Christmas vegetables

These simple roasted vegetables from Jamie Oliver are a no-brainer for Christmas dinner or a classic Sunday roast!

Serves 10

Cooks In 1H 35M

Difficulty : Super easy

Ingredients
 - 1.5 kg King Edward potatoes, peeled and halved
- ½ bulb garlic, separated into cloves and crushed with the back of a knife
- 1 small bunch of fresh rosemary, separated into sprigs salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 6 tablespoons good-quality olive oil
- 50 g butter
- 2 kg parsnips
- 2 tablespoons runny honey
- 1 small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 1 kg Chantenay carrots, if you can't find any, use normal carrots cut at an angle into 2 inch pieces
- 1 orange , zest of

Method
Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Parboil your potatoes for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and toss around to scruff up the outside of the spuds. Toss with the garlic cloves, half of the rosemary, salt and pepper to taste, 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, and 30g of the butter in a large bowl. Arrange in one layer in a roasting tin and roast for 45 minutes until golden.

For the parsnips, cut them in half lengthways, parboil for 10 minutes and drain. Toss with the honey, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, 10g of the butter and 2 tablespoons of the oil. Lay the parsnips flat in a roasting tin in one layer, and roast for about 40 minutes until golden.

Put your carrots in a pan, cover with cold water and add a pinch of salt. Boil for about 15 minutes or until cooked. Meanwhile, finely chop the remaining rosemary and the orange zest together to mix. Drain the cooked carrots and toss with the remaining butter. Season to taste and sprinkle with the orange zest and rosemary before serving.

Serve with some Cheeky Chilli-pepper Chutney - cooks in 1h and is super easy to make.

Ingredients
 - 8-10 fresh red chillies
- 8 ripe red peppers
- olive oil
- 2 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 x 5cm stick cinnamon
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 100 g brown sugar
- 150 ml balsamic vinegar

Method
If you want your chutney to last for a while, make sure you have some small sterilised jars ready to go. Place your chillies and peppers over a hot barbecue, in a griddle pan or on a tray under a hot grill, turning them now and then until blackened and blistered all over. Carefully lift the hot peppers and chillies into a bowl (the smaller chillies won’t take as long as the peppers so remove them first) and cover tightly with cling film. As they cool down, they’ll cook gently in their own steam. By the time they’re cool enough to handle, you’ll be able to peel the skin off easily.

When you’ve got rid of most of the skin, trimmed off the stalks and scooped out the seeds, you’ll be left with a pile of nice tasty peppers and chillies. Finely chop by hand or put in a food processor and whiz up. Then put to one side.

Heat a saucepan and pour in a splash of olive oil. Add the onions, rosemary, bay leaves and cinnamon and season with a little salt and pepper. Cook very slowly for about 20 minutes or so, until the onions become rich, golden and sticky.

Add the chopped peppers and chillies, the sugar and the vinegar to the onions and keep cooking. When the liquid reduces and you’re left with a lovely thick sticky chutney, season well to taste. Remove the cinnamon stick and the bay leaves. Either spoon into the sterilised jars and put them in a cool dark place, or keep in the fridge and use right away. In sterilised jars, the chutney should keep for a couple of months.

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas and beautiful times spent with family, friends and loved ones!

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Delicious Jaffels

Jaffels seem to be a good old South African treat, and by combining your favourite filling combinations (mine is mince and cheese) it can be transformed in a traditional, quick and charming meal idea.

I've still got one of the traditional, round Jaffel pans (I wonder if one can still buy them?), which I used over a gas flame. But a hot plate works equally well.

No surprises here, the process is simple. Bread must be buttered on the outsides (to prevent sticking) before putting it into the maker.

Prepare your fillings beforehand or you can use left-overs - minced meat, cold cooked chicken, mushrooms, tomato and cheese are but a few ingredients you can use.

Place one slice of bread buttered side down, fill with your choice of filling, place the other slice of bread on top, buttered side up, and place into into the jaffel iron. Cut off all excess crusts, place the maker on a hot plate stove and turn it over to crisp the other side. And voila! delicious jaffels!

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Pasta Alfredo

(Serves 4)

1. Cook 2 Cups durum wheat pasta until al dente.

2. Gently dry-fry one chopped onion in a heavy-bottomed pot, using only chicken stock water when it sticks. When browned, add ½ C water and simmer till soft.

3. Add 3 rashers finely sliced bacon, and toss until cooked through. 

4. Add 1 punnet sliced mushrooms, 1 clove crushed garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.

5. When mushrooms are limp, add ½ tin low-fat ideal milk and 1 t Maizena pre-mixed with a little water to form a paste.

6. Stir until thickened, and serve immediately over pasta.

Top with chopped parsley.

Melkkos

Serves 6
Low carb
Vegetarian, easy, great value, kid friendly
Prep time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes

Ingredients: 

8 cups milk 

1 cup flour 

1 t salt 

2 T ground cinnamon

1 t baking powder 

2 T butter

2 T milk

Cooking instructions:
In a deep saucepan over a medium heat, heat the milk with the sugar until warm. In a mixing bowl, combing the flour, salt, cinnamon (or cassia) and baking powder.
Rub the butter into the mixture, then add the 2 T milk and combine until the mixture has a crumbly consistency.
Add the buttery flour mixture to the warm milk and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve hot in tea cups or small bowls, sprinkled with a little ground cinnamon.

Meal-size salad

If you are trying to 'lighten up' your evening meals without missing out, a substantial salad is the way to go. Packed with the right ingredients, it will be surprisingly filling and of course packed with all the right nutrients.

Start off with a classic salad (think Greek or green) and add a couple of ingredients you don't normally associate with a salad as a side, and voila, you have a main.

INGREDIENTS THAT BULK UP A SALAD

Beans, lentils and chickpeas : full of fibre, protein, B vitamins and all low-GI, so will keep you full. Soya beans are the only complete protein, i.e., provide all 9 essential amino acids needed for a million processes, including energy production and mood regulation.

Grains such as pasta, rice, couscous, barley wheat and quinoa: all provide important carbohydrates and quinoa is wheat and gluten free, low GI and a good source of iron and calcium.

Eggs: a poached egg is all the rage, but there is always space for a good 'ol soft-boiled egg. Fried egg does the trick too! Eggs contain naturally-occuring Vitamin D and their high sulpher is great for hair and nails.

Cheese: Feta comes to mind first, but blue cheese goes exceptionally well with cabbage, or try a slice of goat's cheese with beetroot, shaved Parmesan over iceberg lettuce, mozzarella - legendary with nectarines or tomatoes and basil pesto or Cheddar or Gouda sliced into small blocks and tossed in a salad with baby leeks and red onion.

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The calcium is essential for healthy bones and teeth and the other essential minerals, such as zinc, for skin health and to support the immune system.

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TIP: You can also turn any salad into a main meal by wrapping it in tacos or tortillas, adding cheese and sour cream or mashed avo if you like.

Perfect Poached eggs

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 farm-fresh eggs
• 15 ml white grape vinegar

Method

Pour about 6 cm of water into a large pan and bring to a soft boil. Reduce the heat a little to prevent the water from boiling rapidly as this will cause the whites to detach from the yolks while poaching too fast and becoming rubbery. Now add the vinegar, which will help set the whites more easily.

Crack an egg into a cup. Hold the cup near the surface of the water and gently drop the egg into the water. With a spoon, nudge the egg white closer to the yolk to help the white adhere better to the yolk. Quickly continue doing the same with the rest of the eggs. In between additions, gently spoon some of the simmering liquid over the eggs to cook the tops evenly.

Poach the eggs according to your own taste: about 3 minutes for a soft yolk and up to 5 minutes for a firm yolk.

Remove the cooked eggs with a slotted spoon and dab the bottom of the spoon with kitchen paper before sliding the eggs onto a plate. If the eggs have any straggly white bits around them, use kitchen scissors to snip them off then serve at once.

Salsa fresca

This is a very simple, quick and easy to make salsa that goes with absolutely everything - even bacon and eggs at breakfast.

4 Tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped Coriander or herb of your choice
Half a small onion, chopped
2 Fresh chillies, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Half teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and leave for 15 minutes before serving. Serve as an accompaniment to any bean, rice, egg or meat dish. This salsa does not keep long, so make sure you serve at as soon as possible.

Pilchards Salad with Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes and Cottage Cheese

Pilchards, in any form!, is my latest craving and I've been looking for new ideas of how to enjoy them. This is one of the variations I came up with :

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pilchards,
3/4 cup chopped cucumber,
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon cottage cheese

Method:
Break the fish with a fork, coarsely. Add the tomatoes, cucumber and cottage cheese. season to taste. Mix through evenly, but do not mince the fish. Season to taste. Serve as is or on freshly baked bread. Yummy!

Beesvleiskasserol met Kluitjies

BREDIE:
1,2 kg beesvleisblokkies
Sout en vars gemaalde swartpeper
45 ml olyfolie
1 groot ui, grof gekap
250 ml rooiwyn
1 liter goeie beesvleisaftreksel
2 x 410 g blikke gekapte tamatie
500 g groenbone, skoongemaak en gehalveer
1 x 250 g houer sampioene, grof gekap
250 ml room
Paar takkies vars roosmaryn

KLUITJIES:
310 ml bruismeel
Knippie sout
100 g botter
15 ml gekapte roosmarynblaartjies
180 ml karringmelk

Geur vleis met sout en peper en braai in ’n swaarboompot in warm olie tot bruin. Voeg die ui by en braai tot sag. Voeg die rooiwyn, beesvleisaftreksel en tamatie by en verhit tot kookpunt. Bedek en laat prut vir ongeveer 1½-2 uur, of tot vleis sag is.

Voeg bone en sampioene by en prut verder tot groente gaar is. Terwyl groente prut, meng meel en sout in ’n bak en vryf botter daarby in. Voeg roosmaryn by en sny karringmelk met ’n mes in (soos vir skondeeg) tot klam krummels vorm. Druk liggies bymekaar en skep eetlepelsvol van die deeg op die borrelende bredie.

Bedek en laat prut liggies vir 10-15 minute, tot deurgaar. Lewer ses porsies.


Roosmaryn is 'n goeie krui om saam met beesvleis te gebruik – verál in ’n bredie.

As jy nog nie kluitjies gemaak het nie – die deeg moet lekker sag wees (’n voedselverwerker maak dit maklik), weerstaan tog die versoeking om die deksel op te lig terwyl die kluitjies gaar word. Dis die konstante stoom wat hulle lig laat uitrys.

As jy die pot heeltyd oop- en toemaak, kan die kluitjies toeslaan en sal dit ’n digte, swaar tekstuur hê. As jy twyfel of die kluitjies gaar is, druk ’n sosatiestokkie in die grootste een – as dit skoon uitkom, is
die kluitjies reg.

Bron: Arina du Plessis
Plasing; Henriette Wessels / WATERTAND RESEPTE VIR OUD EN JONK

Romerige Aartappelgebak

Lewer 6-8 porsies

6-8 groot aartappels
45 ml. (3 e) olyf-of kookolie
125 g swoerdlose spekvleis, in stukkies gesny
125g knopiesampioene, in skywe gesny
60g-pakkie sampioensoppoeier of wit uiesoppoeier
750 ml (3 k) melk
gemaalde swartpeper na smaak
125 ml. (1/2 k) gerasperde Cheddarkaas

Metode:
1. Skil die aartappels en kook tot sag, maar steeds ferm. Sny aartappels in skywe en pak die helfte in ‘n lag in ‘n groot oondvaste bak.
2. Verhit die olie en braai die spek en sampioene tot gaar en skep die helfte oor die aartappels.
3. Meng die soppoeier met die melk in ‘n swaarboomkastrol. Bring tot kookpunt en roer aanhoudend vir ‘n paar minute tot dit begin verdik. Voeg peper by.
4. Giet die helfte van die sous oor die spek-en-sampioenlaag. Herhaal met die oorblywende aartappel, spek en sampioene en laastens die sous.
5. Sprinkel kaas bo-op. Bak vir 20- 30 min. in ‘n voorverhitte oond teen 180 grade C of tot goudbruin bo-op.