Best red quinoa salad

This is so simple and so delicious... even better the next day for lunch. 

Ingredients

1 cup of cooked red quinoa

250g baby rosa tomatoes

1 tablespoon of Pesto (your choice!)

200g feta

3 green onions

4 medium chicken breasts

Pumpkin seeds

1 avo, chopped

1 tin chickpeas, drained

Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

Olive Oil

First you prep the ingredients separately as follows:

• Chicken- coat in salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon and place in a pre heated oven (200'C) for 15 mins. Check to see if they are cooked- the juices will run clear. Leave to cool and then chop into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl.
• Baby rosa tomatoes- I like to roast these too. Coat in olive oil and place on a baking tray under your chicken in a preheated oven (200'C). These will also take about 15 mins depending on how 'roasted' you like them. Add these to the bowl with the cooled chicken.
• Chop the spring onion and add to the bowl.
• Add the drained chickpeas
• Crumble in the feta.
• Add your cooked red quinoa 
• Add your pesto and then follow with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil to taste.
• Finish off with chopped avo, a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds and ENJOY!!

Serve with a nice crisp white wine- we drank a La Motte Sauvignon Blanc 2012.

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Healthy and delicious Ostrich meatballs

I am NOT a big meatball or burger kind of girl. I make wide circles around burger joints and pretend I can't hear people when they make suggestions like Spur burger special two for one. I just don't do them. 

That being said, I made an exception to the rule recently after coming across a similar recipe on the Taste website. It's a great summer dish and you can experiment with flavours. I used ostrich mince because its lean, tasty and easy to match with flavours. You could use any mince you like. 

Ingredients:

(Makes 6 meat balls)

500g Ostrich mince

2 tablespoons chopped capers

1 chopped red onion

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 handful chopped coriander

2 teaspoons soya sauce

Pinch or 2 of Maldon salt

Grind of black pepper

To serve:

You can go to town here and use your imagination. Inspired by the Taste website I served mine with slices of nectarine and a Fennel and Cucumber Tzatziki. Here are a few more ideas:

• Sweet potato fries or wedges (oven baked)
• Simple Green salad
• Fresh Steamed baby asparagus spears
• Simple spinach and goats cheese salad with a squeeze of lemon juice.

How too...

  

1. Mix ingredients together and roll into 6 balls. Place on a tray and into the fridge for an hour. 
2. Pan fry in a little olive oil until brown and crisp. 10-15 minutes. Longer if you prefer your meatballs well done.

3. Enjoy with a glass of your favorite red. Pinotage works very well.

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Pomegranate, feta and rocket salad

So I have just returned from a long and relaxing holiday in Mauritius. I am completely in love with that place. The food is incredible. With Creole, French, Indian and Asian influences you are spoilt for choice! We ate our body weight in the freshest seafood known to man. I also tasted Sea Urchin for the very first time. The French cheese, charcuterie and wine was a real treat!

We were also fortunate, thanks to Cyclone Bejisa, to spend some time indoors cooking and sampling all the fresh produce Mauritius had to offer. I love pomegranate but its expensive and hard to find here in SA. Whilst my foodie friends prepared the main course, I was on salad duty. This is one of my new favourites. Its so easy to make.

Pomegranate, feta and rocket salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 large handfuls of fresh rocket, washed.

200g of feta, cubed

1 small red onion, finely sliced.

Small handful of mint, chopped

I large pomegranate's worth of seeds (don't know how to seed a pomegranate? Look here)

Dressing:

Juice of one or two limes- depending on size

1 tablespoon of honey

Vinegar of your choice ( I used Tarragon infused but a red wine vinegar works really well)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all of the ingredients together and drizzle with dressing just before serving.

Serve with a crisp and fruity rose - Ours was French of course.

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Healthy Salmon, Avo and Lemon "Pizza"

So I have literally JUST made this for lunch and its SO delicious, simple and quick. It makes a great lunch but you could also serve it in slices as canapes or even as a starter.

Ingredients:

Makes 4 "Pizza's"

4 multi-grain wraps from Woolies.

1 large avo

250g Salmon ribbons (or trout)

1 Mediterranean cucumber- thinly sliced

One lemon

salt and pepper to taste.

Lightly grease a pan with olive oil spray and cook and cook the wraps one at a time until crispy (or you can use a grill, panini press etc). Take them off the heat and cut into 6ths whilst it is still slightly warm and 'pliable'. Leave to cool for just a few minutes.

Once its cool to the touch, layer each piece with a slice of avo, some salmon and thinly sliced cucumber. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper.

You can get creative with this recipe. It's so easy. My other favourite is a Caprese 'Pizza' with fresh basil, baby rosa tomatoes and bocconcini.

Serve with a crisp Chenin Blanc

- I had Rickety Bridge 2011 Chenin blanc

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Cheynes in Hout Bay

Another hidden gem! Cape Town is full of them and Cheyne's is by far my new favourite.

Situated in Hout Bay. Serving Pacific Rim cuisine*. Sourcing from local as possible to bring you the most amazing and unique dining experience Hout Bay has seen.
* Pacific Rim cooking combines Pacific Island foods, Asian cooking techniques, local freshness, and a host of other cultural and culinary influences.- Cheyne.

 

Interior of Cheyne's

 I love Asian food- its my absolute favourite. I love all the different depths and flavours and the fact that you can pair it with a host of amazing wines. Cheyne keeps a great selection to suit this style of cooking. Almost all of them he serves by the glass- so everyone can have their favourite.

So with that, we kicked off the night with a bottle of the Arra Viognier. The nose on this wine is fresh peaches, with undertones of ripe pears and buttered toast. And it paired beautifully with what was to come...

I have a habit of sticking to starters. I love being able to try a few different things. Now I am not saying anything negative about Cheyne's mains. In fact they were actually all so good that I couldn't choose and hence stuck to starters! (Cheyne, next time I visit I will have a main. Promise!)

As there were two of us we ordered 4 starters.

Usually Cheyne does a beautiful 'Crayfish tempura with miso, QP mayo, kimchi, diakon and a shumai sauce'. It's fantastic. I have had it before. However on the night we visited they had not received their crayfish delivery so they were substituted for King prawns. We were certainly NOT disappointed. They were fantastic! 

 

King prawns instead of crayfish- Delicious!

One of Cheyne's Specialties is 'Deep fried milk, green chilli caramel, cucumer granita and mint jelly". Its got an ooozy centre JUST like a chocolate fondant and its like eating a Thai green curry cloud! I haven't tasted anything like it before.

Following that we went for the 'Beef tataki, mirin, english mustard, spring onion puree, coconut jelly with Kimchi and lychee'.  It was a very unique take on tataki. There were so many flavours on one plate but they all came together wonderfully. Each bite was uniquely different.

Finally to end off the night we went for the duck. 'Smoked Duck breast, date and water chesnut gyoza, star anise and shiraz syrup'. The gyoza (a type of dim sum) was exquisite. The filling was the perfect accompaniment to the smokey flavours of the duck.

 

The service was fantastic, the staff are knowledgeable, friendly and ready to recommend their own favourites.  We had a wonderful time. Thanks Cheyne- we'll be seeing you soon!

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Lemon Meringue Pie

I am so glad to be able to get back to blogging. Its been such a busy few months. Its sad that when work is hectic my poor blog has to take a back seat. There are so many times I've thought- 'Oh I must post about this wine/dinner/restaurant/recipe". So now I am going to try and play catch up.

Seen as Cape Town is finally seeing a bit of summer I thought I'd share my favourite summer dessert - Lemon Meringue Pie. Its SO easy, my little nearly-4-year old cousin Grace could make it. She's a wizz in the kitchen by the way. I think I'll ask her to guest post sometime.

Anyway back to the recipe...

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

1 packet of tennis biscuits, crushed to crumbs with a wooden spoon

4 tablespoons of butter

1 tin of condensed milk

Juice and zest of one big lemon (must be about a third of a cup of juice)

3 eggs at room temperature.

3 tablespoons of castor sugar.

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease a 25cm pie dish well with butter. Melt the 4 tablespoons of butter carefully on a medium heat in the microwave. Add the crush tennis biscuit crumbs and mix together. The crumbs should stick together. Press the mixture into the pie dish and bake for about 10 mins. Keep an eye on it and take it out as it starts going slightly brown. Put it to the side to cool.

In a bowl mix the lemon juice, zest, tin of condensed milk and 3 egg yolks. Put this mixture to the side.

Get a clean bowl to make your meringue. Put the egg whites in a large bowl. Whisk to soft peaks, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking between each addition without overbeating.  

Now its time to put it all together. Make sure your biscuit base is relatively cool- it will still be warm to the touch but as long as its not HOT. Fill the crust with the lemon filling and top with the meringue. Return to the oven for 18-20 mins until the meringue is crisp and slightly coloured. Let the pie sit for 15 mins to cool and then place in the Fridge for at least 2 hours to cool it down. Serve cold! 

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In the Tasting room: La Vierge Weisser Riesling

This wine is the perfect partner to any spicy curry - we enjoyed it last night with my favourite comfort food, Butter Chicken.  This is a typical Weisser Riesling in that the very first thing you get on the nose is a greasy, brake fluid, turpentine smell. Some might be put off but for me that's the sign that you have found yourself a goodie.  You will also get a bit of green melon coming through on the nose too. The wine on its own is racy, with a lingering palate and great texture. As soon as you pair it with something spicy, you have a completely different wine. Round, full bodied and fragrant- delicious. I would say that this is definitely a food wine! I bought mine from the farm for under a R100.

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