Ratatouille inspired heavenly hot pot

This last month has been rather crazy. I’ve hardly been home and have had very little time to cook at leisure, or to experiment. Consequently, this morning I was feeling uninspired about my blog… what was I going to talk about today? Usually it’s a process of narrowing down all the stuff I’d like to talk about but today nothing concert was manifesting in my cotton wool brain.

Luckily, while I was downloading the photos from this weekend, I can across the above photo and inspiration came flooding back. This picture was taken shortly before the lid was placed on this ratatouille inspired hot pot. It was part of a sublime meal prepared by my step Dad who is mean force in the kitchen.

I just rang him up to chat through the dish and this is more or less what he did.

He laid out all the veggies and a few other interesting ingredients he had in the house on the kitchen counter – courgettes, mushrooms, bell peppers, shallots, tomatoes, butternut, sweet potato, nuts, raisins, apples, lemon and ginger.

He got an appropriately sized heavy bottomed pot and large pan out. He started by frying individually in olive oil some of the ingredients which need a longer cooking time. He started with the shallots peeled and whole, once they had browned a little they went into the pot, then he fried smallish cubes of butternut and sweet potato and once they had browned a little, they also went into the pot. While he fried the mushrooms whole in some oil and salt, he roughly chopped up the courgettes, bells peppers and a peeled and sliced apple and added them raw on top of the already fried ingredients.

Into the pot went a handful of raw nuts and raisins, roughly chopped garlic, slivers of ginger and lemon zest. He sprinkled this with Ina Paarmans lemon pepper sprinkle, dried sweet basil, salt, some hot chilli sauce and a glug of olive oil. He placed a large sprig of rosemary on top, then scattered in the fried mushrooms and some chopped raw peeled tomato.

The pot was then gently heated up and when a good steamy sizzle was reached (I would happily add a glug of white wine, stock or water to stead up the steaming and prevent burning here) he put the lid on, left this for a few more minutes and then switched off the heat, leaving the retained heat to cook the dish for a further hour. The lid cannot be opened at this stage as it will release the heat needed to cook the dish.

Once he was nearly ready to serve, he opened the pot up and heated it through, gently moving the ingredients around for the flavours to combine a little.

This was served this with baked potatoes and sour cream. What a heavenly meal!

I eat a lot!

I eat a lot… all the food I blog about is what I am currently eating and then there’s all the food I don’t blog about. I eat a lot. Always have, always will. So, people sometimes ask me why I’m not fat. Firstly, they don’t see me in my birthday suit (eeek!). I certainly could do with a few less meals and few more sessions of exercise.

Aside from the few extra kilo’s I would love to do without, I think I have a pretty awesome metabolism and this I can only ascribe to the fact that I have always eaten a lot and regularly. My body has not had to deal with any starvation shocks (aka diets) and consequently seems not feel the need to hold onto much stored reserve as it is pretty well assured to be getting it’s next meal soon.

Lastly, I try to keep a mostly healthy diet so that I don’t have to feel guilty when I feed my cravings from time to time. I have blogged about my fruit and veggie juice for breakfast which gives my body the kick start it needs every day and then I also have another passion which has come with me through most of my life. It has the very sophisticated title of ‘Rice Moosh’. This I think can be attributed to it being named when I was much much younger, but the name has stuck in my household.

Rice moosh is pretty straight forward and at its most basic is a combination of steamed rice with chopped up salad goodies like cucumber and tomato and usually some dairy like butter (if the rice is hot), cottage cheese or feta. It has developed over the years and now I usually add lentils or quinoa to the rice and the ‘salad’ ingredients can range from steamed veggies like broccoli, butternut or sweetcorn, to preserved ingredients like sundried tomatoes, capers and pickles along with all manner of raw chopped veggies. I also love adding toasted seeds or nuts too.

I keep a supply of rice with lentils or quinoa in the fridge so I have an easy meal waiting whenever I need it. I also often make that for Adam to take to work for lunch.

It is a well balanced and satisfying meal which leaves my tummy happy and me guilt free, ready to face the next feast I’m planning!

Mothering Sunday

Adam’s Mom is out to visit from Australia and we thought it was a good idea to get our two sets of parents together in Betty’s Bay to celebrate the privilege of having both these wonderful women in our lives!

Adam and I had loosely planned Sunday’s events but I had not really decided on a menu for breakfast. I knew the house would be full of food and wanted to play it by ear according to what was there and what I thought we might all feel like at that point. So on Sunday morning we woke up bright and early put some coffee on and then I nosed around to see what was in the house food wise. Well, suffice it to say that we could survived a nuclear holocaust with the food reserves we had in the house, but we had spent allot of time eating over the weekend, so I wanted to keep the menu light and the portions small. I didn’t keep track of the recipes like I usually do but I will explain the process I followed verbally below.

For a description of the whole morning’s events (i.e. not just my recipes) read my step Dad’s very sweet blog about it on - http://blogsausbetties.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/mothers-day/

Breakfast parfait

In the fruit basket we had bananas perfectly ripe, a big red apple and juicy tangerines. I peeled and chopped the fruit into small bits so that one would get a little of each fruit in every mouth full. I spooned this into the bottom of tumblers, spooned over some Greek yoghurt (which is so rich and creamy there is certainly no need to sweeten it), I sprinkled this with a spoon of muesli, some pumpkin seeds and some salted nuts. The salted nuts happened by accident as I hadn’t noticed they were salted but it added a lovely tanginess and didn’t taste salty at all. I then set these aside until everyone was ready, where I then poured a small amount of strawberry juice into each glass, just to cover the fruit at the bottom and to add a little sweetness. The result was fruity, creamy and crunchy without being too sweet and was a great way to start breakfast.

Breakfast egg bake with slow roast tomatoes

I wasn’t sure what I was doing with the eggy part of breakfast so I just put out all the ingredients which looked good and appropriate and took it from there. First I sliced tomatoes in half, sideways not lengthways, placed them on a baking tray and into the oven at 150C˚. Nothing added to them, just like that, while I left them slowly dehydrating for about an hour while I got on with the rest of the days preparations.

About 15 minutes before I needed them (but they had been in for an hour already) I drizzled them with a dash of olive oil, about a teaspoon of sugar and 1/8 of teaspoon of salt each, turned up the heat to about 220 C˚ and onto grill and let them caramelise a bit. The flavour was super intense, I thought they may have been a bit over powering for the more subtle flavours of the rest of the breakfast but the other diners did not agree.

The eggy part of the breakfast came together differently to what I had I first had in mind but I think the end result was pretty fabulous. I had started sautéing mushrooms the way I always do (see link) and in a heavy bottomed pot I was sweating off some shallots and garlic. My mom had bought some awesome farm eggs (some with double yolks) and I had put together in a bowl a mixture of sour cream, fresh chopped herbs (parsley, dill, rosemary, basil), spring onions, garlic, goats cheese, salt and pepper.

Once the mushrooms had reduced sufficiently I added them to the shallots, to this is added ¾ of the sour cream mixture, heated this until just before boiling point, then scraping holes into the mixture and cracking the eggs into the holes. I popped the lid on the pot and allowed the mixture to heat up a bit before dropping the heat to low, so the eggs could cook but preventing the mixture from burning at the bottom. I left this for about 10 minutes, checked the mixture with a spatula scraping around the eggs to see if the whites had set (this is when you would leave it longer if necessary).

Try not to take the lid off the pot much, if at all, so that the heat can build up and cook the eggs from the top as well. Once the whites where set but the yellows still runny I spooned over the remaining cream sauce and topped this all with loads of fresh chopped herbs and spring onions.

I placed the pot as is onto the table and dished it up from there. By the time the eggs where served the yellows had set a little but still had a little runniness in the centres (just how I like it).

The whole day was such a joy. I’m not sure who enjoyed it most, the mom’s or us ‘kids’?

Samp and beans!

My love for samp and beans started long ago. My mother says it started when I was a toddler and I got a strep infection in my throat and mouth. Apparently I refused to eat for about four or five days because of the pain. Eventually the doctor said I should be sent to hospital so they could put me on a drip but our old farm hand, Sam, told my mother to hold off, he would get me to eat. He came back with a pot of very soft cooked samp and beans. I apparently loved this and because of the texture it didn’t hurt my mouth. Consequently I did not have to be sent to hospital after all.

I believe Sam’s secret was to add a packet of Royco soup mix to the water in which he cooked the samp and beans. I naturally have my own way and each time it will be different but the basic recipe listed below is a winner. There are a few quirks but trust me they make all the difference.

For a meatier version, it would be ideal to brown stewing meat or chicken pieces with the onions and slow cooking it along with the samp. Either way this is a warming rich tasting stew which is as old as the South African people themselves.

Samp and beans my way

Serves 6

1 Tbsp of oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 large garlic clove, peeled and chopped

250g dried samp and beans

100g extra dried sugar beans (or beans of choice)

1 litre of stock (veg, chicken, lamb, beef – ie. your favourite)

1 litre of boiling water

1 tsp of mild curry powder

1 ½ tsp of salt

2 large tomatoes, finely chopped

1 cup of butternut, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 cup of grated carrot

1 tsp of marmite

1 Tbsp of tomato paste (optional or you can use tomato sauce)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp peanut (or other nut) butter (I know this sounds odd but it is amazing)

Gently heat the oil and fry your onions and garlic in a thick bottomed medium sized pot. If you wanted to add stewing meat or chicken pieces, now would be the time to brown your meat. Add the samp and beans and cover with the stock and boiling water. Add the curry and salt and simmer. Chop, dice and grate the veggies and add them to the pot and simmer for about one and a half to two hours on low heat. Check on it every so often and add boiling water if needed.

Once the samp and beans have softened add the marmite, tomato paste, sugar and peanut butter and simmer for a further 15 – 30 minutes stirring every so often to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot and until it gets a lovely saucy consistency.

I freeze portions of this for quick meals and it freezes beautifully.

Beware of the Butterfish!

Oh my goodness, I poisoned my housemate yesterday! I cooked butterfish for lunch and he had a really bad reaction to it. I did warn him before serving it to him as I am aware that some people react badly to it but have personally never experience the reaction. Sorry, James!

Anyway – if you do plan on eating it and have never had it before be aware that you could react badly to it. You need to start with a small amount to see if you do react. I have pasted a link below with the symptoms:

http://all4women.co.za/health/daily-health-tips/nutrition-health-tips/beware-butterfish.html

I however love it but will most certainly not serve it to a guest again!

Anyhow, you can do this recipe with the fish of your choice… so let’s get back to it then.

I was having a bit of a comfort food day yesterday. The weather was balmy but distinctly autumn. I had been meaning to recreate a sauce for fish which I made while I was in Stilbaai last week, which got rave reviews. So I defrosted the butterfish steaks which I had bought from the Breco factory shop and went about putting together some appropriate side dishes.

As usual I didn’t feel like leaving the house to shop the few things I needed, but decided to make do with what I had in the house. This is a theme in my life and I have come up with some of the most amazing dishes and ideas from simply being creative with what I have.

So let’s break the meal down. Butterfish as mentioned from Breco. A lemon, garlic and herb butter for the fish. Creamy mashed potato with roasted garlic and goats cheese. Roasted onion and butternut with baby rosa tomatoes.

Butterfish – I left it completely plain, just defrosted it and grilled in the oven on searing high heat for 8 min on each side, switched the oven off and let it rest for about 5 mins then let it rest for a further 5 mins out the oven, while assembling the other dishes on the plate. The timing needs to moderated according tp the size of the pieces of fish. Mine were pretty big pieces and butterfish is both dense and oily.

Lemon and herb butter – in a sauce pan I added a handful of chopped fresh herbs from the garden (basil, chives, rosemary and mint), I also added some of the Woolies freeze dried herbs (dill and thyme), peeled and finely chopped a little ginger and garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt and butter. If you have capers (which I did not) they would also go well, as would fresh chilli. I melted that together and left it off the heat for the flavours to draw.

Creamy mash – this was a bit of a travesty in that I really went into over kill here… but the final result was really delicious but seriously rich. I cooked ¾ regular potatoes with ¼ sweet potatoe. I roasted some garlic in the oven which I added to the cooked potatoes before I mashed them. To the mash I added some butter, crème fraiche, wasabi mayo (from woollies), soft goats cheese from Fairview, a dash of milk to thin the mash, salt, pepper and chopped spring onions.

Roasted veggies – I chopped up butternut and onion with I tossed with a dash of olive oil, salt and little curry powder and put it in the oven on grill but quite low down in the oven. Once the veg had half cooked I add a handful of rosa tomatoes and tossed a little sugar over the veggies. I removed the tray once the tomatoes had just burst.

It was a rich creamy dish bursting with flavour and decadence. I had to have a little lie down afterwards! But would be great for a cold autumn weekend luncheon or dinner.

Rusks - baking vs. buying?

Who in South Africa does not love rusks? Next to biltong I think they are right up there with truly South African passions. Sadly, because I do not have a moderate bone in my body, I very rarely buy them. If there is a packet in the cupboard they will weigh on my mind (and my lips) until they are finished. I have brought this topic up today because my house mate has a box of rusks on his shelf which are luring me like so many sirens to the ultimate demise of my self control… before I traverse the personal space boundaries and scarf down his supply, I may need to bake or buy a batch.

The baking vs. buying debate is applicable here as the smell and taste of home baked rusks are a happy place for me, but they are a bit of a mission time wise because of the drying process. One can however leave the house while the rusks are drying as they are on such a low heat they couldn’t really cause any damage, but I’m not a fan of leaving my oven on while I’m not home and know that a certain level of anxiety would accompany any commencing activity. Okay I’m rambling here now.

I blogged about rusks a looong time ago, as at the time I had been wrestling with the dilemma that all good rusk recipes are loaded with calories and fat and I was on a mission to create a healthier rusk recipe. If you doubt what I am saying, take a look at the nutritional info on your favourite rusk packet and compare it to a chocolate slab’s nutritional info… just because it says it has bran or muesli in it, doesn’t make it healthy!

I did come up with a pretty viable health recipe which cut the sugar in the average recipe down by 80% and added loads of fibre. for the recipe, click here.

If I find that I am too lazy or strapped for time to bake my own rusks, there is almost only one brand of rusk I will buy (if I have the choice) and that is the Bags of Bites - sugar free, wheat free rusks – I know that sounds scary but take my word for it. They are packed with goodness and flavour and at the same time cut down on the guilt! 

What is not to love? Just make a mental note, they do not say anything about being fat free and from experience I know that there are many things you can successfully cut out of a rusk recipe, but fat is not one of them!

Can’t wait for my hot cup of coffee and chunky rusk fantasy to come true today and am pretty sure bags of bites is gonna win the battle of wills.

A picture of my Mommy and I having coffee and rusks the last time I went to visit.

Caesar salad

Yes, I know the salad is a mess but it really was a lazy rainy day.

There has been loads of talk about Caesar salad in my life recently and then my cousin mentioned that she had a great Caesar dressing recipe where you briefly boil your egg before making the mayonnaise dressing which intrigued me. It is supposed to make the dressing creamier. So on this lazy Sunday afternoon I threw together two Caesar salads… (which, I might add, I have never made before).

I really loved the dressing and have eaten the left overs of it on a pizza, on rice and on pasta since then… seriously good. I would however like to add an anchovy next time (I didn’t have any but I like the salty tangy flavour they add). 


The rest of the salad was good in theory but I over baked (euphemism for burned) the croutons and didn’t wash the lettuce (rooky error). So with a little more care than I gave it, I think this is a salad which deserves to be blogged about today and will most certainly be remade soon!

Please send me other tips and recipes for Caesar salad if you have any exceptional ones. I added grilled chicken and goats cheese to mine, cause I had them in the fridge and wanted a meal replacement salad. The chicken is a great addition but the goats cheese didn’t add much to the salad.

Caesar Salad

Cos or romaine lettuce (washed and dried)

Parmesan shavings

Optional (but traditional) - anchovy fillets

Optional - grilled chicken breast pieces

Optional - boiled egg, quartered
Garlic croutons*
Caesar dressing*



*Garlic Croutons
Cut up cubes of bread (bread of choice), I use about a cup of bread (about 1cm squared cubes) per person.
Toss with a little crushed garlic, salt and olive oil and bake spread out on an oven sheet until crispy (about 200˚C for about 10 minutes). Keep a close eye on them, as they burn easily.

*Caesar Dressing

Makes about ½ a cup of dressing

4 tsp of lemon juice

2 tsp of Worchester sauce

1 medium sized clove of garlic

1 anchovy fillet (optional)

50g of parmesan cheese

1 tsp of dijon mustard

1 x 45 sec boiled egg (egg boiled for 45 seconds)

1/3 - 1/2 a cup of a mild grassy olive oil (sunflower oil is also good)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a stick blender jar blend all the ingredients, except the oil and seasoning, together until smooth. Add the oil, place the stick blender at the bottom of the blender jar and blend pulling the blender slowly from the bottom of the jar up through the mixture. Then pump the blender around until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened. If you want the dressing a bit thinner, add some extra oil (sunflower oil if you think the olive oil taste is too strong). Season with salt and pepper. You can also add more lemon juice, mustard or worchester sauce if you feel it needs it.


Now arrange your salad leaves. On top of that arrange the other salad ingredients. Scatter with croutons last and then dress just before serving.