I’m as fond as the next South African of boerie on the braai. Nothing beats the smell of all that fat and gorgeous coriander hitting the hot coals. I’m rather partial to a plump lamb chop too. But National Braai Day isn’t just any day. It’s an occasion. Approaching it the way I would any normal weekend braai seems… well, [...]
Cats, sadly, do not tolerate lazy lie-ins hy humans, not even on weekends. Which is rather surprising, given that they sleep away something like 80% of their lives. No matter what time I poured myself into bed or how fragile I may be feeling, come 6am on Saturdays, it’s showtime. Let Me Out. Cuddle Me. Feed Me. In that order. [...]
I have a thing for sweet with meat – it’s a particularly South African thing. Take sweet potatoes. They aren’t sweet enough the way nature made them. Oh no, we have to add truckloads of butter and sugar, and roast them slowly to glistening, treacly perfection. So I’m constanty looking for new sweet-with-meat combinations. My latest obsession is fennel. [...]
There are few foods I find sexier than pasta. Possibly because images of a youthful Sophia Loren, clutching a bowl of spaghetti to her quite delightful bosom, come to mind whenever I think of pasta. Unlike us, Italians don’t drown their pasta in sauce. One of my 5-minute favourites is just garlic, red chilli and tons of flat leaf parsley, [...]
I adore any cut of beef, but I’m especially fond of the ones that need a long time in the oven, and emerge fall-off-the-bone soft and lip-smackingly luscious – cuts like oxtail and short rib. I make this casserole on lazy Saturday afternoons, when there’s rugby on the tele and the world seems like a fine place. The flavour follows [...]
There are some things that were just made for each other… Merlot and me, chocolate and orange, tomatoes and basil and, of course, goat’s cheese and beetroot. I’m getting a bit bored of seeing the two combined in a salad though. Bored is dangerous in my kitchen, as that’s when I go into ‘what if’ mode. What if I [...]