I first met South African Tracey, back in January at the London Cooking Club, comfort food night and later at some foodie events. Together with Luiz, The London Foodie and London Cooking Club founder, and Jeanne, very successful South African food blogger CookSister, they organised a supper club night to celebrate South African food and wine. Tracey and Jeanne provided twelve delicious recipes, which the guests chose one from a suggested list, cooked and brought to Luiz’s house on the night. I chose one of my favourite foods: ice cream. The pawpaw ice cream was paired with Dr G’s milk tart, easy to make and very tasty. Perfect ending for very hot summers night.
The night started with some pleasant finger food, timbales made with angel hair pasta and
chard, it’s a kind of savoury scone cooked by Tiffany. The vegetarian samosas had a modern take and were served with a yogurt and pickle sauce served with matching wine. They were divine!
chard, it’s a kind of savoury scone cooked by Tiffany. The vegetarian samosas had a modern take and were served with a yogurt and pickle sauce served with matching wine. They were divine!
Canapes: pancetta, chard & pasta timbales and goat cheese & coriander pesto samosas |
Timbales – utterly delicious |
Tracey explaining about South African food and spices |
Jeanne handouts on food photography |
Jeanne educating us on wine and basic food photography |
Part of table setting – nice napkins! |
Heating up the very unusual avocado soup |
Warm avocado soup with Biltong, delectable! Jeanne’s recipe |
preparing the bunny-chows |
no bunnys in sight |
Chicken garam-masala filling for the bunny-chows |
the bunny-chows fast / street food |
mini chicken bunny-chows with home made garam masala by Tracey |
You used the inside of the bread as ‘cutlery’ to eat the garam masala filling. This food originated in the Durban Indian community. During the apartheid regime Indians were not allowed in certain shops and cafes and so the shop owners found a way of serving the people through back windows etc. This is no longer the case, but this dish still being served in South Africa.
The lovely hosts: Jeanne, Luiz and Tracey |
Jeanne’s made up ‘studio’ |
Mains: beef bobotie recipe below, prawn curry with fish masala and sambals |
braised lamb shanks with Pinotage, boereboontjies and yellow rice with raisins |
My dish:
PawPaw Ice cream the recipe:
Ingredients:
250 g condensed milk
500 ml of double cream
1 cup of pawpaw pulp
4 egg whites stiffly beaten
Method:
Mix the condensed milk, double cream and pawpaw pulp (blitzed and sieved),
slowly fold the egg whites. Freeze for at least 24 hours.
I used Brazilian variety papaya |
milk tart and pawpaw ice-cream – recipe below
We all brought a matching wine with our courses, mine was Graham Beck, kindly suggested by Luiz; high quality, non vintage South African sparkling wine made from Chardonay and Pinot Noir grapes, the two varieties are blended separately and then cross blended, bottled and then left for 24 months to undergo secondary fermentation in the bottle. Available at some Waitrose, John Lewis Food Hall Oxford Street, online and Bibendum. It’s very fresh, light and creamy. Perfect ending to our fabulous feast. Thanks and cheers to Luiz and Dr G for being such charming and very welcoming hosts. Again thanks to Tracey and Jeanne for the lovely recipes, organisation, sharing their food, wine and photographic knowledge. Hopefully, from now on no more orange food pictures!
More delicious recipes:
Pancetta, spinach and past timbales
Ingredients:
12thin slices of pancetta
12 Swiss chard leaves, well washed
250gr fresh thin past (angel’s hair)
4 free-range eggs
250gr mascarpone and blue cheese mixed
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
clove of garlic, crushed
salt ad milled black pepper
Method
Coat a 12- muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray and line each one with a slice of pancetta.
Cut
out the tough core of the Swiss chard leaves, then blanch in a large saucepan of boiling salted water. Remove with tongs or a slotted spoon and cool.
Drop
the pasta into the same saucepan of boiling water. Cook for about 3 minutes, until the pasta is just tender, drain and cool.
Squeeze
the leaves dry, then open out ans place a leaf open the pancetta in each muffin pan. Beat the eggs with the mascarpone mix. Stir the parmesan cheese, garlic and season to taste. Mix with the pasta. Turn into the prepared muffin pans. Bake at 190C for about 30 minutes, or until slightly puffed, set and browned. Makes 12 muffins.
Durban Bunny-Chow
Bunnies
are usually served in a quarter of a hollowed-out white loaf. One loaf serves four. You can use brown bread or rolls for starter or cocktail snack.
Ingredients:
Whole spices
Fine spices
The meat
Method:
Milk Tart (Melktert) Ingredients
Method
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Oh I LOVE it!! What a fab post, and so QUICK :o) It was a wonderful evening – such a pleasure to meet you and loved your ice-cream (with the pink sparkles!!). I also love the photos in the post – not often I get to see myself "in action"!! Can you possibly mail me a high-res version of that snap of me, Luiz & Tracey?? Would really appreciate it! 🙂
Wish I had been able to come but the celebration weekend away with the in-laws had been booked for a long time!
I so hope this theme is repeated so I can come!
Thanks so much Rosana. This is fabulous!!! Thanks for sending the pics too… looking forward to seeing you again soon.
This looks absolutely amazing – wasn't quick enough to snatch a place to hopefully next time! Everything looks truly special.
Ooooh and also – what were some of the top food photo tips that came up?
Thanks everyone for reading, for the comments, for twitting and RTs too.
Hi Jeanne, I emailed the hi res. Thanks again for the lovely time. Must get together soon.
Kavey, I hope so too. It was inspiring. Very glad I went. Delicious food.
Tracey, looking forward to seeing you soon too. Please keep me updated with any news.
Hanna, It was fantastic. Do contact Luiz to book a place. Jeanne gave us a handout and showed us the cameras settings, which varies from camera to camera etc. Must get together soon too.
And would you believe… my post of this lovely evening is finally UP!:
https://www.hotandchilli.com/2011/06/evening-of-south-african-food-wine-and.html
Better late than never… ;o)
This was a perfect event. The images show the real happenings at this event. What spices do you used for food preparations?