The Corkless Mind

Category: Uncategorized

  • 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 – 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. 

  • Apple and Rhubarb Crumble 

    Apple and Rhubarb Crumble 

    As you know by now, there’s not much I love more than fresh and seasonal produce. I’m trying to be as experimental as can be, last week I bought a bunch of Rhubarb, having never before consumed it I was eager find out its flavour profile. I purchased the Rhubarb at Woolworths and found there was a handy little recipe for Apple and rhubarb crumble on the packaging. Fresh out of the oven served with a scoop of homemade ice cream, is possibly the best time to consume the tart dessert. 

    Apple and Rhubarb Crumble

    The crumble serves about 6-8, single serving above included. 


    The photographs were taken on a overcast and rainy day, the natural light was perfectly diffused by my north facing sliding door(where all of my photos are taken) because of the weather. 

  • Souper!

    Souper!

    This year, much to my delight, Winter has arrived a lot earlier than expected in Cape Town. My sister says, that being born in a particular season affects not only one’s personality but obviously how we take to the elements in that particular season, and me, being a Winter baby, I absolutely relish at the advent of Winter. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing better than a perfect beach day with the sand in between your toes and ice cream melting everywhere. So to celebrate the start of Winter, today is such a lovely rainy and overcast day, and of course I crave something warm and comforting.

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    Pumpkin and Leek soup.

    The photo above, is a Pumpkin and Leek Soup with Chunky Croutons, pumpkin seeds and pomegranate seeds to garnish and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of salt.

    The recipe is developed by myself and is rather unconventional for a soup recipe, but in my kitchen there aren’t any rules.

    Recipe:

    1.5kg of Pumpkin cut into chunks
    2 leeks washed thoroughly and roughly chopped
    1 large onion
    4 cloves of garlic smashed and roughly chopped
    1.5 liters of water to cover contents in the pot
    500ml Vegetable or chicken stock(I find chicken stock makes the soup that much richer in flavour)

    Method:

    On a medium heat, sauté the onion and leek and then garlic in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. When the onion is translucent, add the pumpkin and leave to caramelize for 5-10 minutes. Add vegetable/chicken stock and water. Allow to simmer on a medium to low heat for 25-30 minutes or until the pumpkin has a really soft consistency. If you own a stick blender, blend to a smooth consistency or if like me, you like your soup chunky, serve with crisp croutons. To make the croutons, take a slice of bread and tear into chunks, heat olive oil in a pan on a medium to high heat to toast the croutons, once a toasty golden to brown colour is achieved, add to the soup and serve hot.

    Enjoy!

    Wishing you all a warm and wonderful winter x

  • Unusual Suspects – Celeriac.

    Unusual Suspects – Celeriac.

    Every fortnight I will be doing a post on unusual yet highly underestimated and rarely used vegetables/fruit not usually used for everyday consumption in the everyday kitchen.This week is the first of the “unusual suspects” series, and kicking it off, I am inspired by the Root Vegetable, Celeriac. Much like it’s green, skinny cousin Celery, Celeriac is milder in flavour. Don’t be intimidated by its rugged and chunky exterior, there’s quite a bit one can do with this interesting vegetable. In the photo below, you will see I made Celeriac two ways, as a Slaw and cut up into wedges and roasted until golden and crisp. A few days ago, I was challenged by my partner to think up a different, and alternative to Coleslaw. The photo below shows the slaw I made, I roughly chopped the Celeriac and Apple into matchsticks and using a vegetable peeler with the stick of Rhubarb to create volume and texture in the slaw, for the garnish I added Coriander and toasted Sesame seeds, drizzled extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, so as to prevent the apple from oxidizing(that nasty brown colour chopped Apples turn when we leave them out too long).

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    Celeriac, Apple and Rhubarb Slaw.

    The slaw is but a fusion of flavours and texture,the side you can serve alongside a juicy rack of ribs or succulent Pork belly for a bit of freshness and tart to juxtapose the heavyness of the meat. Not keen on slaw? Why not try a Gratin of Celeriac or maybe cut into chips and roast in the oven.

    The wedges were roasted in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with my favourite Maldon Smoked salt. Keeping the flavour profile as simple, so as to let the true flavour of the root vegetable shine through.

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    Roasted Celeriac Wedges

    The wedges may not look very cheffy but it’s homemade and I quite like the rustic feel of them. To be quite honest, I’ve never really looked in this humble root vegetable’s way until one day, the thought crossed my mind, and wondered what they taste like and the kinds of dishes I can conjure up. I dare you to have a moment of experimentation of crazy looking veg or fruit, stop wondering and just taste!

    Time for an adventure? Go experiment!