The Corkless Mind

Tag: Unusual suspects

  • Unusual Suspects: Kale

    Unusual Suspects: Kale

    With the recent craze, Kale has had its fair share of shine and praise with its abundance of health benefits. I thought it a good idea to see what all the fuss was about. Kale is a member of the Brassica family, which includes Cauliflower, Broccoli and Cabbage. Like Parsely, Kale has two types Curly and flat leaf. Just one cup of raw Kale, has about 3 grams of protein and 2.5 grams of fibre. To make it easier to go down, I usually put half a cup of raw kale in a smoothie cup and blitz in my super NutriBullet. 

    I massaged the kale with extra virgin olive oil, Sumac and smoked Paprika. Honestly, I was expecting the superfood to instantly transform into scrummy crisps that I can’t keep my hands off, alas this is not the case (for me at least) I added extra smoked Paprika, flaked sea salt to taste and a few pinches of some authentic Sumac. Yet it still tasted of, well, Kale. As healthy as it may be, I simply loathe the taste of it. 


    But I will let you decide whether you like the crisps or not. I found the recipe off of Taste Australia. As always, I deviated from the original and added the Sumac. The link is above. Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear if anyone loved the crisps. 


    The Sumac I purchased from a quaint little delicatessen called The Olive Branch, situated in Kloof street lifestyle shopping centre, walk passed it and you’ll certainly miss it. It’s a hole in a wall but it is incredibly beautiful inside evoking an old world charm with that special welcoming feel too. I certainly recommend when in Cape Town, or like me, you’re constantly on the hunt for weird and wonderful delicatessens then you absolutely must visit this gem! 
    *Nutritional information sourced from WebMD*

  • Unusual Suspects: Celery.

    Unusual Suspects: Celery.

    For as Long as I can recall has this tall green beauty been overlooked as just a snack for dieting fundies, a flavour packed punch for many a mirepoix or that dreadful ants on a log image that comes to mind. Celery is a vegetable that derives from the Apiaceae family. That being the same family as carrot, parsley and coriander. Prior to writing this post, I had no clue that there were so many health benefits attributed to Celery. Packed with Vitamins A, C, and K and also contains folate and potassium which is good for cardiovascular health. 

    Today I decided to put this hardworking underdog on a much deserved pedestal. Instead of going the traditional inside the box route of just using celery for savoury dishes, I wanted its true beauty and potential to shine through in a dessert. This refreshing recipe is straight from Food52
    Waste not want not tip: don’t throw away the sprouting inner little ribs of the celery, remove the core place in a glass jar with a little water, just covering the base of the core and leave to fully sprout for a week then transplant into potting soil, and just like that you’re growing your very own celery! Those lush green aromatic leaves are also perfect scattered over a simple salad to add texture and taste! 

    The Granita recipe from Food52, is tweaked of course, I added fennel and Apple. I might have said this before, but I like using recipes only as a guide and adding my own unique twist to it. I think this is how one discovers what kind of cook you are. 
    The photos were taken in the early morning, with some much needed sunshine. Nothing beats natural light, especially in the early morning. I find this is when I take most of my shots that I love. 

  • 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. 

  • 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.