Spinach for Africa!

We have a tiny veggie patch that is blessed with an abundance of Swiss chard, commonly known as 'spinach' to us South Africans. From a patch of about one square meter in size we grow enough to last us all year long and eat from it at least three times a week!



Here is my very, very spinachy muffin recipe. It's a firm favourite in our house :-)

Adeline's Popeye Spinach Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 Cups Cake Flour

10 ml Baking powder

5 ml Salt

Smoked paprika,  approx 4 shakes

Leaves of a few thyme sprigs

2 Eggs

3/4 Cup milk

1/2 Cup Sunflower or Canola oil

1 Cup Feta chopped in small blocks. Use a firm feta that will not melt away, like Simonsberg.

2 Cups of Spinach. Remove stalks, chop and compress in cup

Directions

Mix dry ingredients.

Add feta, spinach and thyme and make sure you coat it with the flour mixture.

Add wet ingredients.

Mix with spoon until combined.

Spoon into muffin tins.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown at 175◦C in a thermo fan oven or 180◦C in a normal oven.


Savoury muffins always taste better a few hours after coming out the oven, or sometimes even the following day, so allow for the flavours to mingle and get to know each other!

I like the feta surprise with every bite, so don't make the feta pieces too small, not less than 5 mm pieces will do. On the other hand if the pieces are to big the flavours won't mingle.

Swiss chard is packed with Vitamin A,K and C and is a good source of  iron, potassium, magnesium and  fibre.

So start making your tasty healthy muffins now!

Healthy Lunch Box In Less Than 7 Minutes

I like to keep a few ingredients in my kitchen to quickly make a lunchbox meal for work. That's to keep myself from eating junk food at work, which inevitably happens when I don't take a lunchbox to the office. One of my favourites is a delicious, easy-to-prepare chickpea salad that's also a healthy and filling meal.

It's so quick to make you can prepare it before you leave home in the morning -  it takes less than 7 minutes to make!

Healthy Crunchy Chickpea Salad

Chickpea salad

These measurements makes enough salad for two people, so you can share it with a colleague or keep half for a late-afternoon snack.

Ingredients:

The ingredients

Salad:

2 Cups of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 Red onion, very finely sliced
1 Bunch of chopped coriander leaves
1 Red pepper, thinly sliced
1 Avocado, cubed

Finely sliced red onion

 

Salad dressing:

60 ml Extra virgin olive oil
20 ml White balsamic vinegar
40 ml Sweet chilli sauce
2 pinches of Salt
2 pinches of Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Mix the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Add all the ingredients of the salad dressing to a small jar. 
Close the jar lid securely and shake vigorously until the ingredients emulsify (turn cloudy).
Taste  the salad dressing; if it's too sweet, add more salt, pepper and vinegar; if it's too sour add more sweet chilli sauce and shake again.

Pour the salad dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly. Be generous with the salad dressing, but do not let the salad swim in it. The secret to a really tasty salad is to get the salad dressing tasting good, and to mix in just the right amount into the salad.

Ingredients for the salad dressing poured in a jar

The salad keeps well overnight in the fridge, so if you're not a morning person like me, make it the night before - no scrambling in the morning to try and make your lunch!

But be careful! Because the salad's so yummy, you may just end up eating it as a midnight snack!

Chickpea facts:

Chickpeas are packed with protein, essential vitamins, minerals and iron. It's a good source of fibre and it is known to lower blood cholesterol.

People have been eating chickpeas for well over four thousand years - archaeological signs indicating that chickpeas were part of their diet have been found in Israel and Turkey. In ancient times chickpeas were believed to contain many medicinal uses, such as assisting in milk production for the lactating mother and increasing virility in men.

Today India is the biggest producer of chickpeas. It grows on small shrubs with pods housing one to two chickpeas each. There are different shapes, sizes and colours of chickpeas, but the most commonly known are the white (light brown) chickpea.

You can use tinned chickpeas for the salad, but beware these may contain excessive salt and preservatives, and of course are a bit more expensive than ordinary chick peas. I prefer buying and cooking dried chickpeas in bulk and keep it in the freezer in small containers that I defrost in the fridge the day before use.

Other names for chickpeas:

Ceci - Italian
Kekerertjies - Afrikaans
Garbanzo - Spanish

Warm Night With A Hot Mexican

Need a hot, spicy winter soup to melt the winter ice? Then this soup with Jalapeño peppers is for you!

The mild  Mexican Jalapeño pepper, pronounced "ghal-ah-pain-yo" , provides enough heat in this soup to warm you up without running for the fire extinguisher!

Jalapeño pepper is indigenous to Mexico and was named after  the Mexican town of Xalapa, also spelled Jalapa.

The original recipe is available on dinnerdotcom. I tweaked the flavour by increasing the amount of Jalepeños, using ground coriander instead of cayenne pepper and finely chopped rather than grounded onion and garlic on the uncooked chicken. I also prefer using an organic whole chicken instead of the breasts only as it adds more to the taste and it's cheaper. The original recipe used less tomato and more garlic.  And for the topping I use a mature strong cheddar and crème fraîche instead of sour cream. The richer, dense crème fraîche add more to the taste and hold better as a garnish on top of the soup.

I also made some small changes to the methods such as the roasting of the chicken in a roasting tin to catch up more juices, that I added to the soup mixture to create more flavour. I increased the volumes to serve at least 8 people and change the order and layout of the recipe that I find work better for me.

The soup is more tasty after a day in the refrigerator, but remember to heat it to boiling point before serving it.

Here is the result of my personalised Mexican chicken soup recipe. I'm sure you'll agree it looks delicious, and just the thing to keep the cold at bay!

Mexican Chicken Soup

Ingredients 

Chicken roasting

• 1 Whole organic chicken
• Olive Oil
• Finely chopped onion 
• Garlic clove ground into a paste
• Ground coriander
• Dried thyme
• Dried oregano
• Salt
• Pepper

Soup base

• 3 Chopped onions
• 7 Carrots diced
• 4 Stalks of celery, chopped
• 9 Jalepeño peppers chopped, I use bottled Jalepeño, use less if they are fresh
• 5 Cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground cumin
• 2 Shakes of cayenne pepper
• 3 L Chicken stock
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Cans of Italian peeled tomatoes
• Handful of roughly chopped coriander

Toping when served

• Handful coriander leaves
• 2 Avocado's sliced
• Small container sour cream or crème fraîche
• Handful grated, sharp mature cheddar cheese
• 1 Lime cut in wedges

Directions

          Chicken Roasting

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Wash and cut up the chicken in pieces
3. Shake of the excess water
4. Place the chicken in a roasting tin
5. Rub chicken with olive oil
6. Sprinkle over the onion, garlic, coriander, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper
7. Roast uncovered in the oven for 40-50 min till the biggest piece of meat are fully cooked
8. Debone, de-skin and shred the chicken when cool enough to touch
9. Keep the juices to add to the soup

Soup base:

1. While you wait for the chicken to cook start with the base of the soup
2. Chop the celery, carrots and onion
3. In a large pot add about 40ml of olive oil, heat the oil and add the chopped celery, carrots, and onions, stir till caramelize but be careful not to burn it
4. Add in the chopped garlic, chopped Jalepeño peppers, ground cumin, ground coriander and cayenne pepper
5. Roughly chop the canned tomatoes and add the tomatoes with the juice to the onion mixture
6. Add chicken stock
7. Add meat juices of the cooked chicken
8. Stir in a handful of chopped coriander
9. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to keep it simmering for 20-30min
10. Add the chicken
11. Season with salt and pepper if needed

Serve :

1. The soup's taste improves if you give it 24 hours to 'settle'. That gives the flavor a chance to develop, but you might need to add a bit more water on day two.
2. Dish up in individual bowls, sprinkle over the chopped coriander, grated sharp cheddar cheese, add a dollop of sour cream, a slice of avocado and a wedge of lime on the side to squeeze over.

Serves 8

          Do  not be fooled when tasting the soup - it may taste fire-y, but the toppings that    
          you add will mellow it down.

Bon appetit or, as they say in Mexico, Buen Provecho Amigo!

6 Foodie Reasons to Visit Emerald Ireland

I can understand why the Irish are such a jolly lot. You must be a "eejit" not to love Ireland! It's breathtaking natural beauty can leave no man or woman untouched. It's from these beautiful surroundings that some of the world's best farm produce originates, which is one of the reasons I visited there recently.



Being a foodie and a travel-holic I was estatic to visit Ireland. I researched what to eat in every Irish county long before we boarded our flight to the land of leprechauns and fairies. My research went out the window as the number of days and the size of my stomach stopped me from tasting everything I wanted to sample, but here are six of my best foodie moments in Ireland.

1. Smoked salmon at the Burren Smokehouse

I was in foodie heaven while tasting the cold smoked salmon at the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare.

This is melt-in-your-mouth salmon....literally. It melts away in your mouth, and my taste buds went crazy with excitement.



The Burren Smokehouse is an award winning smoke house that supplied the banquet held for Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland - a feather in anyone's cap! They smoke organic salmon farmed in the waters of the Atlantic coast. According to the owners these farmed fish are kept in similar conditions as there wild counterparts, also swimming up inland streams to lay their eggs. These salmons, just like the wild salmon swim approximately 23 000km in their lifetimes ensuring a salmon with little fat and great taste, because their diets are controlled inside their captive environments. The way salmon tastes is, just like with any other fish, affected with what they eat during their lifetime.

The Burren does both hot smoking and the traditional Irish cold smoking. In the latter process the kiln is heated to only 35degC instead of the normal 80degC -  that way the fish don't coagulate.
Unfortunately due to health and hygiene reasons we were not allowed to see how they smoke the salmon but they did show an interesting video in the visitor centre giving more info on the smoking process.

2. Irish butter

Happy cows makes good butter! In Ireland cows roam freely and eat grass uncontaminated by pesticides and growth hormones. They produce creamy, flavourful milk high in beta carotene - that gives the yellow colour to butter and cheese as opposed to the lighter colour of butter produced by milk from grain-fed cows.

Irish butter taste better than any butter I tasted before. I ate a bit of toast every morning with my generous helping  of butter. The butter should be spread a few millimeters thick so that your teeth leave bite marks on your buttered toast - that's my rule of thumb!

It's suppose to be healthier than grain-fed cow butter due to the higher vitamin K content that helps prevent osteoporosis  and heart disease.  So eating Irish butter won't kill you, it will only make you fat and life is to short to worry about that - that's authentic Irish logic!

3. Baked goodies and the Glendalough Green Cafè in the Laragh village , County Wicklow

This cafè looks like a tired roadside farm stall from the outside and the two sisters that run it are a bit dour but do yourself a favour and stop here on your way from Dublin to Kilkenny. They do have the best almond berry cake and apple crumble...not to be missed!


If you cannot get to this coffee shop, the home baked delicacies in Ireland are all excellent - apple crumble, fruit scones, rocky roads, very buttery oats flapjacks (loved it!), salted caramel squares and many more will all brighten up your teatime taste buds.

4. Porridge with Bailleys at Garnish guest house in Cork

This smooth, rich oats porridge is definitely something I will try at home.  It's oats porridge with cream, bailleys liqueur and honey - absolutely delicious!

5. Food shopping at the English Market in Cork

The English market in Cork is a foodie must-see. Well Queen Elizabeth probably thought so during her official visit to Ireland in 2011.

It is an old market from the 19th century that shows off Ireland's top produce from strawberries, to cheeses, fish and meats. I really itched to spend time in the kitchen using their produce!

6. Monk fish tails and chips

Don't try and eat fish and chips at any old fish and chips place. On the plane to Ireland My mouth was already watering at the thought, however I was very disappointed when the fish and chips we had at most places were rather tasteless and oily. We could not believe it, so we kept searching for good fish and chips, stopping at various places on our route through in Dublin, Howth and south to Dingle.
We were ready to give up when we stopped at the Dersey island cable car where we saw a roadside stall selling monk fish tails and chips, and thought we'd give it one last try.  And I'm happy to report that we found it - good fish and chips in Ireland. Don't miss it!



I left Ireland convinced that the Irish produce some of the best fresh farm products, but generally lack the kitchen skills to turn what thy produce in the fields into culinary masterpieces. They under-season and in most cases we had to add salt to food we ordered in restaurants. That said, we ate first class meals at places like Cafe Hanz in Cashel and the New park Hotel in Kilkenny, and we were impressed many times by their home bakes. All in all, Ireland has a lot to offer foodies, and I hope to be back for more!

Easter treat

Nothing says Easter like a spicy, light and fluffy homemade hot cross bun. Hot cross buns on Good Friday is an old English tradition from the early 1700s. The cross symbolise the crucifixion of Christ.
During the times of Elizabeth I of England (1592), the sale of hot cross buns and other spiced breads were only allowed during burials, Good Friday and Christmas. Today, thank goodness, we enjoy hot cross buns at any time of the year!

It's an old belief that sharing a hot cross bun with another person ensures friendship for the coming year.  If  you are planning a cruise, take a hot cross bun with to protect against shipwreck or hang it in your kitchen to protect against fires.
The first batch I made while developing this recipe lacked the spicy taste which in my opinion is what makes hot cross buns special. It was also a bit skimpy on the sultanas!
Here is my final, tried and tested hot cross bun recipe to celebrate Easter and ensure your friendships all last long!


Dough
1 tablespoon dried yeast
¼ cup caster sugar
1½ cups warm milk
4 cups of cake flour
½ teaspoon ground all spice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
60g butter
1 egg
180g sultanas

Flour paste for the cross
½ cup cake flour
2 teaspoons caster sugar
70ml water

Sticky Glaze
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon gelatine granules
1 tablespoon of warm water

Directions:

Dough
1. With a whisk mix the warm milk, yeast and sugar until dissolved. Cover and leave in a warm place for           10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy.
2. Sift the flour and dry ingredients.
3. Cut or grate the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour until no more butter pieces are visible.
4. Stir in the yeast mixture, sultanas and egg until combined.
5. Cover and leave in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. This normally takes about 45 minutes.
6. Grease a 30cm square cake pan.
7. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.
8. Divide the dough into 16 pieces.
9. Roll each piece into a ball and place the balls in the cake pan about 1cm apart.
10. Cover and let it stand for 10 minutes or until they've expanded to fill the open spaces between the buns.
11. Preheat the oven to 200 *C.

Flour paste
1. Combine flour and sugar in a cup and mix with water to a thick paste. Take care not to use too much water, otherwise it'll be too runny.
2. Fill a piping bag with a plain, round,  small to medium tip.
3. Pipe vertical and horizontal lines on the buns to make crosses.

Bake
1. Bake buns for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Tap on the buns and you'll hear a hollow sound when they're ready.
2. Turn buns topside up onto a wire rack.

Glaze
Stir ingredients till disolved then brush over the hot buns.

Storing
Cool on wire rack and store in an airtight container once cooled completely.

The quantities I used makes 16 hot and fluffy buns

Tips: 
Yeast is a life organism that damage at  temperatures over 46*C and are inactive in temperatures under 19*C. So don't overheat your yeast mixture. The ideal temperature for yeast to develop is 25-27*C.
Cover the yeast mixture and dough with plastic wrap (Glad Wrap). That way it won't dry out. Keep in a draft free place such as a cupboard.
Place the rolled balls in straight rows in the cake pan to make the cross easy by piping long lines over the buns instead of piping each bun individually.
If you do not have a piping bag, use a jiffy bag and cut of the tip or wax paper rolled into a funnel.
The oven temperature for this recipe is for a thermo fan oven, if using a non-fan oven heat oven to 220*C.
Never boil gelatine - doing that prevents it from setting. For a pure vegetarian version that eliminates the use of gelatine, make a sticky apricot glaze by heating apricot jam and add a little bit of water until it reaches a consistency that will be paintable.
The buns taste best after letting them stand for a day, and then serving with real butter.

The Dissapointing Return to YOLO

I'm not in the habit of posting negative reviews. , I prefer to write about food I like and enjoy. That's the great thing about not getting paid for my writing - I can write what I want. 

Today however I feel I have to moan about something. Not because the eating experience was bad in itself, but because a few days ago I was going on about how great it was, so my credibility is at stake here ;)

Those of you who follow my blog will remember that I visited YOLO Pizzeria recently and couldn't stop singing the praises of their mouthwatering pizzas.  On Friday night we went back to YOLO with friends from Germany who were staying at our AirtBnB cottage, expecting the same great taste experience.

Like the first time we went there the service was so-so. We'd booked a table, and when we arrived and wanted to sit down a half drunk woman was sitting at our table, clearly not having anything from the restaurant. Our table was outside and we had to do the "eviction” ourselves.  I must say that in Yolo's defense they would probably have done it if we asked, but it was an unsavoury start to our evening. 

I ordered the same pizza as before - the Pizza a l'OriTolana Port'Alba  on a sun dried tomato and rosemary crust. Disappointingly It didn't taste the same. The crust tasted like the standard crust. I asked the waitress to change it, but the cook was adamant he'd used the sun dried tomato and rosemary crust. So I ate the pizza very unenthusiastically and disappointed. 

It was still a good Pizza but not the best in town. I missed the flavour dimension that the sun dried tomato and rosemary crust added on my previous visit to YOLO.

Later on I saw the owner, Percy arriving and called him over. He replaced the pizza, and this time it was the real thing! 

I get the impression that Percy is the heart and soul of YOLO pizzeria and if he is not there the quality and service deteriorates and loses its edge.

Will I go again? The answer is definitely yes, the fist experience was so great that I will  give YOLO one more time to impress me. Mistakes happen, but watch out!

You only live once - Percy's back!

Remember Percy, chef and owner of Lapa Fo Pizzeria in Emmarentia? Like many foodie Jo'burgers we used to be regulars at Lapa Fo - this legendary pizza joint served what was simply the most scrumptious and tasty pizzas in town. And then, quite suddenly, Lapa Fo vanished - closed down!

Recently my hairdresser Stevan told me about this "fabulous new pizza place called YOLO, across from that expensive bottle store in Melville". (The things you hear at the hair salon...but that's another story!)
The other night we decided to give it a try and I'm happy to report that YOLO is the new king of connoisseur pizzas in Jo'burg.

We were merrily munching away on our meals, glad to have discovered a first class pizza place so close to our home, when a familiar face walked in... it was Percy from Lapa Fo! Well well, talk about a piece of the pizza puzzle falling into place. Yup, Percy owns YOLO, and believe me, the pizzas are as good as ever, maybe even better.

I spent a few minutes chatting to Percy, which was a real treat. I wish I had a video of our conversation. He buzzes with positive energy, and a smile never leaves his expressive face!

Percy telling me about his year of introspection

"I took a year off from the buzz of life," Percy said. "No cell phone!  Washed cars for a living and tried to just enjoy life without the daily time wasters and energy eating niggles such as news of Zuma's Nkandla fire pool and nasty Joburg taxis." He realised in this year that you only live once; he want to enjoy life and savour his "capuccino". After this year of introspection he opened YOLO - You Only Live Once - a place that, once again, serves his deIicious trade mark pizzas.

You can order your  Pizza delivery

What makes the pizzas special is the six varieties of crusts you can choose from. It ranges from black olive and whole wheat to sour dough, and if that is not enough variety for you, you can also choose the base - from a standard napoletana to mushroom pesto, hot chilli tomato and peppadew.

The cooks at YOLO

We were spoiled for choice with 21 pizza varieties to choose from, but in the end we settled for Pizza a l'OriTolana Port'Alba and Pizza Puttanesca Di Don Salvatore, both on a sun-dried tomato and rosemary crust.

Pizza Puttanesca Di Don Salvatore

The Oritolana was wonderfully fresh - something that makes Percy's pizzas so special - with an abundance of avocado on top of red and green peppers, olives, onions, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, brinjals, baby marrow and mushroom.

The Puttanesca was packed with flavour and if you love anchovies on your pizza, go for this one. There was just enough anchovies, too many of those and the pizza's too salty. The crust was crispy, light and yummy.
Apart from pizzas YOLO also offer a small variety salads and paninis.
The price for a medium pizza that is a more than a decent helping for one person, vary from R51 - R83, and the specialized crust and base (sauce)  is R5 - R8 extra. They also have a variety of vegetarian pizza options included in the list.
YOLO is awaiting it's liquor licence.

The service is so-so, but the wonderful pizza fare make up for that, and when Percy's in the room, his infectious energy lights up the room.

Make sure you you get a Yolo pizza soon - you only live once!

Hours: daily 10h00 - 22h00
27th street Melville
Tel 0114827016
www.yolopizza.co.za

See my latest post on YOLO

We Discover a New Taste

A while ago we had two guests from Germany, Claudia and Jo staying with us in our AirBnB cottage. From the moment they arrived we clicked and in a short time we became friends, hanging out in our kitchen till late at night. 

They introduced us to a taste we’d never thought would work. Ever heard of a gherkin and peanut butter sandwich?

They probably saw my hesitation despite their enthusiasm, so the next day they arrived in our kitchen with the ingredients. I remained sceptical and tried to delay the moment of truth by offering them some tea. But they were determined not to get sidetracked and decided to make the sandwich themselves.

So I had no choice but to try this odd concoction. The different textures of the gherkin and the peanut butter was an unexpected surprise  and was quite palatable. Interestingly enough the gherkin become sweet on the peanut butter, tasting more like the well-known marmalade and peanut butter combination.

Claudia & Jo

Try it next time when you want to taste something a little different on your bread or rice cake!

Whenever we make a gherkin and peanut butter sandwich again, we’ll be thinking of our dear friends in faraway Germany...