Surreal Sub-Zero Boerewors Braai

The first Friday after arriving back in the UK from our jaunt in South Africa and Australia and we were just recovering from extreme jet lag on top of enduring a cold snap of sub-zero temperatures. Desperate to light the brazier and hankering to re-live some of our South African experiences, this was an evening driven by pure obsession.

Bizarrely, not far from us there is a post office/general store at Farmoor near Oxford where you can get hold of almost anything exclusively South African, thanks to the slightly eccentric post master (Farmoor stores).

I called in on my way to our office in Oxford and couldn’t believe my luck when I actually got hold of a proper braai tool (grilling rack), the last one in the shop. I also picked up two one kilo coils of boerewors from the fridge (made in the UK by another entrepreneurial South African) and started planning the detail for the evening.

Wanting to make the most of the experience, I trawled the web for the best accompaniments and ideas for a boerewors meal and managed to find what I was looking for. A fellow blogspot member had an article titled The Ultimate Boerwors Roll; hot dog rolls filled with boerewors, a range of condiments, fried onion, avocado and cucumber. Perfect.

On my way home that Friday evening, I picked up some freshly baked rolls, English and Dijon mustard, a jar of tomato and chilli chutney, plus the avo and cucumber.

The temperature was approaching minus 3 degrees when I prepared the charcoal cooking fire in the outdoor brazier. It was cold and dark, but beautifully still and dry with an absolutely clear sky.

The boerewors cooked perfectly over the embers in my newly acquired braai tool and the family enjoyed hot boeries around the table with condiments of their choice simply served on a piece of kitchen paper.

A wine top up was required so I walked to the local Co-op and found (for the first time in this shop at least) a couple of bottles of Spier red from the winery at Stellenbosch that we had visited only weeks earlier. Even stranger that as I was browsing the shelves I was humming lines from the new Goldfish CD we bought whilst in Cape Town.

After our meal we were joined by our friend and neighbour, Caroline. The charcoal embers were used to start a proper fire fueled by well dried English larch from the local sawmill that I had been keeping in the garage.

We heated mulled wine on the fire and contemplated how surreal but perfect it was to be enjoying the outdoors while several bucket loads of larch kept us warm and happy.

Johnny's Kingclip Braai

We were privileged to be invited by our great friends John and Billie to a midsummer braai. It was a beautiful December evening and the views from their place at the foot of Table Mountain were stunning.

Their fabulous company and inspiring outdoor setting near Hout Bay was a memorable highlight of our trip.

John fired up his patio braai with some quality local hardwoods to get the embers going and started us off with a taster of some local boerewors ('farmers sausage' in Africaans).

Billie prepared another appetizer of grilled mussels in their shells, and some amazing cous cous and salads to accompany the massive fillet of kingclip.

Eight of us feasted on this delight. People, music, food, weather, dancing. You Capetonians know how to live!

Beef Fillet on the Braai

Our first night on holiday in Cape Town and the balcony and barbeque were calling, particularly since we had just spent the previous weeks in an icy English winter.

Shopping for provisions on our first afternoon took us to a Spar shop in Hout Bay, not far from our apartment in Llandudno. The selection of fresh meat was intoxicating. I super indulged and walked out with an entire beef fillet weighing about a kilo for an immoral R150, roughly a tenner.


I cut the fillet across the grain into thickish chunks, tossed the pieces in a bit of oil and rubbed them with some freshly ground pepper. Very simply, they were grilled over the hot coals for a few minutes each side until slightly charred and then placed on a plate and covered with foil for 10 or 15 minutes until we were ready to eat.

As the pieces of fillet relaxed under the foil, some of the juices were released and used as a simple dressing for the grilled meat. I served it with sweetcorn, a small local squash also cooked on the braai, and a green salad.

Four of us devoured the entire fillet (well three really, as Luca ate very little), and I don’t feel guilty at all although I’m sure I will soon. The beef was tender, moist, and slightly pink in the centre. Truly indulgent. The setting helped, I have to say. I thoroughly recommend the apartment we stayed in. Check it out at Sunset Rocks Accommodation.

Tinder Bomb

This mad idea came to me when I was making sure that I would 'be prepared' for a late autumn evening helping a group of 6-8 year old beaver scouts cook damper bread over an open fire.

I was splitting some kiln dried ash offcuts into tinder the weekend before (therapy in itself) when I was pondering how to transport the tiny slivers to the ruined manor house at Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire for the event the following Wednesday evening. Knowing that I needed to take newspaper to start the fire as well, I came up with the idea of making tinder 'parcels' wrapped in newspaper as all in one, petro-chemical free fire lighters.

Inside the parcels I mixed the tinder with tiny pieces of tightly screwed up newspaper. And as a good pyro should, I couldn't help but throw in a few unused matches to help them along a little. It's important to wrap them loosely so there is plenty of air inside.

And they worked. A simple and quick way to start a fire without the need to carefully place lots of small pieces on a cold, damp, winter evening.

Rack of Autumn Lamb with Strawberry and Mint Salsa

Autumn is the best season for lamb. Unlike spring lambs, autumn lambs benefit from having feasted on all those abundant summer grasses.

The combination of lamb and strawberry is something else. The sweet, citrusy berry is an unexpected but perfect complement to the tender, aromatic flesh that a rack of lamb offers.

I pre-ordered the lamb from my local butcher as there is a fair amount of preparation and trimming to be done. Saturday’s can be very busy and I didn’t want to create any enemies in the queue. He packaged up the trimmings separately and to avoid waste I turned them into a Lamb Madras for later in the week. So although the cut can seem quite expensive (almost £30 for 4 racks to feed 8), the additional meal from the trimmings makes it very worthwhile.

The idea for this menu came about after trawling through my favourite books on seasonal foods, pretty much at the last minute. We had invited six great friends around and the night was destined to be large.

I was hoping to serve octopus as a first course, but my visit to the fishmonger at the covered market in Oxford resulted in squid as an alternative. Next time I’ll make sure I give them a few days notice.

MENU:

Entrée:

- Warm squid salad with fennel, asparagus and chilli

Main course:

- Roasted rack of lamb
- Strawberry and mint salsa
- Roasted chipped potatoes with garlic and rosemary
- Steamed French beans and carrots

Dessert:

- Les Colonels (this time with Polish "Debowa" Vodka)
- Cheeses, grapes and coffee

For the racks of lamb, preheat the oven to 200 deg C, place the racks in a large baking dish so they support each other, and place sprigs of rosemary and halved strawberries (1 piece per person) in the space between.

Rub a little olive oil over the skin and sprinkle with salt before placing in the oven for 30-40 minutes depending on how pink you like it. You can remove the lamb from the oven and cover with foil for up to 30 minutes before serving to allow time to finish off the vegetables and it will stay hot enough to serve.

The salsa can be prepared an hour or so in advance. Chop up a punnet of strawberries and a large bunch of fresh mint leaves. Mix together in a bowl with some castor sugar (2-3 teaspoons) and sprinkle over some cider vinegar, mixing and tasting as you go to make sure it is neither to sharp nor too sweet. Cover with cling film until ready to serve.

The evening went large big time and in true pyro fashion we lit a fire in the brazier in the garden using some seasoned silver birch that had fallen in a storm earlier in June.

A Charcoal Roasting Fire

FOR A WEBER OR KETTLE BARBEQUE

Part of our family routine is a roast dinner every Sunday (or a barbeque during the warmer months). The forecast was warm and dry, perfect for firing up the Weber. I bought a 2kg rolled shoulder of pork at my local butcher on the Saturday morning in anticipation. I always roast pork outside. This saves the oven (and kitchen) from filling up with smoke from all that spitting in the baking dish.

Good quality lumpwood charcoal is my fuel of choice. I try to avoid petrochemical firelighters as I just can't align them with the idea of cooking quality food. I'd rather a bit of proper wood smoke at the start using paper and tinder as a base to start the charcoal fire. A few small softwood offcuts in the garage were split into pencil thick pieces using my favourite hatchet. Note the tongs holding the wood, just this spring this little axe gave me seven stitches in my left index finger when splitting kindling. Or was it the bottle of red I had consumed beforehand? I'm not sure.

Pile the tinder over the top of one tightly screwed up piece of newspaper per side in the barbeque and set alight. Just a minute or two later you can start to place pieces of charcoal over the small fires, about 2 litres each side (I measure it out in an ice cream container and use tongs to create a mound).

In about 30-40 minutes, there will be two white hot mounds of charcoal. Spread each one out and then place a further 5 or 6 pieces of fuel on top of each side to extend the life of the fire. This fire will be good for up to 3 hours, or even longer if extra fuel is added during cooking time (for cooking a turkey for example). The temperature will relax towards the end which is good for a tender roast.

I roasted the pork in a pyrex dish to retain the juices for basting. Separating the crackling about 3/4 way through the cooking time helps it to become soft and crunchy, and also makes sure the pork cooks all the way through.

Scallopini Milanese

FRIED CHICKEN BREAST IN BREADCRUMBS

My family love this. It's definitely a weekend only or special occasion meal for us, especially when making it for a lot of people. Whenever I consult the kids on what they might like to have on say a Saturday night, I get the begging big eyes and hands held in prayer position. Words need not be spoken.

I thought that it might make a nice homely Italian meal for my mother-in-law's birthday, as it would be something that she would have rarely had. The traditional side dishes of spaghetti with sugo al pomodoro, tomato and fresh oregano salad, rucola and parmesan salad and ricetta tipica are treats in themselves, and the combination is both aromatic and refreshing.

I work on one and a bit medium sized chicken breast fillets per person. Cutting the fillet 'butterfly' style, you should get four pieces from each fillet. Sprinkle some flour on a plate with salt and pepper, beat a couple of eggs into a large flat dish and put 6-7 slices of fresh bread into a food processor for the breadcrumbs. Since discovering the difference between fresh and packet breadcrumbs there is no comparison. Dried breadcrumbs burn quickly and will make the oil smokey far too soon.

In a wok or deep, wide saucepan, add a mixture of vegetable oil and light olive oil to a depth of 3-4cm. Pat each slice of chicken breast dry with kitchen paper, fully coat in seasoned plain flour, then dip in the beaten egg before pressing into the bowl of breadcrumbs for the final covering. Place 3 or 4 pieces at a time into the hot oil, turning once with tongs, until they become rigid and are golden in colour. Remove and place on a draining rack in a warm oven as the scallopini are ready. The frying can be done half and hour or more in advance to allow time to finish off the pasta, salads and veggies.