At my table: With Du Toitskloof Chardonnay and my pork & fennel bolognese
I’m not gonna lie, 2020 was not my year. But then I guess that spending a considerable amount of time on the couch in one's trackie pants and slippers, whining about the ‘so-many-eth’ wine ban, is hardly conducive to being in the best frame of mind or particularly creative in the kitchen. I’m back with a New Year vengeance [...]
Isabella’s oven roasted mussels
Just after Christmas the fabulous Isabella Niehaus stopped at my door with the most amazing gift – two kilograms of plump West Coast mussels, so fresh I figured they’d still been clinging to a rock that very morning. Isabella is one of my local food heroes. The meals she serves at the long table in her gorgeous Langebaan home overlooking [...]
Prosciutto and melon Christmas wreath
I don’t know about you but I am more than ready to kiss 2020 goodbye. And I’m going to do it with extra festive season cheer this year, because that’s what I need. So this Christmas it’s loads of fairy lights, absolutely everywhere. Loads of white Iceberg roses and masses of blue hydrangeas in giant glass vases, absolutely everywhere. [...]
Feta, orange and fennel salad
Spring is being a bit coy in the Cape this year. When I look at the weather report I see the rest of SA is starting to flirt with pretty summer frocks. Not so much the case down south. I live in hope that I’ll be able to put a match to the ugly Uggs in the next week [...]
Lamb kidneys in red wine
You’re either going to love this recipe or hate it. Because that’s the way it is with liver and kidneys – no fence sitting allowed. On the farm we ate every part of the animal, so organ days happened. I considered it a unique form of child abuse as an eight-year-old. My relationship with liver and kidneys changed when I became a [...]
Blueberry and port cobbler
The signs of spring are all around! I’m seeing tender pink blossoms all over; the cat isn’t super glued to me at night anymore; and every morning birdsong starts up just a little bit earlier in my neighbour’s giant oak tree. But winter is by no means done with us, as I was reminded last week when two cold fronts [...]