Summer Refreshment

After a long day of running around (the type that make me wish I had a normal day job...) there's not much better than a sugar-free rock shandy :) No so eco-friendly I'm afraid as I have to admit I buy little cans of lemonade and soda... I send them to recycling to justify myself! 


It's so simple as tastes and looks great: equal parts lemonade and soda water, add a couple of ice blocks and then add a dash of bitters... voila! You have a yummy and refreshing drink that makes you feel like it's ok to put your feet up 

Jamie Oliver's Lamb Rack Recipe

This is a recipe straight off Jamie Oliver's website... I didn't cut and paste so don't hold me responsible if the wording isn't exactly the same - anyway, as you probably know I'm terrible at following recipes to a T and love to add a bit of a story! This is an amazing meal for entertaining as everything is in one roasting dish in the oven and it tastes so yummy. You can prep up to the point of roasting and then chuck it in the oven when your guests arrive - there's zero mess and timing is taken care of.


Rack of Lamb


10 Potatoes (I've done it with big potatoes, baby potatoes, sweet potatoes and Mediterranean potatoes and they were all delicious!!)
1 handful cherry tomatoes
6 bone rack of lamb
1 handful kalamata olives
1 small handful garlic cloves (I've forgotten this once or twice and you won't notice the difference!)
 Sea Salt and Black Pepper
a few sprigs of rosemary
olive oil


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (I have no idea how to do a superscript in blogger!!)
Boil the potatoes in salted water (I've used leftover potatoes a few times - baby ones)
Sear the lamb in a little olive oil to seal and brown - this is imperative! You will thank me when you eat it... Crush the potatoes into the lamb juices and fry a little. Mix in the (pitted) olives, cherry tomatoes, rosemary and seasoning. Transfer into a roasting dish and place the lamb on top. Roast in preheated oven for 40min. Allow to stand for a few minutes before cutting into portions and serving. Jamie says it serves 4 but I'd say you need at least 2 bones per person. I make this size serving for two and there's one portion left over for lunch.

Christmas was good ;)

For the first year ever I didn't celebrate Christmas as such... Sacrilege you might say but wait! When there are no kids in the house and your man is jewish no one really expects an elaborate Christmas. We spent christmas eve at Spier Wine Estate (said Man thought he'd surprise me with a couple of nights as a treat - and what a treat it was!!) Christmas day was a very early start (like 5am hotel departure!) to get to the Breede River to spend the day with my family... Ok, so this was the most 'christmassy' part - my mom had every conceivable meat option and some crackers.

Once back in Cape Town we launched into a few days of frantic admin and SHOPPING! These were the memorable items we bought as "Christmas gifts to ourselves":

Esspresso Machine :) I think I'm in love...

The AMAZING Chef's knife

What a pleasure eating in has become!!

Foodie Girl's Night-in

It's been ages since the girls have gotten together without the lads - it's funny how we go through stages! Needless to say we drank far too much (really good, I mean amazing) wine and I did a little experimental recipe which was divine (if I may say so myself!)

For starters I made a very simple salad - it's actually my absolute favorite recipe at the moment...
- Cos lettuce
- Iceberg lettuce
- Toasted pine nuts
- Parmegano Shavings
- Greek Dressing
I make up individual bowls for each person (I way prefer this presentation to a bowl on the table) - mixing the leaves and dressing then sprinkling pine nuts and then finally parmegano shavings - VOILA! you have a wow salad in minutes!

Mains:

I have to admit I went big here (blush!) Homemade pasta and a fresh Coriander, basil and chili pesto. The pasta is something I've developed a bit of a reputation for - fresh pasta is just so good it makes me wish I was Italian! I've shared the recipe previously here. I underestimated just how much the airconditioner dried out the air and by the time I tried to put the sheets through the cutter they were far to dry and sort of started to crumble - not quite the angel's hair I'd planned :( I improvised a little and cut the sheets with a knife and it turned into a bit of tagliateli

Coriander, Basil and Chili Pesto
- big bag of fresh coriander from woolies
- 30g basil leaves
- pine nuts
- Chili to taste (I used one)
- Olive oil

Blitz the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Add olive oil a bit at a time to get the right consistency. The key with any pesto is to allow it to stand for an hour or two to develop flavour before  using it.

We've just bought an espresso machine (the kind that actually requires you to read the whole manual!) so for desert we had cappuccino's, dark chocolate and maybe a very special bottle of Rupert and Rothschild red vino :)

 

How to Make a Cheap Compost Heap

Every garden NEEDS a compost heap. We've know this for years and we've made feeble attempts at having one but it's never been in an effective or formal format. Recently though I've spent hours researching and planning what to do with our organic waste (not the veggie scraps as these go to the chickens and worm farm - more the chicken manure and straw from their enclosure) but every option turned out to be prohibitively expensive... We thought of using wooden poles to build 3 side by side bins (until I got the quote for the poles!) Everything I thought of was to build square structures. I picked up an old gardening magazine this week that had a picture of a wire heap with no instructions or even a caption (maybe it wasn't even a compost heap at all!!) which got me onto google to find the best dimensions, etc. Loooong story short: the dimensions aren't very important! Turns out I had about 6 meters of sturdy wire mesh from fencing off chickens (it's about 1.5m wide) which I cut in half to make two 3 meter loops. All the designs I saw suggested using wire to connect the ends. Not this time! I decided to use cable ties (every 4 or so gaps) which are much more girl-friendly than wire and cutters and twisting :) Feeling a bit like a genius at this point (for this I apologise but will continue to bask until I do the next very blonde thing that makes me feel dumb again!). The structure is light enough for me to move all by myself which is great when you don't have male muscles readily available!

To start the compost building process you need to layer composting material: a layer of sticks at the bottom (helps with aeration) and then layers of green and brown until it's full. Green includes coffee grounds, manure, grass clippings, green leaves whilst brown is straw, dry leaves, paper, saw dust, twigs.

The biggest plus on this design is the cost efficiency: absolutely no expensive materials were needed to build it. On the negative side unfortunately it's near impossible to turn this pile. The only way I can think of off the top of my head is to pull the wire off the heap when you need to turn it and then turn but digging it back into the structure in a new location... this might work if you've got a bit of space between your two heaps for this purpose.

Happy Gardening! :)

Is what we eat making us ill?

I am definitely not going to pretend I have the answer to this contentious topic but some feedback would be most welcome!

As you know, I have a rather loopy side that takes me in some out of the way directions... For the last couple of years I've been obsessing about growing stuff and farming in general. This has lead to much reading and research which has left me feeling insanely bleak about life in general. Now I'm not talking about getting all down on myself and going crazy or anything, it's just that I've realised just how much "extra" stuff goes into our mouths unknowingly every single day. Sugar has been the topic of a previous rant and just yesterday I heard a report on the news about how much salt we consume on a daily basis (it's over 9g!!!). These are things we can read on the label (if you ever bother which I highly recommend getting into the habit of doing - all the time - you'll be horrified!)

It's the other stuff I'm worried about: food labels tell us how many stablilisers, flavour enhancers, preservatives, etc. there are in any given item but what abou the fresh produce? Im talking about strawberries (that let's be honest, don't really even taste like strawberries), apples, lettuces... this is all produce that has been grown on commercial farms that use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc. none of which are on any label but that I'm 100% certain I wouldn't bring into my house if they weren't on my veggies in some residual form.

I've been horrified to read recently how pasture land is grown (I was all warm and fuzzy buying pastured meat until I realised it's just as crazy!). To egt maximum yields, GMO (admittedly not all  the time) seeds are planted and then sprayed... the beef or lamb or chicken we buy is then fed on this turbo charged grass/feedlot crop and we consume all the added 'stuff' in secondary form which is way concentrated... That's not even mentioning the antibiotics and additives in their feed.

I'm sure you can understand how I've managed to go a little mental and get down on myself...

How are you managing the 'extra stuff' in your shopping trolley? Has anyone got any thoughts on the topic?

Winter seems to be over let's braai!

I wish I could take credit for this one all by myself but I have to admit it wasn't a typical South African braai where the girls do (pretty much everything) kitchen duty and the men claim credit for making dinner because they got the meat off the fire just right... :-)

My involvement was extensive however - I chose the main ingredients and we assembled them together. I decided on lamb kebabs because I think they just work a million times better than beef. We didn't use a recipe with dried apricots but I absolutely had to add them!

Lamb Kebabs:

500g lamb steak cubes / cubed lamb
8 dried apricots dumped into a bowl of boiling water to rehydrate
1 onion, blanched and cut into chunks
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
My man isn't up for sharing his marinade recipe but I've done these kebabs with a ready made marinade from Woolworths and it's tasted fantastic!


Chicken Kebabs: This is a Jamie Oliver inspired recipe

500g chicken breast fillets
5-6 courgettes, sliced thinly lengthways and blanched to soften slightly
2tsp crushed garlic
1tsp chopped fresh chili
bunch of coriander
small bunch of mint leaves
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cut the chicken into cubes and put into a large bowl. Blitz all the ingredients except chicken (duh!) and courgettes in a food processor but leaving the mixture chunky. Pour over the chicken and mix around to make sure it gets coated. Lace the chicken onto skewers with the courgettes zig zagging through.

Pour the marinade over the kebabs and set aside until you're ready to cook them.