easter past and present

I quite like Easter.

It's not as frantic as Christmas, but there's still a big focus on family, food and indulgence. What's not to love right?
You can't really go wrong with a 4 day weekend and a free pass to eat as much chocolate as you like.

I have very fond childhood memories of Easter. We didn't get a lot of sweet treats so a pile of chocolate was a big deal, and hunting for eggs in our big fynbos garden with lots of nooks and crannies was an adventure.
We often went away over Easter, or had friends from the city come to us, and I remember dying eggs with tea and drinking hot chocolate in rainy cabins in the woods.
One year we had pink and white cut-out cardboard bunny ears and paws from some far off exotic place (like London!) - in ye olde early 80's this kind of thing was not as commonly available as it is now.
I cringe to recall an Easter morning as I entered adolescence when, thinking I was being droll, I asked if 'anything exciting was going to happen or can I go and shave my legs?'. My mothers face was hurt and her voice sharp when she retorted that my (younger) brothers were going to hunt for Easter eggs but if I thought I was too old for such things I was free to do something else.
I felt awful, and obviously I was not too old for such things. I felt like an Easter ass.

It's also such a good break, after the madness of the first quarter, we're all in need of lazy days come April. And it's traditionally the weekend we get the first real winter rain. This year did not disappoint and Saturday dawned grey and chill.
There is still novelty in that.
Especially when it clears right up again and the weather returned with a beauty unsurpassed by any other time of year.

In April 2011 I wrote:

This time of year, my god it is sublime. It's ... subtle. Subtle in a way that February in Cape Town is utterly not. Clarity, cut, colour - it's like the seemingly endless days of late summer/autumn are each perfect diamonds, most definitely gems, each one handcrafted for perfection.

The temperature is perfect, subtle. The breezes are soothing, subtle. The light is clear and gentle, subtle.

It's marvelous.

 I could've written that about today.

Easter has not always been so idyllic. Most notably Easter 2010.

And I had fun recalling some failed Easter crafts from 2011, and the time Frieda made my heart explode with love, also 2011.

And of course how could we ever top the excitement last Easter brought?

That teeny-weeny little guy is now double the size of his older sister and a great big lovable stinky brute of a thing, adored by all.

This Easter weekend was low-key and lovely. Friday afternoon with friends, Saturday walks and movies and cuddles ...

Sunday chocolate and colouring and Peter and the Wolf on audio ...

... rounded off with a massively indulgent evening meal - roast lamb etc and a pudding so good (and so not present on the internet I discover while trying to find a link) that I'm going to have to make it again just to blog and photograph. As an act of public service you understand.
All four of us rolled away from the table and out the door, for a necessary wild and windy night walk, laughing together in the moonlight as we walked off our food babies and tumbled home to bed.

This morning we could barely contemplate anymore sweetness but we had a family get-together planned, and we'd promised to bring the cake, so we pulled ourselves together and just managed to produce one.

It was a happy weekend. Here's to Easter!

foodie april retrospective: caprese pasta

Ah, remember the heydays of foodie april? Those crazy days of food and wine and love, every meal a masterpiece, every morsel a momentary miracle of delight? Good times ...

And I harken back to them in these dark days of nightfall by 5.50pm and ready-made lasagne from Woolworths (dudes, R49.95 for 1kg! That's totally the perfect yoga-night supper right there. But I digress ...).

So here goes, a quick foodie retrospective, and possibly really, and this time truly, the simplest, easiest pasta ever!

Caprese Pasta

At least a couple of hours before you want to eat this (can be 24, can be 2), chop up a punnet of cherry or baby roma tomatoes, cube a medium size block of hard white cheese (edam, tussers etc) and a handful of sweet basil and mix it all together with some good glugs of olive oil, salt & pepper. Leave to marinade.

When you're ready to nosh, cook up some pasta shapes, reserve a leetle bit of the cooking water, chuck the tomato mix in with the hot pasta and (leetle bit of) water, and eat immediately.

The hot pasta wilts the tomatoes (which've already soften in the marinading process) and just melts the cheese to a soft and chewy consistency.

Can be optionally served with anchovy & caper buttered crostini. 'Cos we're all about carb-on-carb action in this house.

It's summer in a bowl ~ a beautiful thing.

And incidentally, no. twentyfrikkinsix, 'cos Julochka's totally lapping me on this 100 things malarkey and soon I'm going to have to start counting particularly good cups of tea to get my numbers up!

foodie april ~ leaving the best for last

Ok everyone. Now look me in the eye, take a deep breath and STAY CALM.

This one may sound weird, but it is without a doubt my most favouritest, most delicious, most ultimate comfort food supper ev-er. And also possibly the one meal in the whole world which Husband and I will eat 2 or 3 times a week, possibly even in succession, should the mood strike us.

But, just to play it safe, if anyone doesn't like broccoli (ah jeez, just when I thought this would be a simple post I realise I have no idea how to spell brocolli... ok fk it, I'm just going to call it brokolly - that green veg what looks like little trees. Got it?), or anchovies (those little yummy, yummy fish that are apparently on the verge of 'extinction'), then read no further.

May I present my ultimate favourite pasta, the inspiration behind foodie april to begin with and probably the simplest, quickest thing you'll ever make .... drum roll .... I think you may have guessed it by now .... ta-da!

Brokolly & Anchovy Pasta!

(it's so frikkin' simple it's almost ludicrous to write it down but here goes ...)

1 small head brokolly. chop into little florets (love that word).

1 packet whatever pasta you like (tho' may I recommend shells of some kind, the flavours in this one really linger in those little pockets. droooooooooool.)

Cook pasta in boiling salted water (duh) with the brokolly either in a steamer-thingie on top or, after 5 mins, in the same pot with the pasta.

Meanwhile ... finely dice 3 cloves of garlic and heat slowly in a good couple of glugs of olive oil in a smallish frying pan.

When oil is hot and garlic translucent quickly add 5 or 6 (or 9) anchovy fillets and slowly swirl around in the oil until almost completely dissolved.

Drain pasta & brokolly, toss with garlicky anchovy oil, seasoned liberally and grate a whole heap of parmesan over the top.

Prepare to die happy. If you like anchovy and/or brokolly that is. If not, what are you still doing here??!

zumast be joking* ...

And so it comes to pass that we have a new President. A man who was charged and tried (and, admittedly, acquitted) of rape. A man who was directly implicated by the presiding judge in the fraud trial of another high profile South African, but who had the charges against him dropped just weeks before these elections. A man who is a master at 'bird-talking' (apparently an Australian term - gotta love those forthright Aussies - for telling people what they want to hear). A man who inspires very little confidence all round.

So basically, no suprises.

But are we down-hearted? A little. Apprehensive? A lot.

Prone to baking when the world goes mad? You bet ya!

Husband says I'm not allowed to count these a-m-a-z-i-n-g chocolate brownies as one of my 100 things as they're the second batch I've made in little over a month (and I totally counted the first ones). 

But I am going to share the recipe, I am going to eat one every time I feel concerned about the future, I am going to urge you to bake your own and follow suit.

And I am going to hope we don't get too wet and miserable on our camping long weekend away. Leaving tomorrow. Back-to-back storms predicted. Are we apprehensive? No, we've got brownies!

Gulp.

Perfect Chocolate Brownies

150 g butter

350 g castor sugar

4 large eggs

5 ml vanilla essence

150 g plain flour

100 g cocoa powder

 a pinch of salt

100 g chopped macadamia nuts

50 g chopped glace cherries

2 slabs chopped chocolate Turkish Delight (praise the Lord yes)

Cream butter & sugar. Beat in eggs one by one, then add vanilla. Sift in flour, salt & cocoa powder and mix. Mix in nuts, cherries and chocolate. Gloop out into greased baking tray and bake in pre-heated oven (170 degrees C) for approx. 30 min. 

Keep an eye on them though 'cos as everyone knows, if it's not soft and squidgy in the centre it's not a brownie. Just cake. And while there's nothing wrong with cake. It's not a brownie. 'Nuff said.

*title totally ripped off from a recent tabloid headline. 'twas too good not to repeat. oi vey.

foodie april ~ and the eating continues

You know, at this rate I'm going to have to consider a foodie May. Or possibly just becoming a food blog in which I catalogue everything I eat to the utter tedium of anyone out there, and maybe throw in some recipes willy-nilly.

Many people have said that starting a food diary really made them realise how much they eat. I can believe this now, as just through this silly little thing I've been doing here, I've noticed food, and what I'm eating, in a different way. And I have to say, my god I've been eating some yummy things!

I like to cook, as I mentioned at the beginning of the month, but more noteworthy is that Husband likes to cook too, and he is spectacular in the kitchen (and a couple of other rooms in the house but hey, this isn't that kind of blog now is it ...).  

Following close on the heels of his amazing chicken hyderabadi curry on the weekend, he sealed his status as the hero of my heart (and stomach) by last night making a light, creamy Yoghurt Tart for supper which was just the thing for my utterly exhausted, and mildly hungover, state. (How that all happened is, incidentally, a long story involving more great food ~ mussels in a creamy white wine sauce, lemon tart, a couple too many glasses of wine and some great girlfriend company, but more on that later).

Anyhoo, this beauty must be shared. 'Cos she's a winner.

Yoghurt Tart (yup, Y-o-g-h-u-r-t Tart, keep an open mind ok?)

115 g butter or margarine

200 g sugar

3 eggs

140 g self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

450 ml milk

350 ml plain yoghurt (Bulgarian, Greek, low-fat, double cream - wha'eva you fancy)

coupla small cubes of butter or margarine for on top.

Cream the butter and sugar 'til pale and fluffy. Mix the eggs in one by one. Add the flour and salt and mix it all well.

Mix the milk and yoghurt together separately and then gradually add to the flour etc mix well.

Pour into a greased tart/pie dish, dot with small cubes of butter and bake at 180 degrees C for approx. 45 min 'til browned on top.

Relish.

Oh and, enjoy left-overs cold for breakfast the next morning.

foodie april - cheese scones

Whipped these up for Saturday morning brunch. With the ease and grace of a veritable domestic goddess. Naturally.

They are seriously easy though, and perfect for those weekend mornings when you feel like a bit of baked goodness for breakfast and happen to have a few dodgy pieces of cheese in the fridge. You know, those mornings.

Cheese scones (makes 12) ~

2 cups cake flour

2 cups grated cheese (or 1 cup grated Gouda, 1 quarter over-ripe Brie, 1 hunk of blue cheese & some grated Parmesan. Or whatever, the point is: a lot of cheese.)

2 and a half teaspoons baking powder

salt 'n pepper

1 egg

milk to mix

Sift flour & baking powder. Add cheese. Season. Add egg. Add milk while you mix to a moist dough. Scoop into greased muffin trays and bake at 180 degrees C for approx. 15 mins.

Voila!

foodie april ~ pizza, no. 19 and goodnight

Homemade pizza. Bacon. Zucchini. Mushrooms. Brie. 

And no. 19.

Too tired to share recipe. More tomorrow. Burp.

foodie april ~ homecoming pie

Husband came home last night. Weary, stiff, a little chubbier (can you imagine how a spicy food lover eats when in Pakistan. Yup, like a chubby Pakistani. I'm so jealous.). Declared Karachi to be 'just like Maputo' and had photos to prove it.

And you know all those You Tube clips and email joke things depicting the world's most unbelievable driving? The intersections which look like swarms, the families of 5 on 1 motorbike etc? He now reckons they're all filmed in Karachi! I imagine he'll be more tolerant of South African bad driving for a few days. But probably only a few ha ha.

Although, and maybe because, I knew he'd been eating all kinds of exotic food for days I thought he might appreciate a homelove meal of roast chicken etc, followed by this apple cake recipe I've been wanting to try for ages. It comes from a friend who's been making it for years, and makes it supremely. So no pressure or anything. Ack.

I think I probably need to make it a few more times before I achieve her standard of orgasmic yumminess, and admittedly I probably didn't pay it the attention I should've trying to bake it in 30 mins before leaving for the airport. But as we all know, practice makes perfect, and what a pie to practise on.

And so easy!

So here we go ...

Le Apple Tart / Pie / Cake thingie 

60 ml butter

¾ cup castor sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ cups self raising flour

pinch of salt

1/3 cup milk

1 385 g tin pie apples

Cream butter and sugar together. Stir eggs in one by one. Sift in flour and a pinch of salt and mix, with the milk, until you have a smooth thickish batter.

Grease one large, or two medium pie dishes, pour in batter and arrange pie apples on top.

If using one dish, bake for about an hour at 180C until light brown on top, if using 2 medium pie dishes (which I think is better), bake for approximately 25 min - half an hour. 

You want the cake/s to have risen and browned, but not dried out. 

As soon as the cake/s come out of the oven, start making the syrup. This is the really good part ...
250 ml Cream
1 teaspoon caramel essence
1 cup Sugar (I think if using castor sugar a full cup makes this too sweet. I used about 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar.) 

Slowly stir all 3 ingredients in a pot on stove until the sugar has melted and the mixture just starts to bubble around the edges. Stab the cake/s all over with a fork or skewer (this is the fun part), and then slowly pour the syrup over them.

Either serve warm or wait 'til it cools. Oh so tasty.

Yesterday morning, before the cook-a-thon and airport collection, I took the 'kids' for a walk on the promenade and was thrilled to see a large pod of whales in the bay! The Southern Right whales visit our waters annually to spawn, usually between May and October. This is quite early for them to be here and I don't think I've ever seen them on the Atlantic ocean side of Cape Town before.

I love, love, love, the whales. They remind me of my childhood growing up near the sea and how, on still evenings, we could hear their ethereal calls to each other and their new calves. There are few things as uplifting as a wave from a whale tail, and almost nothing as heart-soaring as seeing one of these giants leap right out of the sea for joy. Welcome home whale friends!

If I thought they'd like apple cake I'd make a zillion and float them out into the bay.

foodie april ~ book club soup

Take one book club, chop finely and sauté until translucent ...

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Foodie April has been continuing at a cracking pace. Honestly I guess it's no different to (foodie) March, (foodie) Feb etc etc, I'm just giving food a bit more attention than usual (who knew that was even possible?), and I'm liking what I'm seeing.

Last week I hosted book club, always a very fun and relaxed thing to do with our bunch of lovely girls, but I have set the bar fairly high for myself in the past making falafel from scratch (ok, okay, tinned chick-peas if you must know but other than that: from scratch) and curry (totally from scratch) with poppadums and the works and other such delights. This time, after my long weekend in Joburg I didn't have that kind of energy, and in the spirit of Foodie April decided on a very simple, very cheap, very delicious soup, served with lots of cheeses and salad and ciabatta. I think it was a hit.

And so, voila ~

Book Club Sweet Potato Soup

about 3-5 large sweet potatoes

1 x onion, roughly chopped 

1 large-ish piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced [and here's a bonus foodie tip: don't you just hate it when you buy a big ole knob of ginger which invariably shrivels up and dries out before you finish using it? Get this: if you freeze it you can just shave bits off it whenever you require and it'll stay fresh n tasty for months. Don't say I never teach you anything ok?]

1 tablespoon red curry paste (you can turn the heat up or down here depending on your audience ...)

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth stock
3 and a half tablespoons lemon juice 
1 teaspoon kosher (or non-kosher ...) salt 
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (this is the most uncommon ingredient, but it does actually make a big difference to the taste, and it'll keep forever so invest in a bottle. You won't be sorry.)

fresh dhania (coriander leaves/cilantro) for sprinkling 

Preheat oven to 180° C. Bake the sweet potatoes for an hour or until tender. Even better if you let them caramelise a bit. Yummo. Remove from oven, let cool and peel (you can even do this a day before the rest, but I'd recommend peeling them as soon as they're cool enough. It's easier that way).

Heat some oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and ginger until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk and broth and gently bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, partially cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Cut the potatoes into chunks. Add to the soup and simmer for 5 minutes. Blend/mash/puree/you get the idea. Stir in the lemon juice and salt. Drizzle with sesame oil. Garnish with the dhania.

Super easy. And super yum.

I am also happy to report that the Foodie April craze (may I call it that?) of cooking simply and cheaply is not an all-encompassing one. This weekend I enjoyed, amongst other things, a wildly innovative and delicious lunch of chicken roasted with a chocolate and chilli sauce (using Lindt dark chocolate no less), an awesomely yummy homemade chicken pie (not in the same meal which would've been weird) and some delightful lady-bug cupcakes. All made by people near and dear to me. The last so sweet that I must include a picture.

They were made by the friend who encouraged me to start on my list of 100 crafty things. She is not participating, but when I see these I think she should be ...

foodie april: part 1 ~ chicken & lemon pasta

As you may have picked up, I'm quite into eating. And cooking. And baking.

One of my favourite ad's recently had a little girl asking her Granny what did they do in olden times without mod cons etc, the Granny responds that they 'cooked and cooked and cooked'. 'But Granny,' says the little girl, 'what did you do for fun?'. Granny replies: 'We baked.'

I totally get that.

But I've started becoming more discerning about what I eat, and cook. Ok, ok, this doesn't seem discerning at all, but if you're going to eat trash you got to do that with flair too see?

And, less voluntarily, I've started becoming more discerning about what it costs. Goddamn stuff is expensive these days!

And also, as much as I enjoy cooking, I do rather hate deciding what to cook, especially on week nights. So I hereby decree that April is all about quick, easy, cheap and delicious recipes. Yup, I'm going to become a foodie blog for a while (in between the usual shit). And I'm totally going to count successful and especially yummy meals as part of my 100 things. When I remember to photograph them. And/or photograph the picture from the recipe. 'Cos obviously mine looked exactly like this ...

Chicken & Lemon Pasta

(adapted from Nigella, stolen from a magazine, but I don't really care 'cos that's another thing about me and my wildly exciting food blog - I don't credit recipes unless I want to. So there.)

1 x packet any kind of pasta you like

1 x large onion, sliced however you like it

2 x garlic cloves, crushed as above

Peel of 1 lemon, sliced into thin strips or ... however you like it

1 x Rotisserie or deli roasted chicken (or some roasted chicken pieces), skinned and shredded

Quarter cup lemon juice

1 and a half cups chicken stock (or vegetable I guess)

Quarter cup roughly chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley and quarter cup chopped basil or rocket (never let it be said I'm a taste dictator)

Salt & pepper

Heat some olive oil, saute onion 'til soft. Add garlic & lemon peel and cook for 2 mins. Add shredded chicken, lemon juice & stock and heat through - about 5 mins.

Add herbs, salt and pepper and simmer.

Toss through cooked pasta and eat immediately with some more of the herbs scattered on top and freshly shaved Parmesan. 

De Lish Us. Trust me.

And no. 18.