A common tern at
sunset
In
this week’s MENU:
The Elgin Cool Wine and Country Festival Sing for your supper Sense of Taste Cookery course for domestics Joubert & Monty Biltong and Pinotage
Festival Blaauwklippen Blending Competition Bacon and Spinach Quiche Learn about wine and cooking
We write about
our experiences in MENU, not only to entertain you, but to encourage you to
visit the places and events that we do. We know you will enjoy them and we try
to make each write up as graphic as we can, so you get a good picture of what
is on offer at each place, restaurant, wine farm, festival we visit.
To get the whole story with photographs,
please click on “Read on.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will
lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each
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TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
A relaxing weekend We have had
a nice quiet Easter for a change, We were going to go away and suddenly the
time slipped by, all our visitors went home and we decided just ‘kuiering’ (loose translation: comfortably and
socially visiting) at home was going to be lovely and restful. Avoiding
potential mayhem on the roads was an added incentive. We had so much to catch
up with and also spending days doing exactly what you want to do - which might
be absolutely nothing - was very appealing. Lynne has nearly caught up with
Masterchef Australia, UK and Professional and Junior Bake Off and John did some
gardening and watched some sport, which he loves, even though the Stormers’
match was a great disappointment!
The Daily Dish “Daily Dish – South Africa's first internet start-up to offer a yummy,
ready-to-prepare home meal kit delivery service – has partnered with Fairview
to expand the company's foodie offering. “ We were asked to take part in an
experiment by this company who deliver a hamper of food for four meals in a
week with the recipe either for two people or four.
They offered to send us a box
and we said great, we would then invite friends who are vegetarians and we
would cook two of the dishes. We completely misunderstood what was in the
boxes, we assumed we would be able to cook out of one box. What we actually received
– and it was, impressively, delivered on Easter Monday - was two boxes, one for
a Banting diet with four meals for two people and another Vegetarian box with
another four meals for two. Which was extremely generous of them. We have
cooked one vegetarian meal and three Banting meals so far. The last Banting
meal of steak strips with peppercorn sauce will be cooked for supper tonight;
then we will move on to the other three vegetarian dishes. This was because we
had to use up the fresh meat supplied by today.
“This
is directed at people who are too busy to cook, or those who simply relish the
convenience of having recipes with exact ingredients that they can quickly and
easily prepare delivered to their home or office. With its ultra-fresh
ingredients, tasty recipes, and outstanding service, Daily Dish has grown so
popular that the company was recently prompted to expand its delivery base to
include Johannesburg and Pretoria, as well as suburbs and towns outside the
Cape Metropole.”
If you are interested in this
concept, have a look at their website www.dailydish.co.za for more
information, recipes, and to register if you like the idea of this service. We
have taken pictures of what we received and what we made and written the full
story so Read On
The Elgin Cool Wine and Country Festival This is going to be on the weekend of 2nd
and 3rd of May and is usually great fun. If you can find accommodation and stay
for the two days of the festival you will have a marvellous time sampling the
events that the farms involved have planned. For instance Oneiric is not only
opening its doors at the Cool Wine & Country Festival, but also throwing
together the option of either lunch or an afternoon session with the incredible
Watershed. Festival tickets to sample all 18 Elgin winerys’ wines over the two
days can be booked through http://www.webtickets.co.za. To see
what is on offer check out the Facebook page of Elgin Valley Tourism.
Sing for your supper Something
fun to try. We have been to one of these and had a great time. On Saturday 18
April at 7pm, opera singer Monika Voysey and chef Marc Wassung will join forces
to present an elegant Spanish themed soirée that will feature glorious arias
and food, at the beautiful Welgemeend Manor House, Welgemeend Street, Gardens.
It starts at 7pm and tickets cost R350 per person, and includes sangria, tapas,
a main course and dessert, and the opera concert.
Booking is via 076 423 8191
or monika@singforyoursupper.co.za.
Guests are encouraged to dress according to the theme.
Sense of Taste Cookery course for domestics This is something we know some of you are
looking for. The course is great way to train the Housekeepers to become more
confident in the kitchen…..understand seasoning, cooking methods, knife skills
etc. The current course starts on the 18th of April and will be held
on 5 consecutive Saturdays from 10 to 4 pm, so if you are interested contact
Debbie Ayub at Sense of Taste 082 337 6240 Tel: 021 5110426 chef@senseoftaste.co.za or see their
website www.senseoftaste.co.za/school/ for more information.
This is an accredited City and Guilds course.
The first Joubert & Monty Biltong
and Pinotage Festival will held on Saturday, 18 April 2015
from 11h00-18h00, at L’Avenir Wine Estate and will have 2 guided tastings at
12h00 and 14h00. Only 20 tasters can be accommodated per tasting. Pre-bookings
are essential at info@lavenir.co.za,
Tel: +27 21 889 5001 or Tasting Room: 076 267 9172. The cost is R50
per person. Ticket price at R150 pp includes a branded wine glass, free wine
tastings, a biltong cup and coupon booklet. Bookings at www.plankton.mobi and selected
Joubert and Monty outlets. Visit www.joubertandmonty.co.za or J&M’s Facebook page
to find the outlet closest to you. Wineries taking part are: Anura Vineyards,
Ayama Wines, Badsberg Wine Cellar, Beyerskloof Wines, Boland Cellar,
Diemersfontein Wines, Kaapzicht Estate, Lanzerac Wine Estate, L’Avenir Wine
Estate, Mellasat Vineyards, Perdeberg Wines, Rhebokskloof Vineyards, Remhoogte
Wine Estate and Windmeul Cellar.
Blaauwklippen Blending Competition It’s that time of year again. Call on all your
wine club friends, because this year you could be the winner of the 32nd annual Blaauwklippen Blending
Competition. Register on the Blaauwklippen website. http://www.blaauwklippen.com/bbc/wine-society-registration/
This
week’s recipe is one from Daily Dish, the one we enjoyed the most. It’s a
classic quiche, it just doesn’t have any pastry base, so it is probably more a
frittata than a quiche. But there is nothing to prevent you from putting the
contents into a pastry case should you wish to. The quantities are big, so we
found the recipe for two might well do two meals.
Bacon and Spinach Quiche
For
4 (halve quantities if you want one for 2)
500g bacon, cut into thin strips – 1 red onion, finely chopped – 2 T
butter – 1 t olive oil – 100g chard spinach, cut in strips – 175g mature
cheddar, roughly grated – 125ml cream – 6 eggs – salt and pepper
Preheat
oven to 200°C. Fry bacon in a dry pan over medium to high heat until done to
your liking. (Crisp is good). Heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat.
Cook onion for a few minutes until translucent. Turn the heat down and add the
spinach, cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring until it wilts. Remove from the
heat. Whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
Add the cheese, onion, spinach and bacon and stir well. Butter a large pie or
quiche dish and pour in the mix. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until just done.
Check by inserting a knife in the centre, it should come out clean. Let the
quiche rest for 5 minutes before serving. Cut a slice for each plate.
Lynne
did fry the bacon and then the onions in the same frying pan. We like our
vegetables, so we accompanied this with steamed green beans and broccoli; you
could also make a salad.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from
people who want to learn more about wine. Cathy
Marston and The Cape
Wine Academy both run wine education courses, some very
serious and others more geared to fun. You can see details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken
over the UnWined
wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become
professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
In addition to his
Sense
of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a
four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details
here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek
and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more
details here
Emma Freddi runs
the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia
Nicolette van
Niekerk runs baking courses at La Petite Patisserie in Montague
Gardens
George Jardine
will be running a series of winter cooking courses and other activities at
Jordan. Details here
9th April 2015
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor
& Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take
small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South
Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made!
Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian and standard or Dutch-flavoured
Afrikaans.
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Recommendations
of products and outside events are not solicited or
charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs,
recipes and text used in these newsletters and our
blogs are ©John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus.
Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals
and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go
independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed
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