The best way to start your day

Next time you go shopping, rather than buying those extremely sweet muesli with artificial dried fruit, buy yourself some old fashioned rolled oats and a jar of honey, and make your own muesli, trust me, you will never look back!

If you don't like raisins and normally waste your time picking them all out, you can now add exactly what you like. 

450g Rolled oats (Don't use quick-cook oats, use the old fashioned oats)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

175g apple sauce

140g honey

100g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons pure sunflower oil

Additions:

240g seeds (sesame, lin, sunflower and/or pumpkin)

250g nuts (almonds, macadamia, cashew, pecan or walnut)

300g dried fruit (apples, raisins, soft apricots, cranberries, banana, etc.)

Combine the first 7 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Spread onto two baking trays and bake at 170 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.  Add the nuts and seeds after 15 minutes.  Leave to cool completely (the muesli will become crunchy as it cools down).  Finally add the dried fruit and store in an airtight container. 

You can cut down on the brown sugar if you like it less sweet. 
Try and use some imagination - what about maple syrup (instead of honey), walnut and pear with a pinch of ginger... or banana- choc-chip... or almond, pumpkin seed and cranberries...  Next time I make it, I am going to try and add some good quality cocoa and instead of the cinnamon and then complete it with dark chocolate chips and dried cherries...

Little Fish Cakes

If ever you have some left over fish, be it hake or snoek, or any other fish, make sure you try the following recipe.  It is an easy light meal or can be a lovely pre-dinner snack.  When making snoek fish cakes, make sure you serve them with a little korrelkonfyt  (grape jam) on the side!

500g cooked fish, flaked

1 onion, fine chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes

2 eggs, lightly beaten

salt and pepper

Tabasco sauce, optional

Juice of half a lemon

1 tablespoon chutney

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

oil for frying

Saute the onion in the butter until soft, but not browned; cool.  Lightly mix together the fish, onion, potatoes and eggs and season to taste with salt, pepper, Tabasco, lemon juice and chutney.  Now shape into walnut sized balls or larger fish cakes.  Roll in breadcrumbs to cover.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Heat oil in a small saucepan (+/- 2 cm deep) and fry until golden brown; drain on absorbent paper. 

Baked chicken liver pate

I recently had a lovely dinner at the Savoy Cabbage in Cape Town - the starter being particularly extraordinary - Chicken Liver Parfait with Port Soaked Figs and Currant Toast.  The parfait was creamy, but light and the combination with the toast and figs really worked well.  So, I had to try my hand at making chicken liver pate at home and found an old recipe from notes from my course years ago at Elsa van der Nest's Culinary academy.  I served it with the Grape Schiacciata, and the combination worked very well. (Note - you will need a food processor and the pate must be made one day in advance)

5 shallots, finely chopped

240g fresh chicken livers

1 sprig of thyme

150ml dry Madeira, Port or brandy or a mixture of all

240g butter + 1 teaspoon

3 eggs

Start by washing the chicken livers, drain and then pat dry.  Sweat the shallots in the teaspoon of butter without colouring.  Add the alcohol and thyme, bring to the boil and reduce by four-fifths.  Set aside.  Melt the butter slowly.

Puree the livers in a food processor for 1 minute, then add the cooked shallot and alcohol mixture and pulse.  Add the eggs, and a pinch of salt and pepper and lastly the melted butter.  Blend for a few seconds until the mixture is thoroughly amalgamated.  Now strain the mixture through a sieve.

Pour the mixture into a greased loaf tin, then cover with a piece of greased greaseproof paper.  Place the loaf tin into a baking tray and fill the baking tray with boiling water to come two thirds up the sides of the loaf tin.  Bake at 150 degrees for 40 minutes.  Test with a knife, it should come out clean.  Cool and then refrigerate over night.

If you are not going to eat it all in one go, rather seal the top by pouring over some melted butter to preserve it.

Smoked chicken salad with peppers and sweet chilli

I had dinner last week at the Shelly Point Hotel and part of the starter buffet was a lovely smoked chicken salad.  I tried to recreate it at home and this is what I came up with.  This is an ideal summer holiday recipe and  I reckon this could also work well in a tortilla wrap for a more substantial lunch.

2 smoked chicken breasts

3 peppers, one red, one yellow and one green

1 onion

a handful of fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1/2 a cup of sweet chilli sauce

juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

Half each chicken breast horizontally and then slice into thin strips.  Thinly slice the peppers and onion.  Combine the sauces and juice.  Combine the chicken, peppers, onion and parsley in a glass bowl and pour over the dressing.  Cover and leave to marinate overnight.

Grape Schiacciata

I am considering not buying bread in future and only make it myself.  It is an extremely satisfying experience to bake your own bread and more often than not, it tastes far better than store bought bread.  That said, I still need lots more practice!

Schiacciata is an Italian flat bread and is prepared as a thin sheet of dough with a dimple-surfaced crust and is really quite easy to make for novice bread bakers. 

For a savoury version the dough can be topped with cheese, tomatoes or herbs, but this sweeter version uses black seedless grapes, traditionally made to celebrate harvest season in Tuscany.  It makes a great centre piece on a table. 

For one large flat bread, enough to fill an oven tray, you will need the following:

10g instant yeast

1 tablespoon caster sugar

300ml lukewarm water

125ml olive oil

1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh rosemary

400g stone ground flour
(If you live in South Africa, try and find Eureka flour)

1 teaspoon salt

250g seedless grapes

Maldon salt

Stir the yeast and sugar into the water and set aside.  Heat the olive oil with the rosemary over low heat, remove from the heat and cool.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, water and half the oil and mix and then knead for at least 10 minutes.  Place the dough into a clean, oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in volume.  Now add the grapes and knead through.  This is a bit tricky, seeing that the grapes seem as though they don't want to stay inside the dough.  Don't worry, just try to get most of them inside the dough.  Turn the dough onto an oiled oven tray and push into a rectangular shape.Drizzle with the remaining oil and leave to rise another 30 minutes.  Carefully push the grapes into the dough here and there, trying not to disturb the risen dough.  Sprinkle with Maldon salt and bake for 30 - 40 minutes.  Serve luke warm.  YUM!!