Lifestyle

Fish cakes do not inspire much enthusiasm in me, but the request comes up over and over again with my clients. Usually I just skirt the issue and try to divert them with other suggestions, but for the client I trained this weekend, the request was very specific as his kids love them.

I needed to getting my ducks in a row around this recipe, as the only fish cake recipe of my own is a thai flavored sesame crusted fish cake, which was not going to be appropriate for these kids. Finally on Friday morning I thumbed through some of my recipe books and struck upon one which seemed sufficiently straight forward (Sonia Cabano‘s easy, simple & delicious – such a great cook book!).

I tweeked the recipe here and there to suit my clients needs and my style of cooking. The end result was coming off the stove just as my two teen-aged nieces and a friend of theirs arrived for lunch. I ended up only getting one fish cake for myself while the rest were devoured to the mumble of appreciative noises from the girls before I could even get a decent picture taken. Suffice it to say they were a hit – with my nieces and my client and his family.

Thank you again, Sonia!

Fish cakes

Makes about 14

400g of potato, peeled, diced and cooked

1 Tbsp of olive oil

1 Tbsp of butter

½ a medium onion, finely chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp of ginger, finely chopped

450g of hake medallions (you can use pretty much any bone and skin free fish)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp of lemon juice

½ tsp of lemon zest

1 Tbsp of fresh herbs (like parsley, dill, chives, tarragon) or 1 ½ tsp of dried

2 eggs, well beaten

150g of bread crumbs (I like well flavoured store bought crumbs)

Oil for frying

While your potatoes are cooking, heat the oil and butter in a medium sized pot on medium high heat. Gently fry the onion, garlic and ginger until soft. Add the fish, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks and combines with the onion mixture. Once the fish has cooked, remove it from the heat and add the salt, pepper, lemon juice, zest and herbs.

Once the potatoes are soft, drain them and mash until smooth. Add the potato to the fish mixture and stir until it forms a soft paste like consistency. Allow this to cool enough for you to handle it without burning your hands.

Form balls about the size of golf balls with the mixture then flatten them into patties about 1.5cm thick. Arrange them on a small tray and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but at best a few hours.

When ready to cook, heat some oil in a large frying pan on medium high heat. Dip the fish cakes into the egg, then roll them in the bread crumbs and fry them until golden brown and crispy.

Serve them hot or cold with your favourite dipping sauce and a selection of veggies or a salad.

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Adam is working tonight at the State of the Nation Address so I thought I would treat myself to a little bacon in my dinner. I am also teaching later so I thought I’d just make a quick pasta, nothing fancy, to eat while finishing some work on my laptop. I have just scoffed down two massive bowls and am now groaning with remorse. But man was it good.

I had no intention of blogging about this so didn’t keep exact notes about the ingredients, but luckily it’s still fresh in my memory so here goes.

Last week I mentioned a dip for crudités I had made, which I would have to remake right away. The reasons were both because it was so good and also because I hadn’t recorded the ingredients while making it and therefor couldn’t share the recipe with you. Turns out, I’ve made it twice since then. It is my new favourite thing.

The name and look of it are quite unassuming but the taste has everything a good dip should have and then some – rich, creamy, savoury, salty base flavour to lift the fresh crisp veggies it is served with. The truffle flavour comes through just strongly enough to add a lovely earthy depth to it, but not too strongly to overpower the other flavours.

Truffle oil can be heinously expensive and hard to come by. I bought this truffle flavoured oil at Woollies for R42, it may not be the most authentic, but still has the fabulous aroma which does the trick. If you have the real thing available, so much the better. I’ve been using it non stop, a little goes a long way.

Truffle scented cream cheese and lentil dip

Makes about a cup of dip

125g of creamed cheese (low fat or full cream)

½ a cup of soft cooked lentils (I used green lentils)

1 tsp of truffle oil

½ a tsp of salt (or to taste)

¼ tsp of freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)

3 – 5 Tbsp of water

Combine the above ingredients in a small mixing bowl and mash with a fork to combine. Add as much water as you need to achieve the consistency you like. The dip should hold its shape but not be too thick. Serve with your favourite dipping veggies. I like cucumber, carrots, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, baby marrow and blanched asparagus.

PS – if you haven’t already voted for me in the Eat in top local food blog awards – please do so by clicking on the icon below, then click on the pink voting button at the top of the page and following the prompts.

If you really really like my blog, then share it with your friends on facebook or twitter by clicking the share buttons on left side of this blog.

Yesterday a campaign by South African Tourism was launched to promote South Africa in the Netherlands and Belgium. I was recommended, by TalismanTravel Design, as one of the people to represent food and they did a short docu clip on me. I was totally blown away when I saw the finished product. It really is so beautifully put together. There is also a great competition attached, so if you have friends in Europe, you should recommend they enter.

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me in my growth as a person and giving me the courage and energy to carry on being true to myself and what I believe in.

 I had a dear friend over for dinner last night. She is one of the few friends who can get away with actually sending me the recipes she wants me to cook for her. The reason she gets away with it is that she gets as excited about new recipes as I do and we have very similar taste. Firstly she insisted I serve her some Pimm’s cup after I had been waxing lyrical about it all week and she sent me two recipe cards from the last edition of Crush online. The fabulous things is the two recipes she sent me had been the two recipes which I had also taken special note of from that edition.

But let me start by saying that I changed my Pimm’s cup fruit and it was delicious! I used cucumber and mint as the standard but I added raspberries and mango as the variation. I diced the fruit this time as it is nice to get a few bits of fruit with each mouth full! Oh boy, I love Pimm’s. 

As a snack for us to munch while we caught up, I served a mushroom scented cream cheese and green lentil dip with julienne carrots and cucumber. This dip was a total fluke, but in Annika‘s words “this is silly good”. I am going to make it again today and will take proper recipe notes this time so I can share it with you.

The main course was the Butternut and mushroom open lasagna with poached egg and hollandaise by Chris Erasmus of Pierneef at La Motte. To make this dish took us about two hours (granted there was quite a bit of Pimm’s and chatter in between). My kitchen looked like a tornado had hit with so many pots, boards, bowls and surfaces used to make the meal. It took two of us to get the meal plated and hot to the table before the eggs started slipping off the hollandaise. BUT the end result was delicious.

There was real synergy between the flavours. The zesty hollaindaise cut through the savory sweet filling; while the egg lent the soothing protein element which would have been missing without meat or cheese in the dish. A very satisfying meal indeed. My personal recommendation however, would be to go to La Motte and get Chris to make it for you himself!

We didn’t end up making the dessert, Francois Ferreira’s Summer Clafoutis, as we were so full. But I have all the ingredients, so may need to whip it up for us tonight. Yum, can’t wait!

For my birthday my Mom gave me her cherished copy of Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking (first published in 1960). The name Elizabeth David holds a sort of royal or magical air to it for me, as my Mom has been quoting her with awe and gratitude since I was born. My mother believes that the discovery of Elizabeth David forms the corner stone of her cookery evolution

She has a writing style which is so expressive, evocative and personal. She doesn’t just write recipes, she shares impressions, stories, experiences, anecdotes and wonderful quotes from other admired authors. She is the quintessential food writer and is hailed by many to be one of the main contributors to the food revolution in Great Britain.

Her book on French provincial cooking is very personal as a lot of what she shares in this book are stories of self discovery and how she came to love cooking. I want to share a quote from the first page of the introduction which for me is what cooking should be all about.

And flippin gorgeous too!

Enough said. 

I have been eating the most perfect mangoes every day for about the last month. I am simply crazy about them. I like them best when they are still firm and quite tart, but bursting with real sun ripened sweetness. You really can taste the difference when they are out of season. They have an insipid taste which is so far from the seasonal mango experience that it really is not worth it. Rather eat paw paw and oranges in winter!

I have grown up with my Dad calling mangoes, smile makers. He had read somewhere that they had a serotonin stimulating quality. Now I have been searching the internet high and low and have found that mangoes are referred to as the King of fruits because of a whole slue of scientific information on how bally good they are for you, but sadly no mention of this serotonin stimulating quality.

I can, however, testify from personal experience that eating a perfectly ripe mango makes me not just smile but beam and that is good enough reason for me to carry on calling them smile makers!

Yesterday my Dad was going to be in the area so I suggested he pop in when he was done. This ended up being 11h30 – so naturally I needed to prepare us a quick lunch. There really wasn’t much in the pantry (which is when I get the most creative), but there were spuds, eggs and a jar of olives… for some this may seem like a strange combo to get excited about, but if you were raised by my Dad – you would have eaten many MANY Spanish tortillas. When my Dad was young he spent many memorable holidays in Spain. Tortillas and gazpacho were two dishes he learned there which he has all but perfected!

Now cooking the perfect Spanish tortilla (potato and egg tart like thing… not to be mistaken for the Mexican wrap) takes slow cooking and patience to get it perfect. This was not on the cards yesterday. So I had to improvise a bit. My dad always adds green olives and often chorizo to his tortillas which give it fabulous flavour.

So my express version ended up being more like a scramble or a breakfast hash – but man, did it taste good!