Hearty Beef and Pearl Barley Stew with Spinach and Baby onions
What I love about this dish is that it’s both stew and soup combined. I think Rachel Ray coined this ‘culinary phenomenon ‘as a “Stoup”. I love stew and I love soup so the idea of them being combined is fantastic (to say the least). The stew side is the beef chunks and baby onions while the soup side of it is the barely and I suppose the spinach too. The barley bulks the stew up and, obviously, is the starch element to the dish – so there is no need to make rice or mash potatoes or any other side of starch, everything you’ll need is in the Stoup. Although I do suggest you have it with some crusty bread, after all it is kinda a soup.
This is a great dish to make for winter, it’s warm, filling, healthy and above all requires only one pot, yip it’s a ‘one pot wonder’.
I suppose it’s only natural, with two elder sisters ‘ being only 11 and half months apart in age that their weddings fell only a few months apart. However, my grandfather thinks weddings/engagements have become infectious in our family and gives me 5 months till I’m hitched! I beg to differ, plus, being the (healthy) free spirit that I am, I am immune to the romantic-wedding-bug that seems to be lingering around our house. My grandfather will just have to wait, besides I have other sisters that are welcome to get married, although they are a bit young so I hope they too are not acceptable to any romantic bugs .
Any who,back to the weddings. Both Carina’s and Kyly’s weddings were fabulous, and as much in personality and taste do they differ (despite their proximity in age) as too did their weddings. Carina’s wedding was… well, very Carina and Kyly’s was… well, very Kyly. Carina’s was very traditional and so quite formal (see four posts down for pics); and Kyly’s was anything but traditional and so completely informal. In true Kyly style she opted for a less traditional wedding garb: a short wedding dress, lace gloves, a petite veil and to finish the look, a pair of Ox-blood Doc’s – and did she not look cute? Her, now, husband Jay too expressed his idiosyncrasies through his shoes as he wore Skate shoes. The two of them are such an adorably original couple!
These tarts are wonderfully simple and superbly satisfying. Generally I am not a huge fan of apples, I tend to find them rather boring. Whatever the forbidden fruit may have been I am quite certain it was not the apple, I am more inclined to think it was an avo, however I must say that an apple does make for a great tart. Once an apple is cooked it goes from being tolerable to delectable. Whether you are talking apple sauce or apple tarte tatin the apple is simply marvellous when cooked. In other words, I find apples acceptable when raw; yet delicious when cooked.
On another note, I decided to have a little fun with the photos. I thought it when be a fun, slightly surreal idea to have my hand in three seating positions. I also raised the sharpness levels in Photoshop to give it an old dinner-poster-ad look — hence the sugar cubes and old crockery.
Another post shot at The Woodlands Eatery, I just cant get enough of the place! Well, actually I did two recipes the day I shot there and only had time to post this recipe today.
Also, I wanted to post a couple of pictures showcasing my friend, Sarah’s, fashion label, Understudy Clothing. Sarah is not only a talented fashion designer, but co-owner of The Woodlamds Eatery. Her clothes can be found at MeMeMe and at The Woodlands Eatery Night Market held on certain Monday evenings (the next one will be in Feb sometime, I’ll keep you posted).
A while back she asked me and Lindsey Boucher to be her ‘models’. It was so much fun getting to wear all her fabulous clothes and getting my make-up done – what a treat! The make-up was done by Lindsey, who is an amazing make-up artist and if you ever need a make-up artist I would use her, take a look at her site and you’ll see what I mean: http://www.makeupanddelight.co.za/
Oh, and Lindsey is also a talented artist (see pics below), her paintings and prints can also be found at The Woodlands Eatery Night Market, amongst other lovely things.
Wow, it’s been a long time since I have done a post, 74 days to be precise – that sounds like ages when I put it like that (note to self: always count in months, not days!). The reason I have been neglecting my blog is most certainly not due to laziness, but the complete opposite. I have been so busy with work, that I have not even had the chance to admire other food blogs, design sites, catch up on celeb gossip,Facebook, or tweet, net alone go on my own blog.
During those 74 days I styled and cooked over 50 recipes! Which was fantastic, however it meant putting the ‘ol blog to one side and focusing on work – less folly and more work.
Any who, today I was lucky enough to shoot my post at The Woodlands Eatery (2 Deer Park VredeHoek tel: 021 801 5799 ). If you know the restaurant, you’ll understand why it is such a treat to shoot there – it’s food styling heaven: wooden tables, rustic, painted wooden panels, old window panes, pot plants, etc. The restaurant is one giant prop – it’s too fabulous.
A few weeks ago, well on the 13th of October to be precise, was my second eldest sister’s wedding. I state second eldest because as you can see in the pic below I have A LOT of sisters, again to be precise 4 sisters!, so it is quite imperative that I stated whose wedding it was. It was a lovely wedding and as you can see from the pic, my sister looked absolutely lovely.
The wedding was a traditional Catholic Ceremony and after the ceremony a huge celebratory party took place. I danced the night away and by mistake drank too many shooters – I seem to forget about hangovers when i’m in the mood to party.
I thought since there’s been a bit of love in the air that I would make some cupcakes that, to me, suggest love. I decided to make use of a couple of lens flares as they seem to give a lovey-dovey feel.
I used a custard topping because I just love custard and the strawberry jam filling is red, and red as we all have been told (by someone) is the colour of love.
A few weeks ago I entered a television show about food bloggers called Dinner Divas. The show is dedicated at revealing the ins-and-outs of food blogging and gives contestants the opportunity to show South Africa how much love, passion, pride and effort goes into creating a food blog.
For the first time us food bloggers have been given the chance to showcase and market our blogs on television. Finally, we can show South Africa what it takes to create a blog. As the show progresses you will see that passion and dedication is one of the key factors in creating and maintaining a food blog and of course hard work.
Since being on the show, I have only become more ambitious to improve my blog. All the contestants are unique and talented in their own way and have inspired me on so many levels – their pride and love for blogging can be seen on each episode.
The show is not out to ridicule the contestants, rather it focuses on food blogging and our journey through the show.
I feel so inspired and I hope that Dinner Divas will inspire more people out their to create a food blog!
The first episode is today (Saturday the 13th of October) at 8:30 on SABC2. It stars me (Kristy Snell) and showcases my blog (FoodMonger) and Nina Timm from My Easy Cooking.
In this episode I compete with Nina to create a meal in 90 minutes. Nina makes a delicious family Mexican Feast while I make a sophisticated meal for friends consisting of: Steak with Baby Onion Jus and No-fuss Bearnaise Sauce. Served with Rosemary Oven Potatoes and a Side Salad of Watercress and Baby Spinach. And to end, my Mom’s Peach and Almond Pudding. Below you can find all the recipes to the meal I made.
At the end of the show the judges judge the meals and choose the winning plate. Oh and on this episode the judges are: Caro de Waal from Food24 Editor, Aubrey Ngongama from Dinner with Aubs and Leila Padayachi, Cordon Bleu Chef.
Aside from Aubrey commenting that the two sauces don’t go together and create an utter mess on the plate (true Aubrey style), they seemed to love my meal and had many praises.
And…at the end…low and behold I WIN the first round! My plate is the one that the judges choose as the winning meal. However, since this is a show about food bloggers they also put Nina through as her blog is one to revere. So, the first episode of Dinner Divas commences superbly happily with both Nina and me going through to the next round.
Next week Saturday (20th of October) at 8:30 on SABC 2 catch Sue Green from Sous Chef and Tami Magnin from Rumtumtiggs battle it out and of course to find out who goes through to the semi-finals.
I finally have a new keyboard, in other words I have a functioning “a” and “s” key – I so very much missed using words like sausages, ass(es), smack, snake, and snail. Having to copy and paste “s’s” and “a’s” lost its charm rapidly . I can now so easily write scissors, sissy, and Smeagol – what a delight. I no longer have to revert to using bizarre teenage code-like l@ngu@ge; instead I can now (if I so wish to) talk like I have a stutter or a lisp.
Today’s post is similar to my last one. My boyfriend and I are on a no-carb diet which pretty much eliminates a bunch of ingredients I usually cook with. At present I am living on salad and meat – I am so tired of eating meat! All I want is white food: pasta, bread, rice, chips, crackers, potatoes, flour (yip, I’ll even eat a spoon of flour that’s how desperate I am). I shouldn’t complain, I did take Saturday and Sunday off as it was my boyfriend’s birthday. We threw a party on the Saturday, and the Sunday was his actual birthday. Only thing though, I drank too much and forgot to eat all the bread and potatoes in the world (the wine however was a treat). And on the Sunday, Clarke’s was closed (like all restaurants in Cape Town) so I did not get the burger that I was dreaming of.
Since I am not in the mood to cook a great no-carb recipe (ie. I don’t feel like eating no-carb-food — i’d rather starve), I have decided to post a few pictures I did earlier in the year. It’s not a recipe, rather a bit of fun and something for me to post and I suppose drool over (it’s been 14 days since I have had a burger).
I worked on a MacDonalds commercial with Sam, from Drizzle and Dip ( www.drizzleanddip.com ), and at the end of the shoot there was a lot of leftover burger patties, sliced cheese and rolls. After sitting out all day, none of it was fit for human consumption. This was great news for me. A few days before the shoot, I was toying with the idea of taking junk food and creating 16th Century still lifes out of them. So I took all the leftovers home and made very neat burgers fit for a Banquet
I am happy with them to an extent. However, I never got the grade, lighting (Chiaroscuro) exactly how I wanted it. Also, I lacked the props to properly pull it off.
Next week, I will still be on this ridiculous diet but shall post an actual recipe.
At present my computer’s “a” and “s” keys do not work. As a result I am forced either to copy and paste them in (using old word docs as reference); or write like a twelve ye@r old on f@cebook or $m$ – I am not sure which is wor$e. Luckily for this post I am using my boyfriend’s laptop – saving me time and ensuring I don’t look like a silly teenage girl whose brain has gone on sabbatical.
As a result, today’s post is a little different from my usual posts and quite short (cannot hog the laptop). I also thought it would be nice to post something that was purely fun and (hopefully) interesting.
For some of you who don’t know, I am a freelance food stylist. I often practice food styling techniques at home to test them out and to improve my styling skills.
Since eggs are relatively cheap I decided that I would practice styling eggs and make a series of photos that tell a story/message about breakfast. This post is about styling eggs – how to cook them so they look as sunny as a Wimpy breakfast ad
Firstly, use free-range eggs. Ethics aside, the yolks hold their shape better and are lovely and plump
Secondly, always use a non-stick pan. A cheap one from Click’s does the job. I use what P ‘n P calls an “Eggy Pan” – a small non-stick pan (as in the below pics). I find it works brilliantly and since it is so small I never use it for anything else, thus it always stays in perfect condition
Thirdly, cook your eggs slowly in vegetable oil – never be tempted to up the heat. If you do, you’ll find the white starts to get bubbles and the yolk can also form bubbles and sometimes they rupture and there goes your perfect egg.
I use a heart-shaped mould in the pics, you can apply this technique using other moulds or none at all. And… always brush your mould with oil or spray with non-stick spray.
The picture below shows how the yolk naturally falls to one side. To avoid that, using a spoon hold the yolk in the centre. After about 40seconds of cooking, remove the spoon and your yolk will stay centre – eggs solidify quite quickly.
Keep cooking your egg very slowly on a low heat until the white is completely opaque. Then remove your egg.
You can make these eggs ahead of time and keep them for quite a few hours till needed. On shoots you often need quite a few eggs for a shot and it is best to make a couple in advance. All you have to do is pour a layer of vegetable oil over your cooked eggs and store in a container or simply place on a tray and cover with plastic wrap.
One last tip, if you are using a mould, you’ll find that the white runs out a little – don’t stress. When your egg is half-cooked press down on the mould as if it is a cookie cutter. You’ll notice the escaped white will separate from the sides of the mould. Simply scoop them out with a spoon and continue to cook your egg till done.
Youngberries and GooseberriesThe Best Vanilla Cake...Ever
This is the best vanilla cake recipe in the world!... Scratch that.This is the greatest vanilla cake recipe in the universe!.. Nope,rather: this is the most delicious vanilla cake you'll ever in yourentire life eat. I don’t know what makes this cake so delicious, butby golly it's good. The recipe comes from a book called 'TheEncyclopaedia of Useful Information'. It was a book that originallybelonged to my grandmother – so it's ancient, however completely fab.The recipe is very basic, and pretty much seems your standardsponge cake recipe, but I have never tasted a vanilla sponge as niceas this one.
The book that it comes from is massive – about the size of a smallsuitcase (like one of those little brown ones you use in grade 1), andcontains anything from the world's best vanilla cake recipe toinstructions on how to build a wall. I love the book, it has awonderful charm to it. Paging through the book is so much fun, I meanthere is even a section on how to dance the Venetian Waltz.
On the whole, I like this cake assembled with caramel in the centre,white icing all over, and then (the pièce de résistance) decoratedwith Smarties. However, for the purpose of coming across as an adult Idecided to use a cream cheese frosting and berries – but Smarties andwhite icing will always be my preferred combination.
