Pork Hock Ragoût with Cabbage

This is a favorite cut of pork for me. It is also one of the cheapest and tastiest pork cuts. The bone and gristle and skin break down during slow cooking to make a rich succulent broth. I call it a  Ragoût because I had some Fench  influence when I was researching it. It also meets my "Health Food" requirements because the Skin and fat is skimmed off before serving, leaving very little fat.
Here you see it half way through cooking...

And here it is for the final 30 minute after removing the fat and adding the cabbage and baby peas...

Ingredients:

1 large pork hock or 2 or three pigs trotters (with hoofy bits removed please!)
1 large carrot peeled and cut into rounds.
2 medium onions chopped coarsely
1 cup fresh or frozen baby peas.
3 cups chopped cabbage.
6 or 7 fresh green curry leaves. (this is a bit of a secret ingredient for a unique flavour and is rather special, however 7 or 8 bay leaves can be used instead)
5 garlic segments chopped
1 heaped tablespoon fresh grated ginger.
1 chopped green chilly. I would use 3 but my wife does not like spicy food.
1 glass sweet or semi sweet wine.
Method:

It very simple really and is a dish that can be left to "Get On With Itself"
Cook the onions in a little oil until lightly browned. Add the Hock, the carrots, and cover with water and the glass of sweet wine. Sprinkle the herbs and garlic on top and arrange the curry leaves so that they are easy to remove during cooking. Now bring to simmer for 3 hours. Let the liquid reduce as much as possible without burning the meat. Half way through remove the curry leaves or leave in longer according to taste. Halfway though is about right though. Let it cool slightly and then break up all the meat. Remove the bones and skin and any floating fat. Leave a few globules floating though because a lot of the aromatic oils found in the herbs are trapped in the fat. Add the chopped cabbage and baby peas and bring back to simmer for a further 30 to 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Carefully turn the vegetables into the meat broth during this final cooking. Season to taste and serve.
I served this last week as a savory relish with Firm Polenta. We call it Sadza or Nshima in our region.

Lasagna a la Roger

I am happy to say that all three of my boys have followed my love of cuisine and producing special meals. Roger is a talented Wild Life Artist and his artistic streak has affected his cooking too! Visit his blog , Roger Brown Art of The Wild. It is in my links on the right hand side of this page.

There are many cultural influences that have caused the slow evolution of uniquely Southern African food, and Italian is one of them. There are many Italians in Southern Africa. However in the early years many of the real Italian ingredients were not always found very easily. Things like Roma tomatoes, the proper pungent purple garlic, fresh pesto ingredients and even the right flour to make Pasta.

South African cooks improvised. Here is Rogers version of Lasagna. His addition of pork sausage meat makes this particularly tasty. He has used easily available dried herbs and canned tomatoes.

Ingredients:

Meat sauce

500 g lean beef mince

500g pork sausages

800g tin chopped tomatoes

2 onions

Heaped tespoon dried Origanum (half cup chopped fresh if available)

Sweet basil (half cup chopped fresh if available)

3 cloves garlic

Salt black

Pepper

250g Lasagne sheets

White sauce

1 litre milk

2 large table spoons butter

2 table spoons cake flour

Black pepper heaped teaspoon.

Salt

Half cup grated mozarella and cheddar mixed.

Method

Start off frying the onions in a little olive oil

Add chopped up pork sausages and then the mince ,brown them well.

Add garlic, origanum and sweet basil and the salt and a tablespoon of sugar

Once all brown  add the tinned tomatoes, tomatoe paste and tomatoe sauce

Let it simmer for about 30 min or more.

While that is simmering make the white sauce..

I do this by making a roux. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter on low heat ,then add 2 table spoons cake flour. Add the milk very slowly, adding more only when all lumps have been mixed out. Keep stirring continuously until thick then add salt and pepper and the grated cheese.

Put 3 cm layer of meat sauce in the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish. Then layer the lasagne sheets (Soak them in warm water for 5 min beforehand to soften)

Next layer white sauce then meat sauce then sheets and continue as many times possible. I normally get two layers of each. Finish layer should be white sauce with cheese on top. Grind fresh parmesan cheese over the top if you can get it. Bake in oven for 30 min or until top is well browned at 250C (480F)

School Lunch Healthy Chicken and Chips with Peas

Chicken Chips and Peas is a very old favorite of mine. It was born by my English Grandma who used to give us this meal for lunch once a week after school!

I modified this recipe a bit to conform to my new health regime and yet I have to say it was still very similar to Grandmas lunch.
 Ingredients:
Serves two hungry schoolboys.
two large leg and thighs.
Cup of fresh or frozen green baby peas
About three medium potatoes peeled, chipped and parboiled till almost soft. (Yes par-boiled!)
minced or chopped garlic.
fresh ground black pepper.
Mild extra virgin olive oil. (Here's the healthy bit..no deep frying!!) Olive oil is actually GOOD for you.
Method
If using frozen chicken, first of all defrost thoroughly your chicken leg and thighs. It is best to do this overnight in the fridge.
Start the meal by getting the meat going.
Dash a little of the olive oil into a large pan which has a lid. Season with the ground pepper and rub the minced or chopped garlic over the meat. Start turning the heat up until the meat is just sizzling. It will probably be at about 25% of your dial. This is grandmas secret method. Very slow frying. Expect this to take an hour. 30 min on each side. Don't turn more than necessary. A certain amount of liquid will form, but leave the lid off long enough for it to steam off then resume with the lid on. This combination of frying/simmering in liquid is the key to truculently tender meat after about an hour.
Whilst this is going on, lay your parboiled chips out in an oven dish and drizzle a little olive oil over them. Shake and coat as best you can. Put into the oven at 200C (390F) Once its sizzling gently toss again and turn individual chips carefully to coat with the olive oil. Let them brown lightly, tossing as required.
AT THE SAME TIME!!! O' harassed cook, put your peas into a small saucepan with a lid and a teaspoon of REAL butter. Yup. our one exception to strictly healthy food. Baby peas without butter are just not worth eating in my opin! Again gentle heat until the butter melts and the peas steam cook for about 10 minutes.

Serve with ice cold coke in the bottle with a straw!

Health Food

I know my family, and especially my wife, is going to laughh at this post and the new category "Health Food" because we have a bit of a joke going on in our family, many years old. By the way, "Health food" as I have titled it, in my eyes represents the following: Crunchy stuff, hard nutty stuff, dry dusty bran, hard as stones dry raisins, tasteless soya stuff, plain boring meals stuffed full of strong spices and herbs to try and liven them up, no sauces, tons of brown or gritty looking rice etc etc ad nauseum!

You will no doubt conclude that I have had very very bad experiences with "health food" over the years.
But...BUT.. This must change. I am going to have to have a total re-think at this whole health food thing. A check up at the doctor two weeks back revealed that I have high blood presure and I need to do something about it.
So my mornings now start off panting and gasping and stumbling around in the half dark over my wifes skipping rope whilst trying to dream up tasty healthy meals which don't break my gastronomic spirit!

I have a few conflicts though. My cooking lore dictates that flavours are trapped and carried by fats. I also am an old fashioned cook that bases meals around meat and then add side dishes to balance the predominant flavour.
So... I am determined not to slide of into that demoralizing foggy area of tastless food bland veggies and no fats. Rather I will work hard to design meals that still contain meat, fish and poultry, but that are healthier (cholesterol wise) yet are still flavorsome and satisfying. Smaller meat portions will replace large and compensate for some of the less healthy components like a bit of butter, skins left on poultry, a nicely marbled beefsteak from time to time as well as pork, lamb and offal.
So expect some changes ahead! By the way I have learnt a lot from a fellow foodie blogger Adura, who like me is African (she black African and me White) and who blogs very practically about health, beauty and fitness as well as food. Her blog is here . Another, is a very gifted person, also an African, living out of Africa who prepares fantastic franco/african food with a Cameroonian theme. She is here..LAM BASSA'A

African people, especially those living in rural areas in Southern Africa are ten times more healthy than Westerners. You will note for example in Lambassa'a just how much natural ingredients she uses. Although living in London (or thereabouts I think!!) she sticks with what she knows.That is most likely how she was taught and brought up. Most African people here eat a lot of cereals, beans, root vegetable and fish. Meat is pretty much a luxury apart from fish and shellfish in some regions.

Anyway, look forward to some great but healthy food still with an African style in the blogs ahead.

Deep Fried Calamari Rings

Fried Calamari is a huge favorite seafood in Southern Africa. It is found on most restaurants menus. I cooked a batch this week and decided to share it here. Many people shy away from cooking it at home. This is often because of bad experiences with results. I must say at this stage that the length of cooking time and the temperature of the oil is of paramount importance. A few seconds in the oil too long and you get rubbery meat! There are actually very few restaurants that get it right either.

To start with, you need good quality fresh rings. I have found that the South African Breco brand of ready prepared quick frozen rings are of consistent quality and the right size. If you dont have to prepare and clean the whole Calamari yourself then dont!! Its messy, but I must tell you that the results are quite a bit better than using frozen.

Ingredients for 4 servings.

800g prepared cleaned rings.
fine fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg well beaten..
As you can see the ingredients are simple. It is the process that is tricky. Yet it is also simple...it just needs to be done a certain way.

Method

Dry the rings thouroughly. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I do it by making a pouch by holding the 4 corners or a clean dry tea towel. Put the rings in and then toss the rings by patting upwards with the other hand. Keep doing this and even change the tea towel for a dry one. Take your time and do the job well. I do not put the rings into flour before egging and breading them. I find this way produces better results. The crumb coating sticks and sets more firmly and doesnt come off in the cooking.

Next drop the rings into the egg and then after coating them drop them into a pan of breadcrumbs. Shake and toss until well coated. Remove and leave to set for an hour at room temperature.

Put clean cooking oil onto heat and put one ring or a piece of one into the oil and wait for the oil to heat and brown the ring. When it is well browned turn your stove top to keep the temperature the same. I do it by turning the knob back slowly until I hear it click. Try it! It works every time and is the most foolproof way of getting the temperature right. Now cook in batches of 10 rings. They should not be in the pan for more than 50 to 60 seconds and should be removed when they are a pale straw. As a general rule, rather have oil too hot.
The best way of eating these in my opinion is with a simple gherkin and caper tartare sauce or a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Lamb Loin Chops ala Angie

In the last week we have enjoyed incredible South African Lamb. It has to be some of the most flavorsome and meltingly tender lamb available in the world! I think the only comparable lamb is found in countries like Greece and Turkey where the animals get to graze a lot of natural and aromatic herbs like wild sage.
My wife Angie, cooked such a simple, delicious meal of lamb chops last night, that I am inspired to record it here, as well as the barbecued version I did over the last weekend.

photo credits thanks to cavegirldish.com and huffingtonpost.com

All she did was place them in the oven, close under the grill for 30 minutes. I detected a dash of freshly ground black pepper. She served it with Mashed Butternut squash and fried potato cubes and it was really awesome. It humbled me a little because it reminded me that sometimes we tend to "overwork" our herbs and flavors.
With the same batch of Lamb Loin Chops, I put together a barbecue, or braai as we call it here in Southern Africa.
Mt lamb chops were sprinkled with chopped rosemary, freshly ground black pepper and a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar. This was then braaied over medium coals (strictly no flame) for about 10 minutes each side. They were INCREDIBLE! We ate them by the fireside with freshly roasted sweetcorn. Just that.

Mussels. Quick and very delicious!

Back to South African seafood..
Mussels in South Africa are still very cheap and easily found. They are frozen but that is fine. They are also farmed extensively and to be quite honest, the farmed mussels are far nicer than freshly collected in my opinion. Maybe its just because there is no grit, no beardy bits and no sore hands!! Just a tip for collected mussels. Put them in a netting bag overnight in a rock pool. They will purge any sand. Dont even try and pull off the beardy bits like all the cook books tell you...snip them off with kitchen scissors. To open and remove the half shell, just dump the mussels into a large pot of boiling water for a minute, then drain them. Use a small sharp knife and sever the muscle on the inside of one shell half and break off that same shell half. But like I said. Rather buy frozen prepared half shell mussels!

Ingredients:

For a good large snack or light meal for 4 people, use one and a half kilo of half shell mussels.
4 segments of finely chopped garlic
if you can get, fresh dill finely chopped
bread crumbs
cayenne pepper
250ml butter melted. You can also use a light olive oil which gives a whole different flavor slant. I often use half and half as I find butter a bit rich for me personally.

Melt the butter and add the garlic, black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper. DONT cook the garlic. You need pure flavor here.
Lay all the shells out on a baking tray and spoon the melted butter and garlic into each shell. Sprinkle with the chopped dill and a pinch of breadcrumbs which helps capture the juices. Grill until the mussels just start to shrink and serve immediately in the pan with fingers of fresh bread to mop up the juices! There will be No complaints I promise you!