Monday, November 19, 2012

Pickled Jalapeños Recipe


Fresh Jalapeños are just divine. If you are lucky enough to find them at your local grocer, here are a few ways to use them:

- Liquidise them with some garlic, olive oil and vinegar to make a sauce.
- Chop them finely to make a salsa.
- Cook them, stuff them with cheese and wrap them in bacon before firing them on the braai.
- Pickle them (whole or sliced).

This is the recipe I used for pickling: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/04/pickled-peppers/

Can’t wait to try the first batch in a week! 

PS Remember to wear gloves when handling the peppers! 


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Chilli Cheese Beer Bread

There are few things as delicious as warm home-baked bread slathered in butter. One of our best-selling festive gifts this year is a Chilli Cheese Beer Bread Mix – all you need to do is add Parmesan cheese and oil – voilà, a spicy, flavousome bread in a few minutes. It couldn't be easier.

Beer Bread Mix
with recipe
without bread pan
R55.00
with bread pan
R125.00

for more gift ideas. 


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

White Fruit Cake Recipe

This recipe originates from a grandmother called Nana in the USA
-  we just gave it an SA tweak. It is gorgeous as a dessert cake with preserves, aged cheese and a glass of Calitzdorp Muskadel (you can order it from us) on the side.

Nana’s White Fruit Cake

Ingredients
338g Soft butter
4 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
6 Egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks
6 Egg yolks
½ cup Klipdrift Brandy (or brandy essence for a non-alcoholic option)
2 tsp baking powder
450g Nuts (we used almonds and pecans)
800g Fruit – not the traditional fruit mix. We used red cherries, green cherries, cranberries and giant raisins.
(You can also add glace pineapple or whatever fruit you prefer.)

Method
Pre-heat your oven to 160°C.
Combine nuts and fruit and sprinkle over a ¼ cup of the flour,
working it through with your hands. (This helps the fruit not to sink to the bottom of the cake.)
Sift together the rest of the flour and baking powder.
Cream butter and sugar and add the egg yolks little by little.
Add flour and brandy.
Fold in the fruit and nuts.
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour mixture into a greased cake tin with baking paper on the bottom.
Bake for about 1 ½ hours or until set and golden brown.
If it gets brown at the top before the cake is solid, place a sheet of baking paper over the cake.
Let it cool a bit and then sprinkle a ¼ cup of brandy over the cake.
Wrap in tinfoil or clingwrap and let it stand. You can add some more brandy if you wish before serving.

It is good if it matures a bit, but can be eaten within a day or two.

******

PS.
If you’re pressed for time this festive season,
let us bake a 1kg White Christmas Cake for you!
R220.00
(including festive wrapping)

Contact andante@lekkerbek.co.za


Monday, November 12, 2012

We've joined Foodspotting





I had these fantastic Crumbed Olives wrapped in Goats Cheese at Rocket in Parkhurst.

I’ve joined the world of smart phones and am now on Foodspotting! “Foodspotting is a visual guide to good food and where to find it. Instead of reviewing restaurants, you can recommend great dishes and see what others recommend wherever you go.

It’s an amazing tool that allows you to access images and ratings of dishes in the area you wish to dine (or your close proximity according to your GPS coordinates – so smart!). Recent, unedited and unbiased opinions of single menu items – we’ve ordered a few gems by using this app!

To see what we’ve been dining on, click here, or follow me: Andanté-LekkerBek (www.foodspotting.com).

Happy Foodspotting!


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Black Horse Brewery and Restaurant



The husband and I spent a wonderful weekend meandering around Magaliesburg and happened upon The Black Horse Brewery and Restaurant. Nestled in the Magalies mountains, the terraced restaurant serves up hearty dishes like the enormous Goliath Burger, hand cut potato chips, delicious New Zealand green-lipped mussels, sticky Hickory smoked ribs and a variety of interesting pizzas.

The on-site brewery offers tasters of their beers before you order (they even make REAL ginger beer), and after we chose our favourites we spent the afternoon sipping ice cold beer under the trees enjoying the stable-themed setting.

The perfect boozy lunch spot www.blackhorse.co.za. Not a cheap lunch, but certainly worth it as the portions are big, the beers bigger and the atmosphere super relaxed (animals and children roam freely :)