Ready Steady Cook Challenge

When I saw Tandy post this challenge, great memories of watching Ainsley on TV came flooding back over me. I use to love this show, it was a Saturday morning ritual for me and I always made a point to watch it. How those chefs would come up with these great dishes in such a short period of time, from a mystery bag picked up by a random person who knew nothing about food. It was always such great fun, my favourite chefs were Anthony, Ross and Lesley.

So when I saw this challenge, I jumped right to it and signed up, thinking somehow I would fit it in with the wedding, not long after I received my grocery list…and let me tell you, I was stumped. I knew this was going to be a big challenge; I was way out of my comfort zone. I had a list of vegetarian ingredients, and the biggest challenge is always trying to have a balanced vegetarian meal. Often in a restaurant, if you say you are vegetarian, you are given a salad or fries, I didn’t want to go that route.

My grocery list was as follows:
gelatine (or agar agar)
yeast
strawberries
cheese (I used goats cheese, being my favourite cheese)
bell pepper
soya sauce
banana

Along with my pantry items, I came up with this menu.

Starter
Summery grilled strawberry & Goats Cheese salad

Mains
Bellpepper & Goats cheese focaccia with lemon hummus

Dessert
Banana & Cardamom Panna Cotta

So with the wedding and honeymoon thrown into the mix, along with this 3 course meal, I decided to incorporate it all into the visiting guests and let them taste! Nothing like having some friends over who are not scared to tell you to try harder!! I started with my salad…and got some great feed back!

Summery Strawberry & Goats Cheese Salad

500g strawberries, halved
200g goats cheese
Fresh basil
Macadamia oil
White wine vinegar
Castor Sugar
seasoning

Heat a griddle pan over high heat, when hot, wipe with oil, and place strawberry down with cut half on the griddle pan. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Roughly crumble the goats cheese and place in salad bowl
Stack fresh basil leaves on top of each other, and with a sharp knife, slice into thin strands. Careful not to bruise the basil to much. Toss with goats cheese and a pinch of sugar.
Toss in cold strawberries, drizzles with oil and white wine vinegar, and season to taste.

Bellpepper & Goats cheese focaccia with lemon hummus

Roasted Bell pepper
1 of each colour bell pepper
macadamia oil
soya sauce

Heat the oven to 200 C, cut peppers in half and place on baking tray. Drizzle with oil and soya sauce. Roast for 45 minutes.

Focaccia Dough
4 cups bread flour
1 packet instant dried yeast
50 ml macadamia oil
1 tbs soya sauce
50 g castor sugar
700 ml warm water

Make a well in the flour and add yeast, sugar and soya sauce.
Pour in the warm water in batches and draw the flour in from the sides to make a soft, workable dough. Add more water or flour as needed – the dough shouldn’t be too sticky.
Knead until nice ad smooth, around 5 – 7 minutes.
Cover the dough in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.

Focaccia
Roasted bell peppers
Goats cheese
Crushed garlic
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
Macadamia oil
soya sauce

Place the dough on a greased baking tray and press holes into the dough with your fingers, don’t press too hard. Sprinkle rosemary and oregano and garlic onto the dough and press in roasted peppers and goats cheese.
Drizzle with oil and soya sauce
Allow to rise for 10 to 15 minutes in a warm place, then bake in a 180° C oven for 45 minutes.

Lemon Hummus
1 can chickpeas
juice of ½ lemon
zest of half a lemon
macadamia oil
soya sauce
black pepper
crushed garlic
fresh ginger, finely chopped

Add all the ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth. Check seasoning and adjust to taste.

Any dessert is always a challenge to me, simply because I am not a huge fan of desserts, and for me, a simple fruit platter, or a nice cheese board is always a great way to end off a meal. Instead…I concluded my meal with the following:

Banana & Cardamom Panna Cotta

340ml cold water
2 envelopes gelatine
250ml castor sugar
175ml water
1 banana mashed up
8 cardamom pods, split open, and only crush the little black seeds
500ml cream
500ml full cream milk

Place 340ml cold water into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over gently. Set aside
Mix the mashed banana and grinded cardamom seeds together
Place ¾ of the sugar and ½ of the water in a pot over high heat until the sugar has caramelized. Remove from heat and add the banana, cream, milk and the left over sugar. Place back on heat until the mixture is smooth.
Remove from head again and add gelatine and water, whisk in, place bowl in ice water and carry on whisking until the mixture is room temperature.
Place in moulds and refrigerate for about an hour and a half

Wedding build up and shoes…

It has been a crazy 2 days, also very overwhelming two days, kind of hard to imagine that April 2011 we got engaged, and now we sit 4 days away from our wedding. I am so very excited, and have been busy with many things…lets see where to start…

Started by picking up my maid of honor from the airport, followed by a day in PE, shopping and doing my final show fitting. I had my shoes designed for me, I couldn’t find what I really wanted, so I went to see Monique at LeQin Designs in PE, and she was so super sweet, and very helpful. After seeing her in November, I have not had a chance to see her again, so she designed without me going in and out, and I am absolutely in love with my shoes! I will get better photos on the wedding day.

Today, Justin and I went for our pre shoot, Heather Stevens, our photographer is absolutely amazing, I love her dearly, she is one of the regular photographers that is used for weddings at work, so meeting her once or twice, I knew exactly who I wanted to be part of my wedding day.

My wonderful friend, and maid of honor, Tiffany, managed to really surprise me with a great Hens Night, which was great fun, didn’t get crazy, but a great time was definitely had by all. Along with that, I made my lavender infused honey…slight spillage, but that was a silly mistake as I was not controlling my heat properly, what a clean up!!!

Justin took me for a pre birthday lunch today at a little place called Sacramento Restaurant, in Schoenmakerskop, PE A great little spot, the food was decent, just the wait was long and the staff very unfriendly, but being right by beach, and enjoying the holiday vibe was great!

Justin had a Surf & Turf

I had an Italian Salad

and deep fried Camembert with tortilla chips

And of course, between wedding planning, family, friends and other exciting things, I have managed to get around to doing both my starter and dessert for the Ready Set Cook Challenge that was set out by Tandy. So its been rather busy. But having a great time!

I do look forward to the relaxation while on honeymoon next week, this will probably be the last blog until after the wedding!

Beautiful Books….what more could I ask for

Now that I have time on my hands, I have been busy with finalizing a few wedding plans, I happen to forget about some flowers, and in a slightly fast dialling motion, I quickly phoned my dad, who just laughed and told me not to worry, he will take care of it all. I am so very blessed that both my parents and my future parent in laws are so supportive, and very helpful in so many ways. But more on wedding plans in another post.

This post is dedicated to the wonderful gifts I received from my loved ones. They all know me so well, and know my great love for African inspired food, and all the wonderful ways of South African cooking. And along with this, my great love for books.
My wonderful fiancé gave me Justin Bonello, Cooked in Africa, it’s his older book, but the first one of his books I own, and the first of many which shall be in my collection of cook books.

Reading through it, two recipes jumped out at me immediately, firstly the recipe for Springbok Neck Potjie. WOW! Had me drooling all over the pages, I can just imagine this potjie going down in my house, all the wonderful friends and family around to enjoy and share it…it’s perfect for sharing with loved ones.

The other one, which is very unlike something I would normally cook up, is the breakfast bomb. Not being a huge fan of eggs for breakfast, I tend to lean away from these kind of recipes, however, this one grabbed my attention. Also something I shall be trying in the near future!

My parents in law gave me this book, such a great inspiration. 365 things every Woman should know. Every day I read one…today – The development and maintenance of our inner world should be our highest priority.

My parents gave me Kukumakranka – Khoi Khoin Culture, Customs and Creative Cooking. They understand my love for the African culture and their food ways. There are so many interesting facts in this book, from the music and dance, to the kitchen utensils used, to the kitchens built, it is really hard to choose what is my favourite part of this book.

The edible plants kept me intrigued, just the vast knowledge of what you can eat and what you can’t in the bush, and this recipe jumped out at me…goats cheese being a all time favourite in my books. A vegetarian dish made up of goats cheese, raw duiker root, boiled flowerbuds of Khoi-veldkoo, shredded slymstok stalks and wild leeks. Wow….mouth watering!

I was spoilt rotten this Christmas, along with all my lovely books, I was spoilt with flowers, and wine, and stunning wine glasses, and a beautiful photo frame full of lovely memories of our first year together, and the most important gift of all, the opportunity to spend time with Justin, my parents and my parent in laws, all the most special people in my life.

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

I can not proclaim to be a good baker, I can bake, but I could never claim it to be my favourite past time. But when it comes to special celebrations, I do like to create a cake of some sort. This year, for Justin’s cake, I went with something very simple. Nice moist chocolate cupcakes, with caramel frosting. I am not a huge fan of sweet things, so I tend to tone down on the sugary side when it comes to baking.

The secret to a really moist cupcake or cake, is fat. Souse oil instead of butter, and buttermilk instead of milk. That way, it will always be a winner. This one, I didn’t have buttermilk, so I used full cream milk.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting
(makes +- 40)

Ingredients For Cupcakes
1.5 cup cocoa
4 cup flour
4 cup castor sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 egg
2 cup good quality coffee
2 cup full cream milk
2 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel Frosting
2 cans caramel treat
250ml fresh cream

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C and line cupcake trays with cupcake liners.

Sift all dry ingredients together 3 times and place into your kitchen aid bowl

Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract and beat well, until well incorporated. Slowly add the boiling hot coffee

Fill the cupcakes liners until ¾ way full

Bake for 25 minutes.

Test if ready, prick cupcake with skewer and if it comes out clean with no mixture on, then the cupcakes are ready.

Cool completely before icing.

For the frosting, beat the cream until soft peak, add the caramel treat and beat until smooth and all incorporated.

Secret Santa Visit

I love how my beautiful and inspiring friend, Tandy over at Lavender & Lime always gets us bloggers involved in fun activities and great challenges, her latest one being Ready Steady Cook, which I encourage all you foodie bloggers to get involved in, and even you non foodies, it will be great fun!

Last year, Tandy got a few bloggers together for Secret Santa, I was a late comer due to the fact that I hardly ever get around to blogging anymore, which I am going to change this year (Thank you New Years Resolutions).

My Secret Santa gave me this beautiful gift!

I love it. The magnetic measuring spoons are going to come in so handy! I can just clip it against my knife magnet at work, and never have to worry about never having measuring spoons again, because all the other chefs know not to touch my knife magnet. Along with the measuring spoon, I got a little packet of basil paste from Robertsons, which I am going to make my favourite quick lunch – some fresh pasta with basil pesto and grated grana padana. Yum!!!! I also got a lovely apricot preserve.

So with this, I want to thank my Secret Santa, you know who you are!!

Have a beautiful Sunday blogland