Lemony Lamb Shanks - Sunday Lunch - 9 November

It all started with half a bottle or so worth of red wine left from Saturday's lunch. That and the great lamb shanks found at the butchery at Ever fresh, our local organic market.

I marinated the shanks in:

half bottle(or so) of red

2 tablespoons of soy and 1 of brown sugar

2 lemons cut into chunks

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

thumb size node of fresh ginger, grated

a splash of balsamic

1 cup of olive oil

lime juice, salt and pepper to taste

Marinade for at least 4/5 hours, and then the real trick - slow roast over night at 100 to 120 degrees Celsius (low, warm oven) with all the lemon pieces, until the meat is literary falling off the bone.

I served this with pan juices, thickened into gravy and couscous with dried cranberries and toasted pine nuts.

Dessert is a summer time classic in South Africa:

Freshly picked cling peaches, cut in half and stoned. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon. grill till the peaches are soft and the honey sticky and bubbling. serve with fresh custard, clotted cream or just a simple home made vanilla ice cream.

Simple thing that give us warm fuzzies - Enjoy!

Dinner with Miss Jones - Saturday 8 November

Miss Jones was in town, and seeing we haven't had her around in years, due to her relocation to Cape Town, this was a major occasion, calling for a special meal cooked by yours truly.

The menu was simple with a few hidden surprises.

We started with a Garden Salad:

• Selected mixed greens of your choice layered on a shallow platter.
• Crunchy, firm Pears of your choice (approx 1 apple to 2 guests)
• Creamy, rough skin Avocado (Optional if not in season)
• A handful of Rosa tomatoes, halved.
• Finely chopped shallot.
• Strong cheese of your choice. (I used crumbly textured Simonsberg blue)
• Toasted Pine nuts to dress.

Layer all the ingredients on a shallow platter and dress just before serving with olive oil and balsamic, season to taste and scatter pine nuts over.

The Main was an old standby - Fillet of Beef, wrapped in in mushroom and Parma ham, served with Minted Pea Mash, mixed, buttered garden greens and topped with potato sticks.

For the Mash, boil one medium potato and Quarter cup of frozen peas, per guest, in salted water until tender, mash with a generous knob of butter and enough milk to render into a creamy finish. Fluff with a fork and mix in ciffonade mint to taste.

For the Beef Parma:

• Good quality organic beef fillet - 200 to 250g per guest
• Mushrooms of choice
• Parma ham slices to cover the fillet
• minced garlic
• small green chili

Saute the mushrooms, garlic and chili in olive oil till soft, put aside.

On a clean, dry work surface, lay cling film long and wide enough to roll up the fillet. (I did forget to take pics of this process - sorry, you'll have to wait for a next time) Lay the parma ham in overlapping fashion and spread with the mushroom mix.

Brown the fillet in a griddle pan, while you heat the oven to a moderately hot temperature.

Place the fillet on the parma/mushrooms and carefully roll up, using the cling film, rest foe a few minutes, remove the cling film and place in the hot oven and grill for 15 to 20 minutes, rest for 10 and carve.

Serve with the hot buttered green and Minty Pea Mash. Mmmmmmmmm...

NABC - Dinner 4

I've been hectic, things are CRAZY, but it's no reason for not posting, so apologies!

About four months ago a bunch of us started a dinner club - NABC - it's a revenge club for us to counter act the wives's book clubs! Not Another Book Club!! Initially there was F... floating around the middle as well, but we thought we'll keep things tidy!

So this is how things work is there are 10 of us, each month a different guy acts as host on the last Thursday evening. The host chooses the restaurant, makes the booking, circulates the details and basically makes it happen. Sounds like fun?? You bet!


We've done four so far:

• July, I hosted at Market.
• August, Max hosted at Dish.
• September, Solly Jr hosted at 9th Ave Bistro.
• October, Graham hosted at Cafe 1999.

I've got no pics of the first three, but lots memories of great food and fun times, but I'm not gonna back track, I will however commit to post details of our meals (or at least those sitting around me and my own) from here on.

Cafe 1999

What a vibe!!!!!

I hadn't been to Cafe 1999 in a long time. This restaurant has been around for a while, as the name suggests, as a matter of fact the last time was when Andre Schubert was still the owner (he is now the proprietor of Market, and Arts Cafe at ACKZN Gallery). It was like nothing (except a barely noticeable decor update) has changed. A Tapas style menu, as good as always and way ahead of the trendy fashion curve, still had almost all the guys ordering the same meal - it never happens! So in the main it was Grilled calamari on glass noodles for most, with Paulie doing deep fried Anchovies and myself having parma wrapped figs, stuffed with bleu.

For Mains it was a full-house of Pan fried Lamb Fillet, served on herbed mash with a spicy tommato sauce, topped with Gremolata. Graham, who's a regular, suggested a substitution of the mash with the porcini risotto, which most of the guys opted for.

Great food, great company!!!!