Mediterranean baked linefish

I’m really getting into these summer vibes, my angels. South Africa is a wondrous place to live – we literally have a smorgasbord of sun-ripened fruit & vegetables available at the moment.  This is our time to get greedy on locally grown produce. No need for the big retailers to be importing naughty fruits n veggies from lands faraway…  All those gorgeous things are now all at the tip of our fingers, it’s so incredibly exciting, don’t you think?!

In light of this, I took a drive down to my favourite fish shop Fish4Africa, which is just off Roodebloem Road in Woodstock. If you’re a fish lover like me and you haven’t been here, step to my darlings. The good folk who run the show will even sort you out with SMS updates to let you know when your favourite fish is in stock. You just need to scribble your details down for them, and let them know what fishies you’re keen on, and they’ll do the rest. They also prepare your fish to your exact specifications – they have a team of talented & keen fishmongers with extraordinarily sharp knives at the ready. Honestly, why go anywhere else?

This is one of the simplest and easiest dishes I could share with you. It’s one of those really versatile meals, where it could be played down slightly for a simple meal for 1, or taken up a few skoochy notches for a dinner party.

Here’s what you’ll need… (Serves 4)

1x500g side/fillet of hake* (fresh is the only option, preferably scaled and filleted the same day) *You could also use yellowtail/kob/gurnard/panga – all these fish are fished or farmed in our waters & are on SASSI’s green list.

½ medium onion, chopped

Paprika, salt and black pepper

1 cup Roma tomatoes, halved

1 cup basil leaves, torn

½ cup black olives, pitted

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp good white wine (we used Du Toitskloof Chardonnay)

And then…

Preheat your oven to 220`C. You’re going to need to create a bag for your fish to bake in. This should be done with foil, as you’ll be creating a lovely sauce in the bottom of the bag to pour over your fish. Make your foil bag deep and strong. Alternatively you could use a roasting bag, but ensure the fish is not cramped inside the bag. Cramping a fish’s style is just not cricket man.

Sprinkle the onions down the center of the foil before placing your fillet of fish on top. Season the fish well with the paprika, salt & pepper before scattering & drizzling all the remaining ingredients over. Seal the fish completely so that no steam will escape, but don’t wrap the fish up tight. There should be enough space for the fish to have a nice sauna in there.

Place the fish bag on a baking tray & bung it in the oven. Depending on the size of your fish, your cooking time will vary. Our 500g fillet of fish took 20 minutes to cook. Once the fish is cooked – remove it from the oven and tear the foil open neatly so that the fish is exposed, yet the juices are still contained to sauce each portion. Top with a few more torn basil leaves and some creamy Danish feta cheese if you’re feeling crazy. Serve it with garlicky new potatoes tossed in olive oil & loads of fresh Italian parsley. I’d have died for some aioli to spoon over the potatoes instead, but I’m trying very hard to avoid the fattynomnoms of life, but you can totally go for your badge if you like?

As BondJamesBond would say, “Born up a Tree.”

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Sandies in Deer Park

Fynbos, cityscape & ocean views. Paradise!

Boy-o-boy did I enjoy myself this weekend!  I’m not sure if it was the long weekend or National Braai Day or the fact that I got to hang out with The Co-Pilot all weekend long, but wowaweewa I had a good time!  I hope you guys did too!  I heard someone mention last week that they thought it was interesting that the biggest thing we have in common culturally in this country (or at least that which all the focus has been put on surrounding Heritage Day) is turning raw meat on an open flame, but I think there’s so much more to it than that, don’t you think?

After a wonderful day of braai-ing on Friday there were lots of yummy leftovers which were surreptitiously packed up into a picnic basket & bundled into the car which sped off in the direction of Deer Park.  I’d never been there before, yet heard so many people gush over how lovely it is, so was super stoked when The Co-Pilot suggested we take our carcinogenic picnicings there..

 

Our little corner of picnicdom next to a lovely burbling stream.

It must be said at this point in time that The Co-Pilot is a master of sandwich-making.  The man is known far and wide for his magical skills with bread and fillings.  No two sandwiches are the same, and ingredients range from random to exotic & always delight the salivary glands.  My cue to down tools, pick up a refreshing beverage & assume a position of chillage.

Assuming the position. Boom!

Some of the ingredients we used: Paul's Chilli; Tarragon Mustard; char-grilled peppers; mixed wild mushrooms & fine beans

We also took along some red onions, tomatoes, some old-school iceberg lettuce (LOVE that stuff) & a big chunk of medium-rare rib eye steak.  Earlier that day we’d got a fresh loaf of ciabatta from the blokes selling bread out their Venter trailer at the Biscuit Mill.  You guys know who I mean right? Of course you do!

Here’s what went down on my sandie:

And The Co-Pilot’s sandie… (it should be noted at this stage that off-camera I am guzzling 1 x nomalicious sandie!)

Go on, tell me you're not drooling?

The Big Kahuna of Yumminess

And then there was none. Well, not much, anyway. Nom!

As you can see, much nomming & chillaxing done.  I recommend you get your picnic baskets out this summer & take advantage of all the beautiful places our beautiful city offers.  Happy Heritage Day!

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Rockin’ raspberry chicken wings

 

There’s no way to fully explain how fabulous these babies are, you just have to make them & tuck in to really get the full effect.  I joined one of those recipe email syndicates (yes, syndicate –read on).  I’m the nerd in the school yard when it comes to those things, because I always send off a winner of a recipe, and get back the most horrendous excuse for a dish ever.  I’m convinced these things are initiated by bossy non-foodies who sit in front of their computers and laugh like Dr Evil at people like me.  Except this time.  This time I hit the big-time.  The jackpot, baby.  The shiny Aston Martin DBS hanging precariously from the ceiling.  Alright, I admit – it’s not that amazing.  But try it out anyway, you won’t be sorry.

This is how it goes… (serves 6)

1 ½ cups seedless raspberry jam – quality in, quality out, so St. Dalfour if you can!

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp soy sauce – we only endorse Kikkoman here, ok?

1 ½ tsp crushed dried red chillies

2 kg chicken wings, tips removed (I know a gal who has a small addiction to crunching on the wing tips, so perhaps remove them at your peril?)

And then…

It’s really simple: Preheat your oven to 180’C.  Combine all the ingredients together in a big bowl – get in there with your hands to get the flavours deep into those flappers.  Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until wings are crispy and cooked through.

You could serve them as a snack at a braai to hold everybody over until the meat has been cooked.  For a more swanky ‘do, separate the joints & discard the wing tips before you cook them – they’ll turn into bit-size pieces of heaven.  Bang!

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Caprese love

As I’m a bit mental about Italian food, I just had to share my favourite salad recipe with you.  Yip, I’m awesome like that.  The trick with all good cooking is the quality of your ingredients.  I know you’ve probably heard it a million times, but it’s that important.

Fresh, unblemished, super ripe tomatoes of varying shapes, sizes & colours; perfect, fresh basil leaves; quiveringly fresh buffalo mozzarella (or a great quality cow’s milk mozzarella will do)… the Holy Trinity of the Caprese.  I don’t need to tell you about how fabulous your extra virgin olive oil needs to be, you guys have totally got that covered, right?  Good-oh.

It may not be all that traditional, but I like to use a rustic home-made basil pesto to toss the mozzarella in just before I serve it.  I finish the salad off with some finely shaved zest of unwaxed, unblemished lemons, which takes the flavours into another dimension.  If you’re a traditionalist, forget I said that, and just go with the naked mozzarella.

This is how it goes: (serves 4)

4 large ripe tomatoes (heirloom; beefsteak; plum; Roma; black; green)

1 punnet yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 punnet mini Roma tomatoes, sliced in half

6-7 large sprigs of sweet basil, unblemished & washed (thick stems removed)

3-4 balls of buffalo mozzarella or boccincini, drained just before serving

Sea salt flakes (Maldon is all I use)

Freshly crushed black pepper (tellicherry pepper is the black gold of pepper)

Optional: chunky basil pesto, freshly grated lemon zest & a good quality balsamic vinegar reduction

And then…

Slice up the large tomatoes into thin slices with a very sharp knife.  Arrange these without too much care or precision on your serving platter.  Followed by the halved cherry & mini tomatoes, and season with salt flakes & black pepper.

Scatter the basil leaves over the tomatoes.  Drain the mozzarella balls, and tear into bit-size chunks with your hands – NEVER cut up mozzarella with a knife, it kills the beautiful lacy texture.  You can toss the mozzarella chunks with the basil pesto at this point, or just scatter them over the basil leaves.

Top off with a good drizzle of that beautiful extra virgin olive oil we spoke about, and some more salt flakes & black pepper.

Get out your aquaplane gadget if you have one, and finely grate some of that gorgeous lemon peel over the salad.  None of the white pith should be included.  Please make sure your lemons are at room temperature, as all those lovely oils where the flavour sits in the skin will be in their liquid state, rather than in a solid state if they’re refrigerated.  Bigger, more lemony flavour release.

If you need to make the salad pop for a dinner party or similar, put the balsamic reduction into a squeeze bottle with a very narrow nozzle.  Practise big, bold zigzags on a dinner plate, so that you feel confident about the motions you’re about to make on your prepared salad.  You can gauge the width of the zig-zag by either pressing softer or harder on the bottle.  Ensure your arm action is quick, so that you get lots of thin zigzags, instead of fewer, thicker ones.  This gives the salad a very subtle sweet, acidic dressing, as opposed to an over-powering flavour of balsamic vinegar, which will totally kill the delicate, fresh flavours of the cheese & the tomatoes.

Boom!

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