least one hour before you plan to start baking.

Grease a large baking sheet and preheat your oven to 200℃.

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Scrape the mixture down and give it another good beating.

Sift together the flour, custard powder, baking powder and salt, in a separate mixing bowl.

Now run the mixer on low speed and add a spoonful of the flour mixture at a time. Wait a few seconds for the dry ingredients to be absorbed before adding another spoonful. Keep going until all the dry ingredients have been added.

You will now have a mixture with dry bits of flour at the bottom. Push and knead the dough with your hands to bring it together. Take it from the mixing bowl and knead it until all the dry bits are incorporated and you are left with a beautifully smooth dough.

Break off the dough with your hands and roll each piece into a ball with a 3cm diameter. Place on the baking sheet.

Flatten the balls slightly with the tines of a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Cool the biscuits on a cooling rack before storing.

Chicken, orange and baby spinach is a triple-win combination and makes an uncomplicated al fresco meal. Serve this salad at room temperature with a good bread and plenty of ice cold chardonnay.

6 skinless chicken breasts (or one per person)

200g baby spinach

3 oranges, cut into segments

Sauce:

15ml garlic salt

15ml parsley, chopped

30ml brown sugar

30ml orange juice

the rind of one orange, pith removed and sliced into very thin strips

15ml lemon juice

60ml orange marmelade (or apricot jam)

Add all the ingredients for the sauce to a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer while stirring.

Once the sauce simmers, turn the heat slightly lower and allow the sauce to cook gently for 5 minutes. Do not leave the sauce!

Remove from the heat.

Put a large heavy griddle pan (with a lid) onto high heat. Leave the lid off for now.

Sear the chicken breasts for 2 minutes per side, making sure you get a good caramelisation on them and then turn the heat down to medium.

Pour the sauce over the chicken, put on the lid and allow the chicken to cook until done. About 15 – 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat but leave the chicken in the sauce to cool.

Arrange the spinach leaves and orange segments on a serving platter.

Slice each chicken breast on the diagonal and arrange on the spinach and orange.

Drizzle the cooled sauce onto the salad.

This cheesecake is my personal favourite. The white chocolate and pistachio combination makes it luxurious, silky smooth and deliciously intense. There is nothing more to say really except that you will agree; this is the king of cheesecake!

For the base:

250g digestive biscuits

100ml butter, melted

Add the biscuits to the bowl of a food processor and blitz to crumbs.

Add the butter in a stream until the crumbs are wet enough to come together.

Scoop the mixture into a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin and press firmly onto the bottom of the tin.

Set aside.

For the filling:

250ml cream

300g white chocolate, chopped into small pieces

400g cream cheese

125ml caster sugar

3 eggs

5ml vanilla

100g pistachio nuts, shelled and blanched

Preheat your oven to 180℃.

Pour the cream into a saucepan and add the chopped chocolate.

Turn the heat onto low and allow the chocolate to melt in the cream. Stir now and then.

Add the cream cheese and caster sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat until soft. Scrape down the mixture and beat for 30 seconds more.

Add the eggs one at a time, with the machine running. Beat each egg until fully incorporated before adding the next.

Add the vanilla and mix through.

Pour the chocolate and cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture and mix on medium speed for one minute.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake base.

Bake for one hour.

Switch off the oven after the baking time but DO NOT OPEN the oven door. Allow the cake to stand in the oven for at least another hour to prevent it from cracking.

Allow the cheesecake to cool completely before decorating with the pistachio nuts and serving.

These biscuits are a chocolate lover’s dream. Each delicious bite is a chocolate explosion and be warned, they are very more-ish.

The recipe yields about 50 biscuits.

200g dark chocolate, chopped

90g butter, cubed

115g caster sugar

3 eggs

5ml vanilla

215g cake flour

25g cocoa powder

2,5ml baking powder

a pinch of salt

about 180g icing sugar

Add the chocolate and butter to a saucepan and put it onto a low heat. Stir the mixture until melted, amalgamated and completely smooth.

Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, add the caster sugar and stir until all of the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool down. The mixture should still be warm enough to be runny.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir through the vanilla.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a separate mixing bowl.

Stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until well blended.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I often leave mine overnight – a very cold mixture is easier to work with.

Preheat your oven to 160℃.

Grease two baking sheets or line them with baking paper.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.

Scoop a teaspoonful of the mixture into your hands and shape it into a ball of about 3 – 4cm in diameter.

Drop the ball into the icing sugar and roll it around until it is completely covered. Place on the lined baking sheet. Space the rest of the dough balls about 5cm apart, as they will flatten and spread slightly during baking.

Bake for 12 minutes.

Allow the biscuits to cool on the baking sheets until cold before handling.