Kassler & Egg Stack

A very easy yet impressive breakfast or brunch.

Kassler & Egg Stack

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Free range eggs

2 Kassler steaks

4 Tbls basil pesto

Fresh cherry tomatoes, halved

Method

Grill the Kassler steaks till warmed through.

Meanwhile poach, fry or hard boil the eggs.

To plate: Liberally top the steaks with pesto and then with an egg. 

Season well with Maldon salt and serve with fresh tomatoes.

Joburg Festival of Beer

So guess what we'll be doing this weekend? Beer, beer and more beer!

Appropriately, the Joburg Festival of Beer is held in the same week as 'Braai Day' 

- two South African heritages if you ask me!

The festival takes place at the Pirates Sports Club in Greenside on the 27th and 28th of September. The two day festival, which has established itself in Cape Town as the largest 

Festival of Beer in the Southern Hemisphere, promises to be bigger and badder than ever before. Taste over 150 beers from more than 50 breweries including Brewhogs, Swagga, Stellenbrau and Soweto Gold.

The tickets includes free beer tastings, beer tours, brewing demonstrations and more. To line those stomachs I'm looking forward to a delicious selection of foods from Pete Goffe Wood’s Kitchen Cowboys, Wicked Waffles, Baha Tacos, Casalottis Pizza and plenty of meat from Braeside Butchers to accompany pints.

Early bird tickets are R150, which includes a beer glass, and are available from Webtickets at www.webtickets.co.za/events/beer-festivals/the-joburg-festival-of-beer/829334378.

Visit the website for more details at www.joburgfestivalofbeer.co.za. 

Cheers! 

Braai Day Mealie Bread

Celebrate Heritage Day by serving this tasty (and easy to make!)

mealie bread as a side to your favourite braai meats.

Mealie Bread

Makes one large bread

Ingredients

4 cups self-raising flour

4 sachets Canderel Yellow

1 Tbls salt

2 large eggs, beaten

¾ cup (200ml) full cream milk

2 Tbls vegetable oil

1 tin creamed corn

100g (1 cup) mature cheddar, grated

1 Tbls butter, melted

Maldon salt crystals

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Sift the flour, Canderel and salt together. Mix well.

Add the eggs, milk, oil, creamed corn and cheddar and gently stir to combine.

Liberally grease a large bread pan (preferably non stick).

Pour the bread mix (it should be quite wet and sticky) into the pan.

Level the mixture, paint with melted butter and sprinkle with salt crystals.

Bake for one hour (or until a test stick comes out clean).

Allow to cool in the pan before removing.

Serve with butter and any condiments of your choice – the perfect side to a braai.

TIP: Add more cheese, drained corn kernels and some bacon bits for an even more indulgent version.

Chakalaka - Heritage Day recipe

Serve this traditional South African accompaniment on Heritage Day 

(Wednesday 24 September) to add some zing to your braai meats. 

Chakalaka

Serves 8 - 10 as a side

Ingredients

1 - 2 Tbls vegetable oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, grated

½ Tbls ginger, grated

2 red or orange chillies, finely sliced (remove seeds for a milder version)

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp paprika

3 roma tomatoes, skins removed and finely chopped

1 cup warm water

3 cups carrots, grated

3 cups cabbage, finely shredded

1 tsp white or red wine vinegar

1 sachet Canderel Yellow

Salt & pepper

Method

Heat the oil in a heavy based pot.

Add the onions and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes until tender and translucent.

Turn up the heat and add the garlic and ginger. (Add more oil if needed.) Fry for 2 minutes.

Add the curry powder, turmeric and paprika, fry for another 2 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and ½ cup warm water. Cook over a low heat for 7 minutes.

Add the carrot and cabbage, stirring well. (Add more water if needed.)

Cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the all the ingredients are soft.

Season with vinegar, Canderel, salt and pepper.

Serve warm.

Bun-less Aubergine & Goats Cheese Burger

It seems like carbs are public enemy number one at the moment, so we served up this tasty carb free burger. But you can really add a roll if you’d like ;)

Bun-less Aubergine & Goats Cheese Burger

Serves 4

You will need

2 medium aubergines, thickly sliced

Olive oil

½ Tbls garlic, chopped

Salt

4 beef or ostrich burger patties

Fresh basil leaves

1 log Chevin (goat’s cheese) or plain cream cheese

Baby tomatoes, halved

Red onion, sliced and blanched

How to make it

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

On a hot griddle, grill the aubergine slices until they from dark grill marks. (You may need to do a few batches.) Transfer to and oven proof dish.

Liberally drizzle the aubergine slices with olive oil and toss to coat the all.

Roast in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes until they are soft. Add the garlic and more olive oil if needed, season with salt and toss again. Roast for another 5 minutes.

Just before the aubergine is ready, grill or fry the patties.

Build the ‘burger’ by layering hot aubergine slices, fresh basil, patti, goats cheese and more aubergine.

Garnish with fresh basil and serve with a tomato and red onion salad.

The quickest ever Sugar Free Strawberry Sorbet

Sugar free sorbet in minutes? Yes please! Dry ice and Canderel make this sorbet a guilt-free, fuss-free (and not to mention impressive to make for guests) summer treat. Use your favourite fruits or juice and creative with flavour combinations.

The quickest ever Sugar Free Strawberry Sorbet

Makes 6 large servings or 12 small servings

Ingredients

1.5 kg fresh strawberries (reserve a few for garnish)

4 – 6 sachets Canderel Yellow

2 kg Dry Ice

Method

Remove the strawberry stems and rinse well.

Roughly cut strawberries into smaller pieces.

In a liquidizer or with a hand blender, liquidize the strawberries until smooth and runny.

Add Canderel Yellow to taste. Tip: Make it slightly sweeter as the sweetness is subdued once it’s frozen.

Pour the juice into the mixing bowl of an electric mixer and attach the dough hook.

Handling the dry ice carefully (newspaper works well), break off a few large pieces with a hammer and a sharp object (about half of the block to start off with). Place the pieces of dry ice in a kitchen towel and wrap it with another. Using the hammer, bash the ice into even smaller pieces until it starts to become a powder. Using the towels, tip the pieces of ice and powder through a sieve into a bowl. Don’t use the bigger pieces that don’t pass through the sieve, rather bash them again.

Turn on the mixer and gently pour the dry ice powder into the liquid.

It will start ‘smoking’ heavily, but once the ice has been absorbed you’ll be able to see the mix. Keep on adding dry ice powder until you’ve reached a sorbet consistency. You may need to add several batches of ice powder.

Squash the mixture down into the bowl and use an ice cream scoop to scoop out the sorbet portions.

Tip: You can make it ahead and freeze the entire mix or individual portions in the freezer.

Garnish with a fresh strawberry.

Budget friendly Rocket Pesto

We had a bumper crop of Rocket this year, and what does one do with 2 kilograms of Rocket leaves? Pesto! This is a budget friendly version, but feel free to add Parmesan and pine nuts if you wish. Also take into consideration that Rocket can be bitter, so don’t use an olive oil that is too grassy or bitter.

Rocket Pesto

Fills about 4 250ml jars

You will need

250g fresh Rocket leaves

¼ cup (40g) shredded almonds

2 – 3 garlic cloves

3 Tbls fresh lemon juice

1 Tbls green chilli, chopped

1 Tbls castor sugar

¼ cup olive oil

Salt

How to make it

Roughly chop the Rocket leaves and pack half into a food processor (on the chopper blade).

Blend the Rocket for a few seconds to chop it to a smaller size, add the remaining Rocket and do the same.

Add the almonds and process until the Rocket and almonds are well combines and chopped into tine pieces.

Add the garlic, lemon juice, chilli and sugar.

Blend for a minute or two.

Add the olive oil and pulse until just combined.

Taste and season with salt. (Add more lemon juice or sugar if needed.)

Spoon the pesto into sterilized jars and refrigerate until needed.

Just look at the size of the leaves our plant produced this year!