Hot contenders to vie for culinary title

Martinette Magnee of Walmer Heights and Dallas Land of Jeffreys Bay will face off for the Kitchen Maestro title.

THE Kitchen Maestro 2013 champion is about to be crowned! Will it be creative kitchen dynamo Dallas Land of Jeffreys Bay or cool, calm and quietly confident Martinette Magnee of Walmer Heights in Port Elizabeth?
The two emerged as the top two out of five semifinalists determined by a series of weekly cook-offs in the Walmer Park Shopping Centre promotions arena in Port Elizabeth.
Dallas proved his determination by winning his cook-off round after two previous misses while Martinette won hers first time around.
The two came up against previous weekly winners Berita Chigome, Heidi Reid and Chenel Robey last Saturday.
The five had to make chef Dewald Hurter’s Asian-style chicken noodle soup as a starter, followed by a main course of ginger-glazed salmon with garlic and coriander alioli.
Last weekend’s judging panel was made up of myself (since Kitchen Maestro is hosted in collaboration with Weekend Post), along with Suzette Slater of ingredients sponsor Pick n Pay and Bradley Castle, head chef at St Francis Links.
The semifinal challenge saw the contestants getting highly creative when it came to making the starters and mains their own. Dallas presented his soup with a roti which he’d made by hand and cut into slices after stuffing it with crunchy greens, while Martinette gave her soup a slightly sweeter edge by adding strips of parsnip.
They also excelled at the main course, Dallas by adding deep- fried vermicelli noodles to his and Martinette coming up with a fragrant basmati rice as her side dish.
“To use a J-Bay phrase, I’m stoked I’m through to the finals,” said Dallas, an academic manager at a language school in the town. “I’ve been practising ever since the weekend and am ready for whatever is thrown at us.”
Martinette, a locum optometrist, said she had been quietly confident of reaching the finals, and would pull out all the stops today to secure a win.
In today’s final round at Walmer Park the two will have to create a three-course meal from ingredients they will shop for during a trolley dash.
The twist is that they will draw from a hat a vegetable for their starter, a protein for their main and a fruit for their dessert right before their frantic shop. This means they will have to think on their feet and manage a budget when buying their ingredients.
Don’t miss the final cook-off at 11am today at the Walmer Park promotions arena, where the overall winner will earn a prize package to the value of more than R60000 – including a kitchen makeover from Adel Kitchens and Cabinets, appliances from Rafi’s Appliances and Mattresses, as well as shopping vouchers from Walmer Park and Pick n Pay. There’s also a R5000 gold medallion from the Scoin Shop, among other prizes.

And… Scroll down for all the recipes from the semifinals!

Dallas’s take on chef Dewald’s chicken noodle soup included sliced roti stuffed with greens on the side.

Recipe: chicken noodle soup

Serves 1

Ingredients for the soup:

1/3 cup cooked egg noodles
1 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon peanut or sesame oil
1 ½ cups chicken stock (see recipe below)
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
good pinch of julienned carrot
Good pinch of julienned red pepper
4 leaves baby bok choy
dash pepper
Salt to taste
Dash lemon juice
shredded chicken from stock

Ingredients for the chicken stock:

1 leg and thigh of chicken
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 star anise
1 tablespoon oil
Pinch chopped chilli
Bruised lemon grass
Pinch grated ginger
½ wet chicken stock cube
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
¼ leek, roughly chopped
¼ onion, roughly chopped
¼ large carrots, roughly chopped
Pinch salt
1 litres cold water

Method for the chicken stock:

Heat oil in a medium pot fry star anise, chilli and garlic for a few seconds. Don’t burn garlic.
Place the chicken, lemon grass, vegetables and salt in pot. Add the chicken stock cube and cold water and bring to the boil, skim, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Continue to simmer gently until chicken is cooked through, skimming as necessary, then pass the stock through a sieve. Return to stove and reduce to intensify flavour. Remember don’t over reduce as you need 1 ½ cup for the soup. Set aside.

Method for the soup:

1. Prepare your noodles first by boiling the noodles al dente. Rinse the noodles with running water, drain and set aside.
2. Prepare the garlic oil by stir-frying the garlic in the oil until they turn light to golden brown add star anise as you take it off the heat. Set aside.
3. Prepare the broth by bringing the chicken stock to boil. Add the mushrooms, carrot and peppers. Add bok choy last just to wilt.Once they are just cooked, turn off the heat. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of lemon juice to taste.
4. To serve, add the noodles in a bowl, and top with the shredded chicken on top. Ladle the soup on top of the noodles and top with the garlic oil. Serve immediately. Garnish with coriander and star anise from stock.

Martinette’s salmon main course. Her signature touch was fragrant basmati rice.

Recipe: Ginger-glazed salmon with garlic and coriander aioli

Ingredients for the garlic and coriander aioli:

1 garlic clove
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
chopped coriander to taste
60ml canola oil
2 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil

Method for the aioli:

Mince and mash garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt using a large heavy knife. Whisk together yolk and rice-wine vinegar. Whisk eggs till thick and creamy. Combine oil and add a few drops at a time to yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until all oil is incorporated and mixture is emulsified.
Whisk in garlic paste and coriander seasoning with salt and white pepper (remember white pepper is a lot sharper than black pepper). Adjust acidity if necessary. If aioli is too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 drops of water.

Ingredients for the ginger-glazed salmon:

salmon fillet
salt
fresh cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons peanut or sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds
coriander

Ingredients for the salmon glaze:

1/3 cup dry sherry
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
dash rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
Pinch chopped chilli
dash lemon juice

Method for the salmon and glaze:

1. Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl and stir until brown sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Rinse and pat dry salmon fillets. Place salmon fillets in glaze and marinate for a few minutes, and then flip over and marinate for a couple more minutes.
3. Heat oil in a large saute-pan over high heat. Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper (remember glaze will have a bit of saltiness from soy sauce as well). Sear salmon in hot pan. Salmon should be golden and crispy, and the centre should be just underdone.
4. While the salmon cooks, place glaze in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Vigorously simmer until coating consistency.
5. Plate salmon and brush glaze over salmon.
6. Garnish with sesame seeds toasted in a pan till golden and fresh coriander.

‘Bubbalicious’ Trish triumphs

Trish Difford, winner of the Port Elizabeth leg of the hit BBC TV Entertainment cooking series ‘Come Dine with me South Africa’, with her prawn dish for which she is sharing a recipe today. Pictures: Salvelio Meyer

SHE’S impulsive, over the top and the newest darling of South African reality television. Meet Trish Difford, aka Bubba, whose crazy and comedic antics on the hit BBC Entertainment cooking series Come Dine With Me South Africa caused a frenzy on social media – and on The Herald letters page – this week.
Most viewers said they adored “bubbalicious” Trish, of Walmer, while others were shocked at her admission that she loves to walk around naked and is the self-proclaimed “queen of smut”.
Trish, who spent many years in the travel industry and is now managing her own rental property portfolio, won Monday night’s Port Elizabeth episode of Come Dine With Me South Africa – the final one filmed in the city.
“Bubba” – a nickname she has had since childhood – met up this week with her fellow contestants and by now “firm friends” Everton Hansen, Claerwen Hart and Theo Scholtz to watch the episode in which each of them got a turn to host a dinner party for the others.
Trish received an overall score of 23 out of 30 from her guests, winning R10000 in the process.
Her Mexican-themed menu included fiery chicken livers to start, salpicon or strips of beef belly with fragrant accompaniments for main and an orange-flavoured creme caramel or flan for pud. But Trish didn’t just cook up a storm – she was shown swigging tequila from the bottle while prepping her meal, roping Everton into doing “body shots” with melted chocolate and even mastering the art of “twerking” in his lounge, besides threatening to go skinny-dipping in Claerwen’s pool.
“I loved every minute of it and would do it all over again,” said Trish, who with her partner, William Kew, is a keen biker and member of the Red Devils Club in Walmer.
The four contestants and their friends and families piled into the Villers Road clubhouse on Monday night where they watched the show on a big screen with about 80 people.
“Everton should never cook again,” said Theo, while Everton, again sporting his trademark bowtie, said he loved the show as he’d met and made friends with people he would normally never have mixed with.
Claerwen, an estate agent, quipped that she was the only one of the four “who can actually cook”.

Trish, second from left, catches the show on the big screen with, from left, Theo Scholtz, Everton Hansen and Claerwen Hart.

Prior to the screening Trish confessed she was “nervous” to see her episode, “especially the bit filmed on my night as I was completely sloshed from all that tequila”.
She said she’d always loved dressing up in costume and so had a different outfit for every course, including one as a Mexican bloke whose moustache kept drooping into the food – much to her guests’ amusement. She said everything on her night went to plan save for the dessert, which hadn’t set properly.
“It should really be made the day before but because of the filming schedule I started making it quite late in the day.”
Catch Come Dine With Me South Africa series 3 on BBC Entertainment on channel 120 on Mondays at 8pm.

Recipe: Bubba’s hot and spicy prawns

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil
1 large jalapeno chilli, finely chopped
2 red bird’s eye chillies, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon grass stalk, finely chopped, or 3 whole ones dried
1 red onion, very finely chopped
2 tbsp tom yum paste
400g tin of coconut milk
½ cup fish stock
3 lime or lemon leaves
juice of 2 limes or lemons
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
20 large prawns, shelled and deveined
250g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp crème fraiche
Fresh coriander and slices of red chilli to garnish before serving

Method

Heat oil in a heavy based pot. Add chillies, garlic, lemon grass and onion and sauté until golden. Add tom yum paste and cook for 30 seconds. Add coconut milk, stock, lime/ lemon leaves and juice, brown sugar and fish sauce.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes without lid. Toss in the prawns and tomatoes and cook for five minutes, or until prawns are cooked.
Season to taste by adding more lime/ lemon juice, fish sauce or sugar. Fold in crème fraiche.
Divide between four bowls. Garnish with coriander and chilli.
Serve with a fresh ciabatta loaf and a salad of your choice.

Dallas makes it to Kitchen Maestro semi’s

IT WAS third time lucky for Dallas Land of Jeffreys Bay, the fifth and final semi-finalist in the annual Kitchen Maestro Competition.
Dallas won his cook-off on Saturday after two previous narrow misses and so completes the lineup of five who will contest a “mystery box”-style semifinal challenge in Walmer Park Shopping Centre’s promotions arena at 11am today.
Dallas and fellow contestants Michelle Foo, Ross Patterson, Chantel Cuthber and Jaco Vermaak had to recreate a dish by Jon Hodder, of Bay restaurant Ginger, who challenged them with his roast fillet of beef in parma ham, sauteed garlic mushrooms, crispy polenta and béarnaise sauce.
The judging panel also included head judge Dewald Hurter of Chez Patrick Restaurant in Port St Francis and Justin Walton of Kauai.
Today, the five semifinalists will have to complete two courses from a recipe handed to them at the start. They will have only 20 minutes for the starter and 30 minutes for a main meal – and will be expected to include several “mystery” ingredients.
The top two will then contest next Saturday’s finals, also at 11am, where they will create a three-course meal from ingredients they will need to shop for during a trolley dash.
The semifinalists and top two stand to win prizes to the combined value of more than R60000 – and there will be prizes for the audience.
The winner of Kitchen Maestro 2013, which is held in collaboration with Weekend Post, will receive a kitchen makeover from Adel Kitchens and Cabinets, appliances from Rafi’s Appliances and Matresses, R5000 in shopping vouchers from Walmer Park, a R2000 voucher from Pick n Pay and a R5000 gold medallion from the Scoin Shop, among other prizes.

Roast fillet of beef in parma ham with sauteed garlic mushrooms, crispy polenta and bearnaise sauce

FOR THE POLENTA:

Ingredients

250g milk 62g polenta 28g butter 25g whole egg 8g egg yolk 8g salt pinch thyme 50g parmesan for coating polenta, flour, eggs for dipping

Method

Bring milk to boil and add polenta; cook out until thick. Once stiff and smooth add parmesan and butter, beat in until smooth. After adding egg and egg yolks – finish with thyme. Cool before rolling into balls. Cover in flour then egg and then polenta crumb. Deep-fry on 160c until golden brown.

FOR THE BEARNAISE SAUCE

Ingredients

1/2 onion 5g thyme 2 cloves garlic 6 peppercorns 1 bayleaf 200g white wine vinegar 250g white wine 250g butter 3 egg yolks 5g tarragon (fresh)

Method

Melt butter in a pan, set aside. Slice onions and garlic, add to a separate sauce pan along with peppercorn, bayleaf, thyme, white wine and vinegar. Bring to the boil and simmer down for 5 minutes until slightly reduced. Add 3 yolks to a bowl (metal if possible) and add 4 tbsp of the reduced liquid, whisk over a gentle heat until shiny, remove from heat and slowly add the butter. Chop tarragon and add to sauce.

FOR THE BEEF:

Ingredients

200g fillet of beef (centre cut) 2-3 slices parma ham Seasoning 4-5 knobs butter 3-4 sprigs thyme 2 cloves garlic 1-2 tbsp cooking oil cling film string

Method

Lay out two pieces of cling film, one on top of the other, smoothing out any bubbles with a kitchen towel. Lay two or three pieces of parma ham vertically, tail to tail, on top of the clingfilm, ensuring they are straight and even. Place fillet at the bottom and roll over with the cling film until fillet is covered around the sides. Wrap the cling film over and roll into a sausage shape. When there is an even, round shape, take string and tie the fillet twice around the side. Tie off. Remove cling film and in a hot, non-stick frying pan, add oil and pan fry the steak top and bottom until dark golden brown. Turn heat down by half and add butter, thyme and  garlic, basting in the pan for one minute. Place into a pre-heated oven of 200 to 220 degrees and roast for three minutes. Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes in a warm place. One minute before serving return to the oven.

FOR THE MUSHROOMS:

Ingredients

100g mushrooms 1/2 clove garlic

2-3 knobs butter 1 tsp parsley 1 tsp onion 1-2 tbsp oil for frying pinch salt

Method

Slice mushrooms and pan fry until golden. Add butter, garlic, onion and parsley.  Sauté until butter is melted; remove from heat.

DJ Drew excels in Come Dine With Me

Drew Serfontein who the second Port Elizabeth episode of Come Dine With Me South Africa.

LATE-NIGHT radio presenter Drew Serfontein talked and cooked his way into winning this week’s Port Elizabeth episode – one of three filmed in the city – of Come Dine With Me South Africa.
Drew, of Lorraine, was paired with Mill Park law student and mum Xoliswa Mtulu-Dotwana, glam Walmer housewife and mum Mariska Schewitz and vampish asset manager Jill Wakeford in his episode on Monday night.
The hit BBC Entertainment reality cooking series saw the four strangers each getting a turn to cook a three-course meal at each others’ homes.
Drew’s diners rated him a seven, eight and eight out of 10 respectively, making him the week’s best host and winner of a R10000 cash prize.
His menu was a starter of deep-fried avo stuffed with mascarpone cheese wrapped with warthog carpaccio; stuffed fillet with cheesy mash and a brandy reduction for mains and springbokkie fridge tart for pud.
‘The dessert was the dish I was most confident about but the production team from Rapid Blue opened and closed my fridge so many times to get good shots that it didn’t set properly,” he chuckled.
“It should ideally also be made the day before but I couldn’t do that as they had to film it being made from scratch.”
Drew described the contestants’ first night at Mariska’s house as “classic”, when the bubbly hostess went flying with a full plate of food after tripping on a carpet – a move Drew convincingly recreated when it was his turn to host.
He said the secret to wining the girls over was that they didn’t see him as a threat, as they were too busy sizing each other up.
“I also chose dishes that were not complicated to cook and could easily be rectified if something went wrong,” he said. “It is a high-pressure situation and even with planning things do go wrong – like when I took my fillet out the oven and discovered it was still blue.
“Also, I’d bought a new deep-fryer and the oil wasn’t quite as hot as it should’ve been when I put the avos in.”
Drew said he especially enjoyed meeting Jill, who on her night treated guests to a round of “Come Dare With Me” and whose bedroom drawers revealed some naughty toys. “Xoliswa lost a bit of favour because she tried to be too mysterious, creating the impression earlier in the week that she was just a normal student living in a small house, but when we got to her home it turned out to be this huge Mill Park mansion.
“We all got on well together though and have seen each other since,” said Drew, who watched Monday night’s episode with his AlgoaFM colleagues over popcorn and beer at the studio.
Catch Come Dine With Me South Africa series 3 on BBC Entertainment on channel 120 on Mondays at 8pm. The final Port Elizabeth episode will be screened on Monday and will see Claerwen Hart, Theo Scholtz, Everton Hansen and Trish Difford competing for honours.

Recipe: lue cheese and fig burgers with sweet-potato wedges

Ingredients

600g lean minced beef
1 tablespoon mustard
300g fig preserve (whole figs are best)
4 ciabatta rolls
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
125g crumbled blue cheese
Lettuce for garnish
2-3 large sweet-potatoes
150ml olive oil
1-2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

Method
Mix beef, parsley, 50ml olive oil and mustard together in a large bowl. Divide into four balls.
Press a hole in the top of each ball and put 25g of blue cheese into each; cover with mince.
Flatten the meat ball to form a patty (do gently so cheese remains in the middle)
Grill patties on high for about 4-6 min each side, depending on thickness and preference.
Cut rolls and lay down a bed of lettuce. This also stops the rolls from going soggy.
Position patty and cover with a generous portion of fig preserve.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and slice burger in half allowing cheese to melt out of the sliced burger. Serve with oven-baked sweet-potato wedges.
To make the wedges, preheat oven to 200C.
Peel sweet-potatoes and cut off ends. Cut in half lengthwise and then in half crosswise. Cut each piece into wedges.
Put into a large bowl, add the oil and mix well.
Sprinkle with salt, sugar and mix well (Drew uses his hands so all the pieces are evenly coated with oil and spices).
Spread sweet-potatoes out on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them halfway
Remove them from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Sarah ticks the ‘Come Dine With Me’ box

Sarah Stevens of Walmer, Port Elizabeth won her episode of the hit BBC Entertainment reality cooking series ‘Come Dine With Me South Africa’ this week PHOTOGRAPHS: SALVELIO MEYER

COOKING on Come Dine With Me South Africa for a group of complete strangers while being filmed for national television turned out to be a breeze for Walmer mum and landscape artist Sarah Stevens.
Sarah, who won her episode of the hit BBC Entertainment reality cooking series this week, is used to cooking for her “village”.
This is what she calls the up to 45 friends and family who regularly come for weekend braais and dinners to her and hubby Richard’s slick Prospect Road pad.
As for her Come Dine With Me experience, “I am still laughing about it all – and watching the episode on Monday night wasn’t as bad as I feared!
“We had a lovely evening. I had a bunch of friends over and we all watched it together.”
Sarah was named best overall host in the episode after she and three other guests each got a turn to cook a three-course meal at each others’ homes.
Her winning menu was a roasted pepper and tomato soup with home-made cheese bread, followed by bobotie and, finally, a beautiful panna cotta and blueberry dessert decorated with fresh fruit and hand-made chocolate flowers.
Her fellow diners – Maja Saffidien, detective Riaan Steyn and telecoms engineer Mandi Sixaso – rated her a 6, 7 and 9 out of 10 respectively, making her the week’s winner.
But the experience was not without friction as Maja, a Muslim events planner with a special interest in angels and ascendant masters, clearly rubbed Sarah up the wrong way.
“At one point she spoke at length about channeling one of Mandi’s ancestors, Thobeka. But it turns out Thobeka is still very much alive – who knew you could channel the living?” Sarah quipped.
“Maja came across exactly how she was in person, but I have little room to talk as I was also critical,” she said. “Let’s just say she wasn’t my cup of tea.”
Sarah said she would “like to see the boys – Riaan and Mandi – again. I’m still sad that Mandi came fourth though – I thought his food was much better than Maja’s.
“I think I won because I chose an easy menu that I was very comfortable preparing. I was able to do most of it beforehand and actually finished prepping by about 3.30pm already, so the crew from Rapid Blue and I pretty much sat around relaxing after that.
“All the dishes I chose were ones I had made before and they weren’t fiddly either.
“The one thing I did forget to do was decorate my dessert with some sugared violas I’d made earlier in the day.”
Sarah, who is the mother of two teenage boys at Grey High School, said she was worried she would come across as “one of those bitchy Walmer snobs” when the episode aired.
“But it was all good fun and I’m glad to have ticked the Come Dine With Me box. It’s something I really wanted to do and now I have.”
Catch Come Dine With Me South Africa series 3 on BBC Entertainment on channel 120 on Mondays at 8pm. The remaining Port Elizabeth episodes will be screened on November 11 and 18.

Recipe: Sarah’s rich carrot cake

“WHEN I had my kitchen tea a million years ago my bridesmaids made a recipe book filled with favourite recipes from all the ladies in my life. This was my mum’s, who is my favourite person in the whole world!”
Sarah says this cake is rich and sumptuous, and lasts for days thanks to its moistness. “But generally it never lasts that long before it’s eaten.”

Ingredients

3 cups grated carrot
2 cups nutty wheat flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarb
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1 ½ cups oil
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup walnuts
½ cup sunflower seeds
Cream cheese icing and nuts and flowers to decorate

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.
1. Mix sugar and oil.
2. Add well-beaten egg and vanilla.
3. Add flour and grated carrot alternatively, until you have stiffish batter.
4. Put into moulds and bake for one hour. Ice with cream cheese icing and decorate.
Sarah says she usually makes the icing on the fly without measuring.
You’ll need three tubs of good quality cream cheese, a few tablespoons of milk and enough icing sugar to get the icing as sweet as you want it – “about eight tablespoons”.
Put the cream cheese in the blender and mix until it loosens up, add milk to get it to a slightly runnier consistency. Add the icing sugar a little bit at a time and keep tasting. Slather onto the cake and decorate with nuts and flowers.

Chenel has her spot in Kitchen Maestro semis

Week four’s cook-off winner Chenel Robey with Walmer Park’s Danelle Bhana-Coetzee.

AN INTENSE fourth and penultimate round of the Walmer Park Shopping Centre Kitchen Maestro competition saw 34-year-old Chenel Robey of Walmer Downs in Port Elizabeth securing her spot in the semifinals. Robey, a Sharepoint developer contracted to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, is no stranger to the Kitchen Maestro competition, having entered last year.
Contestants had to produce grilled kingklip with saffron potato cakes and a tomato confit served with lemon butter prawns and finished off with a white wine sauce – a recipe by chef Shaunne Cordier, of Hacklewood Hill Country House in Walmer.
Audience members egged on their favourites last Saturday as the contestants prepped under the watchful gaze of the judges – chef Dewald Hurter from Chez Patrick in Port St Francis, Rene de Lauwere from Adel Kitchens and Cabinets and Shaunne himself.
Chenel emerged as the victor  over fellow cooking contenders Morne du Preez, 42, from Despatch; Dallas Land, 39, from Jeffreys Bay; Michelle Foot, 21, from Walmer and Casey Oelofse 24, from Broadwood.
She joins previous weeks’ winners Heidi Reid, Martinette Magee and Berita Chigome in the semifinal next Saturday November 16 at Walmer Park. The top two in the semifinal will contest the final on November 23 where the overall winner will be decided in a back-to-back, three-course meal cook-off.
This is the final week of cook-offs and the last semifinalist will be announced during cook-off number five starting at 11am today (Saturday November 9) in the Walmer Park promotions arena.
The winner of Kitchen Maestro 2013 – held in collaboration with Weekend Post – will receive a kitchen makeover from Adel Kitchens and Cabinets, appliances from Rafi’s Appliances and Mattresses, R5000 shopping vouchers from Walmer Park, a R2000 voucher from Pick n Pay and a R5000 gold medallion from Scoin, among other prizes, adding to a total prize package valued at more than R50000.

Grilled kingklip with saffron potato cakes and a tomato confit, served with lemon-butter prawns and finished with a white wine and lemon sauce

INGREDIENTS

1 x 200g portion of kingklip per person
Salt and pepper to season
50g butter
2 x prawns ( heads on) per person
1 fresh lemon
50g parsley

For the saffron potato cake (enough for four):
250g butter
4 saffron strands
4 potatoes, peeled
Salt pepper to taste

For the confit of tomatoes:
For each person you’ll need:
6 cherry tomatoes
1 sprig of rosemary
50ml olive oil

PLUS: 1 cucumber cut into julienne strips (enough for 4 servings)

For the white wine and lemon sauce (for four servings):
1 T olive oil
1 shallot, rough chopped
½ cup dry white wine
2 T butter
2 t fresh grated lemon peel
Juice of one lemon
1 t Italian parsley, finely chopped

PREPARATIONS:

For the kingklip
Season the fish and seal in a hot pan with half the butter. Transfer to a roasting pan. Roast in a preheated oven for six min.

For the prawns
Cut along the spine of each prawn and remove the vein. In a non-stick pan fry off remaining butter and prawns. Add parsley and lemon juice. Cook till firm.

For the saffron potato stack:
Melt the butter over low heat; remove when melted; add saffron and let stand. In the meantime, cut potatoes into equal size and place in a sauce pot with water. Boil and cook until just soft. Drain and place potatoes on a roasting pan and roast at 180°C for 10 min. Mix the potatoes with saffron butter. Salt and pepper to taste and spoon 150g into a ring mould. Press down firmly.

For the cucumber:
Place cucumber strips in boiling water until warmed through. Strain and season.

For the tomato confit:
Wrap the tomatoes in foil and rosemary with a little bit of olive oil. Season to taste and bake at 180°C for six to eight min.

For the white wine and lemon sauce:
Saute shallot in the olive oil until soft, about 1½ min. Add white wine and bring to a boil. Boil for three to five min, until reduced by half. Strain shallot from the wine and return the wine to pan.
Add the butter to the white wine reduction, and cook over medium-low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat.
Whisk in lemon peel, juice and parsley. Set aside and keep warm till use.

TO PLATE:

Place potato cake in centre of plate, arrange tomatoes around this and place nine strips of cucumber on top of cake. Drizzle sauce around plate and place fish on top of cucumber. Place prawns on top of fish.

Join us for food and wine pairing at The Granary

PERFECT PAIRNG: Chef John Burger has come up with a range of dishes for the Weekend Post Wine & Dine event at The Granary in Richmond Hill on Saturday November 23. Each dish has been carefully matched to a wine from the Leopard’s Leap stable PHOTOGRAPH: JUDY DE VEGA

IF INNOVATIVE flavour combinations are your thing then circle Saturday November 23 on your calendar, when Weekend Post will host a not-to-be-missed Wine & Dine event in Port Elizabeth.
The evening will take the form of a food-and-wine pairing that will see well-known chef John Burger, of Flava in Richmond Hill, matching samples of his choice dishes to wines from the Leopard’s Leap Family Vineyards’ stable.
The event will be held at The Granary in Stanley Street and cellarmaster Eugene van Zyl will fly in specially to talk about the wines to be tasted.
Fancy a taste of warthog carpaccio on a bed of rocket with a citrus mustard drizzle, red pepper pesto and roasted sesame seeds? It gets even better when paired with the Leopard’s Leap Lookout pinotage rosé. Also on the tasting menu: salmon fishcake with pepper-buttered asparagus and saffron alioli, teamed with an unwooded chardonnay.
For mains, John is making tasting portions pesto dukkah rare steak on watercress with a balsamic orange glaze and topped with burnt orange zest – which he expects will be well-matched by the Leopard’s Leap Family Collection SMV – and vanilla Greek lamb with garden fresh sambals and guacamole topped with strawberry – this time paired with merlot. Dessert-wise there will be dark chocolate and ginger bread-and-butter pud with butterscotch sauce teamed with a cab-sav; and chantilly chardonnay and pomegranate sorbet with the Leopard’s Leap semi-sweet.
Olga Hafner of Meridian wines says Leopard’s Leap in the Franschhoek valley is known for easy-drinking, quality wines fit for any occasion. “Having their cellarmaster here in person will be a real treat as Eugene is a former lecturer at Elsenburg [Agricultural Training Institute], where he trained some of SA’s top winemakers.”
Post-pairing, guests will enjoy a selection of canapés and for those with special dietary needs an alternative arrangement will be made on ticket purchase.
Guests will receive a drink on arrival while Claire Venn entertains them for the evening, and there will be lucky draws and a silent auction in aid of the Christmas Cheer Fund. Each guest also gets a three-month E-edition subscription to Weekend Post and The Herald worth R120.
Tickets are R220 per person, or R2200 per table of 10. Book with Berna Ulay or Deirdre Brand on 041-504-7911 or Email: pe-marketing@timesmedia.co.za
Ticket points are at Flava off Stanley Street and at Newspaper House, 19 Baakens Street.

Indian sweets for annual Diwali feast

Neru Daya is renowned for her sweetmeats PHOTOGRAPHS: SALVELIO MEYER

THE Daya home at 59 Crammer Street in Port Elizabeth’s predominantly Indian suburb of Malabar is a frenzied place to be this time of year.
And Nirmalla Daya’s kitchen is the nerve centre as it is where she spends up to 14 hours a day creating fantastical treats for Diwali, or Deepavali, the annual Festival of Light that will be celebrated by Hindu families across the world today and tomorrow.
Nirmalla or Neru, as most in the area know her, has prepared her sumptuous sweetmeats for the city’s Hindu community for nearly 30 years, save for a three-year gap while living with her younger daughter, Kalpana, in Somerset-West.
Former clients have been queuing up since her return to PE in February, especially over the last few days as friends and families traditionally exchange sweetmeats at Diwali as a gesture of goodwill.
“There’s always a mad rush at the end,” chuckles Neru’s older daughter, Joshna, who assists her after hours.
“People leave it to the last minute as they think they’ll make the sweetmeats themselves, but they inevitably run out of time. Others try but are left with flops, as some of the recipes are very complicated.

Sweetmeats are an integral part of Diwali, the Festival of Light which is celebrated by Hindus around the world this weekend.

“My mother uses the finest ingredients and everything is hand-made with love.”
Neru’s dining room is packed with pink and green halwa similar to Turkish delight; rich and creamy sweets called penda and burfee; tiny coconut-sprinkled doughnuts called gulab jamboo; shortbread biscuits or naankhatay; magaj which is made from chickpea flour; jewel-coloured ladu and swirly, golden jalebi that tastes rather like koeksisters. Googra, another popular sweetmeat, is a pastry crescent filled with semolina while poli is filled with coconut.
Neru learnt the art of making sweetmeats from her mother, Beakie Dhanjee, who was “a fine cook”, and her father, Narsai , who worked for a sweetmeats company in Durban, where Neru was born.
She also has a treasured first-edition copy of Zuleikha Mayat’s classic Indian Delights which she turns to occasionally, though she confesses many of her best recipes are “in my head” and not written down anywhere.
The bustle in her kitchen continues once Diwali is over, as she then applies herself to making Indian favourites like rotis and samoosas for functions.
According to Thina Balakistnen, chairwoman of the PE Deepavali Coordinating Committee, Diwali is a time when friends and families pray, enjoy meals and sweetmeats together and light rows of lamps, as well as fireworks, to symbolise the triumph of good over evil. New clothes are also worn in celebration.
“Deepavali, or Diwali, means a row of lights,” Thina said. “As light eliminates darkness and illuminates an entire space, so we should endeavour to eradicate the darkness of jealousy, greed, segregation, ego and hatred, and illuminate our hearts and souls with the light of love, compassion, comradeship and ethical and moral behaviour.
“The religious story of Deepavali revolves around Raam and Sita, who were exiled for 14 years, and how they overcame their trials and sacrificed their lives for the greater good of others.”
Thina said the Deepavali committee was established in 2008 with support from spiritual heads Shri Kesu Padayachee, Kiritbhai Archarya and Swetadipdas Prabhu. It represents the city’s main Hindu organisations as well as several sports clubs.
“The committee was established to mobilise organisations to make a meaningful contribution to the Malabar community, especially the youth. This objective is in keeping with the theme of Deepavali or Diwali, which is a time to unite, forgive, share and have respect and compassion for all – especially the disadvantaged.”
Thina said the sixth annual Deepavali Festival took place at the Malabar Community Centre last Sunday, and is always held the weekend before Diwali itself. “It began with a street procession and we had stalls with Indian cuisine, clothing and jewellery.” Funds raised were donated to victims of the fire disaster at Extention 6 in Malabar, a cancer patient from Uitenhage and Schauderville’s INN Safe Hands, a home for destitute children.
“The day ended with a live broadcast on LotusFM that included singing by 21 children, aged four to 11, from Hindu organisations in Malabar.”
Diwali services will take place at the SS Aulayam temple at 10.30am and at the Sathie Sanmarga Sangam at 9am today (Saturday). The PE Hindu Seva Semaj’s service is at 10am tomorrow (Sunday).

Heidi wins Kitchen Maestro cook-off 3

Heidi Reid won last weekend’s round three of the Kitchen Maestro competition at Walmer Park. With her is St Francis Bay chef Bradley Castle, who set the fondant challenge for the cook-off.

AUDIENCE participation was taken to a whole new level during the third cook-off of the Kitchen Maestro competition at the Walmer Park Shopping Centre in Port Elizabeth this past weekend.
Heidi Reid, 41, of Lorraine, was an active audience member in the previous two cook-offs, but it was her turn to walk away the victor of the third cook-off, which leaves only two spots open for the semi-finals on November 16.
Saturday’s contenders had to recreate guest chef Bradley Castle’s decadent dark chocolate fondant dessert served with berry coulis and vanilla ice-cream.
Working only from a list of ingredients and no clues as to method, the five contestants had to produce a dessert that would literally burst its baked chocolate banks, revealing a soft and flowy chocolate centre.
Breaking with tradition, Bradley, head chef at the St Francis Links – and fellow judges Dewald Hurter of Chez Patrick in Port St Francis and Growthpoint Properties’ Cheryl Allin – named a runner-up to Heidi’s winning creation as the top two desserts were separated by only a few points. Chenel Robie of Walmer Downs took second place and was acknowledged for her efforts, as were other contestants Eleasha Neal of Walmer, Craig Allam of Willow Glen and Liza Vermaak of Charlo.
Heidi was so chuffed to win her cook-off that she hugged well-wishers all around her, from fellow contestants to her two children, sister and niece who came to support her.
“I come from a big family and we all love to cook, but I prefer cooking to baking so my heart sunk a bit when I saw we had to bake a dessert,” Heidi said. “But that just means I’m even more ecstatic about winning!”
She now joins the ranks of Martinette Magee and Berita Chigome as a semi-finalist who will take part in a “mystery box” semi-final challenge on November 16. The top two winners in the semi-final round will contest the finals on November 23 where the overall winner will be named in a back-to-back three-course meal cook-off.
This is the last chance to enter for Kitchen Maestro as cook-off number four takes place today (Saturday) from 11am at the Walmer Park promotions arena. To enter for cook-off number five being held next Saturday November 9, your entry must reach Walmer Park by the latest at noon this Wednesday.
The winner of Kitchen Maestro 2013 will receive a kitchen makeover from Adel Kitchens and Cabinets, among other prizes, adding up to a total value of over R50000.
There is no entry fee and anyone over 16 may enter for the remaining cook-off. Entry forms may be downloaded at: http://www.walmerparkshoppingcentre. co.za and, once completed, must be e-mailed to dcoetzee@growthpoint.co.za or hand- delivered to the info kiosk at Walmer Park, along with a photo and recipe of any meal you have prepared at home.
For more information, contact Danelle Bhana- Coetzee on (041)368-2690. Also check out Weekend Post every Saturday for updates and recipes from the competition.

Contestants had to recreate chef Bradley Castle’s dark chocolate fondant.

Dark chocolate fondant with berry coulis and vanilla ice-cream

Ingredients

150g slab 70% dark chocolate
3 eggs, separated
100g castor sugar
125g unsalted butter
1 Tbsp cornflour
1 tot brandy
6 chocolate truffles
Butter for buttering ramekins
Cocoa powder for dusting 4 ramekins of 125ml size
Good vanilla ice-cream
100g mixed frozen or fresh blueberries
½ cup sugar
1 vanilla pod

Method

Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Cream together the egg yolks and half the sugar.
Whisk the egg whites with remaining half of the sugar until stiff. Mix together the brandy and cornflour until incorporated.
Butter the ramekins; sprinkle with the grated chocolate and leave in the freezer for 5 min.
Add the melted chocolate to the egg yolk and mix thoroughly, then add in the brandy mixture (it may seem at this point that the mixture wants to seize, however do not stress yet).
Add 1/3 of the stiff egg whites and whisk it into this mixture until all incorporated (you will see the mixture loosen up again). Add in the rest of the whisked egg whites and soft-fold them into the mixture until it is all incorporated.
Spoon the mixture into the ramekins until they are just under half full, then place one chocolate truffle in the middle and top up the ramekin until full.
Place the desserts in the fridge for 30 min to an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180C (it is very important that the oven is at this temperature before you put the fondants in). Place ramekins inside, drop the temperature to 165C and bake for 15 min.
For the berry coulis, place the frozen berries into a small saucepan, cover with sugar, split the vanilla pod and scrape the vanilla into the berries. Add ¼ cup of water, bring up to a soft simmer and let it simmer for about 15 min. Put it into a blender and puree; place in the fridge to let it cool. Once cool, put it into a squeeze bottle.
To plate the desserts, drizzle berry coulis onto each plate, then sprinkle about 1/2 tsp of biscuit crumbs from any biscuits you may have lying around onto each plate. Put the crumbs where you would like the ice-cream to go, then top with a nice ball of ice-cream straight onto the crumbs – this stops the ice-cream from sliding around on the plate.
Now place the fondant on to the plate.
NOTE: The fondants should rise like a soufflé over the top of the ramekin; you will need to serve them immediately after they come out the oven or they will drop.
TIP: If you have a gluten allergy you can use this mixture to make a flourless chocolate cake. Bake at 150C for 45 min and let it cool in the oven for 3 hours.

Martinette through to the semis of Kitchen Maestro 2013

 

Martinette Magnee, of Walmer Heights in Port Elizabeth, won last weekend’s second round of the Kitchen Maestro cook-off.

THE second cook-off of the annual Kitchen Maestro competition had all the elements of a suspense drama, including a knife injury, an intense time trial, high voltage stress and a near-incomplete meal from one of the contestants.
This did not sidetrack Martinette Magnee, of Walmer Heights in Port Elizabeth, who won last weekend’s cook-off in the Walmer Park Shopping Centre promotions arena.
Martinette, 37, a locum optometrist, kept her cool throughout the challenge of preparing ricotta stuffed chicken wrapped in parma ham with a Moroccan couscous salad, as demonstrated by chef Farah Barry from Singa Lodge in Summerstrand.
“I was hoping for it, but never expected to win my cook-off because you never know who your competition is,” said Martinette, who enjoys cooking and baking for her family including a seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter.
Martinette and fellow contestants Catherine Macmillan from Mill Park, Dallas Land from Jeffreys Bay, Aimee le Roux from Walmer and Monitte Hoffman from Kabega Park had to recreate Farah’s dish within 35 minutes, using ingredients sponsored by Pick n Pay.
They then plated and presented their dishes to Farah, head judge Dewald Hurter and last year’s Kitchen Maestro winner Elke Gerber.
Farah said Martinette’s dish exceeded her expectations and confessed it tasted better than hers!

Farah Barry from Singa Lodge in Summerstrand was the guest chef for cook-off number two last weekend.

Martinette will join the first week’s winner Berita Chigome, and three other cook-off winners still to be decided, on November 16 for the semi-finals. Two of the five will then contest the finals on November 23.
The winner of Kitchen Maestro 2013, which is hosted in partnership with Weekend Post, will receive a kitchen makeover from Adel Kitchens and Cabinets and other prizes adding up to a total value of more than R50000.
There is no entry fee and anyone over 16 may enter for the cook-offs. To download an entry form visit www.walmerparkshoppingcentre.co.za The completed form must be e-mailed to dcoetzee@growthpoint.co.za or hand-delivered to the info kiosk at Walmer Park, along with a photo and recipe of any meal you have prepared at home. Cook-off number three is at 11am today but to enter for cook-off number four next Saturday November 2, your entry must reach Walmer Park by latest noon this Wednesday.
For more information contact Danelle on (041)368-2690. Also check out Weekend Post every Saturday for updates and recipes from the competition.

Ricotta stuffed chicken wrapped in parma ham with Moroccan couscous salad.

Recipe: Ricotta stuffed chicken wrapped in parma ham with Moroccan couscous salad

For the ricotta stuffed chicken:

Ingredients

• large chicken breast, about 170-200g
• 2 sage leaves
• 5 heaped tbsp. ricotta
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 2 Parma ham slices
• 1½ tsp. olive oil
• Handful of thyme sprigs

Method

Cut a deep slit along one side of each chicken breast, without slicing right through, then open it out like a book. On a clean chopping board, finely chop 2 sage leaves, then mix into the ricotta and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lay two parma ham slices on the board, overlapping them slightly. Put a sage leaf in the middle and lay an open chicken breast on top. Spoon a quarter of the ricotta mixture onto the middle of the chicken, then fold the sides together again, to enclose the filling. Now wrap the Parma ham slices around the stuffed chicken breast. Wrap in cling film. Repeat with the rest of the chicken breasts and chill for 30 min to firm up slightly

Heat the oven to 180°C and place a roasting pan in the oven to heat up. Heat a heavy-based frying pan and add the olive oil. When hot, fry the Parma-wrapped chicken, in batches if necessary, for 2 mins on each side until browned. Lay a few thyme sprigs on each chicken breast, then place in the hot roasting pan. Cook in the oven for 12-15 mins, depending on size, or until the meat feels just firm when lightly pressed.

Rest the chicken, covered with foil, in a warm place for 5-10 mins. Slice each stuffed breast thickly on the diagonal and arrange on warm plates. Serve with couscous salad.

For the Moroccan couscous salad:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup couscous
• 1 cup water or vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• small pinch of saffron (optional)
• 1/4 cup parsley, minced
• 1/4 cup green onions, minced
• 1/8 cup fresh mint, minced
• 4 radishes
• feta cheese
• zest of 1 lemon
• black pepper to taste
• olive oil

Method

In a small sauce pan, bring 1 cup of broth or water to boil. Remove from heat and add oil, salt and saffron. Stir in couscous grains and let sit covered for 10 minutes off of the heat. Then remove top and fluff the couscous with a fork. Let cool while you prepare the herbs and vegetables.

Cut clean radishes in half and then thinly slice into half-moons. In a large salad bowl, combine radishes with minced herbs, couscous, crumbled feta cheese and the zest of 1 lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and serve room temperature or as a chilled salad.

The mint and lemon zest are bright and refreshing. You might like a squeeze of lemon juice, or simply with olive oil. You could also omit the feta cheese to make this salad vegan (chickpeas can be an optional addition)