The Corkless Mind

Tag: summer

  • Frozen Yoghurt Berry and Pistachio bar. 

    Frozen Yoghurt Berry and Pistachio bar. 

    You might have noticed no Valentine’s themed post… At the the risk of sounding like a grinch, I don’t believe in the capitalist hype around it. What I do believe in is love, celebrated everyday not just between two people but to be shared amongst all. However, you might not feel the same, so to celebrate love today and everyday treat yourself to this delectable treat! 

    The recipe is adapted from this month’s Delicious Australia magazine. 

    **Make a day in advance.**
    Frozen Yoghurt Berry and Pistachio Bar: 
    Ingredients: 
    – 330g (1pack of biscuits) ( I used Marie biscuits) 

    – 350g Mixed berries(raspberries and blueberries) 

    – 120g coconut oil or melted butter

    – 100g chopped Pistachios 

    – 250g plain double fat yoghurt 

    – 4 tablespoons of honey 

    – Two drops of rose water 

    – Dried rosebuds for garnish 
    Method: 
    In a food processor or NutriBullet, blitz the biscuits until fine, chop the pistachios roughly and add to the biscuit mixture. Add the coconut oil/butter and mix to combine, press down into a baking tray(you could use a muffin tray for Individual servings if you wish) 
    In a pan, on medium heat, add the berries, 2 tablespoons of honey and the rose water until the berries are macerated. Set aside 1/4 of the compote to serve later then leave to cool slightly. In a bowl add the yoghurt and the rest of the honey and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the prepared pan with the biscuit and pistachio mixture, top with the berry compote and swirl into the yoghurt. Place in the freezer and leave overnight to fully set. Take the bars out at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve with the reserved compote mixture and a sprinkling of pistachios. 
    With love, today and everyday! 

    Dominique x

  • White flesh Nectarine.

    White flesh Nectarine.

    Nectarines are one of many of Summer’s amazing bounty that it has to offer. 
    I always miss seasonal summer fruits when it’s out of season and long for all things tropical and sweet in the wet winter months. Nectarines are basically peaches without all the fuzz. This luscious fruit’s name means ‘of or like nectar’ because of its sweet taste. 

    This week I made nectarines the focal point of both dishes, and am I glad I did! Woolworths stocks the most tastiest nectarines, my favourite is the white flesh ones. They’re super juicy and so sweet. It’s just a no brainer to use these beauties in every dish imagined. I made two dishes for this post, a nectarine, feta and tomato salad and little nectarine puddings. 
    Nectarine, tomato and feta salad: 
    Ingredients: 
    – Two nectarines 

    – Handful of Cherry tomatoes 

    – A few chunks of feta 

    – Two tablespoons of Pumpkin seeds 

    – Basil leaves to garnish 

    – Olive oil to dress the salad 

    – Pinch of salt to season

    -Egyptian dukkah to sprinkle over

    Method: 

    Slice the nectarines as you wish and break up the feta into chunks and add to the plate. Half the cherry tomatoes and add to the plate. Lightly toast the pumpkin seeds and set aside. Add the basil, and scatter over the pumpkin seeds, season with a pinch of salt, the dukkah and dress with olive oil.

    Nectarine pudding: 
    Ingredients: 
    – Three nectarines 

    – 175g softened butter 

    – 175g castor sugar 

    – 175g self-raising flour

    – 3 free range eggs 

    – Fresh custard to serve. 
    Method: 

    Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Slice the nectarines into thin slices and place on the bottom of a greased muffin pan. In a bowl, beat together the softened butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. In a different bowl, whisk the eggs and add gradually to the butter sugar mixture with some of the flour to stop from curdling. Once all of the egg mixture has been added fold through the rest of the flour. Using a big spoon(I used my ice cream scoop) take a spoonful of batter and place into each hole of the muffin tin. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a skewer inserted some out clean. Serve with fresh custard and a dusting of icing sugar of you will. 

    This recipe for the pudding is adapted from Delicious UKI’m going on a little holiday this week, and while I don’t really want to pack away my styling kit and shutdown my wordpress interface, I think I am in need of fresh sea breeze, sand between my toes and different scenery kind of downtime, if you know what I mean. I’ll be back again next week, refreshed and inspired. 

    Happy feasting! 

    Dominique x

  • Roasted red grape and rosemary focaccia. 

    Roasted red grape and rosemary focaccia. 

    I’ve been struggling to come up with blog posts lately, mainly suffering from ‘writers block’, which to me is weird as I am immensely passionate about fare and find I can talk about food for hours on end if you pick my brain I will happily engage in conversation about my basic knowledge of food. However there’s just one little problem, you see I’m an introvert, and a rather shy one. But like an onion I have so many layers, if you peel me back… 

    I tend to compose posts and recreate recipes only when inspiration has struck. My kind of Inspiration, could be that instantaneous revelation of how ‘ugly’ distorted veg is hardly ever used these days, or asking myself questions, like “why can’t candy floss be savoury?” Yes, these are indeed the strange yet wondrous questions I ask myself. 

    (Cue the Oprah voice) I Love Bread! and thank god I am not gluten intolerant. I cannot imagine my life, I cannot imagine life in general without the sustenance which is bread. So as an ode to my great love of bread, I recreated a recipe adapted from BBC GoodFood , a no knead focaccia with an interesting twist. 

    The photos were taken yesterday early noon as soon as the bread came out of the oven. I started making the dough Monday evening already to ensure successful proving. The red grapes were really sweet, strangely enough not only did they look like cherries but they had the same sort of sweet taste too. These grapes are great for snacking without all the guilt of crisps or sweets. I’m a notorious snacker and I’m trying to make a real effort to snack healthier these days, more for health reasons than anything else. 
    A tad off topic, this time of year Cape Town gets very busy, the craziness lasts till mid-end of January, I do love that fact that people continue to visit our unique country and city. There are many times I feel incredibly privileged to live around such beauty and authenticity. The crazy traffic on the roads and in the shopping centres is something you learn to tolerate and avoid if you’re lucky, but there’s no place I’d rather be this time of year, than right here in my home city. 
    Dominique x

  • Cocoa powder dusted Pavlovas with Blueberry compote. 

    Cocoa powder dusted Pavlovas with Blueberry compote. 

    Pavlovas are without doubt one of my favourite desserts! I’ve always found them quite daunting and intimidating to make, until yesterday I took a leap of faith and tried out a recipe from Donna Hay,that leap of faith and trust in a legend’s recipe truly paid off! I’m slowly getting into the festive season spirit, and what better way to start it off then with a festive pav! I added a little something extra(as always) I had a punnet of Blueberries sitting on my fridge shelf about to go off, to accompany and top the Pavlovas I made a quick blueberry compote using castor sugar to equal parts of water(a few tablespoons until it just about covers the blueberries) 

    Okay, time to let the cat out of the bag…remember that piece of news I’ve been teasing you all about? So, last week with the release of the December issue of the Food&Home Magazine, I was chosen and featured in this issue as their ‘Blogger of the month’! Exciting right?! 🙂 I feel incredibly honoured and so grateful to be chosen by Food&Home Magazine, check out my Instagram feed for the photo of the feature. If you’re in South Africa head out to get your copy of the issue, not only to read the feature, but there are so many gift ideas and amazing recipes for entertaining this festive season! 

    I shot this series of photos this morning and took me a while to shoot and edit thereafter, feeling like a train hit me, down with the common cold. So, to cheer myself up, I experimented with different backgrounds, aperture settings and light exposure, yes these are things that cheer me up! The above photo with blue backdrop, I crinkled up some tissue paper and painted it with water based paint to get that effect. I can never get enough of backdrops and backgrounds, I’ve recently noticed that there are online stores in the United Kingdom and Russia that make and sell backdrops for food photography. There are some incredibly beautiful backdrops at both stores, all of which are rather expensive if you have to include shipping costs too! I would love to make my own backdrops using stone and wood, but have no idea where to start…

    Do you have any backdrops you love or know how to make? Share in the comments section. 

  • Apple Tart with Butterscotch sauce. 

    Apple Tart with Butterscotch sauce. 

    Apple tart, freshly baked bread, and a fresh brew of coffee are up there with my favourite wafting scents from the kitchen! It’s been a crazy few weeks, and as you know, one of the ways I regroup and relax is by baking. I adapted this recipe from Woolworths Taste Magazine and used Pink Lady apples instead of strawberries. I love the contrast of tart and sweet from the Pink lady apples married with a rich drizzle of butterscotch sauce. 

    This was the very first time I made a batch of Butterscotch sauce, it came out velvety smooth and gorgeously golden, yes, it’s better than store bought! There are so many things to do with Butterscotch sauce, drizzle over ice cream, French toast, pancakes, cakes, or gift it to a friend or family member, pour in a glass jar with a little handwritten note. The tart had a glorious crisp bottom (no soggy bottoms here) I used my silpat to bake it on, which really helps to achieve a crisp bottom with the right oven setting and temperature, you can’t go wrong.

    At the moment I’m doing lots of research and reading up of recipes for the festive season. I love this time of year, the type of food, the weather and of course, just the festivity of it all. I’m super excited to be celebrating Christmas this year, not only on the blog, but sharing and creating special memories with my family and friends of course, as that is what it’s all about any way. 

    Shooting a tart is always a bit tricky, I was told by someone that I look up to very much that when shooting the pastry treat, always create height and volume, by failing to do so makes the shot appear flat and lifeless. I took his advice as best I could and tried to create something that hopefully makes you want to lick your screen 🙂 

  • Gin and tonic ice lollies.

    Gin and tonic ice lollies.


    Inspired by my recent visit to the Royal Hotel in Riebeeck Kasteel, the Gin and Tonic we had there was out of this world! Possibly the best I have tasted so far. I am no G&T aficionado and neither am I that much of a frequent drinker, but this may just be the game changer. The Gin that the bartender used for our G&T’s were that of Wilderer Fynbos infused gin, (and as mentioned in my previous post)together with seasonal gooseberries, strawberries and a slice of lime, all the flavours were perfectly balanced and came together in a rather unusual cognac glass, but it worked. 

    I’ve been itching to make alcoholic ice lollies since I purchased a ice lolly Kit at my local CNA store. The kit comes with a four part mold, 50 lolly sticks and a little booklet with instructions and a few recipes, some related some not so related to ice lollies or frozen desserts for that matter… Alas, I trawled the Internet for inspiration and went to one of my bookmarked sites as a last resort(but should have been the first) Delicious UK,where I saw a Gin and Tonic ice lollie recipe. It’s extremely simple, but do make it a day before so as to set overnight in the molds. If you, like me can be a bit heavy handed with the pouring of drinks, that’s okay, because I mainly used the recipe only as a guideline. Add ingredients according to taste.
    With the satisfyingly refreshing G&T at the Royal hotel in mind, I added a few gooseberries, strawberries and lime juice to the mixture to set. I unfortunately didn’t have an artisanal fynbos infused gin on hand, so I used a Kumquat infused gin, that I had purchased a few months back from one of my favourite places to go and visit, a farm nestled at the foothills of the Simonsberg mountain range, Babylonstoren. 

    I really love the pop of colour the berries lend to the contrast of the lush green of the mint leaves against the white backdrop. The ice lollies are just as refreshing as the actual tipple. I can tell, I will be making a whole lot of ice lollies, ice cream and sorbet this summer. 

    Dominique x