Glorious Gooseberries

30 July 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

In Afrikaans, they are called “appelliefies”, and the direct translation is “little apple loves”.

Cape Gooseberries are endemic and we haven’t planted any in our garden. They just grow, and are one of the many gifts we receive from our garden.

As a small child, not long after we moved from East London, we would travel from Grahamstown to visit farmer friends for the Gonubie Agricultural Show. And, along with my memories of Dad judging the flower arrangements, my always bidding for the largest egg at the end of the show, watching the gymkhana, and the convoy of cars, draped with beautiful women (or so they seemed to me) over their bonnets, I remember Auntie Molly’s gooseberry jam.

These were the memories I associated with gooseberries, until more recently. I was reminded, by a school friend, that my mother used to make a gooseberry fridge tart, and only when Karen recounted her story, did I realise why I had forgotten: it was really sour and I didn’t like it. Nor did Karen; and it’s her one abiding memory of my mother and a weekend she spent with our family in Grahamstown!

Gooseberries are tart – full of beta carotine and Vitamin C – and they are delicious fresh and in a jam. With our first gooseberries, I added them to salads and we also had them for breakfast, with yoghurt.

As with most things, one can have too much: even with one gooseberry bush, the berries began to come thick and fast, so spurred on by a fellow villager, I thought I’d have a go at jam.

Making jam with berries is different from making marmalade (more of that, soon) because they don’t need much cooking, and in the case of gooseberries, because they are not just full of vitamin C, they’re also full of pectin. This means that it’s easy to over-cook your jam and end up with jars of something that’s rock hard, and definitely not jam. The added challenge of this jam-making session was that I didn’t have –

a) a recipe for Cape Gooseberry jam (Mum’s Good Housekeeping recipe book doesn’t talk about Cape Gooseberries, but it does give the basics of making different types of jams and preserves); and

b) with just one bush, I had a really small quantity of gooseberries to play with.

This was a test of my ability to work out ratios (which, for someone who did not do Mathematics beyond year 9 at school, is quite hectic) as well as culinary skills: until this, the closest I had got to making jam, was marmalade!

So, this is what I learned: equal quantities of fruit and sugar. Put these in a pot of an appropriate size and then add a two thirds of the base quantity of water (remember that 100g = 100ml of water), and then cook as you would any jam. Bring to the boil reduce the heat and simmer until setting point is reached (watch carefully – with a small quantity, that happens more quickly).

To test whether setting point is reached, put a little of the mixture on to a cold, china/ceramic plate and put it into the fridge for about 10 minutes. If, when you take it out, and you skim your finger across the top, it wrinkles, your jam is ready.

Allow the jam to stand for 10 to 15 minutes and then bottle in sterilized jars and enjoy!

Of course, gooseberry jam can also be turned into a wonderful gooseberry tart – a desert nowhere near as sour as the dessert my mother dished up for our family and poor Karen in the late 1970’s!

Eating to live and living to eat?

17 July 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

I enjoy preparing and eating food. I lost my sweet tooth a long time ago, although I do enjoy the odd dessert from time to time. My preference is for uncomplicated meals which, in old fashioned language, would have been known as “balanced”. Although not vegetarian, I prefer not to eat meat every day, eating quite a few vegetarian meals – often with eggs and cheese.

Over the last few weeks I have heard and read much about converts to the Banting diet, and similarly also heard what the detractors are saying about it. Also, over the past few months, I have made certain choices about my own eating habits: in mid-January, I decided to try to do without bread and potatoes. During the week.

I know from previous efforts at diets that they are deadly: for personal harmony and for the weekly menu, particularly if it’s not just me that’s to be considered. So, I decided that those were the only two things that I would change – and only for me. I continued having my evening tipple and cooking dinner in exactly the same way as I always had. Lunches, for me, are salads which include either lots of cheese or cold chicken and, sometimes quiche or soup (there is always a protein, and with most tasty protein, there is fat). As time has progressed, I have found myself avoiding other starches, particularly rice and commercial pasta. I make my own pasta, and as I’ve mentioned before, that has had an impact on the quantity we eat per serving, so I’m still eating that. Also, when we entertain, I still make and keep our guests company with dessert, and the menu choices are not influenced by my particular proclivities.

Since I’ve been thinking consciously about these choices, and as more and more people are Banting, I have realised that for some, their conversion to a particular eating regime has become an all or nothing affair. Similarly, I am astounded, respect but fail to understand, people who go on diets that make them feel as though they are living in hell. Each to their own.

So, my “almost-no-carb-journey” has been a relatively easy one because I’ve not cut it completely. I have taken on board, with great relief, that full cream milk and butter are ok. (Tom has never approved of low fat anything…) I have long rejected margarine because of the way it was made, and what it consists of (and it tastes horrid). A few years ago, on examining the contents of yoghurt, come to the conclusion that Greek yoghurt was better for one than the low fat options that are full of sugar and starch stabilisers!

And then, there’s more: Having stuck to my choices, I no longer get hungry and consequently am not eating as much. I am happy to stop eating when I am satisfied. I thought that I would find it difficult to stick to this when I was travelling; it hasn’t been. It’s easy to “lose the chips” and order a burger without the bun.

And what has all of this meant in terms of my own well-being? I have certainly lost weight – my friends and my clothes are telling me so. I don’t have a scale, so I couldn’t tell you how much. I feel better in myself and have more energy. And best of all, because I do still get to enjoy a slice of toast and Bovril or pizza, and my glass(es) of wine, I really don’t miss the bread and potato.

So, I do eat to live, and I live to (cook and) eat!

Small dinner parties

21 April 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

We have had occasion, this month, to host two very different dinner parties. One was a birthday for a friend of ours and her teenage daughter, and the other for new-ish friends into whose home we have been warmly welcomed. The birthday celebration was mid-week and relatively impromptu, while the other was a little longer in the planning and coincided with the Easter long weekend. I thought I’d share with you how these two, rather different dinners were put together – from the planning to the table setting.

First off, most of our entertaining is with food that doesn’t take us away from our guests. What is the fun in having people to share a meal with you if you’re banished to the kitchen because the what you’re cooking demands all your attention?

Simple does, however, require some planning and advance preparation. One of the easiest meals to produce with the minimum of fuss is a roast: a lot can be done beforehand and, depending on what you’re roasting, it’s looking after itself when (and for a while after) your guests arrive. We always do our roasts on the Weber which has two benefits – you can roast your vegetables under the meat which also has the most wonderful smoky flavour.

Tom and I are a great team in which there is good division of labour: he looks after the fire, and the nyama (the Nguni word for meat) and the vegetables that are cooked in the juices that run out of the meat as it cooks. The menu is also usually a joint effort and its planning takes into consideration our guests and the time we have at our disposal. Entertaining during the week and with little notice can be a challenge. It’s not a 10-minute trip to the local supermarket or butcher to get something that’s not in the pantry cupboard, nor is there a premium food store from which one can select items to make up a gourmet meal in the blink of an eye. Then, I admit that I an my own worst enemy: I work until late-ish, so time is at a premium and then, to make matters worse, I’m not good at taking short cuts. So, acknowledging that I make the rod for my own back, I cope by doing careful planning which starts a couple of days (or more) before the event, itself.

The birthday dinner

As her birthday was on a week night with school and work the following day, this was a simple, two course meal with a Brut Methode Cap Classique from Lords, a local winery, as an aperitif. We did a topside of beef on the Weber with fresh, creamed spinach from the garden. Of course, there was gravy made by deglazing the pan in which the roasted potatoes and butternut and had been cooked. Potentially the most complicated part of the meal (partly because I’m not a great fan of desserts) was the berry crisp: a relatively healthy dessert made with frozen mixed berries and topped with a butter and oat crisp, and which was baked for an hour or so in the oven. The great thing about this dessert that it must rest for an hour or so, which makes it good to do in advance (I did it as soon as I came out of the office, and it went into the oven while everything else was being prepared). Serve it with cream or Greek yoghurt.

So, in addition to South Africa’s answer to a good Champagne, this simple meal was special because I set a table that was different, and which included items that are special to us, and have their own stories to tell.

Long Weekend Get-together

Since moving to the village, we have been fortunate to meet new and interesting people. Not all live permanently in the village, so getting together can be tricky, and we were delighted to discover that over the Easter weekend, our respective calendars were included the same free evening. Wanting to reciprocate their hospitality, we decided to stick to our tried and trusted recipe and have a roast – leg of pork – on the Weber, with the usual suspects happily cooked underneath it. This time we had wine braised leeks (leeks are to be the subject of another post…) and the traditional apple sauce and gravy with the roast.Because it was a holiday weekend, we decided that we needed three courses, and in South Africa, it is traditional to eat pickled fish over Easter. The thing about pickled fish is that you cannot make it today, to eat tomorrow – it must pickle – so I made it the weekend before. People think it’s difficult to make, partly because it’s often deep fried before being placed into the pickling sauce. I don’t do this: I don’t like deep fried anything, so the fish is baked (a tip from a Cape Town local) and then the warm sauce is poured over it. Allow this to cool and then store in the fridge. Because of the vinegar and sugar content, pickled fish can be kept comfortably (in glass rather than metal or plastic) for as long as three months. If you have the fridge space and you like pickled fish, make a big batch!

The dessert was also something typically South African: pureed brandied peaches whipped into Greek yoghurt and topped with cream. Both the dessert and the starter were plated, which, along with a pretty table, added to the sense of occasion.

So, two quite different dinners that were variations on single menu:

To begin – MCC or pickled fish
The main bit – Roast beef or pork with seasonal vegetables and the traditional accompaniments
To end – Mixed berry crisp or Brandied peach whip

And the best part: because quite a bit was done before people arrived, we spent virtually all our time actually with our guests!

Turn a simple breakfast into a stunning one

28 March 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

I’m not a morning person. This is mostly why, over the years, Tom does the breakfast. There are, however, times when I get in on the act. Usually it’s because I have a bee in my bonnet about something – and it’s over a weekend or a holiday, so I’m a bit more capable of engaging my brain………

So, here are two breakfasts. One is very simple and the other involves some standard and not-so-standard breakfast ingredients that are used in combination. I’m sure you have made all of these things before – what makes these breakfasts stunning are the combinations and the presentation.

Gooseberry glasses

This a continental type breakfast, consisting of fresh gooseberries from the garden, Greek yoghurt and honey, followed by toast accompanied by great coffee. It was a public holiday Friday and I didn’t want our boring week day breakfast. There was also a rugby match to be watched; we needed a table in front of the couch. We have a butler’s tray which can sometimes be a little awkward, because of the depth of the edges. So I turned it over and put a pretty cloth over it: a practical little breakfast table.

For the breakfast you can, of course, just plonk the yoghurt and gooseberries into bowls. Or you can celebrate the time out doing something different and layering gooseberries and yoghurt in beautiful glasses. Put a drizzle of honey over the top layer and if you like, add a sprinkle of cinnamon…

How difficult is that, and how appetising does this look?

As an aside: The crystal glasses were a silver wedding anniversary gift to my parents, in 1986. Oh, and the plates – the original ones – I bought from the OK in Yeoville, the same year……

Breakfast stacks

The second breakfast was cobbled together the morning after we had returned from a short trip and hadn’t had time to shop. I ferreted in the fridge and wandered round the garden and discovered eggs, bacon, spinach and tomatoes, as well as fresh chives and parsley.

On our trip, I had found the most beautiful, brightly coloured, grass table mats and wanted to use them – instantly.

Having been away from home and stayed in a hotel and bed and breakfasts, I was itching to get back into the kitchen.

After a week of hotel breakfasts, I wanted something different. I made a thick, rich tomato sauce starting with onion sauted in the fat from the crisply fried bacon which had been set aside to drain. Once the bacon and sauce had been sorted, a batch of creamy scrambled eggs followed and then I wilted a small bunch of young spinach leaves.

While all that was going on, plates were happily warming and waiting to have the breakfast bits piled on them. First the wilted spinach and then a dollop of the tomato mix, followed by the scrambled egg and, finally, the crispy bacon. Before garnishing with a sprig of parsley and a fresh chive flower, I chopped some chives and sprinkled these over everything, making sure that some scattered on the plate, itself. And there you have it: a Breakfast Stack.

Of course, there are other wonderful things that you can use in a breakfast or brunch stack – black mushrooms, crostini, cheese, grilled tomatoes, or whatever rocks your socks, and which is “stackable”.

….and not just for breakfast….

Of course, the Gooseberry Glasses also make a fresh, healthy and delicious dessert; presented this way, they will impress. The Breakfast Stack could equally be a stack of lunch or supper!

Taking simple breakfast fare and using crystal glasses, or arranging the elements differently, turned ordinary breakfasts into stunning ones.

A twisted Vicheysoisse, among other things…

24 February 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

For the last year or so, I have been making and selling seasonal soups at our local pop-up market. A soup that I made on a whim, and which we enjoyed, didn’t take off, so I didn’t make it again. In my recollection, there had been no sales. Then, imagine my surprise, two Saturdays’ ago, a regular, who has been stocking up on soup, said, “What about that one you made with spinach and sweet potato?”

So, at Jean’s request, I made it again – this time in the height of summer. Consequently, we tried it chilled: it was as delicious cold as it was hot. So, this is my twisted Vicheysoisse:

Roast the sweet potatoes – with onion and garlic if you like – for about 45 minutes. Add to a large soup pot and then add roughly shredded spinach (including all the stalks – why waste them when you’re going to puree the soup anyway?), followed by vegetable stock to cover the sweet potato. Bring to the boil and simmer for about half an hour, until all the vegetables are soft. Puree with a hand blender and season to taste. Serve with a swirl of plain yoghurt and a grating of nutmeg.

And, of course, the soup-making was accompanied by more seasonal quiche fillings – this time, with the addition of beautiful peppers from the garden. Two different fillings – first, leeks with red pepers and then roasted vegetables (butternut, sweet potato, garlic, baby tomatoes, onions and peppers).