Fresh basil pesto I like to make my own pesto because you can make it using almost anything you have in the fridge, such as basil, rocket or sundried tomatoes. I simply blend a clove of garlic with a couple of handfuls of basil (in this case). Traditionally, basil pesto is made using pine nuts, but if they don’t fall into your budget, you can use a handful of blanched almonds. Add grated hard cheese such as Parmesan or Gruyère and decent drizzle of olive oil. Blend the pesto until it’s smooth but slightly rustic, stir in a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste.

Salted caramel nuts Simply toast 50 g of your favourite nuts in a dry pan until lightly golden – I really love using walnuts, blanched almonds or cashew nuts. Add 2 T icing sugar and a shake of sea salt to the pan, let the sugar melt slightly and caramelise, sticking to the nuts. Remove from the pan and leave to cool before tossing into a green salad or with balsamic roasted beetroot.

Home-made croutons Preheat the oven to 180⁰C. Slice or tear a few slices of day-old bread and toss with fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme. Drizzle over 2 T olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper and toss.  Bake for about 10 minutes until golden and crisp.

Pea and mint ravioli with leeks, baby marrows from the new Lovely Veg range

If you don’t have the luxury of time, Woolworths’ new range of Lovely Veg salads are the perfect meal solution on the run. They’re packed with the freshest and best veggies around – I can’t get enough of the pea and mint ravioli with leeks, baby marrows, peas and edamame beans on basil pesto. You get all of delicious crunch with mouthfuls of sweet ravioli to keep you full throughout the day.

Woolworths’ innovative new Lovely Veg range

Remember to visit Woolworths The Pantry for more ideas and recipes.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

I think that tofu is still a bit of a mystery ingredient in South Africa – people are put off by its texture but if it’s prepared the right way, you’ll love it. Tofu comes in different varieties, silken and firm. You have to be extra gentle when handling silken tofu as it has a tendency to fall apart. It’s suitable for desserts. Firm tofu retains its shape much better and is good for slicing and for use in stir-fries. Firm tofu seems to be more readily available locally.

Tofu is delicious pan-fried or grilled. It gives it a slightly golden crust, and is always best served hot. Try using it in Thai or Indian curries, or glaze it with honey before serving it with chilli and ginger noodles. When tofu is cooked, it takes on many different flavours such as Indian spices or fragrant Asian dipping sauces. Try this salt-and-pepper tofu with sweet-and sour-dipping sauce – it’s the perfect snack for the Olympic Games. It’s lightly battered in seasoned rice flour and has to be served while it’s still hot and crispy so that it can absorb all the flavours from the sweet-and-sour Asian dipping sauce.

Salt-and-pepper tofu with sweet-and-sour dipping sauce

Let me know what you think of the recipe and tell me how you like to eat tofu.

Have a great week!

Love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

Recently I decided to try roasting a few florets in a spice mix of my own and serving them with a mint dipping sauce. To do this, you need a few spices in your grocery cupboard so that you can play around a bit and create your own flavour combinations. All my friends confessed to not really knowing all that much about spices, so here are a few hints and tips on how to store and prepare spices so you can start your very own spice rack at home.

STORE whole spices in small jars and bottles so you can use them up while they’re still fresh and full of flavour. It‘s a good idea to buy them in small quantities so you can refill them when they run out instead of allowing them to go stale.

BUY whole spices so you can grind them yourself using a spice grinder, coffee mill or pestle and mortar for more intense aromas and flavours. Whole spices also last longer than ground spices.

DRY-FRY spices in a pan over a low heat for a few seconds until they’re lightly coloured to release and enhance their flavours. However, be sure to remove them from the hot pan so they don’t continue cooking when off the heat.

PREPARE spices with care. If they burn they will lose their delicate flavours and become bitter.

COOK spices by adding them to a saucepan with gently heated olive oil, butter or ghee. This will impart their flavours into the liquid, which will, in turn, flavour every other component of the dish.

SEASONING food using spices instead of too much salt and pepper is a good way to lower your salt intake.

Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Remember to visit Woolworths The Pantry for more ideas and recipes.

Love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

I now bake by following a handful of simple rules, including measuring ingredients exactly, preheating the oven and not overmixing batter. I haven’t had the same disaster since, but I still hold my breath when I take a cake out of the oven. I made this chocolate, almond and ricotta cake for the latest issue of TASTE after being inspired by all the gorgeous citrus fruit available at the moment, especially ClemenGold mandarins.

Orange-sugared almond, chocolate and ricotta cake

They are super-sweet, juicy and delicious, perfect for cooking or baking. They also have a fantastic vibrantly coloured, fragrant skin, which is great for making flavoured sugar. Simply add a few pieces to a jar of white sugar, along with a split vanilla pod and some rose essence. It’s delicious sprinkled over this cake or dusted over fresh doughnuts.

Woolworths cardholders currently receive 20% off ClemenGolds, yet another reason to try them out!

Have a great weekend!

Hannah Lewry

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths Taste Magazine

Woolworths have been so kind to their loyal shoppers this week as to allow all WREWARDS card holders to indulge in their fabulous offer of saving R20 when buying two winter puddings. Any of you who know me will know that the only thing that could possibly lift my spirits more than a sugar rush is a bargain and in this case I was the proud owner of both!

Sticky with just the right amount of sugar and a sponge surface cracked from the heat of the oven, sticky toffee pudding was my Sunday night date! Dressed to impress with my favourite roasted fruit and a jug of hot custard on the side, the weather was eventually the last thing on my mind.

Seasonal fruit is always better but I am a real sucker for plums and yesterday a punnet of plump ones caught my eye on the cold shelves in Woolworths. Try roasting guavas or figs if you can find them, their tart flavours compliment the indulgent winter puddings perfectly.

Sticky toffee pudding with roast fruit

I decided to treat myself to a milk tart sponge pudding as well, just to take advantage of the offer. I am having some of my girl friends over before the end of the week for a little catch-up with some ‘Sex and the City’ re-runs and a few bowls of hot pudding.

How do you like to eat your winter puddings?

Lots of love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

Tempura squid with sweet chilli sauce

In most tempura recipes, rice flour is used to create a feathery light batter but you can also use ordinary flour. In this recipe for tempura squid with sweet chilli sauce I substituted good old cake flour for the rice flour and it worked out just fine. The batter is a little heavier than the rice flour version would be, but you can always add another splash of cold soda water to loosen it up so that it drips off the squid instead of caking it in a thick, floury batter. You may have to experiment a few times to check whether the temperature of the oil is just right. The squid should be cooked until tender in the middle and the batter should be light and golden.

This squid is delicious tossed into a cucumber ribbon salad lightly dressed with grated ginger and soya sauce. You can also try it with a sweet chilli dipping sauce. Just remember to have a few layers of kitchen paper at hand to drain the squid as soon as it comes out of the oil so that each piece stays lovely and crunchy without absorbing any excess oil.

Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Remember to visit Woolworths The Pantry for more ideas and recipes.

Love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

Since these particular events don’t hold the same sway on the sports calendar as rugby, for example, I have to give my friends a good enough reason to come over and watch! After eating a meal at El Burro, one of my favourite Mexican restaurants in Cape Town, I discovered pink pickled onions and have loved them ever since. I’ve experimented with a few recipes – I prefer mine slightly tart and less sweet – so I heat them up in lots of red wine vinegar and add a few peppercorns.

I have to make a small jar of them every two weeks because I add them to everything, from warm butternut salads, to home-made wraps with grilled chicken and spicy guacamole. My friends love them piled onto slices of rye bread, generously spread with Woolworths’ hummus – it’s a fantastic quick and easy snack for afternoons spent watching your favourite sport. The rye bread keeps you fuller for and the nutty flavours of the hummus and perky pink pickled onions are a perfect combination.

I hope my pickled pink onions will have the same special place in your fridge as they do in mine.

Here’s to healthy snacking, the 2012 Olympics and remember to visit Woolworths The Pantry for more ideas and recipes.

Love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

Try making a flavoured butter to serve with chargrilled sweetcorn at a Sunday braai. Mix 1 chopped fresh chilli and 3 T chopped Italian parsley with 100 g softened butter, and add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season. Spread the butter over cooked sweetcorn, or wrap the sweetcorn in foil with a knob of the flavoured butter before cooking over the coals. I also like grating a little Parmesan or Gouda over cooked sweetcorn.

Sweetcorn is on Woolworths’ WREWARDS programme this month, so don’t forget to take your Woolworths card along with you when you go shopping to receive 10% off the marked price. I like to add grated baby marrow to this recipe to bulk it up and make the mixture go further. As luck would have it, baby marrows are on the WREWARDS list too!

I hope this brings a little sunshine into your kitchen this weekend!

Love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

Making pita breads is quite easy and some say that it’s great for first-time bread makers, but if you get it wrong, the heat won’t penetrate the bread and give them that signature lift. Woolworths sells delicious pita breads; all you need to do is pop them into the oven for a minute or two until warmed through. You can also cut them in half and warm them in the toaster. I love pita breads stuffed with falafel balls – mix a can of drained chickpeas with cumin, add a little parsley and lemon juice, shape into balls and fry until golden and crunchy. Use to fill warm pitas and top with runny tahini and finely shredded cabbage pickled in red wine vinegar and peppercorns.

If I ever have a pita bread hanging around for a day longer than it should, I tear it into a pan with good-quality olive oil and toast it and it has absorbed the flavours of the olive oil. I serve it with ready-made hummus or tossed into a roasted red pepper salad with caperberries and white anchovies.

I’m also really enjoying this recipe for North African beef pitas at the moment. Add a tablespoon of Woolworths’ new Soup It Up Moroccan paste to give it extra spice:

What are your favourite pita bread fillings?

Love

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE

I’ve learnt to appreciate smoked chicken by thinking out of the box and pairing it with something a little different, such as spicy chorizo. The sweet, smoky flavour of the chicken goes beautifully with the robust spicy flavours of the chorizo. I also love eating it on home-made pizza bases topped with torn mozzarella, lots of freshly chopped chilli, finished off with scoops of creamy avocado and a pile of peppery rocket. Now that’s the magic I was talking about – with the support of other simple flavours, this makes for a mean combination.

Sweet fruit such as litchis, watermelon or strawberries work wonders with smoked chicken breasts. Perhaps it’s the different types of sweetness that complement each other.

I love the sweet and salty flavours of this Asian-inspired noodle dish. I enjoy all kinds of noodles: these rice noodles are thick, perfect for gathering up all of the flavours and juices of this dish.

Here is what you will need for my Smoked chicken and litchi rice noodles:

Remember to visit Woolworths The Pantry for more ideas and recipes.

Enjoy!

Hannah

Consultant Food Editor, Woolworths TASTE