Fresh Basil Pesto

To me there is nothing better than fresh, home made pesto! If you are a fan of the store-bought stuff, I'd really recommend you try this recipe, you will never go back. It literally takes 5 minutes!
 

 Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 punnet of fresh basil
• 3 tablespoons of pine nuts (available at some Woolies, Spar and Friendly Grocers)
• A generous glug of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 clove of garlic (if you like garlic!)
• 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
• Pasta of your choice

Method:

1. Place the basil, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic in a food processor.  Process for as long as you like, depending on how fine you like your pesto. I like it quite fine.
2. Add the Parmesan and process again. Assess the consistency, if too dry add a bit more olive oil. If too wet, add a little more cheese or pine nuts.
3. Cook your favourite pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. My favourite is definitely gnocchi, it's an awesome combination with this dish. The gnocchi only needs 2-3 minutes - it is done when it floats.
4. Once cooked, drain the pasta, and return to the pot and mix with the pesto. Cook briefly over medium heat, to warm the pesto.
5. Serve in bowls, sprinkled with pepper and Parmesan, with a side salad if you like.
   

The Best Lasagne. Ever.

This is one of my favourite recipes. It takes a bit of time, but is well worth it! This should be enough for at least 4 people, but I recommend you double the recipe and make two lasagnes and freeze one for next time! It tastes even better if made the day before, or even if just the mince is made the day before...

Ingredients:

For the meat sauce:

• Oil
• 1 Large white or red onion, very finely chopped
• 5 Stalks celery, finely chopped
• 2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
• 500g Extra lean beef mince
• 1 Punnet passata (or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes)
• 75 mls Tomato paste (or one small packet or tin)
• 1 punnet of button mushrooms, sliced (or 1 tin sliced mushrooms)
• 1/2 Cup Red Wine
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• About 2-3 Tbsp of your favourite fresh herbs (I like basil, Italian parsely or thyme in a meat sauce) dried ones also work ok but use no more than 2 Tbsp
• 2 Bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the Bechamel (cheese) sauce:

• Approx. 1 litre milk
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 75g Butter
• 75g White Flour
• Salt
• White pepper
• 1 Cup Grated cheddar cheese

 For the final assembly:

• 1 box (250g) of lasagne pieces, I like the spinach ones
• Grated Mozzarella cheese for the top
• Parmesan cheese to serve

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius about 30 minutes before putting you dish in.
2. Make the meat sauce first: heat a glug of oil in a non stick pan or wok, then fry the onions and celery until they start to soften. Add the garlic and fry another minute.
3. Remove the onion mix from the pan and heat some more oil until it is quite hot, then add the mince in batches to brown it. Browning the mince properly is the hardest part, because as soon as it releases its water, no further browning will occur. So make sure your oil is hot, your mince is at room temperature, and you don't brown too much at the same time... If you don't get it right it's not the end of the world, but the browning does really enhance the flavour.
4. Once all your mince is browned, you might want to drain some of the fat from the meat, then add all the mince and the onions back into the pan. Add the pasatta, tomato paste, mushrooms, paprika and sugar and reduce the heat to simmer. 
5. Add the herbs, bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Leave this to cook while you make the sauce - ideally the longer it cooks, the better the flavours develops, so you could do this the night before, or let it cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Keep an eye on it, though, and add water if it is drying out. The final product should be the consistency of bolognese sauce, not too dry and not too watery. Remove the bay leaves before assembly.

Now make the cheese sauce: this is a real art, which was taught to us by a chef couple we briefly shared a flat with in London...the trick is not to pay TOO much attention to the quantities in the recipe, rather keep an eye on the consistency as you go.

1. Heat the butter in a large pot on medium heat, until just melted. Add the flour gradually and use a whisk to mix it in with the butter. The amounts may vary from the recipe - what you are looking for it a thick and oily consistency, but not dry. if you have added too much flour by mistake, you can add a bit more butter until it seems right. After making this a few times you will get a better feel for how much sauce you actually get based on the amount of butter you start with...
2. Fry the flour for a minute or so - this is the key to a good white sauce as the heat pops the flour, removing that 'floury' taste you sometimes get.
3. Start adding the milk slowly, whisking as you go. Again, check the amount to get the right consistency - you are looking for a thinner than custard consistency, remember the cheese will help to thicken to sauce further.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste and nutmeg, and let the sauce simmer for 3 minutes, whisking frequently.
5. Finally add the grated cheese, again continually whisking. Simmer until all the cheese is melted, and the sauce is at your desired consistency, similar to that of yoghurt or custard, not too thick as it will still thicken further in the oven. Adding more cheese will thicken it further, more milk will thin it. Do not add more flour at this point as you will then get that floury taste!

Assemble your Lasagne:

1. Grab a large casserole dish - preferably a square or rectangular one as the rounded edges make the pasta more challenging! If making only one lasagne, layer half the meat sauce on the bottom of the dish (if two lasagnes, it will be a quarter and so on). Place your lasagne sheets over the meat layer, making sure they don't overlap, but covering as much of the meat as possible.
2. Now layer half of the cheese sauce over the pasta sheets, covering the entire area.
3. Repeat the three layers - meat then pasta then sauce, trying to avoid mixing them too much (this is where you don't want your sauces to be too sloppy!).
4. Finish with the grated mozzarella cheese, and sprinkling of paprika (I like to make a kind of pattern), and cover with foil (shiny side down!).
5. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, remove the foil and cook uncovered. You will know the dish is done when it
6. Serve with crusty Italian bread, salad and Parmesan cheese. Ad maybe a robust red wine!

Greek Feast

 We always call this dish "Greek Feast". Actually its probably not really Greek at all, but its the name that stuck... I guess "Mediterranean Pitas" would have been a better name but it doesn't have the same ring to it.

It serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2-4 Lamb chops, depending on size
• 4 Pita breads (I like the wholewheat ones) or tramazzinis
• 1 Red and 1 yellow pepper
• 2 Small to Medium Brinjals (Aubergines)
• Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Olive Oil
• 1 Tub of Humus (I'd love to make my own but honestly just haven't had the time)
• Some pre-made falafels, if you can find (again, I should be making my own!)
• 1 Small tub (250ml) greek yoghurt
• 1 Clove of garlic, crushed
• Ground Cumin
• 10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
• 10 Cucumber slices, quartered
• Some Greek feta, cubed
• Some Kalamata Olives, pitted

Method:

1. Start by roasting the veg: preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut the top off the brinjals, then cut them into slices, about 10 cm thick, I like to do this lengthways.
3. Place the brinjals into a bowl of boiled water and microwave for around 5 minutes. You will see I cook with these a lot, for some reason I really love them, although I know a lot of people don't! If you really don't, just omit them, but I challenge you to try them in the way I cook them. The secret is to boil them first - the problem with brinjals is they are like little sponges. If you try to fry them, they will just soak up all the oil, they just can't get enough. Boiling them allows them to soak up the water and soften, before adding any oil.
4.  De-seed the peppers, and cut them into roughly 4-5 chunks. Then add the peppers and brinjals to a large roasting tray and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. I like to keep the two veg separate, and then add a splash of balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp of sugar to the peppers, this helps them to caramelise nicely.

1. The veg may need 20 minutes or so - keep an eye on them as the peppers ay start to go black, and any thin parts on the brinjals will cook very quickly. 
2. When you are happy the veg are almost done, grill your chops until done as desired. 
3.  While they are grilling, mix the yoghurt with the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of cumin.
4. Halve the pitas and then add to the oven for the last two minutes, just to heat up.
5. Serve all of the ingredients nicely presented in bowls, and allow your guests to stuff their pitas as they please. I like to coat the inside of the pita with humus and yoghurt, followed by the roasted veg, and then the salad ingredients. Usually there isn't space for the meat, but that could be sliced and squeezed in or just eaten on the side (or easily omitted for a healthier vegetarian meal!).
6. Add any other ingredients you fancy - avocado would go nicely, and I have even served this with roasted butternut and sweet potato - ideal if you have more guests and you would like more variety.

Kingklip in a Lemon Butter Sauce with Asparagus and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Serves: 2
Since I found out my cholesterol was high, I have been trying to have less red meat in my diet, and more veg, lean chicken and fish. So you will see a lot of these types of recipes in the blog! Including more fish has opened up a world of new delicious tastes, and I have been trying new fish varieties every week. This recipe uses Kingklip, one of South Africa's best loved fishes. Unfortunately I found out after buying the fish that is it actually orange on the Sassi (Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) list (www.wwfsassi.co.za<http://www.wwfsassi.co.za>) I do think we should all be aware of conservation in what we eat and buy. Luckily this recipe will work just as nicely with any firm white-fleshed fish. I was shocked to find that amongst the list of orange fishes are hake, east-coast sole, prawns and yellowfin tuna!

I decided to include sweet potato in this recipe, perhaps a bit of an odd choice, but it's one of my absolute favourite starches, and you just can't beat it roasted! It's also lower GI than normal potatoes. I thought the combination really worked, but you could also roast regular potatoes, or serve with rice.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium or 1 large sweet potato
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 400g firm fleshed white fish, filleted
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed (if you like garlic!)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh cream (I used the reduced fat variety)
• Black pepper
• 8 Capers
• Green asparagus spears

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes, and cut lengthways into 4. If very large, the slices can be cut in half again. Place in hot water and microwave for 5 minutes, just to soften them before roasting. Then lay them in an oven tray, coat with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, and roast for about 45 minutes, until crispy and cooked through.
3. Once the sweet potatoes are nearly done, heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan and fry the fish fillets with the garlic and thyme. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness, the fish should come out slightly browned on both sides, and should form large flakes. Do not let it dry out. Add the capers in the last minute of cooking the fish.
4. In the meantime, boil your asparagus for about 4 minutes in salted water, until they are starting to soften.
5. Melt the butter, and then mix with the cream. Heat this lightly in the microwave or a small pot. Just before serving, add the lemon juice and black pepper.
6. Plate up by placing the fish, asparagus and sweet potatoes neatly on a dinner plate. Spoon the capers on top of the fish, and the sauce over the fish and asparagus.