I’m a big omelette fan. It’s my weapon of choice for a quick and tasty solitary supper. I’ve recently stumbled across a very tasty filling that has me licking my lips every time I make it. I won’t talk about how to make an omelette since everyone seems to have their own idea. Instead I’ll just discuss the sauce. I actually think that it may make a pretty good pasta sauce too if you make more of it.
Ingredients
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8-12 cherry tomatoes
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a handful of fresh origanum
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a tablespoon or two of fresh parsley
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2-4 anchovy fillets
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a little oil for frying
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black pepper to taste
Preparation
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Heat oil in a small pot at moderate heat
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Add cherry tomatoes and stir occasionally
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Wash and chop the origanum and parsley
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Chop and mix the anchovy fillets with the herbs
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When the tomatoes skins start cracking add the herbs and anchovies
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Fry a short while and then squash the tomatoes to make a sauce
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Simmer for a minute or 3
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Season with black pepper to taste
Notes
This ratio of ingredients recipe can be varied quite a lot depending on your preference. I tend to use more anchovies rather than less. Also goes well with a bit of grated cheddar cheese in an omelette.
Janneke came across a very simiple recipe for chicken with dumplings titled “Umleqwa and dombolo” in a magazine. It translates, aparently, as “African Chicken and Dumplings.” The recipe is quite simple, and also available online. The recipe as published seems to contain a serious typo. It claims that for 4-6 people, the dumplings require 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of yeast and 2.5 kilograms of flour!
After much deliberation (and reading the back of the yeast packet), it was decided that they meant 2.5 cups of flour, not kilograms. We also reduced the sugar to 3 tblsp, which seemed about right. So, without further ado, the recipe!
Ingredients
For the chicken
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1 large free-range chicken
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500 ml (2 cups) of water
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2 cubes of chicken stock (those that are meant for 400ml water)
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1 medium (or large!) onion, chopped
For the dombolo (dumplings)
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250 ml (1 cup) warm water
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2.5 cups (625 ml) cake flour
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3 tblsp (45 ml) sugar
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2 ml salt
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1 tsp (5 ml) dry/instant yeast
Preparation
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Mix all the dombolo dry ingredients with the warm water
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Cover the mixture with a cloth, and knead down after 15 minutes
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Recover the dombolo mixture and start with the chicken!
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Put whole chicken in a large pot
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Add the water and stock cubes. You may want to pre-dissolve the stock cubes with a bit of boiling water
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Cook for 20 minutes on low heat
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Add the onions
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Divide the dombolo dough into 6 portions, and place in the pot. It should rest on the chicken and not be submerged in the stock
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Cover the pot and simmer for 1.5 hours
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You can put the chicken under the grill for a couple of minutes to brown it if you like
Notes
The chicken should be falling off the bone when it is done. The original recipe doesn’t call for grilling, but somehow, in spite of the recipe only calling for boiling, the picture shows a browned chicken! That’s why we decided to do a quick grill. The dombolo seems to absorb some of the chicken flavour while cooking, which is quite nice. So there you have it; simple, cheap and tasty chicken!
If you’re an Afrikaans South African, the odds are that the conerstone of your culinary tradition is “Kook en Geniet”. Following that tome of culinary culture, came the “Huisgenoot Wenresepte” series; a collection that may be considered as addendums to the original “Kook en Geniet.” Having purloined a copy of Wenrespte (vol 1), I have finally started cooking from it. A note though: just about every recipe in here may be classified as comfort food, not really one for those watching their weight. But I digress. The recipe that lead to my theft of sage will be the topic of this post. The basic recipe as published is a little short on detail, so I’ve embellished it a bit.
Ingredients
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800g stewing beef (I used pre-cut “Goulash” cubes)
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flour (I guess one uses about 5 tablespoons, but perhaps that wasn’t quite enough)
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2 large onions, sliced
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rosemary and sage (chopped)
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1 clove
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pinch of nutmeg
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salt & pepper to taste
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frying oil
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500 ml dry red wine (I used Robertson Shiraz)
Preparation
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Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C
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Prepare onions (sliced) and herbs (chopped)
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Cut beef into cubes
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Cover beef in flour (I mixed some salt and pepper with the flour)
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Fry beef in hot cooking oil until brown
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Reserve beef and fry onions in same pan (or skillet if you’re being fancy)
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In a medium casserole dish, place onion aand beef in alternating layers.
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Sprinkle sage and rosemary between each layer. I also added some salt, pepper and flour between each layer.
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Pour wine over everything in the casserole dish.
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Add clove and nutmeg
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Cover casserole and bake in oven (at 180 deg C) for about and hour until meat is tender.
Notes
I think more than an hour was needed, since the meat wasn’t quite tender, and the sauce a bit thin. I used about 2 handsfull of fresh sage which may have been a bit much, resulting in a slightly bitter taste. It also seemed to need a bit more salt to bring out the flavour; this also covered the slight bitterness of the sage. I served it over couscous (instead of the traditional rice) with a tossed salad.
All in all it was very tasty, and I’m definitely making it again. The combination of sage and rosemary with the wine and onions is quite successful. Next time I’ll bake it longer, both to cook the meat better and to allow the wine sauce to reduce a bit more.
Recently I wrote about a Quick Parma ham with fried tomatoes pasta recipe that I tried, but wasn’t quite happy with. Well, the good news is I tried it again following my own suggestions (basically, leaving stuff out), and the result was truly delicious! The final recipe is the same as before, but leaving out the feta, parmesan and olives, using more tomatoes and less parma ham. Just for the record, I’ll write out the complete recipe.
Ingredients
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30g sliced Parma ham
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20g fresh rocket
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20g fresh basil
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Some sprigs of fresh thyme and origanum
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200-300g cherry tomatoes
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60g (I’m guessing) pasta screws
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A little oil for frying
A recipe calling for Parma ham might seem like it would not be very cheap, but you actually don’t need much and it is easy to buy a small quantity from the deli section of most supermarkets. I have fresh herbs growing in my potted garden, so they’re free too :) I’d recommend washing the fresh ingredients before you start.
Perparation
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Start boiling water for the pasta.
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In a heated and oiled skillet start frying the cherry tomatoes over medium heat.
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Remember to start cooking the pasta according to package directions once the water boils and also to remove it from the water when it is done.
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Strip the thyme & origanum from woody stems, and frighten them a little in a mortar & pestle. Guess you could chop them a little if you don’t have such a beast.
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Add the thyme & origanum to the tomatoes.
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Roll up the Parma ham and slice at +- 2cm intervals.
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When the tomatoes look wrinkled and old (from frying!) squash them to let the juice out.
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Add the parma ham, basil and rocket to the tomatoes, and stir around for a bit
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Add the cooked pasta, toss, remove from heat and enjoy!
The end
Well, there you go. Simple, fast, cheap single-portionable and delicious. Do enjoy!
As a semi-bachelor I’m always looking for quick, tasty and preferably not terribly expensive food that is easy to make for one or two people. Tonight I share with you a recipe that almost worked. It was tasty, but the tastes were a bit muddled. Some simplifications to try later will be discussed at the end :)
Ingredients
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30g sliced Parma ham (used about 50g but that’s too much methinks)
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8 Calmata style (or other brown/black) olives
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A quater “cake” of Feta
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20g fresh rocket
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20g fresh basil
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Some sprigs of fresh thyme and origanum
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8 cherry tomatoes
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60g (I’m guessing) pasta screws
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A little oil for frying
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A bit of grated parmesan cheese for garnish.
A recipe calling for Parma ham might seem like it would not be very cheap, but you actually don’t need much and it is easy to buy a small quantity from the deli section of most supermarkets. I have fresh herbs growing in my potted garden, so they’re free too :) I’d recommend washing the fresh ingredients before you start.
Perparation
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Start boiling water for the pasta.
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In a heated and oiled skillet start frying the cherry tomatoes over medium heat.
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Remember to start cooking the pasta according to package directions once the water boils and also to remove it from the water when it is done.
-
Strip the thyme & origanum from woody stems, and frighten them a little in a mortar & pestle. Guess you could chop them a little if you don’t have such a beast.
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Add the thyme & origanum to the tomatoes.
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After a minute or 2 add the olives
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Roll up the Parma ham and slice at +- 2cm intervals.
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When the tomatoes look wrinkled and old (from frying!) squash them to let the juice out.
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Add the parma ham, basil, rocket, and feta to the tomatoes, and stir around for a bit
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Add the cooked pasta, toss, remove from heat, add grated parmesan cheese and enjoy!
Notes & Conclusion
In spite of the number of steps, this dish was very quick to make, since you can do everying while stuff is cooking. Took about 25 minutes from start to finish. Taste-testing while making the sauce seemed very promising, but in the end I was a little dissapointed.I think this recipe suffers from too many good things. I think I could have used less parma ham, since it has a very concentrated flavour. More tomatoes would probably have been good too. Next time I’m going to forgo the feta, parmesan and olives completely; if that seems a bit bland I’ll add ingredients one by one.
These days I use Fatti & Moni’s wholewheat pasta in most of my pasta dishes. Initially I was sceptical of wholewheat pasta, but tried it out because its healthier. Much to my surprise I can hardly tell the difference in taste, and so far it has worked quite well in every dish I’ve tried it in.