Bits of Carey

While we visited Italy, I could not get enough of “melone e prosciutto di Parma”. This treat was available on every menu we came across. Traditionally served as an antipasto (starter), but I would lunch on this with lots of crusty bread daily, no joke. So when we arrived back home, I naturally developed withdrawal symptoms and had to make this heavenly combo! It ain’t melon season yet, but I managed to get hold of a winter melon, not as sweet – but it definitely satisfied my craving!

“Melone e prosciutto di Parma”

1 sweet melon, peeled, seeds removed and cut onto slices

12 slices prosciutto

Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle

Finely grated parmesan to sprinkle

Either wrap each slice of melon with a slice of ham OR layer melon and ham onto a platter OR Arrange the melon onto a platter and top with the prosciutto.

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Enjoy with crusty bread and other nibbles like olives and marinated artichokes.

Enjoy!

xx

Thought I’d share hub’s latest creation. This dish had us all in silence around the table as we savoured the flavours with every bite. I now have a whole new level of respect for J because this potjie truly is a winner, he really does know a thing or two about cooking, especially when the cooking is done on the braai!

 Creamy Chicken and veg potjie

Serves 6 – 8

45 ml Oil

15 ml Butter

6 drumsticks

6 chicken thighs

1 packet streaky bacon, chopped

2 onions, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

3 sticks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

250 ml prepared chicken stock

+- 250 ml wine

250 g peeled baby carrots or carrot balls

250 g ready peeled baby potatoes

6 baby marrows, thickly sliced

250 g button mushrooms

1 punnet baby corn

5 sage leaves

3 sprigs thyme

250 ml cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish

Use a No. 3 potjie pot

Heat the oil and butter in the potjie. Brown the chicken pieces and remove.

Add the bacon and fry until caramelized. Now add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and sauté until soft.

Add chicken back to the pot followed by the stock and wine. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour.

After the hour, add the veggies and herbs, cover with the lid and top with 3 – 4 hot coals (this provides even heating) and cook gently for 40 minutes – do not stir.

Add the cream and gently stir it through. Cook for a further 20 minutes.

Season to taste.

Serve with fluffy white rice or freshly baked beer bread

TIP: This could be done in 160 degree celcius oven or a low to moderate temperature on the stove top too!

For an Oxtail potjie as well as another chicken and veg potjie recipe, check out my Potjie party post.

So there you have it, three recipes to choose from. What potjie will you will doing this weekend?

C xx

An easy meat-free Monday dish for you to try. With the chilly nights we are having, I tend to lean toward pasta bakes, mac ‘n cheese being on the top of the list. This is my “grown up” version. A combination of gorgeously roasted butternut cubes, creamy blue cheese and sweet caramelised onions. Delicious with a simple salad of cos, pear and pecorino doused with extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar. What more could you ask for?

Grown up mac ‘n cheese

Serves 4

Roasted butternut:

15 ml ( 1 T) olive oil

1 small butternut, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes

500 ml (2 c) macaroni boiled until al dente in salted water

Caramelised onions:

10 ml ( 2 t) olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced

5 ml ( 1 t) sugar

Cheese sauce:

150 g / ml butter or half butter and half olive oil

150 ml cake flour

1.5 L milk

60 ml (1/4 c) crumbled creamy blue cheese

125 ml (1/2 c) grated parmesan cheese or 250 ml (1 c) grated cheddar

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Coat the butternut cubes with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes or until golden and crispy.

For the onions, heat the oil in a small pot and gently saute the onions and sugar until soft and browned ( about 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, prepare the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a medium to large pot over moderate heat, add the flour and whisk vigorously over the heat for a few seconds then slowly add the milk and continue whisking until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the blue cheese and half of the cheddar. Season well with salt and pepper.

Add the cooked pasta, roasted butternut and caramelised onions to the sauce pot and mix until well combined.

Pour mixture into a greased oven proof dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Pop into the oven for  20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbling.

Serve immediately with a salad of crisp cos lettuce, slices of pear and shavings of pecorino.

Other mac ‘n cheese versions to try:

Cauliflower mac ‘n cheese

Tuna and sweet corn

Boloroni

Have a great week lovelies.

C xx

I do love winter and don’t really want it to end, but even with Spring just around the corner, I suspect we are still in for a quite a few weeks of chiller nights. When I think back to my favourite wintery foods, it has to be soup, more particulary, creamy tomato soup and haddock and sweetcorn chowder.

Before summer starts, I urge you to try these two. Both satisfying as a meal with some crusty bread.

I plan on having one last soup and bread dinner party before the season is over. These two were a real hit at my previous one. It’s also quite nice to get your guests to bring their own speciality soup and then you end up with 3- 4 varieties, good fun.  

So, do you feel like a thick bowl of creamy tomato soup ?

Or…

Smoked haddock and sweetcorn chowder

500 g smoked haddock

2 cups (500 ml) milk

45 g butter

3 T (45 ml) cake flour

1 cup (250 ml) cream

3 bay leaves

3  potatoes, peeled, diced

250 g diced bacon (optional)

1 bunch leeks, finely chopped

250 g frozen sweet corn

15 ml fresh dill, chopped

pinch of grated nutmeg

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place haddock in a saucepan; add milk plus 600 ml water.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover pan and stand for 15 minutes.

 Drain haddock and reserve 1 litre of liquid.

Remove skin from haddock and flake.

In a saucepan melt the butter and add flour and form a roux.

Gradually add reserved haddock liquid whisking continuously.

Bring sauce to the boil, stir in cream and bay leaves.

Add diced potatoes and simmer gently for 10 – 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and sauté bacon until crispy. Add leeks and sauté until soft. Add sweet corn and heat until cooked through.

Fold haddock, bacon, vegetables, dill and nutmeg into soup.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately, discarding bay leaves.

Have a warm and lovely weekend and keep ‘em pots bubbling with soups and stews, winter is not over yet peeps!

C xx

I call this “the crowd pleaser burger” because it has elements that everyone enjoys. The men(and some awesome women) will be won over by the juicy ostrich burger, cider batter onion rings and bacon crumbs. The women on the other hand, will be hooked on the creamed cheese, cranberry jelly and rocket. It’s a win/win situation! Lots of texture and flavour going on here- I love the sweet cranberry jelly and the saltiness of the bacon. Serve this with roasted sweet potato wedges and you will be a loved for a very long time!

This is a little more involved than my usual recipes, so bear with me…

The crowd pleaser burger

Makes 3 monster burgers or 4 smaller ones

To make the burger patties:

15 ml olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

500 g ostrich mince or 300 g steak mince and 200 g pork mince or 500 g steak mince

1 slice of white bread, crusts removed and moistened with water

1 egg yolk

2 T worestershire sauce

a bit of dried mixed herbs

salt and pepper

Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until soft and caramelised. Allow to cool slightly.

Combine all the above ingredients together and leave to rest for +- 30 minutes.

Make the bacon crumbs…

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees celcius

place +- 6 slices of shoulder bacon onto a baking tray and roast them until crispy and dried out. Keep a watchful eye though.

Allow to cool then place into a food processor and blitz into coarse “crumbs”.

Make the cider batter:

250 ml cake flour

60 ml corn flour

7 ml baking powder

salt and pepper

pinch of paprika

+- 250 ml cider(savannah)

Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. It should have a cake batter consistency, quite thick. Allow to stand for at least 20 minutes.

Prepare the onions so long:

2 medium to large onions, peeled and thickly sliced

125 ml seasoned flour

Coat onions in the seasoned flour and allow to stand until ready to dip in the batter and deep fry.

Get the rest of the goodies ready:

3-4 burger buns

rocket leaves

a tub of Simonsberg plain cream cheese

a small jar of cranberry jelly

Now we are ready to fry!

The burgers:

Heat up a griddle pan and lightly grease it.

Shape the mince mixture into patties – it should make 3 large patties or 4 smaller ones.

When the pan is smoking hot, place them on and fry until nicely charred on the one side, then turn over and char the other side. I don’t like to turn the burgers around too much, so at this point, turn the heat down and flip the burgers over once more and allow to cook through to your liking. *do not over cook if using ostrich mince*

The onion rings:

Simultaneously( a bit of multitasking here)heat up a pot of oil for deep frying.

Test if it’s hot enough by plopping one onion ring into the oil.

When it’s ready, dunk the onions into the batter and place straight into the oil. Don’t worry, if they stick together – they break apart easily once cooked. Remove when they are puffed up, crispy and golden. Drain on paper towel.

Finish off:

Toast the insides of the bun in the same pan the burgers were in.

Top one side of the bun with a juicy patty, followed by a heaped tablespoon of cream cheese and a heaped teaspoon of cranberry jelly. On the other bun, top with some rocket and place onion rings on both sides. Sprinkle with bacon crumbs.

There you have it!

Note: these burgers can be done on the braai too. Just use a grid that has smaller holes.

For sweet potato wedges:

Serves 4

2 large sweet potatoes, cut into wedges

olive oil, salt and pepper

Boil the wedges for +- 10 minutes or until partially cooked. Drain.

Place onto a baking tray and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Roast at 200 degrees for +- 30 minutes.

Have a super weekend all and stay warm!

C xx

Hello lovelies, finally have a minute to post something! I have not fallen off the face of the earth or got bored of blogging – just been up to my ears in work. Have been cooking some yummy dishes over the last two weeks and I’ll post them at a later stage, for now, I’ll share some photies of our Paris trip. Please note, it’s mostly food – I’m obsessed.

To be honest, I wasn’t too sure if I’d enjoy Paris all that much. On the contrary, it surpassed my expectations. Parisians are friendly and rather lovely. Yes, it’s touristy, but my goodness – what a beautiful city! Seeing the eiffel tower was our top priority due to sentimental reasons. It is really busy around there and the tower itself is way bigger than I imagined. It was only in the evening when we sat at a nearby park inhaling gelato, that we saw the real majestic beauty of this tower and the culture around it. The lights came on and sparkled brightly, it really is romantic. We watched as locals around us sat merrily on the grass hauling out their baguettes, vino and cigarettes. Great vibe.

Beautiful parks like this are all over the city – you just have to get lost to find them!

Lots of scooters. It’s very amusing seeing men all suited up for work riding a scooter or bicycle, they do this in London too. I think it’s awesome! 

Parisians are spoilt for choice when it comes to fresh produce.  The cobbled streets and side cafes are just like I pictured it in my mind all these years! 

Look at these strawberries!?

And all this glorious seafood!

Everywhere you look there are fromagers…

and boulangers – so I can understand why everyone walks around with baguettes in their hands, I found it quite funny at first and then we started doing it too… on the metro, in the parks, at a fountain..where ever!

Now for the food…We tried our best to find authentic places that suited our budget. We’d get lost often and find quaint little places to dine.

How can I not have a french onion soup in France? Hit the spot.

And garlic butter escargots? You can’t beat real butter. I love that they serve you ample bread with your meal.

Juicy steak and “frites” are a big thing there. The bearnaise sauce was so thick tarragony and delicious!

A dessert trio. Sticky yummy macaroon, choc orange mousse to die for and an inspiration apricot crumble – the apricot was so flavourful and tart with this buttery crumble – got weak at the knees!

I saw the word terrine and went with it. I think it had a mixture of pork and duck. It was sublime. Great texture.

As much as Parisians love their bread, they have an equal if not more affection for meat. So I had a huge plate of beef carpaccio with capers and parmesan and a hint of pesto(leans toward Italian, but the fact that it was on a french menu and locals love it, I had to try). Delish, was so proud of myself that I ate 90% of it! Hubby stole a few slices.

Juicy rack of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes and gratinated tomato. Heaven.

After dinner, we’d stop at a local bar and have espressos. Not drinks, just espressos.

Foie gras and toast – so smooth, creamy and mouth watering but very rich.

“Proper” escargots with garlic and parsely butter. Very impressive. These ones were far meatier.

Braised lamb chops, red wine sauce and dauphinoise. A winner.

Boeuf bourguignon with veggies. Tender and comforting.

Of course, creme brulee! Perfection.

We were only in Paris for 3 nights. Wish we could’ve stayed longer because there’s so much to see. No frog’s legs in sight, maybe next time…

C xx