This week has announced loud and clear that winter is on its way. Last year I missed summer completely. I spent winter in the UK and winter in South Africa due to a series of rather unfortunate events and miscalculations. It did however, really make me appreciate summer this year, even if it was in the UK. But now, alas, it is over. I think the rain is here to stay and thus our evenings of BBQ's will probably have to be put on the shelf till next year, or at least until we get so fed up, that we get out the Golf umbrellas and light a fire under their shelter.
Winter weather calls for winter food. On Friday, I started Mia and her friend off on the "rain-equals-pancakes" tradition,however, they were not very keen on the idea. That left us mommies stuck with a pile of pancakes and nowhere to go. Not that it was a problem as one of us were pregnant (not me!) and found a safe place to give these golden lovelies a home.
Sticking to the general idea of winter, Stefan and I decided to opt for the Comfort Food option last night. Now, I have a bit of a problem with the term "comfort food". Isn't it an odd way to describe food? Does it imply that there are in fact foods that are uncomfortable? For me most foods are pretty comforting but I suppose the "uncomfortableness" of a dish solely depends on your audience and of course, your attire. Eating a messy hamburger with all the trimmings, while wearing a lovely silk evening gown, sitting across the table from William and Kate, may become pretty uncomfortable, for both them and you. On the other hand, sharing this dish with someone like Harry and Chelsea on a beach in Cape Town, wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, may be a lot more satisfactory and yes, comforting. And isn't it true that most comfort foods leave you feeling rather uncomfortable after you've eaten them? I mean, the whole point of these dishes is that once you start eating them, it is impossible to stop. Lets face it, you end up feeling rather bloated and uncomfortable, not to mention the uncomfortableness you are going to feel for the next week trying exercise away all the calories you've just gained. So I guess, to correct myself, Stefan and I chose to make the most uncomfortable food ever last night, pasta. As I wrote in a previous blog, Fluffy Pasta, for me there is probably no better (un)comfort(able) food then pasta. Actually anything starchy will do, but I am particularly fond of pasta. I have probably made every version of it before, except one, and that was Cannelloni, so it was time to tick this little box in my recipe book. But let me start off at the beginning...
To Start:
Last night was a rather cheesy affair yet again. We started off the evening making something that was introduced to me by one of my brother's friends, Blommie. I have no idea what his real name is, but when you meet Blommie, his nickname makes perfect sense. Blommie worked as a waiter in a restaurant near Stellenbosch called the Buena Vista Social Cafe.
It is probably one of my favourite places to go to when I am in the area. Good food, fantastic atmosphere and good waiting staff, what more can you ask for? We were confused as to what to order for starters and he said that we should leave it up to him. Fifteen minutes later he returned with a plate full of little deep fried golden brown little dumplings shaped thingies that turned out to be heaven in a batter. They are probably better known as Jalapeno Poppers. When we were at Kingston market yesterday morning to buy ingredients, I saw Jalapenos on special: 10 for a pound. It is amazing what memories food can bring back. That night, was the last time I had Jalapeno Poppers until last night and the last night that Blommie's dad was alive. He was shot the next day. I guess I will always think of him when I eat these. |
| My local Jalapeno provider |
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| Sun dried tomato and olive heaven |
The poppers are dead easy to make, although very messy. Our Jalapenos were a little bit big for the recipe and I had to cut them in half. I think it would work better with smaller ones as these were rather hard to stuff, but after deep frying anything, who cares about the size. They were delicious. We replaced the bacon bits that the recipe called for, with sun dried tomatoes which worked very well. Of course ten of these giant poppers were far too many for us, but I am relieved to say that they even work as a cold dish. The leftovers were rather yummy this morning, even after spending an evening in the fridge.
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| Giant Jalapenos |
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| Stuffed with cream cheese and sun dried tomatoes |
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| Dipped in flour and milk |
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| Rolled in bread crumbs |
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| Deep fried until golden brown (make sure the oil is not too hot, otherwise the batter falls off the peppers) |
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| ..and serve with a good sprinkling of Chilli |
For main course it was the pasta dish of all pasta dishes; Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni with a Courgette salad and a lemon, garlic and chilli dressing. I promise to move onto a new chef if I can find one whose food I enjoy as much as Jamie's, or if I go bankrupt while trying to work through his recipes,whichever comes first. It is blatantly clear that Jamie has got no money problems. His recipes are filled with really extravagant ingredients. No Jamie, Parmesan does not grow on trees. There is a reason why some people put their cheeses into Swiss bank volts for safe keeping, it is a very expensive cheese, Mr. Oliver. So, when a recipe calls for 4 hand fulls of Parmesan Cheese, one can appreciate the financial dilemma. We drastically cut it down to 2 hand fulls, and I must admit, it was just as good. So unless you are a Mr. Oliver with LOADS of Parmesan in the bank, you can definitely cut down on the amount of cheese he puts in this recipe. It is very rich and very filling but wonderful! It was a bit of an ordeal getting the Spinach and Ricotta mix into the Cannelloni tubes as we had no piping bag or any other bags in the kitchen. The only plastic bags I could find was Ella's nappy bags, so yes, we ate Cannelloni filled with Ricotta and Spinach, piped into the tubes with a Tescos nappy bag. That is what parenthood will do to you.
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| We will not show you pictures of the piping fiasco, but it turned out neat and tidy afterwards. |
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| I cannot even begin to describe how good this was |
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| Courgette salad, with lemon, garlic, olive oil and chillies. |
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| Stefan and I must really take a course in food styling! |
I had no idea what to make for dessert, but thankfully, Nacori came to the rescue. She facebooked me a recipe for Chocolate Cobbler. The great thing about this recipe is, is that the ingredients are simple and I had all of it in the house. I find it fascinating that you can use the same ingredients in a different way and come up with a whole new dish. I cannot recommend this dessert strongly enough. It is dead easy to make, it is dead cheap, and it is death by chocolate! It goes well with either ice cream or cream, but I enjoyed it just by itself. It is one of those perfect recipes for when you are having people over for dinner on short notice and do not have time to run to the shops. Thanks Nacori, I can see the future filled with a LOT of Chocolate Cobblers.
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| Cobbler: Step 1 |
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| Cobbler: Step 2 |
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| I left out taking photos of Step 3, but this is what it looked like after Step 4 (the oven) |
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| And this is Mia, after Step 1 and 2 |
Until next week....
PS. Please feel free to try out any of these recipes by following the links. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions. I still want to try out Gillian's lemon bake pasta, but I will wait till it is my turn again to choose.
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