Gomiti with pumpkin and radicchio
 Serves 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
300g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into strips
150ml lukewarm water
1 head of Treviso or Chioggia radicchio (Italian chicory), cut into thin strips
1 bunch of fresh flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
350g gomiti rigati (bent tube pasta)
salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a shallow saucepan. Add the onion and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase the heat to medium, add the pumpkin and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until evenly browned. Add the lukewarm water, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the radicchio and three-quarters of the parsley and cook for a further 5 minutes. Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, tip into a warmed serving dish and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve immediately. |
Duck terrine with prunes
Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus marinating and chilling time
Cooking time: 90 minutes
Serves 12
 300ml red wine
50g caster sugar
200g prunes
1 x 700 to 800g duck
200g pork belly
100g breast of veal
1 duck liver
50g butter
50g onion, chopped
100ml dry white wine
1 pinch of crushed juniper berries
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
salt
250g pork fat
2 eggs
200g bacon rashers
Prepare 3 days ahead. In a pan, bring the red wine and sugar to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Put the prunes in a bowl and pour the marinade over. Allow the prunes to soak for 12 hours. Bone the duck and cut the meat, and the pork and veal, into large pieces. Cut the liver into two and put it in a bowl with the rest of the meat. Melt the butter in a pan and cook the onion until softened. Add the white wine and stir, scraping any sediment from the bottom, then add the juniper, 1 sprig of thyme and 1 bay leaf. Season with salt. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Pour this liquid over the meat, and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Remove the meat and strain the marinade. Put the meat and pork fat through a mincer and add the eggs and half the marinade. Mix thoroughly. Line a terrine with the bacon rashers, letting them hang over the edge. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Stone the prunes. Arrange alternating layers of the meat mixture and prunes in the terrine, finishing with a layer of meat. Fold the bacon over to cover. Put a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf on top. Cover with foil and cook in a roasting tin half-filled with hot water for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 120°C for 1 hour. Allow to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate for 48 hours. |
| An award-winning food editor’s favourite cookbooks |
| Sumien Brink, editor of Woolworths TASTE magazine, has once again walked away with the highly prestigious and coveted Pica Customer Editor of the Year award (she won it in 2007 too, along with Consumer Editor of the Year; and this year she was also named Advantage Admag’s Editor of the Year).
“I started out as a magazine junkie, but over the years, and especially since editing Woolworths TASTE, I’ve turned into a cookbook junkie. Obviously, I have my new best friends and my really old best friends. The very first cookbook I ever bought for myself was Phillippa Cheifitz’s Meals for a Month, which I still use if I want to make the best leek and asparagus tart or the most delicious buttermilk rusks.
“I can’t live without all my Moro cookbooks, Nigella’s Forever Summer, Jamie at Home and anything by Nigel Slater and Skye Gyngell. The most beautiful cookbook I own is Neil Perry’s Balance and Harmony, which I bought in Australia earlier this year.
“This year, there’s a magnificent selection of local cookbooks on offer. I’ve recently cooked from Justin Bonello’s Cooked in Africa, Neil Roake’s Shiny Happy People, Tina Bester’s Bake, Phillippa’s South Africa Eats and Huiskok Glanskok by Errieda du Toit and Francois Ferreira. And, if all else fails, there is always my ouma’s Kook en Geniet to turn to.” |
|
Almond meringues with slow-roasted naartjies
 Makes 8
1 quantity plain meringue
100g flaked almonds
8 naartjies, washed and cut in half
500ml freshly squeezed orange juice, strained
125ml golden syrup
7 allspice berries
100g white sugar
Scatter the meringues with the flaked almonds before baking them.
For the slow-roasted naartjies, preheat the oven to 180˚C. Place the naartjie halves in an oven dish, cut sides up, and pour the orange juice over them. Drizzle with the golden syrup and scatter over the allspice berries. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and roast the naartjies for about 90 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the sugar over the naartjies and roast, uncovered, for a further 30 minutes. Allow the naartjies to cool.
To serve, place a meringue on each plate, top with two naartjie halves and drizzle with the juices from the pan.
|
Poached chicken salad with rocket and pomegranate seeds
 Serves 4
4 chicken thighs
4 handfuls of rocket
a small handful of roasted peanuts
a big handful of pomegranate seeds
12 spring onions
Poach the chicken by adding the thighs to cold water. Bring the water to the boil and then turn off the heat, leaving the chicken in the water for 45 minutes. Remove, pat dry and shred the chicken with a fork. Now lay down some rocket onto a plate, distribute the chicken, roasted peanuts, pomegranate seeds and spring onions.
Accompaniments: avocado, feta and roasted pumpkin seeds with smoked paprika mayo.
For the mayo:
1 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons good-quality mayonnaise
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice of 1 lime
Mix like crazy until well-blended. |
|
By the book
