protein – My Whisk and I

Beetroot Hummus Salad

April 20, 2024April 16, 2024by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

1 x 400g tin chickpeas
30ml tahini
2 cloves garlic, minced
15ml lemon juice
5ml salt
150g beetroot, cooked and cubed
5 beets, cooked and sliced about 0.5cm thick
100g feta cheese
50g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
balsamic vinegar

Drain the chickpeas and add it to a liquidiser.
Add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt and cubed beetroot and blitz until smooth. Set aside.
Arrange the sliced beetroot on a serving plate.
Place dollops of the beetroot hummus on the slices, crumb the feta over and scatter over the pistachio.
Drizzle the salad with balsamic vinegar and serve.

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Parmesan Eggs

January 25, 2024January 20, 2024by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

6 eggs
30ml butter
salt, pepper, smoked sweet paprika
250ml grated parmesan cheese

Boil the eggs for 5 minutes, peel and half them.
Melt the butter in a pan set over medium heat and place the eggs cut-side down into the butter.
Season with salt, pepper and a generous amount of sweet paprika.
Cover the eggs with the grated parmesan and place a lid on the pan.
Cook just until the cheese has melted.
Serve immediately.

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Devilled Egg Pasta Salad

September 21, 2023September 6, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

9 eggs, hardboiled
250g small pasta/macaroni
190ml mayonnaise
25ml wholegrain mustard
15ml lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
5ml salt
2,5ml smoked paprika
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool.
Peel the eggs and quarter them.
Separate the whites and yolks in two bowls.
Chop up the whites and set aside.
Set a sieve over a bowl, add the yolks and push them through with the sieve with a wooden spoon.
Add the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, salt and paprika to the bowl and mix through.
Add the cooled pasta to the bowl and stir through to coat the pasta with the dressing.
Now add the chopped egg whites, red onion and spring onion and mix through.
Serve the pasta as a main or as the perfect side for a picnic, braai or bbq.

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Pulled Brisket with gnocchi and gremolata

April 16, 2023April 12, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

1kg brisket, fat on
2 onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 x 400g tin of diced tomatoes
240g tomato purée
60ml Worcestershire sauce
60ml apple cider vinegar
20ml wholegrain mustard
30ml brown sugar
10ml smoked paprika
store bought gnocchi

Preheat your oven to 160℃.
Add the onion, garlic, carrot and tinned tomato to a food processor and blitz until it is a thick saucy mixture.
Pour in the tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, sugar and paprika and blitz again.
Add 5ml salt and stir through.
Decant the sauce into an ovenproof saucepan.
Place the brisket on top of the sauce and then spoon enough of the mixture over to cover the meat.
Place a lid on the saucepan and bake in the oven for 4 hours.
Remove the brisket from the oven, take off the lid and leave to cool for 15 minutes or so.
Pull the meat and fat apart with two forks and add it to a saucepan.

Cook your gnocchi according to packet instructions.
Place the saucepan with the meat over a low heat, add the gnocchi and stir through.
Serve warm with gremolata.

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Butter Bean Hummus

February 1, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This is the creamiest hummus you will ever taste and I love it for its versatility!! Keep it in the refrigerator and use as a spread on crackers on sandwiches, as a dip with veg or thin it down and use it as a salad dressing.

1 x 400g can butter beans
30ml tahini
2 cloves garlic, minced
the juice of one lemon (30ml)
30ml olive oil
5ml salt

Add all the ingredients to a liquidiser and blitz together until completely smooth.

Store in the refrigerator.

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Fusion Chicken

November 3, 2021November 3, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

I have named this recipe “Fusion Chicken” because it brings together a few different principles in cooking chicken: almost black-chicken; almost butter chicken and almost pan-fried chicken. The combination makes for a very flavourful and juicy chicken that is one of the quickest dishes you will ever put together!

125g + 90g butter
30ml ground cumin
30ml smoked paprika
30ml dried origanum
20ml salt
6 chicken breasts, skin removed
15ml flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
fresh lemon wedges to serve – these are essential!!

Melt the 125g butter and add the cumin, paprika, origanum and salt to it. Stir/whisk together to dissolve as much of the spices as possible.
Lay the chicken flat in a ceramic dish and pour the butter mixture over it. Flip the breasts to coat them evenly.
Cover with a tea towel and set aside at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Place a large cast iron pan on medium-high heat and add the 90g butter to the pan, to melt.
Add the chicken breasts to the warm pan and cook for 7 minutes before turning to cook for another 7 minutes. Do not fiddle around with the chicken! Spoon some of the pan juices onto the chicken as it cooks.
Remove the breasts from the pan and slice them.
Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.
Squeeze a good amount of lemon over the chicken before serving.

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Steak Butters

October 28, 2021October 27, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Flavoured butters are a simply way of adding flavour and punch to meat, easy to make and can be kept in your freezer for when you need it! The Olive Butter is particularly good with chicken, fish and roast vegetables! The method for the three flavoured butters are the same.

Café de Paris Butter:
125g butter
30ml chives, finely chopped
15ml parsley, finely chopped
5ml Dijon Mustard
1 clove of garlic, minced
5ml capers
1 anchovy fillet
the zest of half a lemon, finely grated

Method:
Allow the butter to come to room temperature and soften.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Spread a piece of plastic wrap on a kitchen surface, spoon the mixture on top and roughly shape it into a log shape.
Fold the edge of the plastic wrap closest to you over the log shape and proceed to roll the butter in the plastic so that you have a plastic sausage.
Now take hold of the two ends (the overhanging/extra plastic wrap) and roll the butter away from you on the surface.
Tie the plastic ends and freeze until required.

Olive Butter:
125g butter, softened
190ml olives, chopped
15ml rosemary, chopped
salt to taste

Garlic Butter:
125g butter, softened
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1,2ml salt
1,2ml pepper