Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Fry Sauce

This recipe from Creme de la Crumb

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Buffalo Cauliflower Bites with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce

Image credit Mark Boughton Photography

• 6 to 8 servings
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Cauliflower Bites

1head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets

1tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

Freshly ground black pepper

1teaspoon garlic powder

1/2cup hot pepper sauce

1tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

 

Blue Cheese Dip

3/4cup whole milk Greek yogurt

1 green onion, finely chopped

1/4cup crumbled blue cheese

2tablespoons mayonnaise

2teaspoons cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F; line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread cauliflower in a single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Bake 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle with garlic powder, toss and bake 10 minutes longer.
2. Stir together hot pepper sauce and butter in a small bowl. Pour over cauliflower and toss.
3. For blue cheese dip, combine yogurt, green onion, blue cheese, mayonnaise and vinegar. Stir well. Serve with cauliflower. Serves 6 to 8.

 Recipe from 'Relish'

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Broccoli, Grape, and Pasta Salad

Serves: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 8 ounces pasta of your choice
• 3 cups finely chopped broccoli florets
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• ⅓ cup diced red onion
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups seedless red grapes, cut in half
• 6 cooked bacon slices, crumbled

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pecans on baking sheet and toast in oven for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring half way through.
2. Prepare pasta according to package directions, cooking to al dente. Drain pasta and place in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl combine mayonnaise, sugar, red wine vinegar, red onion, and salt. Whisk well.
4. Add broccoli and grapes to the large bowl with pasta. Gradually add mayonnaise mixture (you may not want to add the whole amount).
5. Cover and chill for 3 hours. Stir bacon and pecans into salad just before serving.

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Pasta with Basil, Tomatoes, Red Pepper and Baby Marrow and chicken (optional)

A delicious, light and nutritious summer dish, quick and easy to prepare.
Serves 4

Ingredients:
250 grams pasta of your choice
4 de-boned and skinless chicken breasts chopped into cubes (optional)
4 medium-sized baby marrows, sliced
4 large tomatoes, diced
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
½ cup chopped fresh Basil, or more if you prefer.
3 tablespoons of coconut or olive oil
2 Chicken stock cubes (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:
In a large saucepan, sauté the onions in the oil for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. Add the chicken cubes or water and cook for another 3 minutes before reducing the heat and adding the garlic, red pepper, tomatoes and baby marrow. Allow to simmer gently without a lid, stirring occasionally.

Cook the pasta to your liking in salted water, drain and add to the sauce. Lastly stir in the Basil and turn the heat off. Allow the pan to stand for a few minutes to incorporate all the flavours before dishing up and garnishing with a sprig of basil.

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Variations: This recipe is most versatile and can also be made using beef; and for those who like it spicy, cayenne pepper or chilli can be added.

(This recipe from "Gardening in South Africa")

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Cucumber salad

With warmer days looming just around the corner here in South Africa, it's time to put all those lovely cucumbers you've planted to use! The benefits of cucumbers are legendary (you can read more here) and they are so easy to prepare. So here's a lovely quick and easy cucumber salad to spice up your life.

1 cucumber
10 black olives
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 spring onions
½ lemon
½ fresh red chilli
5 or 6 sprigs of fresh mint

Run a fork down the length of the cucumber all around it, then halve and quarter it lengthways and cut the quarters across into 1cm (½in) chunks. Put them into a mixing bowl and set aside.

Drain 10 black olives, squeeze out their stones, and tear them into another bowl. Pour over 2tbsp balsamic vinegar and push down on the olives, so the vinegar starts pulling out their saltiness. Trim and finely slice 3 spring onions, then add to the olives.

Drizzle 4tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and the juice of ½ a lemon into the olive mixture and stir really well.

De-seed and finely slice ½ a red chilli and add to the bowl of cucumber. Pick the leaves from the sprigs of mint, finely slice them and add to the cucumber. Pour over the dressing, toss quickly, drizzle over a little more extra virgin olive oil and take to the table and enjoy!

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Macaroni Cheese with bacon

Ingredients
Serves: 4 - 6

• 4-5 rashers streaky or back bacon
• 30g butter 
• 225g macaroni pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 340g grated Cheddar cheese

Sauce

• 475ml milk
• 2 fresh farm eggs 
• salt and pepper 

Prep: 10min
Cook: 35min
Ready in: 45min

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4.

Chop bacon into bits and place bacon in a frying pan. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.
Drain, crumble and set aside.

In a large pot with boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Drain.
In a medium frying pan, sauté the chopped onion and garlic.
Take off heat and add chopped cooked bacon and set aside.

To make the sauce, break the two eggs into the milk, add salt and pepper. Whisk well until all the egg is mixed in.

Place half of the cooked macaroni into a 2 litre baking dish (remember to slightly oil it first so that the macaroni doesn't stick to it). Sprinkle over half of the Cheddar cheese and half of the chopped bacon, onion and garlic. On top of that, place the other half macaroni and bacon mix and cover with the rest of the cheese. Gently pour over the egg and milk mixture and, if required, sprinkle some more grated cheddar over the top.

Bake uncovered in preheated oven until cheese on top is melted and brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve warm.

Of course you can vary the recipe by adding mushrooms, spring onion or any of your other favourites.

Enjoy!

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French-style Omelette

Ingredients
• 10 ml cold, hard butter, cut into small dice
• 3 large farm-fresh eggs, beaten lightly
• A little olive oil
• A little extra butter
• Salt and freshly milled black pepper
• 65 ml grated cheese
• 15 ml torn basil
• 45 ml tiny tomato dice
• Serves 1  

Method
Stir the diced butter into the beaten eggs. Add an extra nugget of butter and a little oil to a pan and place over heat. When the pan is warm, pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook briefly on medium-high heat, about 20 seconds. Turn the heat lower and with a small spatula start to gently push the mixture away from the sides of the pan while tilting the pan so that the uncooked egg can run onto the surface of the pan. Continue doing this until the egg is no longer runny, yet still creamy and moist.

Season to taste and then sprinkle with the cheese, basil and tomato dice. Fold two of the sides of the omelette towards the centre and continue to cook for a few seconds longer to warm the filing. Tilt the omelette pan almost upside down over a serving plate and allow the omelette to slide onto the plate. Garnish and serve immediately.

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.