Dinner Divas

Both Barry Gerber (What’s Cooking) and Anél Potgieter (Lifeiszoobiscuit) mentioned on Saturday’s episode (and wrote it in their description of their blogs) that they love to cook and especially for people they love. Here are two recipes we love to share with you, exactly as they wrote them.

We loved having them on set and although this is goodbye to big bear Barry, we suspect it is temporary as somewhere in future, we may wanna cha cha with him in the kitchen in front of cameras again!

Listen to Barry talking about his experience on set and love for food with our sweetheart Nina Timm on RSG this Thursday. More info soon on Nina’s beatiful new blog. Delightfully bubbly and lovable Anél of course, is going through to the semi finals and you will see more of her delectable food then.

Roast Chicken with Tomato & Herb Orzo

• 6 Chicken thighs
• 1 tsp dry oregano
• olive oil
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 410 g can Rhodes Oregano and Basil Tomato Mix
• 1 x 410 g can Rhodes Whole Peeled Tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp Rhodes Tomato Paste
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely grated
• 60 ml olive oil
• 200 g cherry tomatoes
• 125 ml dry white wine
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 300 g pasta rice (orzo)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 250 grated halloumi cheese or hard grated feta
• 1 tsp dry mint
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Coat the chicken pieces with olive oil, season with salt and pepper on both sides, sprinkle with the oregano and set aside.

In an oven roasting pan add the tomato mix, whole peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, 60 ml olive oil, cherry tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, sugar, mix well, place the chicken pieces into the roasting pan and bake for 35 minutes.

In a pot cook your pasta rice, drain, rinse under hot water and transfer to a bowl.  To the pasta rice add 1Tbsp olive oil, cheese, mint, parsley, and basil, mix well and set aside.

Remove the chicken pieces from the roasting pan once cooked along with the cherry tomatoes and set aside.  Add the pasta rice to the tomato mixture, mix well, return the chicken and bake for a further 10 minutes.   Remove from oven and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve hot with my Green Leaf Salad and Granadilla Dressing.

Hint: When draining the pasta rice, use a sieve instead of a colander as the rice falls through, and use the roasted cherry tomatoes in the salad for extra flavour.

Waterblommetjie Bredie with Apricots

• 1 kg lamb shanks
• 1.5 kg waterblommetjies
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 x 410 g can Rhodes Apricots, drained
• Sasko Cake Flour, to dust meat
• 4 to 5 medium potatoes, quartered
• 1 lemon’s zest
• 1 cup water
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 to 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• olive oil
• salt
• black pepper

Dust the meat with the cake flour. Heat a little oil in a pressure cooker, and brown the meat in batches. Do not add too much meat at a once, otherwise it will start to stew. When all the meat is browned remove from pot and set aside.

Sauté the chopped onions for about 5 min then add the garlic.  When the onions are soft, add the meat and flavor with salt, pepper, coriander and Worchestire sauce.  Add the water to deglaze, then seal the pressure cooker, and cook for about 20 minutes.

Release the pressure valve and once the pressure is released, remove the lid and add half of the waterblommetjies, put the lid back on and seal by closing the pressure valve. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Once again, release the pressure, remove the lid, add the apricots, potatoes and the remaining waterblommetjies. Replace the lid, but do not close the pressure valve, we want to cook at a much lower heat from now on (The Waterblommetjie Bredie can also be transferred to a casserole dish at this stage).  Cook the stew until the potatoes and the last of the waterblommetjies are soft. About 5 minutes before serving, add the lemon zest to give the dish some life.

Serve with rice and my Pumpkin Cakes and Corn Bread.
Serves 4 – 6

Until later this week, chow!