Still Feeling Romantic? Valentine's Dinner

The oppressive heat here in the Strand area near Cape Town is brain numbing. It is getting harder to think clearly on identifying some romantic dishes for Valentine's day dinner. You will surprised at how much beer it takes to think up some decent recipes!

Valentine's day was coming up and the missus and I had long discussions on what to eat. A restaurant dinner was outside of our budget, so we were discussing various options for dinner.

We have lots of fresh fruit and I have used these extensively in brandied versions as well as in compotes of various descriptions. So I decided to stay on this course for a while and keep things simple for dessert. Flapjacks with a lime and vanilla caramel and cream. Dessert sorted. What of the starter?

Starter

After some discussion with the missus we decided on a spicy chourizo and prawn salad. Simplicity par excellence. You need some fresh mixed salad leaves, the green stuff, half a cup of freshly steamed garden peas, a dollop of lemon juice and a dollop of mayonnaise.

For the two helpings I used eight prawns and a 100mm (four inch) piece of chourizo, cut into thin wheels. Take the skin off if you want to, it comes off anyway. Chop up and mash two garlic cloves. Fry this in a lightly oiled pan, then add the chourizo. Allow the chourizo to release some of its fat, then add the prawns. Simmer this lot for another five minutes, then dish up.

Dishing up means that you arrange some of the leafy stuff in the bottom of a ramekin, then add the meats. Add some peas over this, then garnish with a dollop of mayonnaise and a few drops of lemon juice. And, if you are into styling, add some more green, leafy stuff to round it off.

A very quick to assemble warm salad, tangy and very tasty.

Main course

For the main course we decided on something grilled in the skillet, complete with some steamed veggies and mash. A softer option than the regulation braai food for the type of weather that we are having.

Grilled pork fillet, doused in an apple sauce. We have not ever had this before. The fillet was grilled in a ribbed skillet from Le Creuset using a little duck fat for thermal contact. The vegetables were chosen at random because they looked fresh and romantic. They were steamed in a sieve on top of the potatoes as they boiled. The potatoes were cut into thinnish slices for faster cooking.

The apple sauce were made by peeling, de-coring and blitzing two apples. The juice of half a small lime went into the mix, as well as a grating or three of nutmeg and a pinch of salt. To this lot was added half a cup of water and the lot set to simmer for a few minutes. Check that the sauce is runny enough for your taste.

The Hollandaise sauce is the stock standard stuff you get from your favourite recipe book. I added some black mustard seeds for the flavour. This lot was made using one egg yolk, three dessert spoons of cake flour, a small pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice. I also added some milk to get the batter into a runny mix.

Making this is becoming my favourite party trick. I do not possess a double cooker, so I hold the pan in one hand high over the burner while stirring the mix frantically with the other hand. The mix must not boil, otherwise you end up with a sticky mess omelet, so I am told. But hold your breath. I have made this twice, both times successfully. So far so good! This sauce came out quite delicious if a bit on the thick side. The mustard seeds bought just that extra flavour to the veggies.

The mash is pretty standard. This one had a dollop of cream to make it richer. It is a Valentine's dinner after all.

Dessert

We have not had flapjacks (crumpets to some) for a while. Here in South Africa you traditionally make a heap of the things, then envelop them in butter and golden syrup before gulping them down hot, before the butter runs all over your hands and on to the table. Good dirty fun to have with your young children.

I proposed that we make only a few, then dish them up in proper style. This means you make a little stack with butter in between, doused with a fruity caramel sauce (another compote?) and a dollop of cream. Perhaps, if you dare me, I shall add a little leaf of mint as garnish. Us yachties also have style, you know...

The ingredients are for two servings, so scale to suit or just follow your favourite recipe. If using a lime, use a small fruit. Else just cut the slices across to have smaller pieces. These make little caramelled slices in the compote.

Ingredients

For the flapjacks

1 cup cake flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 dessert spoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon, heaped, baking powder

1 egg

½ to 1 cup milk or water

For the compote

1 small lime or other citrus fruit sliced thinly across the equator. You need about half a cup of sliced fruit.

½ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon butter

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

½ cup water

Some cream and butter (real butter, not margarine or other ersatz stuff) for dishing up.

A sprig or two of mint for garnish

Process

For the flapjacks

Sift all the dry ingredients, then rub in the butter. Mix well, then add the egg and mix thoroughly before adding the milk/water. The batter needs to have the consistency of thick cream. Use a dishing-up spoon to ladle the batter on to a lightly oiled frying pan or skillet. You only need to oil the pan once. I use a non-stick frying pan from Le Creuset, so I don't use oil. Use up all the batter, there should be about eight or more flapjacks.

For the compote

Put the butter, salt sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Make sure everything is mixed. When the water has almost boiled away, add the sliced citrus fruit. Stir the dish to make sure it does not burn. Ensure that all the fruit is covered in caramel and cooking. Cook until the foaming has stopped or when you think you are hungry enough, then remove the compote from the heat. Bear in mind that this stuff is much hotter than boiling water, so leave some time for it to cool down before serving. Add a little water and allow it to soak through if the compote is too sticky and toffee-like.

For dishing up

Stack the flapjacks into stacks of four to five high with a little butter in between and on top. Pour some of the compote over the stack and garnish with a dollop of cream and a sprig of mint.

Voila! Your romantic three course dinner!

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-02-15

Valentines Dinner Soul Food. Something Else: Cassoulet

I almost ran out of ideas this time around for our traditional Valentine's Day dinner. Traditional because we celebrate anything just to have a decent conversation over soul food. And also because restaurant food tends to be very expensive during the second week of February.

The weather is extremely hot at this time of year in the Cape. In spite of this I thought a stewed dish would do the trick just nicely. One is bombarded with ideas for barbecued food and salads, along with recipes for cold desserts. I argued that perhaps one may have a stewed main dish, one with a difference. Then have some delectable sweet stuff afterwards.

So I did some pre-Valentine experimentation.

Michael Ruhlman is a great advocate of slow cooking, especially using the Le Creuset range of cookware. I decided to give the dish he made a try. It is a slow cooked stewed pork dish using three kinds of pork to obtain the mix of flavours specific to this dish.

I am not cooking for a large party, so the ingredients are sized to suit. My version of this recipe is also adapted for faster cooking than the traditional French cassoulet, therefore it does not take an overnight effort or two hours in the oven. I used my buffet casserole from Le Creuset, but you can use any thick bottomed pot. Preferably a cast iron one for its heat retention characteristics.

The pork chops may be any cut. Remove the bones and any excess fat. The bockwurst sausages may be replaced by any spicy pork sausages.

You may vary the amount and type of beans in the dish to suit your fancy. You may also use dried beans, as in the original recipe, in which case you will need to soak them overnight.

The beauty of this dish is that it creates its own stock, therefore no additional stock is required. This is also a departure from the normal stewed dishes so traditional to South African cooking. There is a lot less fat in the dish and the flavours coming from the different fried pork products make a welcome change from the traditional lamb shank or beef potjie. The beans make for a naturally thick sauce, so no shortening is required either.

Ingredients

250 g bacon bits

2 Bockwurst sausages, about 200mm long

400g pork chops, cubed

2 onions, chopped

2 cloves fresh garlic chopped and mashed

1 hot chilli pepper, chopped finely

2 cans broad beans

1 can red kidney beans

3 small tomatoes, chopped coarsely. Leave the skin on, it adds taste.

½ sweet bell pepper, chopped

3 carrots, coarsely julienned

some butter or duck fat for frying if the bacon is not overly fatty.

50 ml soy sauce

freshly ground black pepper

some salt to taste

500ml boiling water as needed

1 cup of rice. You may also use couscous for the starch. This dish has a lot of sauce.

Process

Cook the rice or couscous as per your normal procedure.

Cook the bacon bits and sausages in a pan with some water. Allow the water too boil away, then remove the sausages, take the skin off and cut them into wheels. In the meantime allow the bacon to fry nicely in the fat that cooked out with the water.

If the bacon is not very fatty, add a little butter or duck fat to get a nice brown colour on the bacon. You also need some of the meat to stick to the pan itself. Mind that the pan does not burn. You are creating the essence of the stock for the dish.

Remove the bacon from the pan, then fry the cut up sausages and the pork chops separately in turn until they all have a nice brown hue.

Remove them from the pan, then add the chopped onions and sweet bell pepper and fry them in the now nicely flavoured pan until they are translucent (glassy). Add the hot chilli and mashed garlic and fry for a minute. Add a dollop of water if the pan goes too dry at this stage.

Now add the soy sauce, the chopped tomatoes and all the meat. Add a little water too. The browned bits of meat will by now come off the bottom of the pan and form the stock flavouring for the dish.

In the event that you are using dried beans, add them now. In the case of canned beans, add them after the meat has gone tender. This makes it a little easier on the chef, as the dish will need more water to allow the dry beans to soak up some.

Turn down the heat and simmer this lot for 30-40 minutes. Check frequently that the dish does not burn and add a little water as needed. When the meat is nice and tender, add all the canned beans and carrots and simmer for another five minutes until everything has cooked through. Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper and stir the dish properly.

Now turn off the flame and pour yourself and your favourite friends a glass of red wine to enjoy while the dish rests. This should take at least twenty minutes. Pour another glass if you drank too fast.

Then dish up.

Bon appetit!

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-02-04