Lavender and Thyme Chicken with red wine sauce

When I heard about mixing red wine with chicken I was intrigued, usually the experts will only recommend white wine with chicken, and so we decided to take up this experiment.

Ingredients:
4 portions skinless deboned chicken breasts
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
(get the good shit, not the cheap crap my boyfriend has in his pantry)
8 shallots (that is now the fancy pancy word for small onions)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup of red wine
(go for the decent bottle in your wine rack, it's only one cup, you can have the rest while making this awesome dish)
1 cup of chicken stock
4 twiglets thyme
2 tsp lavender flowers
shredded skin and juice of 1 orange
salt and pepper to taste

Garnishing the chicken you will need the following:
1 orange, peeled and divided into sections
A few lavender sprigs
4 tsp lavender flowers

So now the experiment can begin, I must say besides being intrigued I was also sceptic.  But me and the boyfriend is one mean team and we were sure that we will pull this off successfully.

The Method:
Heat the butter and "good shit olive oil" in a pan, once heated, add the chicken breasts.
Fry the breasts until they are brown (fondle the breasts of your girlfriend while waiting for the chicken, see that is why a man is handy in the kitchen).
Once the chicken is done, move it to a ceramic bowl.
Fry the shallots in the pan until golden brown and soft.
Add the shallots to the chicken in the bowl.
Add the flour to the pan, cooking whilst stirring continuously.
Add enough red wine and chicken stock to the pan to create a thin sauce.
Bring to boiling point whilst stirring continuously.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the following:
Thyme twiglets
Lavender Sprigs
And the shredded orange skin and juice.
Pour this combo over the chicken and shallots in the bowl.
Cover and simmer for 40 minutes and Bob's your uncle.

Dish up and garnish the chicken artistically with the orange sections, lavender sprigs and lavender flowers.

You can basically serve this dish with any starch, in retrospect I think cous cous would have been a big hit, but we went with baby potatoes, see the boyfriend just LOVE potatoes, so I had to repay the favor mentioned earlier in this blog :)

And now you can take the word of two self taught amateur cooks that red wine does go with chicken.

Make your own Basil Pesto Pizza from scratch

 

Making your pizza from scratch is not that hard. It might be time consuming but it is a nice activity for the family to do together.

Making the pizza dough

Ingredients:
4 Cups of all purpose flour
1 Sachet of dry yeast
1.5 Cup of lukewarm water
2 Teaspoons salt
1 Teaspoon sugar
Olive oil

Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and combine the lot. Note: if you had cut your finger minutes ago (like I did) your girlfriend might say things like "You fainted when you saw your own blood so maybe I should take over". I never fainted. I just laid down for a quick power nap on the kitchen floor.

I need the power nap because the next part takes some  effort if you don't have a mixer to combine everything. If you have a mixer switch the mixer on and while it is running add the water and two tablespoons olive oil. If you don't have a mixer you will have to do the mixing yourself which could be quite strenuous.

Mix until the dough comes together in a nice solid ball.

Note: if the dough is very sticky add more flour. If the dough is too dry add more water to the mix.

When the dough had formed a nice ball remove the dough from the mixer. Now it's time to put in some elbow grease. Knead the dough into a firm ball.

Grease a bowl with 2 teaspoons of olive oil put the dough in and cover with plastic wrap. Put the dough somewhere warm for approximately an hour. The dough should double in size during that time.

While waiting for the dough it is time to start with the Basil Pesto.

Basil Pesto

Ingredients
Two cups of fresh Basil leaves.
Quater of a cup walnuts or pinenuts.
Two thirds of a cup Olive oil.
Two cloves of garlic.
Half a cup of Pecorino chees.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Combine the Basil leaves, walnuts, garlic in a food processor. Pulse until it's course. Add halve of the Olive Oil and season with salt and pepper. Pulse until a nice smooth paste is formed.

Now put the paste into a bowl and stir in the cheese.

Making the Pizza

Ingredients
Pizza dough (see entry above)
Basil Pesto (see entry above)
Tomato Paste
Mozzarella cheese
Dried Origanum
Fresh Parsley
Any Pizza toppings, we went with:
Salami
Avocado
Calamata Olives

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Once the dough is ready roll it out into an oven proof pan.  Spread the Tomato Paste across the dough.
Do the same with the Basil Pesto.

Spread the Mozzarello cheese evenly across the base and toss the rest of the ingredients on the Pizza.

Put the Pizza in the oven form +- 20 minutes.

Potjie in Paternoster

Ok, apparently this is illegal. But stick with me and I will tell you how to make the most amazing west coast lobster potjie. (Or west-fokken-coast as the locals call it).

When you get to Paternoster for the first time the thing that will catch your attention is all the people selling lobsters. They are every where and they are not making a secret of it - you can buy lobster anywhere. Buying is so easy that you can scarcely believe that it is illegal. It was only after our visit in Paternoster that somebody brought it to our attention that what we did was illegal. How the fuck should we know? Maybe they should put up a sign or something.

Nywayz, to get your hands on fresh lobster in Paternoster is real easy, and so is this recipe for making an awesome lobster potjie.

 

Ingredients:
Onions
Olive Oil
Freshly Chopped Garlic
Chilli powder
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper
Peppadews
Ina Paarman chilli sauce (or any kind of sauce)
Lobster (legal or otherwise)


How to do:
Heat the olive oil in a potjie.
Add the onions, chilli powder and the garlic.
Add peppers.
Cook until something something. I guess until the onions are golden brown.
Add the lobster.
Cook until the lobster is nearly done.
Add the the Ina Paarman sauce and let it simmer for a while.

Once it is done, enjoy the meal. It might be the last one for a while if the cops get you.

Paternoster Visit August 2012

Paternoster Visit August 2012

Having met on a dating site in February 2012 and hitting it off instantly, we decided to go on holiday. The obvious choice was the barren west coast of South Africa.

We decided on the quaint little town called Paternoster, two hours drive north of Cape Town.

 

 

We instantly fell in love with this picturesque town.  Everywhere we looked we just saw brilliant photo opportunities. Exploring the town and its restaurants were a thing of beauty and remebrance.

 

 

 

We visited the following spots:

 

Panty Bar at the Paternoster Hotel

The Noisy Oyster

Blikkies Pizzeria

 

Blikkies is situated in the one of the oldest buildings in Paternoster and serves some of the best pizza we've ever tasted.  Definitely a place where you can chill, chat and throw back a few ciders and beers on a lazy August afternoon.

 

 

 

We really hope to see Paternoster soon and can recommend this old world town for a relaxing and unforgettable holiday.





Herb-crusted Rack of Lamb with New Potatoes

The mission: Herb-crusted Rack of Lamb with New Potatoes

So we decided on playing around with some herbs.  We recently started growing our own herbs and were excited to start using them in our cooking.

We had a rocky start to the mission.  We walked the Spaniels and made a quick stop at the local butchery to pick up our lamb for the evening.  On our way back, the small "smeagle" look-alike spaniel, named Zoë, broke loose from the leash and charged on down the street.  I instantly became a sprint athlete and chased the little shit and caught her a few blocks down and averted a tragedy which would have ruined the evening.

Spaniel still intact we can now go on to the evening.

The ingredients:
Rack of lamb.
5 (or so) medium sized potatoes.
White bread crumbs (in reality we could only get Corn Flake Crumbs from local grocer).
Two large garlic cloves. Crushed or chopped.
Mix a handful of rosemary, thyme, flat leave parsley and marjoram together.
(Get some extra herbs for presentation)
Quarter cup of melted butter, mix in salt and pepper to taste.
Argument with girlfriend about grammar.
Salt & Pepper.

To go with the lamb we went with tomato and olive oil infused lentils. And of course New Potatoes (see title of blog post).
For the lentils:
Chopped onion.
Argue with girlfriend about blog content.
Receive spelling lessons from girlfriend.
Black Lentils (no shit).
2 tbsp Olive oil.
Chopped Italian tomatoes.
Chopped fresh parsley.

Pre-step 1.
Cook potatoes.

Right, step one!
Preheat oven to 220 degrees or whatever that is in Fahrenheit.
Mix corn flake crumbs with garlic, chopped herbs and butter. !IMPORTANT! You should have started drinking red wine by now!
At this point it is about time the girlfriend should lose an argument (finally).
Rub the mixture on the meaty side of the lamb.
Roast the lamb +- 40 mins. Or 25 mins if you are all 'Twilight' and you like bloody stuff.

Step number twice.
Heat a pan with olive oil and cook the onions until soft.
Add lentils and tomatoes and cook until the lentils are soft.
Add parsley.
Season to taste.

Step three.
Cut potatoes into quarters.
Wrap lamb in foil.
Put potatoes in the pan with the lamb.
Season with rosemary and flat leave parsley.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Season with Himalayan Crystal Salts and pepper.
Roast in the oven for 10 mins.

Mission accomplished.
With everything done, dish the lamb, potatoes and lentils.
Decorate with extra herbs for presentation.
!IMPORTANT! - Have some more red wine.

With the Spaniels safe, and the food cooked, it is time to just chill, drink some more red wine. Enjoy some good company and good food.