Warmer days and longer evenings announce the Sunshine Season - time to pack away the warm winter woolies and all the comforting winter recipes.
Now is the time to start enjoying the outdoors, alfresco eating and entertaining family and friends.
This posting is an invitation to join me on a culinary journey this season - trying new recipes, enjoying old favorites and sharing them with family and friends.
If you have a very special recipe or two that you would like to share and have posted on this site, I would happily do so - be it something special for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just something in between.
Send your recipes, with photos if you have, to the site's e-mail address : [email protected]

Just as the South African Flag embraces and symbolizes our national diversity, so should we embrace and celebrate our diverse culinary culture. There is an explosion of culinary trends, fashions and tendencies, with a host of TV cooking shows promoting all of these gastronomic happenings. It is all very exiting and fascinating, and yet it is hardly the kind of food we cook and eat at home. This almost begs the question - what do we do with all these fabulous fads and foreign influences.

Molecular gastronomy is science on a plate - but what do we do with it. Sure it is fascinating, but not all that useful beyond it's novelty value. Transforming food from its natural state to something so far removed that you hardly recognize it just does  not make all that much sense. After all - a beetroot jelly cut into miniscule little cubes scattered artistically over an over-sized plate full of equally foreign morsels of something is an insult to the beautiful taste and texture that nature has given us in it's natural form.

I have this growing resistance in me against the fashionable trend of making jellies, cubes, foams, crisps and smears out of everything in the name of culinary creativity and excellence - it simply becomes too far removed from REAL FOOD FOR REAL PEOPLE.

For the homecook it is quite intimidating to see all the culinary wizardry on TV shows, almost proclaiming that this is the benchmark of a good cook. Take heart, it is absolute nonsense. I'm not saying that Heston and his admirers don't have a place in the culinary world, but it is certainly far removed from the reality of the homecook who has to produce excellent dishes on a daily basis to feed family and entertain friends. I really do believe that our South African homecooks are all mastercheffs in own right - albeit only in the domestic category.

Let's take National Heritage Day and cook up a storm, or braai one up, and let us celebrate all that food is to our wonderful and diverse culinary heritage - REAL FOOD FOR REAL PEOPLE!!!

 

Winter has come and winter has gone - well almost. It was a really harsh winter in the valley with heavy rains, wind, snow and even a hail storm. Everything just seemed to go into hibernation - even this BLOG came to a complete standstill. Let's hope spring brings new life to everything that has gone into go-slow mode.

The kitchen has been the only place where things did not come to a standstill. Winter has this effect of everyone being hungry all the time, cravings for freshly baked bread, sweet treats and hearty winter food. It was also the ideal time to prepare soups by the gallon and stock the freezer with everything that was in season.

I realize that we are privileged to live on a farm and enjoy a slower pace than city dwellers with a tight eight to five schedule, but even that should not deprive you of the joy of cooking.

Winter vegetables are more limited than the summer crops, but there are still wonderful produce to choose from. I came across the most fantastic broccoli at a really bargain price. Now this is not a vegetable I would normally buy by the kilo, but I could not resits to buy about five kilos. Recipes for broccoli usually include a few florets at the most, and it isn't even every ones' favourite vegetable. Freezing was about my only option and for this I used a really easy and delicious soup recipe.

Broccoli Soup - This recipe will even convert broccoli haters into broccoli lovers. It is super easy, really delicious and very satisfying. Soup is one of those dishes that you should make in large quantities, it saves a lot of time and effort, is economical and they generally freeze well.

Garnished well this makes a very elegant starter for any dinner party.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 large onions
5 - 10 ml medium curry powder (it gives lovely flavour without tasting of curry)
4 large potatoes
1 kg broccoli
5 cups of chicken stock (Chicken stock cubes do a good job in this recipe)
salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and a teaspoon of lemon juice.
200ml room

Method:
Cut onions into pieces and sautee in butter until soft and translucent.
Peel potatoes and cut into thin slices. Add tot the broccoli and cover with just enough stock to boil. Boil until soft.
Wash broccoli and cut into pieces and add to the onions and potatoes. Add remaining stock and curry powder and cook until broccoli is really tender.
Put the soup through a blender until very smooth. Return soup to the pot, add cream and bring to the boil. Add seasoning and adjust to taste.
As a variation you could crumble blue cheese or cheddar for a stronger flavour, but it is hardly necessary.
If a soup is slightly to watery, flour (not maizena - it tends to be slightly 'slimy') dissolved as a paste into milk or cream makes a very good thickening agent - just be sure to boil it through thoroughly to cook out the raw flour.
Garnish with cream and croutons, or serve with garlic bruchetta for a starter, or serve fresh seedloaf bread and butter for a hearty meal.

Triple this recipe should yield about eight liters of soup and it freezes really well.