Two scrumptious side dishes: Carrot Salad & Roasted Cauliflower

I am keeping it simple this week with two good all-year-round side dish recipes that I hope you will love as much as I do. And by simple I mean easy - these dishes may not require much effort but they are not at all lacking in the flavour department!

We are all still loving our cauliflower, not so? So when you are not chopping it into cauli rice or wizarding it into pizza this is a fabulous way to prepare it. I love cauliflower in all forms but there is something wonderful about the texture and flavour of cauliflower that has been roasted in the oven, rich and almost buttery. The first time I made this dish I just about ate half a tray on my own!

10 Minute Cheese and Herb Rolls

Two weeks ago I was invited to attend an event hosted by Sasko and which took place at the South African Chefs Academy in Observatory. The Sasko Chefs Kitchen was a fun afternoon of cooking, food photography and of course eating! 

PEPPADEW® HOT WINGS with BLUE CHEESE DIP

Seeing as we are in Heritage month with National Heritage Day, also popularly known as Braai Day, coming up on Thursday, I thought it would be appropriate to share a recipe that can be whipped up on the old barbie! These hot wings are perfect for spring and summer entertaining - enjoy them around the braai with friends, serve them up at your next party or munch on them while you cheer on the Springboks (she said optimistically)!

Steak Sarmies with Chunky Tomato Ginger Chutney

Summer is well on its way (hooray!) and we can look forward to plenty of sunshine, outdoor time around the braai and some fresh and summery flavours! Wednesday the 24th of September is National Heritage Day, also known as National Braai Day around South Africa, and I was inspired to make these easy and delicious steak sarmies topped with homemade tomato and ginger chutney. 

Mielie Bread with Sundried Tomatoes

Today's recipe is going against the current trend somewhat. It seems that every other restaurant I visit has a new banting section on their menu, or is advertising dishes that would make Tim Noakes proud. While I applaud anyone making an effort to eat less sugar and more cauliflower (if you can get your hands on one that is!) I for one will not be cutting out my grains anytime soon. And I am sure that there are many readers out there who feel the same. 

Radio Tygerberg Potjie Competition

When I started blogging, one of my goals - apart from sharing my favourite recipes - was to challenge myself to try new ingredients and dishes. I certainly have done that a number of times, but last Saturday I truly stepped out of my comfort zone when this English cook from the Southern Suburbs agreed to take part in a potjiekos competition in the heart of the Boland as part of the Ommiberg "Round the Rock" Festival.

Heritage Day Pizza

September the 24th is a very special day in South Africa. It marks National Heritage Day, a holiday on which we as South Africans celebrate our rich, cultural diversity. More recently the day has been rebranded as "National Braai Day" - a day for all of us to unite around the fire and indulge in a pastime we all enjoy, having a good old braai! On the eve of this wonderful celebration I couldn't think of a better time to share this recipe with you.

Toad-in-the-Hole - South African style!

We're onto week 3 of the Freshly Blogged challenge already! I'm having so much fun creating these recipes and I hope you'll give them a try too. The theme for this challenge was "S.A's best" and the ingredients list read something like this: Drosty-Hof Pinotage (or any Drosty-Hof red wine), mielie meal, ostrich sausage, waterblommetjies or green beans, chutney and mixed dried fruit. As usual we were allowed to omit one of these ingredients and this time around we were able to include 3 fresh ingredients and 3 spices.

There was something else in the fine print too... part of the dish had to be cooked over the coals. The minute I finished reading the challenge details my head started buzzing with ideas, and before I knew it I had a whole page of thoughts and scribblings for potential dishes. This is what I love about this competition - I have been so inspired to get creative in a completely different way. My notebook is brimming with ideas for future recipes and blog posts!

Back to the recipe at hand though. My dish is a South African take on the British classic - toad-in-the-hole. It's made with ostrich sausage and mielie meal and all the cooking is done on the braai. Can you get any more South African than that? I've paired the dish with a rich and velvety gravy made with red onions and Drosty-Hof Claret (not forgetting some good old S.A. chutney). This is accompanied by a fresh, minted green bean salad (a truly delicious way to enjoy your greens). Casual, colourful, full of flavour and proudly South African! 

Two things to note: Toad-in-the-hole is best served immediately. The gravy, however, can be made ahead of time and reheated when it's time to dish up. 

As usual I would be so grateful if you could take a few seconds to VOTE for this recipe on the Freshly Blogged site. Remember there are prizes up for grabs! 

_________________________

TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE with RED ONION GRAVY & GREEN BEAN SALAD

Serves 4

For the gravy:

1 tablespoon butter
2 red onions, sliced
2 tablespoons plain flour
125ml Drosty-Hof Claret (or other red wine)
3 tablespoons chutney
375ml beef stock
salt and pepper

For the toad-in-the-hole:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup mielie meal
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
250ml milk
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
500g ostrich sausage

For the green bean salad:

200g green beans
pinch of salt
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil 
small handful fresh mint, roughly chopped
black pepper

To make the gravy:

Step 1.) Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sliced red onions and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes until soft, stirring regularly. 

Step 2.) Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook for a further minute. 

Step 3.) Add the red wine, chutney and beef stock and stir well. Leave the gravy to simmer for 8-10 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. 

To make the toad-in-the-hole:

Step 1.) Sift the flour, mielie meal  and a good pinch of salt into a bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk together in a jug. Gradually pour this into the dry ingredients whisking between each addition. Continue to whisk until you have a smooth batter, then set this aside. 

Step 2.) Pour the sunflower oil into a 20cm fireproof pot. Arrange the sausages in a single layer on the bottom of the pot. Cover and place on a grid over the very hot coals and allow to brown for 10 minutes. 

Step 3.) Drain most of the excess fat from the pot (you can leave a little behind). Cut the sausage into 7cm pieces. 

Step 4.) Pour the batter over the sausages. Cover the pot and place in the hot coals for 5 minutes until the batter has set around the edges of the pot and is starting to set in the middle.

Step 5.) Move the pot to a grid placed over the coals. Continue cooking until the batter has risen and cooked through. (Cooking times will vary but mine took about 20 minutes to cook.)  

To make the the green bean salad:
(you can do this while the "toad" is cooking)

Step 1.) Top and tail the green beans and halve each one. 

Step 2.) Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the green beans and boil for 6 minutes. (They should be tender but still have some bite.)

Step 3.) Combine the garlic, olive oil and mint in a bowl. Drain the beans, then toss everything together with a good grinding of black pepper. Serve immediately.