Free State Oxtail Potjie

 

There's a saying doing its rounds in South Africa stating:, "Wat is 'n vrou wat kan braai? Sy is kwaad" resulting from the typical behaviour of men at a South African braai who are drinking a lot of beer and just keeps on adding wood to the fire.  I would like to rectify this, "Wat is 'n vrou wat kan braai? Sy is 'n Vrystater"

Born and bred in the Free State with all the cattle and sheep farms surrounding us, we have a special love for meat. You can keep your "Meat free Mondays" or "Meat free May", thank you very much!

Winter is approaching and with the cooler weather we love to make our Bloemfontein Oxail Potjie.

The first time we made this potjie was about 12 years ago, in the middle of the winter in a very cold Bloemfontein. We drank alot of red wine and the pot were only ready at 11pm that evening. We froze our butts off in the cold Free Sate air that night, but we were younger and more interested in drinking wine.

Clearly from the pictures you can see, it was a party and only the wine mattered......

Now at almost 40 I must say, I am too old for that shit. So we start our oxtail pot really early so that it can be ready by 6pm. The wine still matters but we're unfortanetly to old to party -"like it's 1999" - because a hangover now lasts a week.

So here you go, the recipe for the Bloemfontein Oxtail potjie..... You're welcome ;)

1. Take fresh beef oxtail, (the quantity depends on the size of potjie that you are making, we usually use 12 oxtail pieces for our Size 3 potjie) dunk it in some flour and brown it on the stove in olive oil whilst you are frying celery, carrots, onion and garlic in your potjie.

2. Remove the celery mix and add your oxtails to the potjie and brown it in the potjie for another 5 minutes. Return the celery mix, add 2 cups of lamb stock and a cup of red wine, (and please don't use shitty red wine in food, if you won't drink it, we also don't want to eat it), simmer this for about 4 hours on a constant medium heat.

3. After four hours and copious amounts of red wine (well, copious is a relative description depending on your age, HA HA), add a packet of rich oxtail soup and a cup of coca-cola.  Simmer for another 3 hours.  In the last hour add baby potatoes (halved) and simmer for the last hour.

4. Serve with rice and some spring onion as garnish and ENJOY!

Jy gaan jou vingers af lek - you can thank me later ;)

Date Night Dish Gone...Right

Chicken Cordon Bleu with Herby Potatoes and Feta and Avo Salad

Pan fried baby potatoes with mushrooms and fresh herbs

Me and soon to be hubby (YAY) make time for date nights every week.  This is usually when we try out new recipes, have sushi or make a concoction of our own.  It was Thursday night and date night and the fiancee decided to surprise me with a dish (and a beautiful orchid - now isn't that sweet - and no that doesn't make him a wussy just a man with taste).

 

I was in charge of the side dishes and decided on pan fried mushrooms and baby potatoes covered with herbs fresh from our own herb garden and a nice crisp summer salad.

 

The Chicken Cordon Bleu:

Ingredients:

4 deboned and skinless chicken breast fillets

Gypsy ham

Fairview feta cheese

Calamata olives

Olive oil

Italian herbs

Salt and pepper

 

Prepare the chicken by slicing the breast thinly down the middle, be cautious not to cut it through completely.

Insert the Gypsy ham, Fairview Feta Cheese and Calamata olives into the cavity you just created.

Bind the chicken together with some rope or toothpicks if you can't find that rope staring you right in the eye.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the Italian herbs.

Place the chicken pieces in the oiled pan and fry on low heat for about 40 minutes or until done, turning continuously.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

This is date night, so don't get carried away with all the smooching and foreplay that you totally forget about the chicken (luckily we remembered in time).  Rather set the timer for in case things get too hot in the kitchen.

 

Pan fried potatoes and mushrooms with fresh herbs:

Ingredients:

Baby potatoes (as many as you like)

Small button mushrooms

Garlic

Flat leave parsley

Sprigs of Rosemary

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

 

Pre-cook the baby potatoes until they are soft.

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the potatoes, mushrooms, garlic and some of the herbs to the pan.

Stir often until mushrooms are golden brown.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

The Feta and Avo Salad:

Here you can let the artistic juices flow..... come on, go wild.

This was a nice salad as a side dish. (If I were to serve just salad I would have been more bold and make it as kinky as I can be). 

 

We highly recommend the KWV Shiraz to go with the dish.

 

Go ahead, do a date night, experiment with some new flavours and get jiggy with it.