More of an idea than a recipe but absolutely fabulous and delicious!!
Dressing: 45ml olive oil 15ml grape vinegar 2,5ml mustard 15ml honey a pinch of salt
Per portion/person: 1 fresh mango, peeled and sliced 1 smoked chicken breast, sliced a handful of rocket leaves
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and whisk until amalgamated. Dress the rocket leaves with half the dressing and set aside.
Layer the salad by arranging the mango slices on a plate, the chicken slices on top of that and finally top it with the rocket leaves. Drizzle with some of the remaining dressing and serve.
This is a delicious cold soup for warm summer days. Spice it up by adding a chilli or two or add a handful of freshly chopped basil leaves. Feeds 4-6 adults.
1 large English cucumber, diced 1 small onion, diced 3 cloves of garlic, minced 8 fresh tomatoes, diced 30ml olive oil 60ml grape vinegar salt and pepper fresh chilli or basil leaves, to serve
Dice the vegetables and add it to a large mixing bowl. Add the garlic, olive oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Scoop half the mixture into a liquidiser and blitz. Pour the liquid back into the mixing bowl and mix through with the diced vegetables. Refrigerate the soup for at least 2 hours so that the flavours can develop. Serve the soup with a few ice cubes and chopped chilli or basil leaves.
This is a great variation on banana bread and perfect for brunch when served with roasted peaches. Keeps for 2-3 days in an airtight container but it is very good when toasted thereafter.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a 11cm X 25cm X 7cm loaf tin with baking paper. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the eggs, milk and sliced bananas and mix for another minute. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder together and stir into the mixture. Take the bowl from the mixer, add the coconut and chocolate and stir through by hand. Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Turn the bread out onto a wire rack to cool. Slice to serve.
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Cut the peaches in half and remove the stones. Place the peach halves on an oven tray and dot the cubed butter over it. Drizzle over the honey. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until caramelised and golden brown. Serve on a toasted slice of Tropical Chocolate Bread.
This recipe is proof once more of how the simplest ingredients often produces the best taste. Serve the prawns on fragrant rice or with your favourite pasta.
50g butter 15ml olive oil 3 cloves of garlic, minced 2kg prawns, peeled and de-veined 2 cans chopped tomato 30ml sugar 15ml salt a handful of fresh thyme two handfuls of fresh basil, roughly chopped
Put a large saucepan on to a high heat and add the butter and olive oil. Add the garlic once the butter has melted and stir around for a minute. Add the prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes until pink and done. Remove the prawns from the saucepan and keep on the side. Add the canned tomato, sugar, salt and thyme to the same saucepan, turn the heat down to medium and cook for 15 minutes. Pour the sauce into a liquidiser and blitz until smooth. (You can use a stick blender as well) Pour the sauce back into the saucepan and add the cooked prawns. Simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the chopped basil. Serve the prawns with fragrant rice.
Cook the quinoa according to the packet instructions and allow to cool completely. Dice the sweet peppers, feta and peaches and chop the basil leaves. Mix everything together. Drizzle the pickling liquid from the sweet pepper over the salad or make the Lemon Dressing (search on this blog)
We made this chocolate calzone one Saturday afternoon when we had leftover pizza dough and it has been a firm favourite from then on. Serve it warm with fresh strawberries and a few basil leaves on the side. This recipe yields 6 – 8 pizzas.
Pizza dough: 15g dry yeast 10ml sugar 800g bread flour 2,5ml salt 60ml olive oil 400ml tepid water
Dissolve the sugar and yeast in a jug with the lukewarm water and stir until the yeast has dissolved. Set aside. Add the flour and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the oil to the flour. Turn the machine on to its lowest speed and add the yeast mixture. Knead for 2 minutes. Turn the machine to medium speed and knead for another 6 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Leave to stand in a warm place for 90 minutes or until doubled in size.
If you are not baking your pizza in a pizza oven, preheat your oven to 220℃ and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Take the dough from the bowl and release the air from it by gently kneading it by hand for one minute. Cut the dough into 6 – 8 portions. Roll each dough ball to a thickness of 5mm and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.
Assembly of one calzone: 2 x 80g slabs of De Villiers Coco Nut, Nut Butter Chocolate a handful of cashew nuts
Place the two slabs of chocolate, one atop of the other, on one half of the dough circle and sprinkle over the cashew nuts. Gently fold the other half of the dough circle over the chocolate and pinch the edges together with your fingers. Now fold the edge back by 1cm and pinch tightly together. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until done.
Serve the calzone with fresh strawberries and basil leaves.
(The calzone on the photographs was cooked in a pizza oven. )
These skewers make for a great canapé especially during an evening of outdoor cooking.
500-600g halloumi cheese 1 fresh pineapple 3 red chillies 45ml lemon juice wooden skewers
Cut the halloumi into 1,5cm blocks. Peel the pineapple and cube it into blocks the size of the cheese. Skewer the cheese and pineapple and put aside. Chop the chillies very fine and add it to the lemon juice. Grill the skewers on a medium-hot fire until the cheese starts to melt and it is slightly charred. Remove from the grill and immediately brush with the chilli-lemon dressing. Serve while warm.
1 whole beef fillet 125ml thyme leaves 4 cloves of garlic 10ml onion salt or sea salt 60ml vegetable oil 30ml red wine vinegar
Blitz together the thyme, garlic, onion salt, vegetable oil and vinegar with a stick blender. You are looking for a very thick paste. Set aside. Dry the beef fillet and tie it up. Rub the herb paste over the fillet. Cook on a rotisserie over medium-warm coals for 1 hour 15 minutes. Cover the cooked fillet with aluminium foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Slice into portions and serve.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together. Add the egg yolk, milk and vanilla and mix together. Stir in the flour, cocoa powder and salt until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Add the egg white to a small bowl and whisk until frothy. Chop the pistachio finely (I do mine in a food processor) and place it in a shallow bowl. Scoop up about 15ml of dough and roll it into small balls. Now roll each ball in the egg white and then in the chopped pistachio. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. Use the back of a 2,5ml measuring spoon to make an indentation in the centre of each dough ball. Bake the biscuits for 12 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately re-press the indentations you made. Set aside to cool completely. Add the chocolate and cocoa butter to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and allow to melt. Stir every now and then until smooth and glossy. Remove from the heat and stand the bowl for about 30 minutes. Spoon the chocolate into the indent in each biscuit and set aside to allow the chocolate to set – preferably overnight. Makes about 25 biscuits.
These custard pots are easy to make and can be kept in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes 12.
2 packets finger biscuits 1 can condensed milk 125ml lemon juice 90ml sugar 135ml custard powder 200ml + 800ml milk
Line up 12 ramekins or serving glasses. Break/cut the finger biscuits in half and place 2 halves in each ramekin, “lining” the bottoms. Set aside. Add the condensed milk and lemon juice to a mixing bowl and stir together until the mixture amalgamates. Set aside. Add the sugar and custard powder to a mixing bowl and make a slurry by slowly pouring in the 200ml milk, while whisking. Pour the 800ml milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour in the the custard and sugar slurry and whisk vigorously. Whisk until the custard is thick and smooth and starts to bubble. Remove from the heat. Scoop about 60ml of the very hot custard on top of the finger biscuits in the ramekins. Now scoop about 60ml of the condensed milk mixture on top of the custard layer and shake the ramekins slightly so that the mixture spreads and covers the custard layer. Repeat the finger biscuit, custard and condensed milk layers. Bash 12 finger biscuits until very fine and divide equally among the ramekins. Place the custard pots in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.
My Whisk and I 