12 | December | 2011 | Lavender and Lime

I am loving being in The Secret Recipe Club, as I have met so many bloggers! The time difference is the only thing that does not work well for me – the afternoon’s for me are busy, and so I only get to the posts the day after they are published. This month my assigned blog is Good Thymes and Good Food. Rachel is originally from Florida (where some of my family live) and she now lives in Atlanta. I have been to the airport there countless of times, but have never been out of the airport as I have always been in transit. Rachel is a stay at home mom – how blessed her son is

As I also participate in Presto Pasta Nights and my draft folder is empty of pasta recipes, I chose the first pasta recipe I found on the blog. It had so many of my favourite ingredients in the recipe, I knew it would be great, even before I tried it. I chose not to do a holiday recipe, as that is the farthest thing on my mind right now. This is the busiest time of the year for me work wise. I made a little extra for the freezer – there may be a night soon that I don’t have time to cook!

CREAMY PASTA WITH BEEF, SUNDRIED TOMATOES AND MUSHROOMS

ingredients:

4 rashers streaky bacon

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

250g ground beef

salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

120g mushrooms, chopped

¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

15g butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons flour

375mls chicken stock

1/3 cup cream

200g pasta

½ cup frozen peas

½ cup grated Parmesan
method:

add the bacon to a frying pan over a medium heat and cook until crisp

remove from the pan and chop

sauté the onions and the garlic until soft

add the beef and brown

season and add the mushrooms and cook until soft

add the sundried tomatoes and the bacon and leave to simmer

in a separate saucepan melt the butter in the with the olive oil over a low heat

add the flour and cook for at least 30 seconds

add the stock while whisking the whole time

whisk in the cream

add 1 cup of the sauce to the meat and leave to simmer for 20 minutes while you bring your pasta water to the boil

cook the pasta as per the package instructions

add the peas and heat through

add more sauce to your liking

add the Parmesan and allow the cheese to melt

loosen the sauce with the pasta water before tossing in your cooked pasta

Printable Version

I am submitting this recipe to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Rachel who blogs over at The Crispy Cook

Tandy

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I am originally from the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg, and grew up in an area where Italian was the second most spoken language. I am a not quite third generation South African – my paternal grandmother was born here, but not my father. My maternal grandparents were immigrants, and my mother was born here. Afrikaans was not a language I succeeded at grasping. Then, over 10 years ago we moved to what was known as the Boland. We border on the Overberg – two very Afrikaans areas. And, in order to do business, I had to improve my Afrikaans. I am now confidently twee taalig (bilingual) to the point where I could understand the wonderful interview format of the launch of Cape Winelands Cuisine.

This recipe book combines the history of the region and celebrates the cultural heritage of the Cape. It reflects the development of food since the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in the 17th Century. Hetta van Deventer has showcased the very best the region has to offer. The book will appeal to both locals who want to know more about the historical foods of the area, as well as tourists who want to take home a memento of their vacation in our beautiful country. The recipes are about traditional South African foods with the focus on the Cape Winelands. One of the most touching aspects of the interview was how the recipe book was referred to as their baby! Hetta, Mickey and Jacques have created a large baby but despite its size, it is not fully inclusive as there are too many recipes to have put them all in the book. It does however include all the popular dishes, not only the common ones. The recipes keep in mind that not everything is readily available but it does include South Africa’s heirloom vegetables. These old fashioned recipes have been reworked to suit today’s modern palate. Seasonal produce is very important and the regional concept is specific to the book. The dishes are Afrikaans in origin and the Afrikaans names have been used. There is something in it for everyone with a concept of the family table being emphasized.

Our arrival was marked with some interesting dishes and refreshments. I did not try the ginger beer with rose geranium, but I am definitely going to make myself this drink the next time we have a hot summer’s day. The oyster and marrow pie was a unique burst of flavour in my mouth. I found them a bit sweet and also steered away from the traditional cupcakes – kolwyntjies – and mosbeskuit on offer. I decided to save my sugar allocation for dessert and I was glad I did.

Lunch started with a Cape bokkom salad. It was a first for me trying dried salted fish and it is something I would use again in my cooking. The pickled fish was lovely and when I told Dave I had eaten pickled fish he was amazed as he did not know I liked it. He was more amazed by this than by the fact I had also tried offal brawn. The mini Cape meatballs, better known as frikkadelle were not to my taste. Rolpens is another offal dish, known as andolie by the French Huguenots. This dish was not only introduced to the new world here, but also in Louisiana where andouille is a Creole ingredient found in jambalaya. I tasted the pickled tongue which reminded me of my grandmother and enjoyed the lovely homemade bread.

I was slightly baffled that we were not given a choice of main courses but thankfully Linda suggested we share and I got to taste her lovely pan fried Franschoek trout which was served with a sweetcorn fritter, a red wine sauce and turnip dauphinoise. My sweet and sour pumpkin and lamb stew was no match for the fish, but the accompanying wine and company more than made up for it. The dessert of sweet soup with fruit sorbet and fresh berries went down a treat and was followed by coffee. Coffee was accompanied by biscuits, Cape fruit tarts, macaroons, apple marmalade, kwartiertertjies (samosas), oblietjies (small waffles) with cream and cheese tart and preserves. I managed to get a small collection to bring home for David and he really enjoyed the lot.