The Corkless Mind

Rooibos Tea smoked Trout with a Buckwheat salad

For me, there’s nothing quite like a piping hot cup of Rooibos tea. The sweet fragrant taste makes it one of my favourite teas, best enjoyed with two national heroes, a slice of Milk Tart or a few Eat Some Mores!(shortbread cookies)

National Rooibos day was celebrated on the 16th of January, and is the very first year of establishment. Rooibos is part of our diverse Fynbos kingdom and is native to the Cedarberg mountains in the Western Cape of South Africa. It has so many health benefits, from lowering blood pressure to preventing heart disease and strokes. This powerhouse is packed with flavonoids and antioxidants.
So in celebration of this week’s past national Rooibos day I wanted to share with you something that is truly a national treasure in South Africa. A while back I tried out a recipe of smoking Angelfish fillets with Rooibos tea leaves and judging from the success of it by how much my partner loves it, I knew I had to up my game and try an entire dish around Rooibos and maybe even trying it with a different type of fish. I had fun developing this recipe, all those Masterchef Australia episodes watching George plate up finally paid off! I’m not quite there yet, but there are a few techniques I am happy about.

Like all things that take time perfecting, practice makes perfect!

Rooibos tea smoked Trout with a Buckwheat salad.

Equipment:

*Blowtorch

*2x roasting trays with rack.

*Pin Bone tweezers
Ingredients:

-Trout fillet

-4 Rooibos tea bags(torn and bags discarded) or four tablespoons of Rooibos tea leaves

– 100g buckwheat(thoroughly rinsed)

– Half of an avocado

– Smoked sea salt to season (I used Maldon Smoked Sea Salt)

– Olive oil

– Sliced mini rosa/exotic tomatoes

– Pomegranate rubies

– 4 rainbow carrots(peeled using a vegetable peeler

– Mini cucumber (peeled using a vegetable peeler)

– 4 radishes finely sliced

– Microherbs to garnish.
Method:
Bring 500ml of water to a rapid boil in a large saucepan, add the rinsed Buckwheat to the boiling water and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes(keep stirring throughout) until all water has been absorbed. Take off the heat and leave aside to cool, once slightly cooled, using a fork separate the grains until a fluffy texture is obtained.

To prepare the trout, using a pin bone pair of tweezers, carefully feel along the fillet for bones and extract.(be patient and respectful of the ingredient, as you don’t want to be in too much of a hurry as to destroy the piece of fish)

Carefully peel back the skin of the trout , using a sharp knife to help with the process, season the skin and place between two baking trays lined with baking parchment both under and over the skin. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 10-15 minutes. Set aside until assembly.

Season the fillet with a pinch of smoked sea salt and rub a little olive oil on the trout and place on a wire rack.
Break open the Rooibos tea bags discarding the bags and add to the bottom of a roasting tray,taking a blowtorch, torch the tea leaves until smoking, be careful not to torch in one place for too long. Place the rack with the trout in the tray and cover with another tray to insulate the smoke. Lifting the lid every now and then to torch the leaves every few minutes until desired smokiness is achieved. Seeing this cool technique on Neill Anthony’s Private Chef show, I used the blowtorch again, I lightly torched the trout until light pink, for a few seconds. This gives the fish a little char and added texture.
Slice the radish, tomatoes, avocado and drizzle with a little fresh lemon juice. Clean and peel the carrots into thin strips, if you like my presentation, you could curl the carrot strips and place on top of the radish on the plate.Arrange and assemble as you like, I placed the buckwheat in the middle of the plate in a line and placed the trout on top of the buckwheat and place the crispy trout skin over the fillet or break into shards and scatter over plate. Season to taste and drizzle with olive oil.
*If you like, you cod make a simple dressing of a little olive oil, lemon juice, honey and mustard, just enough to dress the plate. I didn’t make a dressing as the buckwheat wasn’t dry to warrant it, also the avocado lends a creamy texture to the dish to counteract with the crispyness of the skin and smokiness of the fish.

*if you don’t own a blowtorch you could use your stove top to achieve the smoking of the trout, add the prepared roasting tray on two stove plates. And if you like, you could lightly sear the trout when smoking is done.

I had a lot of fun developing and shooting this recipe by only using what is in season as an inspiration for this dish. This was dinner last night, and what a sublime treat it was.
Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.
Happy weekend and happy feasting!

Dominique x
Fudgey dark chocolate and tahini brownies.

Inspired by a visit to my new favourite ice cream parlour in the heart of Cape Town I felt compelled to recreate my flavour experience. For the past week all I could think and dream about is their mesmerizing Chocolate Tahini flavour with glorious nutty notes from the tahini paste and an unmistakable velvety smooth texture no ice cream I’ve ever had possesses. Feeling like I’ve been bewitched and in a chocolatey daze, I’ve taken the flavour combination and put my own twist on it.

I’ve tried the Lindt dark chocolate studded with toasted sesame seeds and is quite a favourite of mine, but never have I thought to pair chocolate with Tahini. It’s always those flavour pairings that we don’t expect to go together that end up blowing our minds and surprising our tastebuds. I tried making gluten-free chocolate cookies, a Nigella recipe using Buckwheat flour, dark chocolate and I added tahini. The recipe is from the book Simply Nigella, and seems rather interesting because of the toasty, nutty taste the buckwheat lends to the cookie against the tartness of the dark chocolate and the complementing nuttiness of the tahini too. The cookies were okay but didn’t quite get my stamp of approval to make the cut for a blog post( if you know what I mean)

The brownies are from a classic standard brownie recipe, of which I have tweaked a bit.

Ingredients:

-177 ml all purpose flour(I used cake flour as that was what I had on hand)

-177ml cocoa powder

-1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon baking powder

-120g caster sugar

-2 tablespoons of tahini

-60ml Greek yogurt(plain yoghurt)

-2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter(cooled)

-2 beaten eggs

-1 teaspoon vanilla paste

-1 punnet of fresh raspberries.
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a baking pan and cover in baking parchment. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, instant coffee powder, baking powder and salt until combined. I used my stand mix for this step, using the flat beater attachment, mix together the yoghurt, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until just combined then fold in half of the raspberries. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Add the tahini in blobs and swirl around in the pan. Place remaining raspberries on top press in slightly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are crisp and the middle is set.

* if you don’t have instant coffee powder, add the same amount of granulated coffee to hot water then add at the end of the mixing process of the batter just before adding the raspberries.

* Cool the brownies in the pan completely before taking them out to slice.

* Lastly serve with an ice cream of your choice or even a quenelle of marscapone for a more indulgent feel.

Treat yourself!

Dominique.
Egyptian dukkah roasted veg.

The advent of a new year brings in the possibility of change, renewal and hope. I’m not on a diet of any sort nor am I going vegan/vegetarian (and no I am not swooping my day job to become a philosopher) But I’m trying to incorporate more vegetables/plants in my lifestyle. I adore Egyptian dukkah, it has the perfect balance of spice and nuttiness to spruce up any one-pan roast, salad or roast vegetables.

I made Egyptian dukkah roasted cauliflower florets and chickpeas with a creamy avocado and yoghurt dressing, served with crunchy radishes, fragrant mint and sweet pomegranate rubies. The recipe is from Donna Hay.What I love about this dish is that it’s everything but boring, the roasted cauliflower florets, lends a nuttiness to the dish together with the crunchy chickpeas which takes the texture of the dish to another level. The creamy avocado and yoghurt dressing is the perfect addition to the dish, it adds freshness and texture too.

The carrots were roasted in the oven drizzled with locally sourced honey, cumin seeds, olive oil and of course the dukkah, next time I’ll add some orange zest and juice to the dish to give it that extra zest. I roasted the rainbow carrots for 20 minutes on 180 degrees C. Sprinkled with more dukkah and made a dressing of two tablespoons of Greek yoghurt, one tablespoon of tahini, one tablespoon of lemon juice, olive oil(about half a tablespoon) and salt to taste.

I drizzled this gorgeous dressing over the carrots to serve with a few pomegranate rubies and a few sprigs of mint to garnish. Inspired by the above roasted cauliflower and chickpeas recipe from Donna Hay, I developed the roasted carrot recipe with the same flavours in mind. There are so many other vegetables you could use and make it your own with your own twist. More importantly have fun!

Happy feasting!

Dominique x
Buddha’s ganoush

Happy 2017! Better late than never 🙂 we all set some goals before 2016 packed its bags and thankfully left us, and one of mine is to start eating mindfully, I do believe my body will reward me for my choice of nourishment.I don’t proclaim to be a complete healthy eater, but I think it’s important to start the year off on a healthy note, healthy body and healthy mind.

Okay, I have to admit I sometimes eat like a 10 year old that has been left alone at home for an evening of junk food eating and binge watching 80’s movies. However, I find as I’m getting older I feel my body needs more nutrition than those days after eating junk that I cram my body full of only to resume the junk eating the next week or so… Not very smart, I know.

As an avid Woolworths Taste magazine reader, I could not resist trying out this recipe for myself. This recipe is out of the book Plentiful by Paul Atkinson,Chris and Louis Van Loon and Angela Shaw.This recipe is ideal for snacking with flat breads, (my favourite) crunchy radishes, carrot sticks or some rice crackers. Serve as a dip at your next laid back lunch with family or friends, it’s something different and best of all it’s super easy to make at home. I used my trusty NutriBullet to blitz everything up in just one cup. The consistency is a velvety smooth dip texture and taste is reminiscent to its cousin hummus, because of the tahini paste, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic.
Buddha’s Ganoush recipe:

Ingredients:

-2 large aubergines/brinjals halved lengthways

-5T olive oil, plus extra

-2T toasted ground cumin

-2 cloves garlic

-1T tahini paste

-1/2 bunch parsley

-3T Lemon juice

Sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Halve the brinjals/aubergines lengthways and prick the aubergines all over using a fork, then rub with some olive oil.

Place aubergines in roasting dish and roast for 45 minutes turning them halfway through. Once cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool completely before scooping out all of the flesh from the aubergines with a spoon. Toast the cumin in a hot pan until fragrant and darker in colour but shouldn’t turn black(shake every few minutes when toasting to avoid burning) place all of the aubergines flesh into a food processor or NutriBullet with the olive oil, garlic, tahini, cumin and parsley, then blitz. Add the lemon juice a little at a time, so as to avoid the mixture becoming too runny. Season to taste and serve with chopped radishes or with some fresh flat breads.
Happy mindful eating!

Dominique x
Gin & Tonic – three ways

For some time Gin and Tonic has long been known as something of an ‘oldtimers drink’, this of course all changed when local distilleries started making artisanal gin, and of course all things artisanal are supposedly ‘cool’ however, this is one the time, I have to agree on this matter purely because I love supporting local. South Africa has such an amazing array of locally crafted gin, using nothing but what is available seasonally is the key to a great botanical gin. The gin I used in this post is one of my favourites, Wilderer Fynbos Gin, and as you can see from the photo above, they are an award winning distillery.

I made three different Gin and Tonic recipes, with three different syrups. The first is a rosebud and cardamom gin and tonic, a litchi and thyme, and the last one is a strawberry and basil G&T. The syrups are all super easy to make and can be made ahead of time before your New Year’s Eve bash! To make a syrup, just add two to four tablespoons of castor sugar(depending on how much you intend to make) with equal amounts of water and your fruit,spice or herb of choice and simmer until the sugar is dissolved and infused with the flavour of your choice of spice/fruit. Leave to cool before adding to a carafe with your favourite gin and try using a quality Tonic, this is said to truly complement the delicate flavours of the gin.

This recipe can of course be used to spruce up a mocktail too. If you’re thinking of enjoying this G&T recipe for New Year’s Eve, please do so responsibly and take an Uber if you need to get anywhere.
Wishing you all an amazing new year!

Dominique x

** This post was not sponsored**
Festive fare – Canapés.

We all know how stressful hosting can get, especially this time of year, I’m going to make it my mission to take the pressure off and make it a little easier for you. Everybody loves canapés at a party,it’s a great ice breaker for something different to talk about, and when you’ve been waiting ages for the food, because the host decided to try out a new recipe and the tension is high in the air because hangry, canapés seems to save the day.

With this post i’d like to show you a few ideas, some rather different to the norm and some old trusty ideas we rely on that never gets old. I was lucky enough to get a copy of a rather elusive Delicious Australia December issue recently, there are so many recipes I need to try out(of course, giving myself ample time to perfect before Christmas) one of my favourite recipes in the issue, is a Jamie Oliver recipe for Brioche Mince pies. The change from the usual mince pies, is quite refreshing. The brioche as a vehicle for the fruit mince is perfect as a sweet textured little hollowed bun, the creme patissiere adds a lovely smooth velvety contrast the sharp mince needs. The fruit mince I made, I deviated from the store bought stuff and made my own, using chopped Pink Lady Apples, Medjool dates and Cranberries, with of course the usual Christmassy spices to spruce it way up. The recipe can be found in the issue or in Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook, called “Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook”
For the Grana Padano cheese sticks and pinwheels, I got my hands on some store bought Pastry (because life is far too short to make your own for canapés guys!) my theme for these canapés is a little effort coupled with minimal fuss(if that makes sense) cut the pastry into strips brush with eggwash sprinkle over grated cheese, twist (for the sticks)and brush with egg, for the pinwheels repeat, but roll up into a wheel brush with eggwash and sprinkle both with sesame seeds. Bake for 15 mins until golden and crisp.
For the baked fig and cranberry Camembert, I spotted some lush seasonal figs at my local deli that I couldn’t resist to take home with me. I scored the top of the Camembert in a cross cross pattern, this makes the cheese ooze out, and the flavours of the honey, fig and cranberries really infuse the cheese with more flavour. Drizzle over honey a quarter fig with a few dried a cranberries. Bake for 20-25 minutes on 180 degrees. Serve warm with the cheese sticks and pinwheels and relish in the complements of being a a complete domestic goddess!
A few tips for hosting:
-never make a recipe for the first time whilst hosting, practice makes perfect!

-keep guests fed with plenty of little canapés to keep the wolf at bay

-prepare a few carafes of homemade iced tea or watermelon juice that you can spike with some gin or vodka.

-keep it simple yet stylish, add a little sparkle with decor on the table by spray painting pine cones and if you can make your own wreaths before the time, get the kids to help if you like.

-lastly, enjoy every second of having all your loved ones in one room, life gets a little crazy sometimes so much so that we are all guilty of not taking the time out for each other.

If you’re taking a social media/blog hiatus during the festive season, in that case, enjoy every moment making new memories with your loved ones and be safe on the roads if you’re traveling.
Happy holidays!

Dominique x