gourmet magazine and a couple of vegetable dishes on the side

May 14, 2013 in recipes

Tags: bean stir fry, fennel, roasted radish, vegetables, warm salad

American Gourmet magazine was one of my favourite food magazines, and a great source of inspiration to me in my early food styling career. I used to take back issues out from the Sea Point library, gaze at the exquisite images and hope that one day I would be able to create something that looked like them. The magazines were often well worn and dog eared, but I didn’t mind, the pages were filled with so much aspiration, I was transported to another far more glamorous world around food.

Gourmet was started in 1941, and was the first US publication dedicated to food and wine. The styling was unique and edgy and stood out from all other food magazines in the world.

I scanned a few of the images that I loved at the time so that I could refer to them later on for inspiration, and here are some that I found.

I was utterly devastated when I heard the news that the magazine was closing down at the end of 2009. A decline in advertising revenue, and a change in the way readers consumed food media are the reasons for its demise. Part of me still mourns this loss.

However Gourmet.com is still a food brand to be reckoned with, and along with Epicurious.com and Bon Appetite, they fall under the Conde Nast stable.

Conde Nast Independent magazines South Africa was established in 1997 under the licence of Conde Nast International and has multiple magazine titles under its banner including Glamour, GQ and House and Garden. Last year they launched the first edition of Conde Nast – House & Garden- Gourmet magazine -a bi-annual publication.

I was giddy with excitement when I was commissioned to style the food for the cover of the second edition - Autumn / Winter 2013.

The magazine is on shelf now and filled to the brim with inspiring food and lifestyle stories to keep you cosy through the winter months.

The cover features a whole cauliflower which speaks to a growing trend where vegetables are taking centre stage and becoming the feature of a dish. I have to say as a vegivore, this makes me extremely happy.

It was a privilege to work with the fantastic team on the cover shoot. Bernadette Le Roux- food editor, Martin Jacobs - art director, Juliette Arrighi De Casanova on props, and Russell Smith the behind the camera.

We shot this late last year when cauliflowers weren’t in season, so I had my work cut out trying to source one as big as the one that was needed. I was also rather proud of the bone in, trimmed beef roast I prepared, but this was given less of a starring role.

The shoot took place at the Gilles Botbyl gallery in Gardens where the team transformed a small corner to create this dramatic picture.

Looking back on the last 5 years of my new career around food creativity, this was indeed a highlight.

Dreams do come true.

And since we are celebrating vegetables, I thought I would include 2 nice recipes.

warm salad of roasted fennel and radish with lemon

in July 2011 I decided to round up a few of my favourite vegetable side dish recipes, and bizarrely this post has became and remained one of my most popular posts on this blog. I have decided to keep it updated with some of my more recent favourite side dish recipes, and here are two more.

I was keen to see how radish would taste when roasted. It goes so beautifully with fennel in a salad, so decided to give this a bash. I often find that in Winter a warm salad is preferable to a cold one. Its just more comforting.

To make this, roughly chop fennel and radishes to more or less equal thickness. This all depends on the size of the vegetables you have. Drizzle over olive oil, salt and pepper and bake in a 200 C / 400 F oven for about 25 – 30 minute until the fennel just starts to take on some colour.

Serve either warm or cold with another drizzle of olive oil, a spritz of lemon juice, salt and pepper and some finely chopped fennel / dill tips.

green and black bean stir fry with red pepper

This recipe comes from Jill Dupleix’s book - ‘good cooking’ (published by Quadrille 2005), and was sent to me by my friend Sonia as a good one to try using two types of beans. I had never used fermented / salted black beans before, so loved trying this recipe out.

Recipe | serves 4 as a side dish

recipe on Drizzle and Dip

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Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.

by drizzleanddip

spicy roasted chicken and sausages with marmalade and thyme

May 8, 2013 in recipes

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Tags: marmalade, roasted chicken and sausages, thyme

I was delighted to be asked to contribute to the Nomu May recipe mailer which goes out to their large subscriber base each month. My kitchen is loaded with their products (which I love and use all the time), so I didn’t have far to go to get what was needed for the recipe development.

This chicken dish is a twist on a recipe I have in my cook book for a marmalade chicken and sausage tray bake. And while we are on that, Nomu are giving away 3 copies of my book to anyone who subscribes to their mailer this month. Click here to do just that if you are not already subscribed.

How cool is that?

Recipe | Serves 4

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I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.

by drizzleanddip

black mushrooms stuffed with goats cheese butter and dill

May 6, 2013 in recipes, vegetarian, very easy - 5 ingredients or less

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Tags: black mushrooms, butter, dill, goats cheese

I couldn’t resist these mushrooms when I saw them a the Hope Street market recently. The gills were dry and perfectly separated, indicating utter freshness.

I had dill and goats cheese (obviously) – so thought to make a sort of goats cheese butter with them. It needs a bit of fat.

While baking, the mushrooms generate a lovely sauce which is basically pure umami.

These would be fabulous as a side dish served with steak. Slapped between a toasted bun they would make a sensational vegetarian burger. Or just eat them straight up and on their own, making sure you have some bread to soak up the juices.

It really is this simple.

Recipe for 2 stuffed black mushrooms (serving 1 or 2 depending how greedy you are)

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I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.

by drizzleanddip

huevos rancheros and my mexican roundup for cinco de mayo

April 30, 2013 in recipes

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Tags: Cinco de Mayo, El Burro, huevos rancheros, Mexican

Cinco de Mayo is a mainly American celebration of Mexican culture that happens on the 5th of May, and I wish we did it here. What better way to celebrate Mexican heritage than through this delicious cuisine that I love so much.

I dream of travelling to Mexico to eat, but thus far have only got as far as the deep south of the USA, but I have been cooking and experimenting with this cuisine for many years, and in a country where its not at all mainstream. Its only about a year ago that chipotle chillis became available in South Africa thanks to Mexicorn.

My favourite Cape Town Mexican restaurant, El Burro, now also sells pickled chipotle chillies and a range of stunning sauces of varying intensities which I love.

This recipe for Huevos Rancheros, which quite frankly is amongst my all-time favourite ways to eat eggs, comes from my cookbook which was published last year.

Huevos Rancheros | serves 4

Recipe on Drizzle and Dip

In my book I also included my recipe for salad nachos which is really all about adding fresh and crunchy vegetables to your nachos in place of some of the cheese and sour creme to make it even more delicious and healthier.

Then there is also my beer battered fish taco with a spicy chipolte slaw. A crowd pleaser.

And when it comes to Mexican drinks, there is only one word that comes to mind. Tequila. I have developed a taste for good quality tequila, and I sip and appreciate it as I a fine whiskey.

When it comes to drinking it in a cocktail form, my favourite is the Paloma.

I have created a board on Pinterest called ‘Mexican Fiesta’ - so will be pinning recipe that I discover and like there.

by drizzleanddip

pan fried line fish with a ginger scallion sauce

April 29, 2013 in recipes

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Tags: ginger, line fish, pan fried, spring onions

When a foodie friend on Twitter alerted me to this ginger scallion recipe, and said it was a game changer, I immediately wanted to know more. She sent me to this link on the Tastespotting blog and after reading the humorous post, I couldn’t wait to get to the shops to bulk buy ginger and spring onions (scallions).

This is David Chang – from Momofuku- Ginger Scallion sauce. Its more of a relish or condiment to me, and I initially made it to go along with a pork chop.

I tasted it on its own after making it and found the onion and ginger very abrasive, but it really does need to be eaten with food. I tried it on a fishcake and then knew that it was made to be eaten with seafood.

I bought a couple of fresh line-fish fillets from my fishmonger, pan fried them in a little olive oil, and ate them with this delicious relish on the side. A more simple and perfect meal is hard to come by.

This sauce definitely mellows and improves after a few days, and the flavours seem to integrate a bit better.

The recipe makes quite a large batch, and as you use very little, it may be worth cutting it in half.

Recipe | Ginger Scallion Sauce | makes 3 cups

From Momofuku cookbook by David Chang

Drizzle and Dip

Serve immediately with the ginger scallion sauce on the side and a couple of lemon wedges to spritz over the fish.

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.

by drizzleanddip

bolognese mac and cheese

April 24, 2013 in recipes

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Tags: bolognese, mac and cheese

Mac n cheese has to be one of my favourite comfort foods, and when you add a hearty bolognese sauce into the mix, it becomes just that much more comforting.

Don’t you agree?

I never use a recipe when making a bolognese and just cook by instinct. I sometimes add celery and carrot, and other times I add bacon. I often use oregano as a herb, and generally like to include tomato paste to intensify the tomato flavour. Its always a case of a bit of this, a splash of that, and whatever herb I have lying around.

Here I decided to make it a bit differently to what I normally do, and I also wrote the recipe down. I happened to have parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme on hand, so decided to go with all of these. Why not? They wrote a song about them, so they must be good together.

Rosemary is not what I would typically add, but my mom used to use it in her bolognese, so this recipe brought back memories of her which kinda made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Because I live alone I didn’t eat the whole thing and froze off a few portions for later consumption. The later consumption has already taken place (I did this a while ago), and was so thrilled to have written the recipe down. It is a dish I will definitely want to make again. Exactly like I did it here.

*A note on the herbs for this: I used a small bunch of parsley (the most out of the 4) , about 5 sage leaves, 4 – 5 sprigs of thyme, 2 small sprigs of rosemary (leaves removed). Apologies for no precise measurement here, you will have to wing it. I chopped them all up fairly finely.

* A note on the meat cooking: here I followed a little technique I picked up from Gordon Ramsay on his ‘Ultimate Cooking Course’ – which is to fry the meat further than you would normally, until all the liquid has cooked off and the meat starts to caramelise. The browning that happens to the meat is called the Maillard reaction and is when the protein in the meat changes to sugar compounds and in the process a load of different flavour is created. It makes so much sense to me to make sure the mince gets to this stage, so when you add all the other sauce components, they build on the base flavour. I have taken to adding miso paste to a lot of my savoury and meaty recipes, it adds so much umamui and depth. As its fairly flavour neutral, it amplifies the other flavours in the dish.

Recipe | serves 4

On Drizzle and Dip

A good hearty meal like this needs a hearty red wine to go with it, and after tasting the recently launched De Wetshof Thibault, this is one I could highly recommend.

De Wetshof is one of my favourite wine producers in South Africa and are well known for their beautiful Chardonnays. They are committed to site-specific vineyard management and wine making, and the Thibault is made from two of these specific blocks, Merlot block 8, and Cabernet Sauvignon block 11.

The grapes are picked in the cool mornings to capture their fruitiness, and this wine is robust, elegant and typical of a Bordeaux style blend. I absolutely love it.

The launch of this spectacular wine took place at the Planet restaurant at the Mount Nelson Hotel, with a knock out lunch cooked by chef Rudi Liebenburg.

This is a little look at the special lunch.

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.

by drizzleanddip

pear and pickled butternut salad with goats cheese and honey pumpkin seeds

April 22, 2013 in recipes, vegetarian

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Tags: goats cheese, pear, pickled butternut, salad

I was given a box of beautiful Abate Fetel pears from Tru-Cape recently along with a card with this intriguing recipe. I had never tasted nor considered pickling butternut before so immediately wanted to give it a go.

Lately I’ve been getting into more complex salad recipes with multiple ingredients, and I liked a lot of what was going on with this one. The pears were at their perfect ripeness, but still firm and very succulent.

I also happened to have all the ingredients to make this salad apart from the goats cheese feta in the recipe. I substituted this with goats cheese, which if you have been around here before you will know I love.

I’m not generally a fan of fruit in salads, but when they are paired with salty cheese and other contrasting flavour elements, they seem to work. My pear, blue cheese and walnut salad with a maple vinaigrette remains one of the most popular recipes on this site for some strange reason. Either people love pears in salad, or its a classic combination that never goes out of fashion.

So here is the recipe I tried out. * I may have made a bit more dressing and used more pumpkin seeds

Recipe: on Drizzle and Dip

I arrange everything separately because I am a food stylist and this is how we roll.

Two highlights of this salad were the pickled butternut which tastes so different to cooked butternut, but has the raw edge taken off, and the honey pumpkin seeds. These add a fabulous sweet and salty textural element to the dish and something I would make and use in other salads.

I didn’t like the red onion, I found it aggressive for this salad and would leave it out in the future, but this is a personal reference thing.

by drizzleanddip

quick and easy home-made passion fruit cordial

April 19, 2013 in recipes, very easy - 5 ingredients or less

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Tags: granadilla cordial

I hope I haven’t missed the granadilla (passion fruit) season totally by posting this too late. They were in full swing when I made this easy and delicious cordial a couple of weeks ago.

I had never made it before, and it really could not get any simpler. Sipping it poured over loads of ice and topped up with soda water, brought back floods of memories of my youth.

I kept the seeds in the mix, but if they bother you, simply strain them out once it has been made.

Recipe | makes about 750 ml

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If you feel like turning it into a cocktail. add a splash or two of vodka.

Happy days.

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.

by drizzleanddip

crostoni with pork sausages and enrica rocca opens a cape town cooking school

April 17, 2013 in recipes, reviews

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Tags: Enrica Rocca Cookery School, pork sausage crostoni

I met Enrica Rocca in the nineties when she owned a restaurant in Wynberg Village and we used to go there all the time. She also gave Italian cooking classes there, and I remember taking these and feeling so inspired.

Enrica now lives and operates a cooking school from her villa near Venice, and I was very excited to hear that she had opened a branch of it in Cape Town recently. She has entrusted this to her friend and past student Emma Freddi who runs it out of her lovely Constantia home. Emma and her ex husband used to own Pasta Freddi, so you couldn’t find a better fit.

I was invited to a class a couple of week ago and just had the most fabulous time.

The classes are informal with no more than 6 – 8 students gathered around Emma’s large kitchen island cooking station. You sit around, watch her cook and talk in great depth about the ingredients and how important they are. As Italian cuisine is fairly uncomplicated, the integrity of the ingredients is of the utmost priority for a dish to be successful. Emma knows exactly where to find everything you will need in Cape Town.

If you are an advanced cook and concerned that you might not learn that much from the class, Emma’s enthusiasm knowledge seeps out from every pore, and you will pick up interesting nuances and new ideas through the way she cooks. Italian food is about so much more than the cooking, its about the passion. The classes are also totally suited to less advanced cooks, beginners even. They are suitable for anyone who loves food and cooking.

Emma prepared 4 dishes in the afternoon we were there, and we nibbled on these while sipping delicious wine and having fabulous chats. It really is a perfect thing to do with a group of friends. On the day I went it was just myself and a lovely Australian couple who were living in Cape Town for a short time whilst on a big travelling adventure. The shared love of food was the common denominator and the special ingredient of the day.

I was also pleased that the recipes Emma taught us were a bit different, like these crostoni. Her recipe is for Crostoni di Salciccia e stracchino, but was modified as we don’t get the best Italian sausages here, nor do we get stracchino cheese, so Emma used a good quality beef and pork boerewors, and a mix of brie and buffalo mozzarella.

This is seriously one of the most delicious hot snacks I have had in a while. Sausage and cheese blended together with spice and baked like a pizza in a hot oven = scrumptious.

I adapted the recipe and used pork sausages as I’m rather a fan, and it worked very well. The boerewors with its coriander flavours was also delicious, so use whatever you prefer.

Recipe | serves 4- 6 people as a snack

on Drizzle and Dip

For the rest of the class Emma showed us how to make Riso e bisi (like risotto, but more saucy with pancetta and fresh peas), involtini meat rolls (veal wrapped around parma ham with sage and cooked in a tomato based sauce) and Sbrisolona (a lemony crumble cake) which I found both utterly delicious and unique.

Emma will generally cook with the seasons and has a beautiful and highly enviable vegetable garden from which to pick the best ingredients. She can also structure the class around particular requests, and as a self confessed risotto maestro, that is a class I wouldn’t want to miss.

This is a little about what our afternoon class looked like:

Penny Haw who writes for Business Day took a class and you can read her lovely review on her exereince with Emma.

To find out more info and book a class, visit www.enricarocca.com.

by drizzleanddip

lemony spinach and goats cheese linguini

April 15, 2013 in recipes, very easy - 5 ingredients or less

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Tags: goats cheese, lemon, linguini, spinach

Sometimes I wonder if I over-use certain ingredients on this blog. Like goats cheese. Drizzle and Dip is practically a shrine to the stuff, its hard to believe that about 10 years ago I couldn’t bear it.

Food is like love for me, when I fall in it, I often fall quite hard and get a bit carried away.

Goats cheese is one one of those things that I am head over heels in love with and any excuse I can find to use it I do. Like here:

You see what I mean?

If you read my stuff, you will also know I hate waste, and as a professional food stylist I often have a lot of leftover food from shoots which I always try to incorporate into a recipe here.

The lovely goats cheese in this recipe was from one of those shoots. It was imported from France and I had it in my freezer for ages so it needed to be used. By the way, in case you didn’t know, you can freeze cheese. It doesn’t always thaw back to its original texture (as in the case with harder cheese like Cheddar), but the taste is fine and I find it perfect to cook with it.

This is a fabulous one pot dish that can be whipped up in 20 minutes. You prepare all the greens while the pasta is on the go, and you use the same pot that the pasta was cooked in to make the sauce. I like to use wholewheat pasta as I have come to prefer its firmer texture and slightly nutty taste. Knowing that its also marginally better for me, also makes me happy.

Recipe | serves 2

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Serve straight away with a chilled Chardonnay or a crisp Sauvignon blanc.

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates of all my posts.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest.