#RealFood For Kids: Low-Carb 'Grannies in Blankets'

This is a new twist on a beloved South African dish: Ouma Onder Die Komberse. Big, juicy meatballs are flavoured with nutmeg, onion and lemon zest, wrapped in soft cabbage ‘blankets’, then baked in a creamy lemon sauce.

The paragraph above comes directly from just-published Real Food: Healthy, Happy Children, by Kath Megaw (Quivertree, 2015), and I'm honoured to have been asked to contribute some of my low-carb recipes to the book.

South African paediatric dietician Kath Megaw is a leading fundi on low-carb and ketogenic diets for children. "Wait!" I hear you cry. "Low carb for kids?" Yes, that's right, but I can assure you that this is not some faddish, irresponsible book leaping onto the banting bandwagon. It's a painstakingly researched, well-informed, sensible guide that advocates a return to real, 'living' food using the wholesome unprocessed ingredients so familiar to our grandparents.

If you're looking to banish sugar, stodge and boxed foods from your family's diet, you've found the only guide you'll ever need, whether you're pregnant, or feeding a baby, or a coping with teens who have hollow legs. If you still need convincing, click here to listen to a podcast of Kath talking about her book, and here to read more about her low-carb philosophy.  

When I first picked up my copy of this hefty 300-page book at last week's launch, I was astonished at how much detailed information is packed between the pages. It's bursting with tips, tricks and accurate nutritional info, with lovely photographs and illustrations adding whimsy along the way. Journalist and cookery writer Daisy Jones, who wrote the text, has a chatty yet precise style, and she's brilliantly conveyed Kath's 20 years of clinical experience in this field.

What's pleased me so much about contributing to this project  is seeing my name on the same line as Phillippa Cheifitz's.  Phillippa, who wrote many of the gorgeous recipes in the book, is one of the grande dames of South African cookery writing, and I have greatly admired her since I cooked my way through her inspiring Cosmopolitan Cookbook in my twenties.

I hauled my tattered, cake-spattered copy of that book to the launch, and my day was complete when Phillippa graciously signed it for me, 29 years after I bought it.

I'm so looking forward to trying the recipes on my own family - specially the mouth-watering treats from the party food section.  (My beloveds feel so deprived of puds these days.)

Nutty Exploding Apples with Vanilla Custard: another of my recipes
from  Real Food: Healthy, Happy Children

Now to the recipe. I've used a Swedish-style creamy sauce to cloak these cabbage-wrapped meatballs, but you could also bake them in a fresh tomato sauce.  Meatballs tend to be a little dense when they don't contain breadcrumbs, but I've found that a big dollop of natural Greek yoghurt helps to tenderise them. This #LCHF recipe is suitable for diabetics.

Low-Carb 'Grannies in Blankets' 

12 outer leaves from a cabbage (or baby savoy leaves)
2 lemons
salt and milled pepper, to taste
1 large onion, peeled
900g beef mince
1 extra-large free-range egg, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1½ tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 cup cream
4 tbsp finely chopped parsley
butter, for greasing

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan off).
2. Trim away the thick lower ‘ribs’ of the cabbage leaves. Bring a large saucepan of water to a
rolling boil, then add a wedge of lemon and a pinch of salt. Plunge the leaves into the water,
partially cover with a lid and blanch for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the leaves are wilted.
3. Drain (reserving the poaching water), then run the leaves under cold water for 3 minutes and
set aside to drain further.
4. Grate the onion on the fine tooth of a grater to create a soft, juicy pulp. Tip this into a large
mixing bowl and add the mince, egg, garlic, yoghurt, nutmeg and the zest of 1 lemon, plus
seasoning. Combine the mixture well using your hands., then roll the mince into 12 balls, each
about the size of a golf ball.
5. Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and brown the meatballs on all sides, in batches,
over a medium-high heat – this should only take a few minutes per side as they should be nicely
caramelised, but still raw on the inside. Set the meatballs aside on a plate.
6. Turn up the heat and add the vinegar, plus half a cup of the cabbage poaching liquid. Let this
mixture bubble vigorously for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it has reduced by half.
7. Remove the pan from the heat, wait a minute, then stir in the cream. Return the pan to a
medium heat and let the sauce bubble for 1 minute, stirring now and then, until it has slightly
thickened. Now stir in the juice of half a lemon and the parsley and set aside.
8. Pat the cabbage leaves very dry on kitchen paper. Tuck a leaf around each meatball and arrange
in a buttered baking dish. Pour the sauce around and over the cabbage parcels and cover the dish
loosely with tin foil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the ‘grannies’ are cooked right through.


Serves 4-6 Per serving: energy: 514 kcal protein: 33g fat: 39g carbs: 7g ratio: 1.0 :1

Recipe courtesy of Quivertree Publications. 

More of my meatball recipes:

• No-Carb Lemon Turmeric Meatballs in Lettuce Cups 
• Low-Carb Swedish-Style Meatballs in a Creamy Lemon Sauce
• Meatballs in a Spicy Tomato and Yoghurt Gravy
• Mini Pita Breads with Spicy Meatballs and Hummous
• Quick Oven-Baked Meatballs with Tomato & Spag

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Low-Carb Swedish-Style Meatballs in a Creamy Lemon Sauce

Low-Carb Swedish-Style Meatballs in a Creamy
Lemon Sauce, with Cauliflower Mash.

These juicy meatballs are mouthwateringly good, and I hope you'll give my new recipe a try.  I adore meatballs, and in this recipe I've eliminated all starch to make this recipe suitable for diabetics and anyone else on a low-carb, #LCHF or Banting regime.

The lemony cream sauce cloaking these meatballs is inspired by similar Scandinavian recipes, but I've added my own twists.

This dish is easy to make, but it does require a large shallow pan, because the sauce - containing not a speck of flour - relies for its thickening on fast reduction. The bigger and shallower your pan, the sooner the sauce will thicken. If you don't have such a pan, use two big frying pans to make the dish, dividing the meatballs and sauce ingredients between them.

Most meatball recipes contain bread crumbs or bread soaked in milk, which help to lighten the mixture and produce soft-textured balls.

Because my recipe contains no carbs, the meatballs are pleasantly springy, but they will not turn into tough bullets if you carefully follow my cooking instructions. The yoghurt helps to create a tender mixture, so don't leave it out.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver. He says: "Boschendal S&M, Shiraz Mourvèdre 2012."
Go to the end of the page for more detail about this wine pairing.

There is quite a lot of cream in the sauce, and I make no apologies for that, because fat is not a pressing issue when you're following a low-carb regime. However, if you'd like to lighten up the sauce, use half the quantity of cream, and carefully stir in half a cup of thick natural Greek yoghurt at the end.  (Here are my tips for cooking with yoghurt.)

Not a speck of starch in this recipe

This recipe also asks that you add and remove the meatballs from the pan several times, and I'm sorry to ask you to do this, but I've formulated the recipe in this way so that the sauce is lovely and thick, and the meatballs still tender.

You may raise an eyebrow at the quantity of nutmeg, allspice and pepper in the meatball mixture, but please trust me on this. This amount of meat needs robust seasoning, and when it's finished cooking the spicing is subtle, though distinct.

I recommend that you test the seasoning by frying a dab of the mixture before you roll it into balls - please see my instructions, below.  Also please note that allspice (comprising powdered pimento berries) is not the same as mixed spice.

If I were cooking for myself, I'd add some finely chopped capers, dill and anchovies to these meatballs. My kids and husband don't like these ingredients, however, so I've reluctantly left them out (although I did shower snipped dill over the top of the meatballs when I snapped these pictures).

I almost always use a combination of beef and pork mince when making meatballs because pork adds extra juiciness, but you can make these with beef alone, or with minced chicken.

Serve this with cauliflower mash or - if you're not on a low-carb regime - with creamy mashed potatoes or buttery champ.

This recipe serves 8-10, and makes about 45 meatballs, because at the moment I'm feeding many mouths. However, you can easily adapt it to serve 4-5 people by halving all the ingredients. I heartily suggest that you make the full amount of meatballs and freeze them, still raw, for future use. Or you can keep the cooked meatballs in a lidded plastic container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Low-Carb Swedish-Style Meatballs in a Creamy Lemon Sauce

For the meatballs: 

1 kg lean beef mince [ground beef]
500 g pork mince
1 small onion, peeled
2 large free-range eggs, lightly whisked
3 Tbsp (45 ml) natural yoghurt
2-3 tsp (10 - 15 ml) salt, to taste (see recipe, below)
2 tsp (10 ml) nutmeg
2 tsp (10 ml) allspice
1 tsp (5 ml) white pepper
1 tsp (5 ml) finely milled black pepper
the finely grated zest of a large lemon
4 Tbsp (60 ml) olive oil or sunflower oil, for frying

For the sauce: 

½ cup (125 ml) white wine
2 cups light beef or chicken stock (or water to which you've added a teaspoon or two of good-quality liquid or jellied stock, such as a Nomu Fond or Knorr Stock Pot)
the juice of a large lemon
2 Tbsp (30 ml) Dijon mustard
1 cup (250 ml) sour cream or thick fresh cream

To serve:

finely chopped fresh dill, parsley, or chives

Put the beef and pork mince into a large mixing bowl, or into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a plastic paddle or a dough hook.

Grate the onion on the fine teeth of your cheese grater to create a smooth wet pulp.

Add the onion pulp to the bowl along with all the remaining meatball ingredients. Using your hands, squish and squeeze the mixture until well combined. (If you're using an electric mixer, beat the ingredients together on a low speed until well mixed, but don't over-process the mixture, or it will become sticky and too homogenous.)

Now test the seasoning. Heat a lick of oil in a frying pan. Pinch off some of the meat mixture, press it into a little patty and fry it for a minute or two minutes on each side. Taste the patty once it's cooled slightly. You might need to add more salt, or a whisper more of nutmeg, allspice and pepper, if you can't clearly taste these flavours.  Place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up.

Roll the meat mixture between the palms of your hands into small even-sized balls.

I always fry meatballs in a circle, and then flip them over
in the order in which I placed them in the pan. Watch them
closely, as they brown quickly. 

Heat the oil in a large, shallow non-stick pan over a medium-high heat and fry the meatballs, in batches of 10, for 1-2 minutes on one side, or until they've developed a deep-golden crust on their undersides. Now flip them over and fry them for a further minute or two. Don't over-crowd the pan, and watch them closely, as they blacken in an instant.

When them meatballs look toasty on both sides (but are still half-raw inside) remove and set aside. Tilt the pan over a bowl and spoon away any excess fat.

Put the pan back on a high heat, and tip in the wine, stirring and scraping to dislodge any sticky brown bits. Now pour in the stock and cook at a brisk bubble for 4 minutes, or until the stock has reduced by about a third. Add the lemon juice and mustard, whisk well to combine, and bubble for a further 2 minutes.

Return the meatballs to the pan. Arrange them in a single layer so the liquid comes about half-way up their middles. Cover the pan with a lid. Simmer at a gentle bubble for about 4 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked right through, but still soft and tender.

Once again, remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside while you add the finishing touches to the sauce.

Pour the sour cream into the liquid left in the pan and whisk well to combine.  Reduce over a fairly high heat until the sauce is thickened and glossy, and a beautiful cafe-au-lait colour.   Return the meatballs, plus any juices that have accumulated underneath them, to the pan.  Heat through for one minute, season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Scatter over the fresh dill, parsley or chives and serve immediately with steamed veggies and cauliflower mash. Or proper mashed potatoes, or garlicky champ, if you're not low-carbing.

Makes about 45 meatballs, and serves 8. 

---

Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

Boschendal S&M, Shiraz Mourvèdre 2012

It looks like: Deep dark ruby plum at the core which pales to purple garnet at the rim.

It smells like: Toasty oak with waves of back cherry and a grind if white peppercorns.

It tastes like: Easy soft entry of sappy spiced plums and brambles on a broad palate with soft tannins. Really good mouthful with an undertow of dark chocolate, oak and its concomitant spices. Quality shows in the long full and gently waning aftertaste.



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Low-Carb Double Cauliflower Cheese

I love cheesy cauliflower cloaked in bubbling white sauce, but not a morsel has passed my lips since I started my low-carb regime last year. Then it occurred to me  - why not make a 'white sauce' from puréed cauliflower? I did, and that's why I've called this new recipe Double Cauliflower Cheese.  It's also doubly cheesy, with a topping of both Cheddar and Parmesan.  I've added some sympathetic flavours - mustard, lemon, nutmeg and white pepper - to the sauce to tone down the caulifloweriness, and I'm pleased with the result. This is gluten-free, diabetic-friendly, and well suited to anyone on a Low-Carb High Fat (#LCHF) regime.

Low-Carb Double-Cauliflower Cheese.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Boland Cellar Five Climates
Chenin Blanc 2014. Go to the end of the page for more detail about this pairing.

This isn't difficult to make, but to achieve a silken purée you will need a fairly powerful food processor fitted with a metal blade. If you don't have one, you can use a liquidiser or stick blender and a lot of patience. Don't add the cream to the sauce too early if you're going to be whizzing it for a long time, as it may thicken or even turn to buttery granules. If you find your sauce is a little grainy despite your patient blitzing, push it through a sieve before you pour it over the cauliflower florets.

This is good with a squirt of tomato sauce, my family reckons, but I like it flecked with Tabasco. If you want to add real luxury to the dish, throw in some crisped bacon bits when you assemble the dish, or use cubed, fried gammon, as I've done in this recipe: Luxurious Broccoli 'n Cheese with Gammon, and a Parmesan Crust.

And if you're not on a low-carb regime, try my Luxurious Cauliflower Cheese with Bacon and Leeks, which has an indulgent topping of buttered breadcrumbs.

This recipe will make slightly more sauce than you need, but you can cover the remainder and save it for dolloping over steamed veggies later in the week.  For extra flavour, and if you have time, infuse the hot milk ahead of time with a bay leaf, a slice of onion and a clove.

Low-Carb Double-Cauliflower Cheese

2 large heads cauliflower, or 4 small ones
5 Tbsp (75 ml) water
salt
½ cup (125 ml) hot milk, plus extra for thinning
4 Tbsp (60 ml) cream
2 Tbsp (30 ml) butter
2½ cups (about 150 g) grated Cheddar
2 tsp (10 ml) Dijon mustard
a pinch or more of freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
a pinch of white pepper, to taste
a squeeze of lemon juice

For the topping: 
1 cup (250 ml, fairly loosely packed) grated Cheddar
5 Tbsp (75 ml) grated Parmesan or Grana Padano
sweet paprika or cayenne pepper, for dusting

Heat the oven to 180 ºC, fan on.

First make the sauce. Remove the green leaves from one of the cauliflowers (or two, if you're using small caulis).  Trim off the stalk and cut the cauliflower lengthways into quarters. Now use a sharp knife to cut away the core, and break up the florets.

Heat a large pot over a medium-high flame, add the water, the cauli florets and a pinch of salt. Cover and let them  steam for about 15 minutes, or until the stalks are very tender.  Check the pan now and again, adding more water if the pan starts to dry out.  If you'd like a nutty taste, let the water dry up so the florets take on a little golden colour, but watch them carefully so they don't scorch.

Whizz the cauliflower with the butter, cream
and milk to a fine purée. 

Drain the cauliflower in a colander for 2 minutes then tip it, piping hot, into a food processor (or return it to the pan if you're using a stick blender).  Add the milk, cream and butter and whizz to a fine, soft purée.

Now, while the mixture is still hot, add the grated Cheddar and process until the cheese has melted into the sauce.

Add the mustard, nutmeg and white pepper and mix well. Now thin the sauce with more hot milk so it's about the consistency of a thickish white sauce.

Season to taste with salt. Add a spritz or two of lemon juice - just enough to give the sauce a little sparkle.  Set aside.

Cut up and steam the remaining cauliflower, as described above, but cook it until it is just tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. (I do this in the microwave, in a big bowl tightly covered with clingfilm - it takes about 7 minutes, on high.)  Drain well in a colander for three minutes, then tip the florets into a large buttered oven-proof dish.

Top the cauliflower cheese with grated Cheddar, Parmesan
and a dusting of sweet paprika or cayenne pepper.

Pour over the reserved sauce - just enough generously to coat the florets - and sprinkle with the Cheddar, Parmesan and a dusting of sweet paprika (or cayenne pepper if you fancy that).

Bake in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and golden.  Serve immediately with a crisp green salad.

Serves 4 hungry people, or 6 as a side dish.












Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

It looks like: Pale gold straw in the glass. Gem bright.

It smells like: Classic Chenin. Tropical fruits like guava. Honey. White flowers.

It tastes like: Excellent mouthful of wine with great breadth and depth of flavour. The guava is in full presence, as are slice ripe pear and red apple. While dry, there is a whisper of honey. Long aftertaste, clean, crisp and fresh.


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Low-Carb Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with a Naartjie Gremolata

It's the gremolata that makes this stew special: a heavenly scent of citrus, parsley and garlic billows up as your face meets the plate. The starring ingredient here is freshly zested naartjie [clementine] peel - a glorious South African flavour that brings such warmth and colour to winter kitchens.

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with Naartjie, Lemon, Garlic & Parsley Gremolata.
 Bowl by my uncle David Walters, Master Potter of Franschhoek.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Simonsig Pinotage 2012.  Go to the
end of the  page for more detail about this pairing.

I'm besotted with naartjies and use them with abandon in many dishes, even more so now that I've discovered that they have no impact on my blood sugar. They're one of the only fruits I, as a diabetic, can eat with no fear.  At the end of this post, you'll find links to some of my favourite naartjie recipes.

This nourishing beef & olive stew is easy to make. 

This heartwarming, deep-flavoured stew is easy to make, but it involves several steps, and takes time, as all good stews do.  It will take you about 45 minutes to get the stew on the go - so put on some music and relax into the cooking! After that you can leave the pot on the stove over a very low heat and forget about it for two or three hours.

Please use well-trimmed, dark-red beef shin in this recipe, preferably with the bone in.  Shin is much leaner than other similar stewing cuts, and it dissolves beautifully into melt-in-the-mouth pieces.  You can use boneless shin if you don't fancy finding those fat ivory bangles in your stew, but the bone marrow does add lovely unctuousness to this dish, and the leftovers make good treats for jealous dogs.

A tip: avoid sliced shin that looks as if it has bone dust sprinkled over the meat.  If your butcher can't slice up a shin without splintering the bone, his saw isn't sharp enough, and you must find a better supplier.  The shins I used here come from Woolies - they're on special now.

If anyone in your family doesn't like olives, set aside a portion before you add the olives.

This recipe contains four tablespoons of flour, so it isn't perfect if you're on a punishing low-carb diet. However, this is a piffling amount of carbohydrates split between six to eight people, so I think I can confidently recommend this for anyone on a low-carb or diabetic regime.

Some of the ingredients for this dish: carrots, leeks, beef shin, bacon, garlic,
red wine, chopped tinned tomatoes, olives and naartjie peel. 

Here's an Instagram quick video of my making this dish: http://instagram.com/p/pONolmw4xc/

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with Naartjie Gremolata

8 (2 kg) bone-in beef shin slices
4 Tbps (60 ml) white flour
salt and milled black pepper
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
3 Tbps (45 ml) olive oil, for frying
2 large onions
500 g medium carrots
500 g small leeks
2 bay leaves
a large sprig of fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, peeled
5 Tbsp (75 ml) tomato paste
1 cup (250 ml) dry red wine
2 x 410 g tins tomato-and-onion mix, or chopped tomatoes
1 thumb-sized strip naartjie [clementine] or orange peel
24 Calamata olives, pitted

For the gremolata:
the finely zested rind of 2 small naartjies
the finely zested rind of a lemon or lime
5 Tbsp (75  ml) finely chopped fresh curly parsley
2 small cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated

Trim any small pads of fat off the shin slices. Snip the membrane surrounding the slices here and there so the meat can collapse easily in the pan.  Put the flour on a plate, season generously with salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat a large heavy-based lidded pot over a high flame and fry the bacon bits dry until golden and just crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Press the shin slices - three at a time - into the seasoned flour, and shake to remove the excess. Add the olive oil to the pan and when it is very hot and shimmering - but not yet smoking - add the first three shin slices. Fry for 3 minutes, until nicely golden and caramelised, then turn them over to brown the undersides.  Don't allow the pan to get too fiercely hot, or your stew will have black spots.  Remove the slices from the pan and set aside on a plate. Repeat with the remaining slices.

In the meantime, get the vegetables ready.  Peel the onions and cut them into thick slices, crossways. Do the same with the carrots, cutting them into 2-cm thick slices. Trim the bases of the leeks, remove the green upper parts and slice the white and pale green sections crossways into 4-cm lengths.

When you've finished browning the shin, add the onions, carrots, leeks, bay leaves and thyme sprig to the pan, turn down the heat and sauté for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are beginning to turn golden.

Gently sauté the veggies in the bacon fat & olive oil.

Finely grate or chop the garlic, and add it into the vegetables along with the tomato paste.  Cook, stirring often, for a minute, without allowing the garlic to burn. Pour in the red wine and deglaze the pan, stirring and scraping to dislodge any golden stickiness.

Turn up the heat and add the tinned tomatoes and the reserved bacon and beef shin. Press the shin pieces deep into the liquid and bring to a fast boil. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Now turn down the heat to its lowest setting. Cover and bubble very gently for 2½ to 3 hours, or until the meat is so soft you can pull it apart with a fork.  Thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the olives.

Check the stew now and then to make sure it isn't sticking on the bottom.  You shouldn't need to add extra liquid, but if the sauce seems too thick, thin it down with a little water.

Just before you serve the stew,  mix together, in a small bowl, the grated naartjie and lemon zest, the chopped parsley and the freshly grated garlic.  Turn off the heat under the stew, and sprinkle with the gremolata.  Alternatively, you can pass the gremolata around the table and let your guests help themselves. [Postscript 15 June 2014: My daughter says not to put too much gremolata on each portion as it can overpower the taste of the stew.]

Serve with hunks of warm crusty bread, or rice, or boiled baby potatoes, or - best of all - creamy mash.

Serves 8 as a main course. 

Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

It looks like: ‘Deep Persian carpet red’, say the estate notes. At the edge of the glass the wine shows ruby purple, an indication of its youth.

It smells like: Sweet red berries and cinnamon spice.

It tastes like: Again the red berries. Soft tannins. Sappy with fruit cake spices on the long aftertaste.

More naartjie recipes: 

Slow-Cooked Moroccan-Spiced Beef and Apricot Stew with Naartjie Couscous

Dried Naartjie Peel, and a South African Milk Tart to go under it

Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups, with Rosemary Flowers

Caramel-Dipped Naartjies on Kebab Sticks

Couscous, Feta & Pea Salad with a Naartjie Dressing



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Low-Carb Griddled Chicken Breasts with Romesco-Style Sauce

There are many variations of this flavour-packed Catalan sauce, and here is mine.  Being a low-carb recipe, it contains none of the fried breadcrumbs sometimes added to romesco sauces.  If you're on a low-carb, #LCHF or diabetic diet, I don't think you'll miss the crumbs at all, because the toasted hazelnuts and almonds add lovely crunch, while the fiercely roasted red peppers and tomatoes produce natural sweetness and gorgeous depth of flavour. This is delicious dolloped over flash-fried chicken breasts, and very good with melting aubergine slices, pan-fried fish fillets, braised leeks and plain old hard-boiled eggs.

Low-Carb Griddled Chicken Breasts with Romesco-Style Sauce. The Africa shape
of this chicken breast is entirely unintentional, but somehow appropriate. Plate by my uncle
David Walters, Master Potter of Franschhoek. 

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Nativo White 2013

You can whizz this sauce to fine purée, or pulse it in a food processor to a coarse pesto so it has some texture.  Because I prefer this sauce slightly chunky, I don't bother to peel the peppers.  But if you don't like pepper skin, you can roast the peppers whole in the oven (or blacken them over a flame), then scrape off all the charred skin before you process the sauce.

This sauce is traditionally made with mild dried nyora peppers, but as you're not likely to find these in South Africa, I have a specified a pinch or two of dried chilli flakes. Add more if you want a sauce with a memorable kick.

It's important to achieve a good balance of sweetness and acidity in this recipe. I've used a delicious Spanish sherry vinegar here but, again, this is not easy to find in South Africa, so I suggest you use red wine or balsamic vinegar, adding it a few drops at a time until you're satisfied with the taste.

I use blanched, skinned hazelnuts from Woolies, but if you're not able to find these, you will need to toast the skin-on hazelnuts in a dry pan first, then rub them energetically in a tea towel to remove the skins.

Low-Carb Griddled Chicken Breasts with Romesco-Style Sauce

For the sauce:
3 red peppers [capsicums or bell peppers]
1 large white onion, peeled
250 g cherry tomatoes
30 g blanched, skinned hazelnuts (see my note, above)
30 g slivered almonds
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped or grated
a pinch or two of dried chilli flakes, or more, to taste (see recipe)
2 Tbsp (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus a little extra
2 tsp (10 ml) sherry vinegar (or red-wine or balsamic vinegar)
1 tsp (5 ml) sweet paprika
salt and milled black pepper
a squeeze of lemon juice

For the chicken:
6 skinless, deboned chicken breasts
1 Tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
1 Tbsp (15 ml) butter
salt & milled black pepper
a squeeze of lemon juice

To serve:
lemon wedges
baby salad leaves

Heat the oven to 200 °C, fan on, or 210 °C if your oven has no fan.

Lightly oil a large baking tray.  Remove the stalks and seeds from the red peppers and cut into big wedges.  Cut the onion lengthways into thick slices, and slice the cherry tomatoes in half.  Arrange the vegetables in a single layer in the baking tray, and rub a little olive oil over the onion slices.  Season lightly with salt and roast in a hot oven for 45-60 minutes, or until the veggies are very soft and have blackened edges here and there.  Watch them closely so they don't scorch or stick.

While the vegetables are roasting, put the hazelnuts and almonds into a dry frying pan, set over a medium-low heat and cook, tossing frequently, until they are golden brown and lightly toasted. Don't take your eye off them for a moment - they burn in an instant.  Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pan, along with three-quarters of the peeled, crushed garlic.  Cook gently, over a low heat, for another 60 seconds, without letting the garlic brown. The idea here is to take the sting out of the garlic. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Scrape all the roasted vegetables into a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Add the chilli flakes, the nut/garlic mixture, 2 Tbsp olive oil, the reserved garlic, the vinegar and the paprika.  Whizz to a fairly coarse purée - or to a fine paste if that's what you prefer - stopping now and then to scrape down the sides.  If the blades are reluctant to turn, add a little more olive oil.

Season to taste with salt and milled black pepper.  Add a spritz of lemon juice - just enough to 'lift' the sauce. Use a spatula to scrape the sauce into a bowl.  Serve immediately, or cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

To prepare the chicken:  Place a chicken breast between two sheets of clingfilm or sturdy greaseproof paper and use a rolling pin (or a wine bottle) gently to bash it out and flatten it so it's of a fairly even thinness all over.  The trick here is to start in the middle and work outwards, using gentle thumps that won't shred the chicken or make holes in it. Repeat with the remaining breasts.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the breasts, over a medium-high heat, for about two minutes on each side, or until just cooked through.  (If you're not certain they're cooked, cut a slit on the underside of the thickest part of the biggest breast. If it's still pink inside, cook the breasts for another minute or so.)

Turn down the heat, add the butter and a squeeze of lemon juice, season to taste with salt and pepper and cook for another minute,  basting the breasts with the butter & lemon juice.  Remove from the pan, rest for a minute, then serve hot with the romesco sauce, lemon wedges and baby salad leaves.

Serves 6.


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Low-Carb Griddled Baby Butternut with Chorizo, Feta & a Lemon Dressing

This beautiful black plate is the work of my uncle, master potter
David Walters of Franschhoek. The shiny black slick of glaze
 across the plate is designed to stop your fork from grating.

I seldom see these beautiful baby vegetables in the shops, and when I do spy them, I grab a few punnets and race home to cook them. They're similar to courgettes [zucchini] but have a nuttier, sweeter flavour, a denser texture and a beautiful pale-orange colour.

In this easy tapas-style dish, I've griddled them until just tender, and combined them with fried chorizo, crumbled feta and a garlicky lemon vinaigrette, with toasted pumpkin seeds for crunch.  If you can't find baby butternuts, use courgettes, sliced into thick leaves.

I haven't been able to figure out the carbohydrate content of these veggies, but I had a great big bowl of them for lunch, and they didn't cause any spike in my blood sugar, so I can assume their carbohydrate content and glycaemic load is negligible.  This recipe is suitable for anyone on a low-carb, #LCHF or diabetic regime.

The chorizo sausage I used in for this dish wasn't the best in its class, but was all that was available at my local supermarket. The gorgeous smoky note it adds to this dish makes all the difference, and I'm looking forward to trying this with an excellent Italian cured sausage, or with crisp-fried bacon bits.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: La Bri Merlot 2012. 

Low-Carb Griddled Baby Butternut with Chorizo, Feta and a Lemon Dressing

600 g baby butternut (or courgettes, if you can't find mini butternuts)
2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil, for frying
1 spicy chorizo sausage, sliced
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 'wheel' (about 70 g) feta cheese
1/3 cup (80 ml) pumpkin seeds [optional]
salt and milled black pepper to taste
baby salad leaves, to serve

For the dressing:
1 clove garlic, peeled (or more, to taste)
a pinch of flaky sea salt
½ tsp (2.5 ml) prepared Dijon mustard, or a big pinch of Hot English Dry Mustard powder
the juice of a small lemon
4 Tbsp (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

Rinse the baby butternuts (or courgettes) under cold running water to remove any grit.  Cut lengthways into slices about 7 mm thick.

Add the chorizo slices towards the
end of the cooking time so their smoky
flavour permeates the veggies. 

Heat a griddle pan, or a large flat pan, over a very high heat. Add the olive oil and - when it is shimmering -  arrange the baby butternut slices in a single layer on the pan.  Cook over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on each side (three if you're using courgettes) or until toasty and golden on the outside, and just tender on the inside.  Watch them closely, adjusting the heat if necessary because they scorch quickly.

Two minutes before the veggies are ready, add the sliced chorizo, and fry until hot and crisp. Now add a generous spritz of lemon juice. As soon as the juice has evaporated, remove the pan from the heat, set aside and keep warm. Season to taste with salt and milled black pepper.

While the butternut slices are cooking, make the dressing. Put the garlic and salt into a mortar and pound to a paste.  Add the mustard and lemon juice and stir until the salt has dissolved.

Now whisk in the olive oil to form a smooth emulsion.  If the dressing seems a bit sharp, add a pinch of white sugar. Set aside.

Place the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until they are hot and crunchy.

To serve, lightly blot the baby-butternut and chorizo slices with kitchen paper to remove any grease.  Arrange them on a platter, sprinkle over the dressing - just enough to coat the slices -  and scatter with the toasted pumpkin seeds, baby salad leaves and crumbled feta.

Serve hot or warm.

Serves 4 as a starter. 


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Spicy Low-Carb Roast Chicken Soup

Although the picture below shows a few dabs of fresh red chilli, this is delicately spiced and mild enough to offer to kids. I've used restraint because I don't want the spices to overpower the deep delicious chickeny flavours of this soup. The chilli is there to give the soup a finishing kick, but entirely optional.  I often use ready-roasted rotisseried chickens in soups these days because their flesh and skin have a gorgeous melting texture and a salty succulence that's difficult to reproduce in a domestic oven, and they're a world apart from the insipid flesh you'll pull off a chicken that's been simmered in a home-made stock.

Spicy Low-Carb Roast Chicken Soup

It may seem a hassle to make stock using the bones and skin of your supermarket chicken, but this process takes just 30 minutes, and adds glorious depth of flavour. The veggies are seethed at the same time, in a separate pot; after that you'll need just 10 minutes to put the soup together. And dinner's on the table!

If you don't have all the ingredients for the stock, throw in what you do have in your fridge - half an onion, a stick of celery, and so on.

I've used vegetables to thicken this soup (leeks, cauliflower plus a few carrots for colour) and it contains not a grain of starch, making it suitable for anyone on a low-carb or diabetic regime.

I bought the chicken for this soup from Checkers - hot out of a huge industrial rotisserie - and it was plump, juicy and packed with flavour.  My favourite rotisseried chickens, however, come from Woolies.

Spicy Low-Carb Roast Chicken Soup

1 ready-roasted/rotisseried chicken (it helps if it's still warm, as this makes it easier to strip away the flesh)
6 medium leeks (500 g, after trimming)
4 large carrots, peeled
2½ litres boiling water
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
a few parsley stalks
freshly milled black pepper
2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil or butter
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small head of cauliflower (500 g), trimmed and broken into florets
4 Tbsp (60 ml) cream
½ tsp (2.5 ml) turmeric
½ tsp (2.5 ml) cumin
½ tsp (2.5 ml) mild curry powder
½ tsp (2.5 ml) chilli powder
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt

To garnish:
finely chopped or sliced fresh red chillies [optional]
fresh parsley or coriander

Pull the rotisseried chicken into big flakes, leaving
some golden skin behind if you fancy it.

Tear all the flesh away from the chicken, pull it into large shreds, place in a bowl and cover.  (If you like chicken skin, cut away the breasts whole and slice diagonally into strips so each piece has a covering of golden skin). Put all the skin and bones into a large pot. Scrape out any golden-brown jelly or juices that have collected in the chicken's packet and add to the pot.  Turn on the heat and gently fry the bones and skin for a minute or two.

Prepare the leeks by trimming off the dark-green upper parts and making a long horizontal slit three-quarters of the way through their lengths.  Fan out the ‘pages’ of the leeks under a cold running tap and rinse away any grit hiding in the outer leaves. Set aside.

Add one leek and one carrot, each cut into thirds, to the pot, and pour in 2½ litres boiling water.  Now add the cloves, bay leaves and parsley stalks and season generously with milled black pepper.

Bring the stock to a fast boil, skimming off any foam as it rises, cover with a tilted lid and cook over a medium heat for 30 minutes, or until the carrot pieces are very soft.  Turn off the heat and let it sit for five minutes.  Using a large spoon, lift away and discard any fat.

While your stock is boiling, gentle sauté the leeks and carrots
in a separate pan.

While the stock is boiling, slice the remaining leeks and carrots.  Heat the oil or butter in a separate large pot (I use my wok) and gently sauté the veggies for about 4 minutes, or until the leeks are just beginning to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Now place the cauliflower florets on top of the leeks and carrots, and add 4 ladles of boiling stock from the other pot.  (It's okay if the cauliflower is poking up above the water line - the steam inside the pot will cook it.)  Cover with a lid and simmer at a brisk bubble for 15 minutes, or until the carrots are very soft.

Remove the lid from the pot containing the veggies and place a colander on top.  Pour the hot stock through the colander and press down on the bones with the back of a spoon.  Retrieve the carrot and leek pieces from the colander and add them to the soup.

If your second pot isn't very big, you can pour everything back into the rinsed-out pot in which you made the stock.

Blitz to a fine purée using a stick blender or liquidiser.  If the soup is too thick, thin it to the desired consistency with hot water.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Stir in the cream, turmeric, cumin, curry powder, chilli powder and nutmeg,  and simmer for 5 minutes. Now add the chicken strips - reserving some for the garnish - and cook over a gentle heat for another few minutes, or until the chicken has heated through.

Serve with finely chopped red chilli, plenty of milled black pepper and a scattering of parsley or coriander.

Serves 6. 


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Low-Carb Slow-Roasted Pork Neck with Caramelised Onions

The gravy I made for this dish was not a thundering success. I figured that whizzing up the golden onions, apple slices & carrots with Dijon mustard and a splash of cream was an inspired idea for a low-carb gravy, but I was mistaken. The flavours were great, but it had a curious grainy texture, with none of the silken mouth-feel I expect from a good gravy. My family weren't at all keen, and did not hesitate to tell me so. The pork and onions were scrumptious, however, so please try this recipe, and disregard the bowl of gravy at the top left of the picture below.  (I have given instructions for preparing the so-so gravy at the end of the recipe, in case you low-carbers feel like giving it a go.) This recipe is suitable for diabetics, and for anyone on a low-carb #LCHF regime.

Low-Carb Slow-Roasted Pork Neck with Caramelised Onions  

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Zonnebloem Limited Edition Pinotage 2010.
 Go to the end of the page for more detail about this pairing.

My 2009 recipe for Roast Pork Neck with Leeks, Carrots and Apples has been the second-most popular recipe on this blog for many years (the first being South African Ginger Beer). Pork neck is an inexpensive cut ideal for slow roasting. It has superlative flavour and a melting, juicy texture that cannot be rivalled by any other cut of pork. It's a little difficult to find, but I'm pleased to see that Food Lovers Market now stocks vacuum-packed pork necks. If you don't have a branch near you, look for it in a good German butchery, or ask your own butcher to order it for you.

The ingredients for this dish include a pan-browned pork neck,
onions, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, fennel seeds and an apple.

The fennel seeds add a very faint aniseed flavour, but you can leave them out if you wish. If you're on a very low-carb regime, you might elect to omit the single apple in this recipe, but I urge you to leave it in, because it adds a lovely sweet note.

It's a pain in the neck to slice onions, so I do this in a jiffy using my food processor and its thickest slicing blade.

Serve this with bright steamed vegetables, or with tender-stem broccoli, griddled courgettes, or shredded stir-fried cabbage.




Low-Carb Slow-Roasted Pork Neck with Caramelised Onions 

1 x 1.8 kg pork neck 
3 Tbsp (45 ml) olive oil, for frying
5 large white onions, peeled and sliced
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 slim sticks celery, leaves removed and thinly sliced
1 large apple, cored and thinly sliced (no need to peel it)
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme
½ tsp (2.5 ml) fennel seeds (optional)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated or chopped
4 Tbsp (60 ml) red wine
1 Tbsp (15 ml) balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp (60 ml) water
1 Tbsp (15 ml) prepared Dijon mustard
salt and milled black pepper

Heat to oven to 160 °C. Pat the pork neck dry on kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a large shallow ovenproof pan with a thick base. (You can do this in a heavy rectangular roasting pan, but you will need to watch the onions closely so they don't catch or burn.)

When the oil is beginning to shimmer, add the pork neck.  Sear it over a high heat on all sides, until it is golden-brown all over.  You may find that the meat sticks to the bottom of the pan for the first few minutes, but it will loosen with a gentle nudge once its surface has browned. This process should not take more than about 6-7 minutes, if your pan is hot enough.

Remove the meat from the pan and set aside on a plate. Add the onions, carrots, celery, apple, bay leaves and thyme sprigs.  Cook over a low heat, uncovered, stirring now and then, for 15-20 minutes, or until the onions are soft and a glorious golden colour. Don't allow the onions to burn, or you risk a bitter flavour.

Now add the garlic and cook for another minute, without letting it brown.

Turn up the heat and add the wine and vinegar. Deglaze the pan by stirring and scraping briskly to dislodge any sticky bits.

Place the browned pork neck on top of the golden onions, cover
and roast at a low temperature for two hours.

Pour in the water and place the pork neck on top of the veggies, along with any juices that have collected beneath it.  Cover the pan (use a double layer of tin foil if you don't have a lid that fits snugly) and bake for one hour at 160 °C.  Remove the lid or foil, and add a few more tablespoons of water if the onions seem dry.

Turn the heat down to 150 °C and roast for another hour, uncovered.

Remove the pork neck from the pan, place it on a warmed platter and let it rest, loosely covered with a sheet of tin foil, for 15-20 minutes.

When you're ready to serve, gently reheat the vegetables on your stove top and stir in the mustard. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Snip through and gently tear away the netting on the pork neck, then carve it into thick slices. Arrange these on a warmed platter, pour over any juices that have accumulated under it, and serve hot with the caramelised veggies.

If you'd like to try my-not-very successful low-carb 'gravy', remove two-thirds of the onion mixture, set aside and keep warm.  Heat the pan containing the remaining veggies, add two-thirds of a cup of water and bring to a gentle boil. Use a stick blender to blitz the mixture as finely as you can, adding more water if necessary.  Stir in 3 Tbsp (45 ml) cream and a little more Dijon mustard, if you think it needs it. Season generously with black pepper and serve hot.

Serves 6.

Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

It looks like: Deep ruby at the core, which pales to ruby garnet around the edges of the glass.

It smells like: Red and black berry fruits, whispers of charcuterie and smoke from the barrels.

It tastes like: Classical red Pinotage berry fruits, ripe bloodplums, a smidge of savouriness and smoke. Elegant with ripe tannins, fruit, acidity and the oak all perfectly balanced.

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Easy Maas (Amasi) Drained Cheese with Capers, Radishes & Herbs

A creamy, delicate white cheese that's incredibly easy and inexpensive to make. I'm excited to share my recipe with you, and hope you'll try it, because it's so versatile and delicious. I've used a beloved Southern African staple ingredient - amasi, or maas, a soured/fermented milk - to create this drained cheese, and combined it here with some spiky contrasting flavours.

Radishes, capers, lemon zest, olive oil and salt contrast with the
delicate milky flavours of the maas cheese.  I've used rocket and parsley
 seedling leaves from my garden to strew over the cheese. 

If you're fed up with paying through the nose for cream and cottage cheeses, you'll love this method of making your own soft white cheese at home. A two-litre bottle of amasi retails for around R25, so the cheese shown in the picture above, made from a one-litre bottle of maas, will set you back about ten rand.

I can't understand why amasi doesn't feature more prominently in restaurant dishes or, for that matter, in workaday South African recipes. Full-fat maas is a superb local ingredient: it has a light, tangy taste, it's pleasingly creamy, and it has many well-documented health benefits. 

The shiny slick visible at the top of this beautiful plate is not
 olive oil, but a brush-mark of fired-on, glassy glaze, placed there for a
 specific reason by my uncle, master ceramicist David Walters. More about
 this towards the end of this blogpost!  

Amasi also has multiple uses in the kitchen. You can use it in place of natural yoghurt (my obsession this year!) in many dishes: it's a good tenderising agent in marinades for chicken and red meat, it's lovely in raitas, salad dressings and creamy dips, and it's useful for dolloping at the last minute into curries and similar spicy stews. I always add maas to fruit smoothies, and often whizz it up with frozen cubes of fruit to make instant ice cream.

It's also an excellent alternative to buttermilk and/or yoghurt in scones and quick breads: the best scones I've ever tasted are made with maas: you can find the recipe for Irene Ngcobo's legendary feather-light scones here, on my Scrumptious Facebook page.

If you're wary of maas because it sometimes has a slightly lumpy texture, don't worry! The long draining process produces a beautifully creamy, smooth-textured cheese, all on its own, without any need for stirring.

You can lightly knead this cheese (once it has finished draining) with salt, pepper, garlic, herbs and any other zippy flavours you fancy, but I think it's best just as it is, with all the bells and whistles served on the side of the plate. I love the contrast of the delicate milky-bland flavours and a few crunchy/sour accompaniments, mashed together under a fork with plenty of fruity olive oil and flaky sea salt.

Try it, also, with ribbons of honey and a scattering of toasted flaked almonds or pistachios, or with stewed grapes or baked figs.  Or roll the cheese into balls, coat them with pepper and marinate them in olive oil, rosemary, garlic and similar sunny Mediterranean flavours (see picture below).

Maas-cheese balls rolled in pepper and smoked
paprika, and marinated in olive oil, garlic and rosemary.
  Plate by David Walters. 

There's nothing mysterious about this recipe: it's a basic drained cheese, similar to a Middle-Eastern labneh. If you're not in Southern Africa, you can make this using Greek yoghurt (here's my recipe for a garlicky, herby yoghurt cheese).

Finally, a note about the beautiful black plates in the pictures above. My uncle David Walters, master potter of Franschhoek, works closely with some of South Africa's top chefs to produce bespoke dinnerware for their restaurants. He's designed these matte black plates with great care and attention, brushing a slick of shiny glaze right across its middle  Why? Because he doesn't want your fork to make a nasty scraping fingernails-on-blackboard noise as you clear the plate.

Which brings me to a little grumble. As I may have mentioned on this blog before, I can't bear good food served on rough slate roof tiles, a gimmick that has spread like a black fungus all over the restaurant world. (I was annoyed to see this fad eagerly reproduced by contestants on the latest series of South African Masterchef, along with the ubiquitous spoon-dragged 'swoosh' of sauce, or what I like to call a Plate Skidmark.) There are many studio potters in South Africa producing the most beautiful hand-made dinnerware, and I wish restaurateurs would support them, instead of buying their 'crockery' at builders' yards.

My feeling is this: if you're going to spend a lot of time and effort making exquisite, flavoursome food, please dish it up on a spotlessly clean, unchipped, smooth piece of porcelain, preferably a shining white or black plate with a lip  - or crafty concave surface - to prevent your jus from sliding off the edge.

Easy Amasi Drained Cheese with Capers, Radishes & Herbs

a litre of full-cream maas (I use Inkomazi brand)
baby herb leaves, to garnish
finely grated zest of half a lemon
Maldon flaky sea salt
freshly milled black pepper
1 cup (250 ml) small radishes, halved
4 Tbsp (60 ml) baby capers
4 Tbsp (60 ml) fruity extra-virgin olive oil
a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste

Line a large sieve with a closely woven cloth. I use a fine, clean cotton dinner napkin, but a brand-new J-Cloth (one of these) or a laundered dish cloth/tea towel will do just as well. Avoid waffle-textured cloths, however.

Place the cloth-lined sieve over a big bowl and pour in the maas.  Let it sit, undisturbed, for about 10 hours, or overnight.

The clear whey will drip into the bowl below, and it will also soak right to the edges of the cloth. Don't stir or scrape at the cheese: let it drain at its leisure.

Gather up the edges of the cloth, twist them tightly together and secure with an elastic band.

Hang the bundle over a bowl, or suspend it from a tap over the sink, for another 12-16 hours, or longer, if you'd like a firmer cheese. The longer you leave it, the dryer and denser it will become. If you don't have a tap like the one shown in the picture below, hang your cheese from a broomstick placed across the backs of two facing chairs, or a similar rig.

Hang the cheese up until you're
 satisfied with its texture.  

If you're going to hang it for longer than two days, or the weather is very hot, it's best to finish the draining process in the fridge. If your fridge has wire racks, clip the knot of the cloth to the rack with clothes pegs, and place a bowl underneath. If your fridge has glass shelves, you will have to hang the cheese in the coolest place in your house.

Tip the cheese out of its cloth onto a plate. Alternatively, you can press it firmly into a mould of some sort - a little bowl, or perhaps two small ramekins - a few hours before you serve it, and then unmould it onto a plate.

Scatter over the baby herb leaves and lemon zest, and season generously with salt and pepper. Arrange the radishes, capers and any other accompaniments around the cheese. Generously douse the cheese with olive oil, and finish off with a good spritz of lemon juice.

Serve with melba toast or crackers, or with celery and carrot sticks if you're on a low-carb eating plan.

Serves 4-6 as a snack.



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Freddy's Smashed Green Olives Marinated with Garlic and Coriander

This is a famous recipe in my family, because my brother-in-law Freddy, who is of Cypriot descent, makes it every time our tribe gathers for a feast.  It's an absolute zinger of a snack: big shining green olives drenched in garlicky, lemony olive oil, with plenty of coarsely crushed coriander seed. The warm, citrussy coriander notes are heavenly with green olives, while the lemon juice adds an irresistible acidity. This dish, elies tsakistes (literally, crushed olives) is popular all over Cyprus, and I am pretty sure Freddy learned the recipe at the elbow of his late mother Amaranth Sitas, who wrote an excellent book about Cypriot cooking (Kopiaste,  K P Kyriakou Books, Cyprus, 1989).

I snapped this on Christmas Day, just before the hungry hordes
 polished off the lot. 

I know how to make this, but mine never taste quite as good as Freddy's, so on Christmas Day I pinned him down and made him write out the recipe. You can use any sort of green olive here; Freddy uses a combination of what are called 'buffet' olives in South Africa - the smaller olives in the picture on the left - and big juicy queen olives. This can be made with pitted olives, but it isn't as nice as using whole ones (and, besides, half the fun of eating olives is seeing how far you can spit the pips).

Serve this with a loaf or two of warm bread for soaking up the olive oil.  If there is any marinade left over, cover it and use it the next day to douse some new olives, adding a little extra fresh garlic and lemon juice. These keep for a long time in the fridge: if you're going to chill them, decant them into lidded jars, but take them out of the fridge a few hours before you serve them so any congealed oil has a chance to come up to room temperature.

Don't skimp on the coriander seed - it's essential for an authentic taste.

I know Freddy will frown on me for saying this, but a handful of dried chilli flakes - or a sliced fresh chilli - is a fine variation on this theme.

This is a great choice of snack if you're on a low-carb regime.

If you like this recipe, do try my version of Freddy's baked aubergines with garlic yoghurt.

Freddy's Smashed Marinated Green Olives

2 packets small green 'buffet' olives, drained (about 2 cups/500 ml after draining)
2 packets queen olives, drained of brine (about 2 cups/500 ml after draining)
5 big cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
4 Tbsp (60 ml) whole coriander seeds
2 large, juicy lemons
1 cup (250 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Tip all the olives onto a board. Using a small, sharp knife, cut a slit in the side of each one. Now gently bash each olive, using a rolling pin or the blade of a heavy knife, just firmly enough to crack it open.  Tip the olives into a bowl. Using a mortar and pestle, coarsely crush the coriander seeds and add them to the olives along with the chopped garlic. Squeeze the lemons over the olives and mix well.  Cover the bowl with clingfilm and set aside to steep for six hours or longer (but a minimum of three).

Tip the olives into one or two pretty serving dishes and pour over the olive oil.  Add salt and pepper, to taste (although Freddy never does).

Serve with warm bread.

Serves 8-10, as a snack with drinks. 


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