Bits of Carey

The Hub’s prized granadilla forest in our little garden yields about a dozen of these beauties every few weeks. I can’t help but giggle when he walks into the kitchen with a bucket full of granadillas, smiling proudly like a cheshire cat. I never really get to do anything with them because he gobbles them up so fast! I had to ”book” a batch so that I could make a fridge tart that I have been craving for a while now. Fridge tart stems back to my childhood, where my mom would make her famous pineapple one for every braai or special occasion – we’d eat from it for days – it was SERIOUSLY big. I loved the fluffiness of the mixture with all the crunchy bits of tinned pinepple and soft biscuit layers. So in search of nostalgia, I made a passionfruit version. Ideally enjoyed in the hot summer months, but this hits the spot for me even in the middle of winter! What a joy to eat, it takes me to my happy place…

Passionfruit Angel Pud -  because it sounds more fancy! ha ha!

Serves 6

You will need:

1 packet lemon jelly or peach jelly

1 X 410 g chilled Evaporated milk

1/4 cup castor sugar

Pulp from 5 -6 granadillas or 1 tin granadilla pulp

2 packets biscuits of your choice(tennis, tea biscuits, marie etc), crushed

Mix the jelly with 250 ml boiling water and leave to cool off for a bit (don’t put it in the fridge!).

Beat the ideal milk until “stiffish”, continue beating while adding the sugar. It should look thickened.

Stir in the cooled jelly and pulp, combine well.

In attractive glass bowls, layer with bisuit crumbs and jelly mixture and end off with biscuits.

Refridgerate for at least 1 hour to allow it to set.

This can be done in a large dish too.

Maybe this can come in handy over the weekend?

Have a good one all!

C xx

Just thought I’d take a break from my holiday updates and post a recipe for the weekend. This salad is perfect as a meal on it’s own with some crusty bread or as an accompaniment to grilled or braaied meat. It’s pretty much all my favourite ingredients in one dish! Crispy bacon, sweet roasted butternut, soft avocado, feta, ripe rosa tomatoes, crispy cos and peppery rocket. I would’ve added a few parmesan shavings too, but didn’t have in the fridge so I just drizzled the salad with parmesan infused olive oil(addicted) and a bit of balsamic vinegar (or reduction). Try this with baby spinach instead of cos. So many options.

Winter Salad

You will need:

1 packet bacon of your choice

500 g butternut, cut into small cubes

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

olive oil, salt and pepper

1 cos lettuce, broken up

2 handfuls of wild rocket

+- 200 g baby rosa tomatoes

2 feta rounds, crumbled into small pieces

1 ripe avo, cut into chunks

Some parmesan shavings(optional)

To dress:

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar/reduction

Place bacon onto a roasting tray under a hot grill element until crispy on both sides. Allow to cool, then chop up finely.

Adjust oven temperature to 200 degrees celicius.

Place butternut and garlic onto the roasting tray(where the bacon was in), coat with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 – 40 minutes until golden and crispy on the edges.

In a large salad bowl, gently toss all the ingredients together until evenly combined.

Dress with olive oil and balsamic when ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Have a super weekend peeps

C xx

London holds a very special place in my heart after having lived there a couple of years a while back. This place helped restore a broken heart and rebuild my life of independence, it opened my eyes to a different way of thinking and living, I gained valuable experience and met so many amazing people that are still good friends and mentors to this day. So when hub and I decided to go to London for the first stop of our euro trip, I was overjoyed! We only had three days, but we really made the most of it.

Besides doing the MAIN touristy stuff(because I never actually did it while living there!?), we pretty much ate all day…

…and all night! Happiness.

We could not wait to tuck into good old Pub food. Some of the places were dives and others quite trendy, we did it all.

Roast dinners served all day! What’s not to love?

Enjoyed this at The Swan in Hammersmith.

A full on English brekkie – the perfect cure for a hangover!

We tried The Blackbird Ale and Pie house in Earls court

Delish homemade pies and other british bests

Classic bangers and mash with fried leeks and lots of cider gravy - YUMMMM!

A flaky Steak and ale pie and mash

We ate this at a popular Pub in Covent garden.

Roast dinner: Carb load of note – roast potatoes, mash and yorkshire pud with roast beef, gravy and mom-style veg

 Fish ‘n chips – crispy fried haddock, it melted in my mouth! Had this at a Pub in Camden(my favourite place to be).

Steak ‘n Co near  Leicester square

Succulent British beef: medium rare steak with bearnaise sauce and a watercress salad on the side

And thick cut fried chips – of course

Naturally, we craved other foods too…

When you feel like a good pizza, I mean a really, really good pizza in London, Alforno’s in Wimbledon is a must. Be warned, a medium pizza can easily feed 2- 4 peeps, a large, 6 and a small is perfect for 2.  Fresh ingredients. Authentic. Good coffee and even better desserts.

And for chinese, you are spoilt for choice. Chinatown in Soho is packed with chinese buffet or dim sum spots. Love it. You just see crispy duck hanging everywhere in their front window displays. Drool. Couldn’t get a pic, got too distracted.

So there you have it, Pub grub and other favourites from around the world all found in bustling London Town!

Me and Robert Pattison having a moment, much to hubby’s disapproval – hahahahaha!

Madame Tassaud’s made my day!

Bruschetta – pronounced “bru-skeh-tah” not “brush-etta” – Capeeeeeesh?

We’ve had a lot a lot of these babies in Italy together with sweet juicy melon and prosciutto, pear and pecorino and other mouthwatering antipasti. Heaven, I tell you. I had a secret love affair with a variety of tomatoes during our stay. Hubby lost the wife a few times in the markets and would eventually find me perving at one of the fresh produce stands, groping away at these lovelies!

3 weeks and 3 kg’s later, we arrived back, all hub wanted to do was braai and all I wanted to do was get in my kitchen since I haven’t cooked (except for the two cooking courses we attended) for weeks! So we compromised, he braaied and I made Bruschetta( can’t get enough of it) and a salad or two because it was surprisingly hot on Sunday. Very Nice! I tried to get the ripest tomatoes(which ain’t that great at the mo), the freshest garlic and basil and the densest and crispiest baguette I could find, whipped them up in minutes and doused them with my new favourite olive oil, Willow Creek’s Parmesan infused extra virgin. Gaaaaawd! They were droolicious. The sides of my tongue could not stop watering! I’ve made bruschetta loads over the years but this really is divine, rubbing fresh garlic cloves on hot toasted bread slices makes all the difference, thanks for the tip Chef Giovanni(you’ll hear more about him in another post)! Of course they would’ve been better with the gorgeous sweet red tomatoes that I obsessed over during our trip, but my shop bought ones just had to do for the time being.

Bruschette di pomodoro

1 large dense baguette or bread loaf, sliced

+- 3 garlic cloves

4 large ripe tomatoes

Fresh basil leaves

Rock salt and freshly ground pepper

A very good extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Grill the bread slices on both sides until crispy.

Meanwhile roughly chop the tomatoes and tear the basil into small pieces, combine together with salt, pepper and a drizzle of oil. Done.

Rub cloves of garlic onto the hot crispy bread slices.

Top with tomato mixture and drizzle with lots of delicious olive oil! YUM!

Perfect for this weather we are having in CT at the moment.

Now look at these… be still my beating heart! Sigh!

That’s all I have time for today! Will post again soon with more pics!

Good to be back again, have missed you all!

C xx