The Corkless Mind

Author: Dominique Solomon

  • Coconut and Lime Panna Cotta.

    Coconut and Lime Panna Cotta.

    This week to compensate for no ‘unusual suspects’ installment, I’ve been fixated with coconut and lime, so very versatile, from sweet to savoury there’s no limit to what you could do with these beautiful tropical ingredients. Even though it’s full on winter, during the day the sun has been making quite an appearance however with a bitter cold snap lingering. With that in mind, my palate needed some relief from the wintery, hearty stews and rich soups. Inspired by the rich and creamy texture and earthy flavour of coconut and infatuated by the perfumed zesty flavour profile of Lime, I made a coconut and lime Panna Cotta.
    The recipe is a simple Panna cotta one, of which I borrowed off of Delicious. Possibly one of my favourite sites at the moment, so many ideas and inspiration that keeps changing on a weekly basis. I tweaked the recipe a bit to taste. That’s the best thing about recipes, they are mainly guidelines to which you can make it your own and experiment.

    I took these photos in two different sessions in the same day, so as to get an indication for when the best time for the best kind of light is (in winter that is)…  Respectively taken Early morning and late afternoon. I find I am still trying to figure out my style of shooting and styling, this may take some time together with experience.

    I used toasted coconut shavings, coconut milk and lime zest as a garnish.

    “What I’ve enjoyed most, though, is meeting people who have a real interest in food and sharing ideas with them. Good foodies a global thing and I find that there is always something new and amazing to learn . I love it!” – Jamie Oliver.

  • The Ultimate Toasted Sarnie.

    The Ultimate Toasted Sarnie.

    This has to be my go to comfort food it’s quick, easy and oozing with melted goodness. I made three different toasted Sandwiches, a Nutella and Caramelized banana, an oozing egg and cheese toastie, and for the ultimate one a Gorgonzola and Caramelized pear with rocket. All of which were on freshly baked Brioche loaf. 

    Picking a favourite, was a tough task, but somebody had to do it! For me, it’s the Gorgonzola and Caramelized pear with rocket. Simply because of the complimentary contrast in flavour of the earthy Gorgonzola together with the sweet Caramelized pear and peppery crunch of the rocket, for me is a match made in heaven. 


    I toasted the brioche toasties in a non stick pan over high – medium heat, with lots of butter (please no margarine) butter is rather costly, but I prefer to splurge on one or two items a month, and this is it. The melted almost burnt butter imparts a nutty flavour and creamy warmth into the toasted sarnie. For the simple cheese toastie, I added more cheese on top of the bread to create a cheesey crust, this is the ultimate top tip for more crunchy goodness! I used Gorgonzola and a mild soft Mozzarella. Look for a mild flavoured cheese that can melt easily. I usually use a Gouda cheese. Also, grate the cheese finely to make the melting process and time that much quicker. 


    Everyone has their own way of making toasties, which I think could be indicative of their personality, same could be said for style of cooking. 

    A special mention to Ou Meul bakery at Willowbridge (Tygervalley) for especially baking a loaf of Brioche for me. Unfortunately they no longer bake them for their usual menu. If you can’t find any brioche loaves, a normal white loaf or brown, low Gi (if you will) works just as well. I used the brioche because of its sweet buttery soft texture and taste. For me, this is the ultimate and indulgent vehicle for a great toastie.  

    “I don’t believe you can ever really cook unless you love eating” – Nigella Lawson. 

  • Unusual suspects – The Guava.

    Unusual suspects – The Guava.


    Winter is finally upon us, and with that comes the kind of comfort food that requires stretchy clothing to consume copious amounts of the heart warming genre of food. For me, the arrival of seasonal Fruit such as the Guava, signifies the start of winter.

    Being a single mom of three daughters, my mom never really had the time to stand over a hot stove for hours in a kitchen, but when she did, my mom made the most delicious yet inexpensive chocolate cakes and Swiss rolls with that yummy tinned caramel spread sandwiched in between. Watching her create such homemade masterpieces, I was in awe, I think this is where my love affair with food ignited . I recall we had a incredibly tall guava tree(which I used to climb all the way to the top) and whenever they were in season, we had an amazing bounty of Guavas that we gave away to neighbours/family or my all time favourite dessert would become of it, my mom stewed the tropical fruit in a syrup of water, sugar and spices, served with a generous dollop of box custard. To this day I am guilty of the ultimate sin, I love box custard, there I said it! Inspired by this memory, unusual suspects is all about Guavas this week.

     Instead of stewing or poaching the guavas, I roasted them with a 100g of sugar, juice of one fresh lime, a vanilla pod and star anise. Roasted until tender. I left the skins on the guavas as I find they are packed with flavour too. To accompany the roasted guavas I made a syrup cake, made with 85g of flour, 1 egg, 100g butter and 110g of castor sugar, beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy, add the egg and mix till fully incorporated, sift in flour and fold till just combined. Caveat: don’t over fold, you’ll end up with a stodgy crumb, to achieve a light and airy crumb, gently fold. Bake in a preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) in a lightly greased muffin tin for 15-20 minutes. Pierce several times and pour syrup of roasted guavas over the cake. Allow to cool and soak up. 

    The photos were taken between 14:00 and 17:00 yesterday on my balcony, whilst the stormy clouds were rolling in. 

    “Cooking is about emotion, it’s about culture, it’s about love and memory” – Massimo Bottura. 

  • Prawn toast and Kimchi 

    Prawn toast and Kimchi 

    Prawn toast and kimchi 
    Inspired by a tapas meal I had a while ago at a Japanese inspired restaurant, we had all ordered a variety of different dim sum, some fried and some steamed. There was one stand out fried dim sum, Prawn toast that was insanely good, till this day I remember how beautifully balanced in umami and how crispy crunchy the dim sum was. In a mission to find out how to recreate this bite sized treat at home, I found a recipe on Good Food Australia that’s incredibly simple and looks amazing too! 


    Last week I made a batch of kimchi, recipe found on Woolworths Taste. This is by far some of the tastiest Kimchi I’ve had in a while and bonus for how quick and easy it is to make, here’s what you need: three hours of your life, cabbage, radish,fish sauce, salt, Sriracha, garlic,ginger, chillis, chili flakes, rice vinegar and sesame seeds, hmmm…leaving anything out?


    What better way to put the kimchi I made to use than as a condiment for these scrumptious prawn toast treats. 

  • Unusual Suspects – Fennel. 

    Unusual Suspects – Fennel. 

     

    image
    Last week was a week of ‘firsts’. I made my first bit of Pasta from scratch with the new pasta machine, and I cooked up my first batch of Ricotta, something I thought was way too complicated it was actually dead easy and in all honesty much better than the store bought equivalent. Deriving from the Latin word faenum meaning hay.
    Fennel has a myriad of health benefits, including aiding digestion issues.

    Here in South Africa, fennel is not used very often in traditional home cooking. I went to the store last week and bought a bulb of fennel, much to the cashier’s embarrassment she had no idea what the star anise flavoured vegetable was called and had to ask a colleague so that she could correctly ring up the item(trying to do so without me noticing…) with that in mind, this little food faux pas automatically decided the feature food for unusual suspects. Reminding of my ‘Liquorice all sorts’ filled childhood, fennel does live very close to my heart. This week, I decided to make an ‘unusual pasta dish’ I wanted to do the exact opposite of tomato sauce drenched pastas with a meaty substance. In the spirit of being brave and experimenting, I made fresh Ricotta, which I added to the dish for a creamy texture.image
    Handy tip: take the fronds off of the fennel and save in a air tight container, add as garnish to salads, cheese boards, basically anything that needs a little spruce up in colour and taste!

    I roasted the fennel in the oven and then added it to the pan for ultimate flavour extraction into the dish. I find the fennel roasted, turns sweet rather than intensifying further in the Liquorice flavour it exudes in raw form.image

    Fennel and Ricotta pasta.

    If you really want to experiment, why not try your hand at a dessert that heroes fennel, like a Fennel sorbet, fennel panna cotta or Fennel tarte tatin.
    Either way, you can’t go wrong with this beauty.

  • Unusual suspects – The Prickly Pear.

    Unusual suspects – The Prickly Pear.

    This edition of unusual suspects has a bit of ‘patriotic feel’ I love my country and all of its visual beauty and of course the hybrid gastronomic history South Africa has to offer. The prickly pear, like that ‘one long lost relative you know of but haven’t really been fully acquainted with’, it’s always been available as local produce for many years but few dare to experiment with this fruit. This thorny cactus fruit, has been long overlooked as just a little crunchy sweet snack, until today it hasn’t been given the proper attention it truly deserves. I admit, when in season, I pass the prickly pear by, going straight for(what I consider normal fruit) the bananas, apples or oranges etc. It’s easy to think that the thorny fruit originated here, because of its culture in South Africa, however it’s place of origin is Mexico and Central America and was brought to Africa in the late 1700’s. Fun fact: the prickly pear actually contains more vitamin c than apples, bananas and pears, of course does not exceed that of the super orange! The cactus fruit was seen as an invasive species, but helped many a farmer with cattle fodder and as an effective spiny hedge. 

    Prickly pear , Passion fruit and Rooibos Oat Crunchie.


    Inspired by an oat crunchie recipe by Food52, I replaced the fruit in that recipe with Prickly pears and passion fruit pulp with rooibos tea leaves. I added the tea leaves in the topping and in the filling for that extra bit of South African flavour, and to bring out the sweet flavours of the prickly pear. 
    Recipe can be found at: Oat crunchie bars
    Remember the ingredients of the filling (fruit) were tweaked accordingly, same quantities though. 
    Information found from Babylonstoren https://www.babylonstoren.com/blog/post/visciously-delicious and farmer’s weekly article http://farmersweekly.co.za/article.aspx?id=17777&h=Commercial-potential-for-the-humble-cactus-pear
    The photographs I took were in the late afternoon with overcast weather acting as a natural light diffuser. The prickly pear oat crunchie photos were taken in the early morning, with overcast weather as well. I love shooting food in these conditions, as my little studio space in my lounge and equipment is quite limited, so the overcast conditions are perfect enough for me to just, set up and shoot, very little to no adjusting of light or reflector boards.