Baccalà alla Napoletana

For today (and as a hint to a future article on salt), I thought I’d give you a touch of salt rather than sweetness and opted, instead, for a recipe for baccalà – it’s the one I first tasted and was used by a Neapolitan who taught me so very much about food. Baccalà is salted cod as opposed to stockfish which is dried cod). He was and is truly talented and his knowledge of food is instinctive, spiritual and dare I say, genetic? I believe that Italians are born with a sense of food and art, it is within them and they rarely have to study it. They just have it.

Baccalà is something available world wide and the Portuguese, in particular favour it.  For the next few weeks, I will feature recipes for salted cod from all over the world and if anyone has a good one, I will test it, include it and give you credit for it. I already have one or two of my own that I collected in my travels, but I would really love to get yours. So let’s get on with it and start with my version of Baccalà alla Napoletana:

Ingredients

1 kg salted cod
100 ml excellent extra virgin olive oil (why not try Garguilo, organic extra virgin olive oil from near Sorrento). It’s really good.
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g ripe Italian tomatoes, peeled, deseeded & chopped
200 g black, pitted Italian olives, left whole
50 g salted capers, rinsed and lightly squeezed dry
1 cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped
2 lemons, zest only
Salt to taste and only if you got rid of it when soaking
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Flour for dredging

Method

Soak the salted cod in several changes of cold fresh water (at least overnight) but to make absolutely sure, break off a small piece and check for saltiness before you prepare it. You can always ask the fishmonger what he would suggest

Preheat oven to 160 C

Remove the cod, rinse well and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into bite sized chunks, discard bones and skin and dredge with flour. I simply put the flour in a plastic bag, toss the fish in and shake to cover all the pieces effectively.  Heat half the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat and fry the garlic very lightly until it is just soft. Take the pan off the stove and remove the garlic with a slotted spoon or, sieve the oil into a little bowl. Use that oil and fry the chopped tomatoes, olives, capers and black pepper for about 15 minutes over low heat until they begin to soften and remove. Add the rest of the olive oil to the tomatoes with the zest, salt to taste and half the parsley. Check and correct the taste. Now add the cod and fry lightly over medium heat for about 15 minutes, adding freshly ground pepper at the end.  Transfer to an ovenproof dish and bake, covered in the preheated oven for another 15 minutes.

Serve with hot, crusty bread and a bottle of cold Falerno del Massico DOC from the Villa Matilde in Campania. It seems only right that one drinks wines from Campania with this dish that belongs, absolutely to Naples!

Please note that I  excluded the discussion on the history of the this fish because it has been scheduled for a later article.

Pechyvo z Porichkamy aka Blackberry Tart

Our cake this weekend comes from the Ukraine, the famous ‘land on the edge’ and mother of Russian towns. The Ukraine was central in the development of all European culture originating in Kiev, today the capital of the Ukraine.  A fascinating and rich history gives birth to a cuisine that grows up nurtured by Mongolian, Lithuanian, Polish, Turkish, Astro Hungarian and Scandinavian parents. Notwithstanding it’s vastness the Ukraine has been so richly blessed by nature that I can well understand why the Tzar chose to have his summer home here. Russians are joyful when they cook, they respect and give thanks like no other nation on earth – they truly celebrate food.  For today it’s enough to understand where our cake comes from and to take joy not only in the eating but absolutely in it’s preparation.   Here then a Russian celebration:

Ingredients

250 g butter
300 g all-purpose flour
100 g sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 extra large free range egg
1 tablespoon water
125 g smetana (sour cream)
500 g blackberries (I have used mulberries and blueberries and they worked as well)
100 g icing sugar (aka confectioners sugar)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 225C

Combine flour, sugar, butter and baking powder in your food processor (or by hand, creaming the sugar and butter until light and fluffy and then folding in the sifted flour and baking powder). Add the water, the smetana and the egg and combine well. Knead into a smooth dough.  Roll out the dough into a circle about ½ cm thick and put on a well greased pie plate.  Shape the edges prettily into an edging of your choice.  Fill with the blackberries, sprinkle with the icing sugar and bake in the preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes.

Check your oven, though – sugared berries can burn!!!  Serve covered in cream or smetana or as is,

Why not try with a good sparkling wine from the Crimea -made using the Russian ‘continuous’ system – base wine and yeast is pumped through several small fermentation tanks at a specific pressure. A specific method of dosing the yeast is used but the important thing is that in under 100 days it’s ready. The  wine pours out at the other end constantly.  It’s an interesting try but do keep an open mind.

Butter, Part 3 – Russia

The first of two discussions on butter in Russia, investigation of milk, traditions, culture, usage, recipes

Butter (maslyanitsa) and milk is an important part of the Russian food culture – so much so that Maslyanitsa is also the name of an annual festival celebrating the advent of summer. From Moscow to St. Petersberg summer is welcomed in this way just before lent every single year for a week. On the Monday the festival kicks off and blini (pancakes) with honey, caviar, fresh cream and loads of butter take pride of place. Superstition holds that the more butter there is, the more sun will shine on Mother Russia. In Uzbek, Bashkir, and Kirgiz Russians still drink mares’ and donkeys’ milk and which they turn into kumyss, a powerful fermented spirit, often served with huge blobs of butter floating in it.  Kumyss was made in Siberia around 1253 but the only proof we have is Marco Polo’s memoirs telling only that in 1298 Genghis Khan kept a stable of ten thousand white horses for the production of kumyss – whether they actually did is not certain. I like to tell myself they did.

India consumes the most butter in the world, followed by the United States and with Russia in third place.  Nowadays butter is made primarily from cream and in order to discuss butter, we need to have a look at the milk.

In Tartarstan and also the Buryat and Kalmyk Republics ewes and goats milk is chiefly used because the increase in fodder prices has seen dairy cow stocks reduce by 25% since 1991. On the positive side traditional milk processing in the smaller villages continues – where sieved milk is sealed tightly in barrels and hung in a well on the ends of ropes.  Fat collects and forms the cream which, once skimmed, is churned into butter whilst the skimmed  is milk drunk and then processed into blancmanges and curd cheese, the whey being fed to the calves.

Until the 16th century they made smetana from buttermilk. Sweet cream and butter were unknown in those days. However, I must say that the creamy, silky Russian buttermilk doesn’t taste anything like the buttermilk in Europe or Scandinavia. Natural smetana is devoured at breakfast as a staple, added to borscht, shchi, blini and pelmeni.  In the old days of the mighty USSR housewives made their own yoghurt, kefir and cream, but since the 1990’s farmers markets and thriving dairy businesses in the cities have almost taken over.  If you want to try the prostokvash and varenets you would have to go into the country, though.  When they make curd cheese, Russian housewives do not dump the whey but used it to make kisel (cold soup) with berries or for jellies, kvass and so on.

MILK PRODUCTS

Butter (maslo). The best butter in Russia comes from the Vologda area. It’s a bright sunflower yellow and with 82,5% fat, it’is much higher in fat than most European butters! Salted Russian butter is quite possibly the tastiest on the continent.

KEFIR

A delicious tangy drink, especially good in summer, this pasteurized milk is charged with kefir mould and depending on how long it is charged, a drink with up to 2% alcohol is formed.

SMETANA

Fresh, full cream milk is set aside in a flat bowl for about 15 hours to enable the fat to rise. Buttermilk is added to the skimmed cream to sour it and when the jug is full it is whipped, heated briefly and put in a clean rinsed container in a cool place – used in a variety of dishes and piled on top of very sweet cakes, it is worth traveling to Russia for this treat.

YOGHURT

High fat milk is heated for about 10 minutes to just under boiling point to kill bacteria and then cooled so that yoghurt cultures can be added whilst stirring. Stiff competition for the Greeks whose yoghurt I have always listed as my personal ‘best of the best’.

TVOROG (soft curd cheese)

The milk is allowed to stand for at least 2 days until it is thick, then it’s heated at 30 C for 30 minutes until curds and whey are formed.

VARENETS, PROSTOKVASHA AND RYASHENKA

Milk is boiled, poured into a clay pot, left overnight, mixed with smetana and then reduced over heat. It’s super high in fat and tastes of roasted chestnuts at Christmas (to me, anyway).

TVOROZHNIKI (aka Syrniki)

Ingredients

400 g soft curd cheese
100 g soft butter
200 g sour cream
1 large egg
4 tablespoons flour
60 sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Butter for frying

Smetana and jam to serve

Method

Mix all the ingredients together (with the exception of the butter which you will use for frying) very well. Roll out onto a floured board until it is about 1 ½ cm thick and cut out round cakes with a glass (or a scone cutter).

Fry in butter on both sides and serve with sour cream and jam.

SHARLOTKA S YABLOKAMI
(Stirred apple butter cake)

Ingredients

500 g cooking apples, peeled & very finely diced
6 large eggs
200 g caster sugar
200 g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 lemon, zest only
4 cloves, ground
2 tablespoons of raisins soaked in a little brandy
Butter and fresh breadcrumbs to line the inside of your cake pan

Method

Mix breadcrumbs with sufficient butter and line the bottom and the sides of the pan well.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and foamy and sugar has completely dissolved. Sift in flour mixed with baking powder and mix in apples as well.  Fill the lined cake pan with the cake batter, bake on 170 C for about an hour and test with a skewer.

(Should cake get brown to quickly – because of the butter – cover with foil and continue baking)

Serve with lashings of brandy butter sauce and whipped cream.

HALVA

200 g clarified butter
250g ground sesames
250 g whole wheat flour
200 g runny honey

Toss the flour in the honey until it is gold, mix with the honey and then fry for 6 minutes. Spread on a piece of marble and cut into squares.  If you feel like it, add 50 g of pistachio’s – delicious!

And finally, pumpkin pancakes, Ukraine style:

Nalysnky z harbusa

1 kg pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed and finely grated
200 g self raising flour
2 large eggs
Salt to taste
Butter to fry
200 g melted butter
100 g honey
50 g poppy seeds

Method

Simply combine grated pumpkin with everything except the melted butter, the honey and the poppy seeds. The batter can be quite crumbly, image above, and if you like, add a spot of milk for smoothness
Warm honey and mix into melted butter. Stir in poppy seeds.
Fry as thin as possible, remembering these are pancakes and once completed serve with melted butter, honey and poppy sauce.
That’s it!!!

And now, even though we haven’t discussed the actual butter production yet, I had to discuss this first!

Cheese, Norwegian Necessities

A look at the famous brown cheese of Norway with a sort discussion on the most famous few

Nothing beats a Norwegian breakfast – if’s huge and the selection of food mind boggling. Tables are piled with herrings (salted and pickled), smoked salmon, boiled and fried eggs, potatoes, bacon, hams fruit, fruit juices, cornflakes, milk, buttermilk, coffee, tea, sour milk and if your are really lucky, cheese! Glorious, glorious cheese takes pride of place and the unusual Norwegian cheese not only lends character but produces a taste sensation unique to this beautiful country.

Cheese in Norway starts with the farmers – the Alpine farmers.  Because of the Norwegian geography, mountain pastures start at the timberlines or just above them – a small distance from the farmyards.  Fifty kilometers between pastures are not unusual and, whilst in Southern Hemisphere terms that would be just around the corner, in Norwegian terms that’s one hell of distance which is why they are used as pastures for sheep, goats and cows. Similarly to Switzerland, the animals are driven to pasture in the middle of summer, around June and brought down again in September, towards the end.

Støl (mountain pasture homes, image below) are built for those caring animals and processing the milk so that that they can spend summer there with their animals. These cute little homes, built in clusters so that a budeien (a dairy maid) could get quick assistance from a neighbour should the need arise, are made of wood.  They have additional rooms called the melkebu and the ystarom where the milk will be kept and where butter and cheese can be hygienically made.  The animals themselves live in sheds called fjøs.  Nowadays the homes have electricity for convenience and so that the milking can be done electronically.

Not too well known, the following cheese is typical of Norway and with the exception of the Jarslburg, seldom bought outside Norway.

Gamalost

a cheese made from soured low fat milk – never before has non fat tasted so good! A labour intensive process when traditionally made, this is not always the case today. A lactic starter is added to low fat milk in order to sour it and after a few days the milk is heated, the curds separated and the cheese pressed into forms (see image above ). Once the forms are removed, mould is rubbed on the surface by hand.

Pultost

a traditional Norwegian cheese made originally from buttermilk and often called sour milk cheese. During the processing it is flavoured with caraway seeds (or even aniseeds) and and an intensely alluring, spreadable cheese is the result. The flavour is intense and the aroma strong! Interestingly, one can buy it in curd form as well.  Occasionally referred to as Ramost or Knaost, it is a must try on your next trip to Norway.

Mysost

made when the whey of cow’s milk is so thick that the lactose starts to crystallize, this lightly salted, dark caramel cheese turns into silky smooth bliss that has a distinct sweet-sour flavour. It is unusual but once accustomed, you can’t wait for your next “hit”.

Gjeitost

much like Mysost but made from the whey of goats cheese, it’s lighter but as tasty and as unusual. The Gyetost certainly has my vote!

Gudbrandsdalsost

whey from both cow and goatsmilk is combined to create an unusual but superb fresh cheese – the word means cheese from Gudbrandsdal. Thinly sliced on malt loaf it becomes one of my all-time special cheeses.

Jarlsburg,

made for the first time by Anders Larsen Bakke in the mid 1800’s, production was discontinued early on in 1900.  It was made again for the first time in 1959 by Ola Ystgaard, a university professor. The name comes from an old Vikings settlement in Oslo Fjord.  There are similarities to the Swiss Emmentahler cheese in that it has a semi-firm interior, irregular holes and a yellow waxy rind and even though the taste can also be described as slightly sweet, the similarity ends there.

Snøfrisk

(it means snow fresh) a preservative free cheese made from goats milk, produced for the first time in 1994 and comes in two flavours. Buy, the plain or flavoured with ground juniper berries to be spread on crackers for an unforgettable experience.

Ridder

- a mild, surface ripened, semisoft cheese that has an edible rind and is glorious with crackers and berries – and these are only a few reasons why a culinary trip to Norway is so essential in the education of the palate!

Almonds, Part 1 – Beginnings

Almonds  (Prunus dulcis) originated in Asia. The word is derived from the Greek word for almond, amygdala ( also two groups of neurons in the brain). The word then became the Latin amandola and finally the Old French word almande or allemande.
Known by the Romans as Greek nuts and widely used in the Middle Ages to make soups and desserts it was eaten dried throughout the ages by Nomadic tribes as a healthy addition to their diets. Almonds originated in Palestine, Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan and were amongst the earliest domesticated fruit trees on earth. The fruit is not a true nut, but a drupe. The period between 3,000 – 2,000 BC sees almonds proliferate in the East and in Europe. Today the USA is the biggest producer in the World, followed by the Spain, Syria, Italy, Iran, Morocco, Algeria with Tunisia and Greece as minor contributors.  The balance of the production is made up from Turkey, Lebanon and China.

There are two kinds of almonds, the edible sweet almond and the bitter almond that contains hydrocyanic acid and can be poisonous. Bitter almonds are used in small amounts strictly for flavouring purposes and have been for centuries. Almonds lower the levels of LDL cholesterol by as much as 9% and increase the HDL by 4.6%.  The Ayurveda health care system teaches that the almond nourishes the brain, increases intellectual levels and longevity and tests have proved that almonds do have immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory and anti-hepatotoxicity effects.

In South Africa almonds have been an essential part of the Cape cuisine since 1652 when Jan van Riebeeck first arrived there. A vibrant multitude of settlers in the Cape ensured that an extraordinarily rich and complex culture in food was created at the outset. The East, Malaysia, Indonesia, the French and the Dutch are only a few of the nations that write the recipes of the South African cuisine.

One of the earlier recipes including almonds refers to a traditional French recipe for calissons d’Aix a delicious biscuit baked in a hot oven for only ten minutes (image above).  A late 1600’s recipe for Almond loaf pops quite often but since it requires about three hours of kneading and I have never made it, I have decided not to include it today. A late 1700’s recipe for an Almond cake as well as my mother’s (or grandmother before her) almond tart. These are so rich that one can be sure no thought was given to cholesterol and other modern day qualms.

Nowadays ground almonds are used in biscuits, cakes, sauces, slivered in meat dishes and roasted whole as a snack.

EARLY CAPE ALMOND CAKE

600 g sweet almonds
35 grams butter
125 ml orange water
20 egg yolks
8 egg whites
125 ml brandy
2 lemons, zest only
500 g superfine caster sugar

Pre heat the oven to 280 C
Prepare a wide cake pan (similar to one that would be used for a Breton flat cake) with greaseproof or silicon paper

Combine butter, sugar and yolks until they are white and fluffy in a food processor. Add the brandy, orange water and zest and then mix in the almonds and the egg whites, adding the ground almond after each white.  Combine well and process for about 10 minutes.

Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, watching it carefully.  When golden, remove and allow to rest.

EBIE’S ALMOND TART

I am going to supply this recipe exactly as it appears in her very old, already disintegrating, handwritten book, but am converting quantities to metric ones for ease of reference.

Line a deep tart tin with sweet pastry and spread with apricot jam. Half fill with a mixture made as follows:

Beat 125 grams of butter with 125 grams of sugar, add 4 large eggs one at a time and then stir in 125 grams of ground almonds and a pinch of salt.

That was it!!!  I bake it in a preheated oven on 190 C for 30 – 40 minutes.

To pair, a suggestion by a very busy yet extremely knowledgeable young lady from Tea Escapade, “I think I would pair the almond tart with White Peony by Pearl Fine Teas. While White Peony is flavorful it is a White Tea and thus is significantly milder than a black or green tea. Thus the taste of the tea will not overpower the taste of the almond tart.  Simultaneously, the natural sweetness of White Peony allows one to enjoy a cup without the addition of sweetener“.

ROASTED ALMONDS

750g peeled almonds
1 kg demarara sugar
10 ml ground ginger
2 ml salt
15 ml butter
15 ml cake flour
30 ml milk
375 ml water

Combine sugar, butter and water in a heavy bottomed saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar has been dissolved completely and it has a. Cook until soft ball stage. Now mix the flour with the milk and add to the ginger and the salt to the liquid. Remove from heat and beat with a wooden spoon until cool.  Add the nuts immediately and put spoonfuls onto a greased baking tray.

Allow to set, when hard, store in an airtight tin.

Bread – Five Most Common Uncommon Types

PARANTHA

An unleavened Indian flatbread that hails from the ancient North Indian region of Punjab and was, initially, made for special guests. Spread with homemade butter, it was eaten by dipping into homemade yogurt or lassi, a buttermilk drink also from Punjab. Nowadays, this golden brown yet extremely supple bread is eaten hot with chutney and yoghurt as an accompaniment to curry or simply with pickles and vegetables. Another favourite, Htat ta ya, (a hundred layers), is a fried flaky paratha (resembling puff pastry) which is sometimes eaten with sugar or boiled peas . Kerala porota, an oval shaped paratha is left to prove for at least 4 hours to ensure maximum softness and will get you ‘hooked’ for ever. During Ramadan, Muslims from the Indian subcontinent often eat parathas for breakfast as they believe that the butter and flour mixture are not only a good source of calories but will also stave off hunger pangs and help sustain a person throughout the long day.

BRETZEL

A twisted rope of shiny, yeasty bread made from superlative white flour. There are two kinds, soft as well as crisp and both are delicious but I think that a soft, salt sprinkled bretzel with a thick slice of Limburger cannot be beaten. In Germany bretzl dough is dipped into a solution of sodium hydroxide in order to give it a shiny brown crust. The name comes from the word bracellus (latin for crossed arms). It is absolutely delicious!

PUMPERNICKEL

This classic bread is made from a variety of rye flour grades and is started with sourdough. I cannot imagine eating smoked eel or chopped herrings with anything else. True German pumpernickel is traditionally made with coarsely-ground rye meal, but nowadays a combination of rye flour and whole rye berries is used. It originated in Westphalia in 1450.  Westphalian pumpernickel is baked, covered with a lid and essentially steamed for a long baking period which  gives it its characteristic dark colour. The bread can emerge from the oven deep brown, even black. Traditionally it  contains no colouring agents, instead relying on the Maillard reaction to produce its characteristic dark chocolate flavour with it’s earthy coffee aftertaste. They are baked for 16 to 24 hours at a low temperature (120°C) in a steam-filled oven. Because they are baked in long narrow pans with a lid pumpernickel has little or no crust. True German pumpernickel is produced only in Germany

SODA BREAD

steaming hot and crisp crusted there is little to beat fresh soda bread, sharp cheddar and marmalade with an early morning cuppa for breakfast. It originated in 1840 in Ireland, when bicarbonate of soda was first introduced and added, along with salt and sugar to wheat flour and baked in the oven or on a griddle. Shaped immediately after kneading, rested for no more than 15 minutes, a cross cut in the middle and baked produces really outstanding results. Legend has it that the cross was placed in the bread to ward off evil, but I think it was merely put there for cutting purposes afterwards.

BAGELS

Derived from the French word bague (a ring) and the German word for a stirrup (Beugel) – with typically firm crusts and soft centers they are amongst the most beloved of uncommon bread. Fresh Scottish Salmon and cream cheese on bagels have to be an international favourite. They are made using an ancient technique whereby the yeast-raised dough is first boiled briefly. If it isn’t boiled, it isn’t a bagel – as simple as that. It is said that they originated in Warsaw when Jewish bakers made them in honour of the victory of King Jan Sobieski at the battle of Vienna in 1863, but like all stories there are many versions. Observant Jewish families traditionally made bagels on Saturday evenings at the conclusion of the Sabbath because bagels could be baked very quickly as soon as it ended.

Sukkot in Curacao

Curacao is home to one of the oldest Jewish congregation in the Western hemisphere. In 1651 the first brave Jews arrived on this far flung island to form an agricultural community and the first thing they did was to build a wooden synagogue. They named their tiny congregation Mikve Israel (Hope of Israel). I feel it is fitting to pay tribute to them today as Jews across the world commemorate 40 years of wandering in the desert. Jews kept on coming to Curacao to escape the inquisition in Europe and later in the 1920’s to flee persecution. The community of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews on this tiny island created a rich and glorious cuisine by incorporating island traditions into their own and making use of what was available.

The following torte, surely of Lithuanian origin, feels perfect for today. I was given this recipe in Warsaw a long time ago by a Jewish lady who was back in her home town on holiday. She lived in Curacao and was impatient to return as it was winter in Warsaw and bitterly cold. I have made this many times and for today’s hurried lifestyle, it just seems perfect.

UGAT SCHEKADEME
(Chocolate and almond torte)

200 g ground almonds
200 g grated Lindt chocolate (70 % cocoa solids)
250 g superfine caster sugar
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
7 eggs, separated
1 lime, zest and juice

Icing

100 g Lindt chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
1 tablespoon water
2 level tablespoons caster sugar
250 ml double cream
2 tablespoons Crème de Cacao

Preheat oven to 200 C

Grease and line 2 x 20 cm  spring form cake tins.
Combine the almonds, crumbs and grated chocolate. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peak stage and add the sugar, a little at a time. Now simultaneously whisk egg yolks with the lime zest, fold into the whites and then add the dry ingredients and the lemon juice. When everything is combined spoon into the tins, bake for 30 minutes until golden and firm.  Check with skewer to ensure that it is cooked

For the icing put chocolate, water and sugar and sugar into a small pot and heat very gently until the chocolate melts and then add the cream.  Bring to boil and then take off the heat immediately.  Refrigerate overnight and the next day whisk in the liqueur until it becomes as thick as whipped cream and use as icing. For a really smooth finish, warm again over simmering water until really soft ice with spatula.

Fill and coat the cake.

CHALAPCHES
(Stuffed cabbage)

1 large cabbage
130 g home made tomato puree
500 g cranberry sauce
6 tablespoons brown sugar
90 g raisins
50 ml olive oil
500 g minced beef
1 egg
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 lime, zest and juice
Salt and white pepper to taste

Carefully nip off leaves from a cabbage that has been lightly blanched – one needs to get the leaves just soft enough to stuff without breaking.  Should you want to use any of the cabbages with softer leaves this step is not necessary. Pour the cranberry sauce, the lemon juice and the tomato puree into a roasting pan and stir in the brown sugar and ½ of the raisins.  In a separate bowl mix the meat with the rest of the ingredients including the zest and then put 1 tablespoon of the meat stuffing onto each leaf. Roll the leaf over the meat filling to cover the meat completely and form a neat parcel. Place the cabbage meat parcels into the roasting tin make sure that they are immersed in the sauce. Cover and bake for 2 hours over a low heat – I put it on 160 C.  *If not immersed, turn them around once in this period so that the side that doesn’t get tomato & cranberry sauce is also covered for a period.
Check the sauce in the roasting pan and reduce a little if necessary.
Refrigerate overnight.
Heat the next day and serve with sauce poured over the chalapches.

Ebie’s Gâteau Breton (Breton Cake)

This is my mother’s recipe.  Fiercely and proudly Afrikaans, her food was always heavily influenced by the French and we were nurtured on her own exquisite fusion of French and Cape cooking.  She paid little attention to cholesterol or calories when we were younger and allowed only her passion to guide her.  As my father’s health faded over the years, her cooking style changed too and it is only now that I realize that the passion was reserved only for him.  The day he died, she never cooked again. In her honour then, I share this with you.

It is dead easy and I have made dozens of my own versions, but this is the basic one and the most delicious.

Ingredients

475 g flour
475 g sugar
500 g salted butter
8 extra large egg yolks
2 tablespoons cognac (she used brandy or rum, but I prefer cognac)
2 tablespoons milk

Method

Make a hollow in the sieved flour and add the sugar and the softened butter, mixing it well with your fingertips. Stir in 7 egg yolks, add the cognac until a smooth dough is formed.  It is perfectly acceptable to use a food processor instead.

Grease a springform cake pan with butter, dust with flour and press the dough evenly into the pan. Mix the remaining egg yolk with the milk and coat the surface of the dough with it, scoring a grid pattern with a fork.

Bake on a 200 C pre-heated oven for 45 minutes.
Please keep an eye on the oven the first time.

Serve with a chilled bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée because I feel that only Krug could possibly be good enough for this gâteau.  Since this is not the most expensive bottle in the Krug stable it will not break the bank.

After making a complete idiot of myself recently, I embarked upon a voyage of self education recently. To this end I attended a Champagne tasting only to learn that I had a lot to learn. Apparently loving wine and knowing what you like, is not good enough.  I will share this voyage with you when occasion calls for it, but I have so much to learn that the occasion will be rare. Krug has to be the non plus ultra of champagne and requires no learning, the taste provides an instant education. It is only always the best. The Grande Cuvée is made from Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Fermented in small oak barrels at first, it is later transferred to stainless-steel tanks which ensure optimum freshness.  Krug has belonged to Moët en Chandon since 2004 and has benefited hugely from the financial injection.  Henri Krug religiously ensures that all bottles are aged for six years before release.
I tasted citrus, followed by butter and hazelnuts – a perfect partner for the rich buttery cake with the spicy fruit of the Chardonnay certainly matching the depth of this great gateau!

Buttermilk Basics

Hundreds of years ago when buttermilk was common in all households that churned their own butter, it was consumed daily, made into buttermilk cheese and the excess fed to farm animals.

Nowadays, it is either drunk by humans or used as an ingredient in cooking. Whilst very popular in the Scandinavian countries, it is only used for baking in Europe. In South Africa and the USA buttermilk has been used in food from the beginning and in the rest of the world it is fast gaining popularity. In many countries in the Middle East (and India) it accompanies daily meals and is popular and used widely. It makes a nourishing breakfast, is used as a drink with meals from India to the Middle East where it is, also, used as an aid to digestion and in Muslim countries (like the UAR) buttermilk is used for breaking the fast during Ramadan.

Buttermilk is a slightly sour, fermented, white liquid usually containing little specks of butter. It is formed when butter is churned from cream and is rich in nitrogen and lactose but poor in lipids.
There are four types of buttermilk:

• Sweet cream buttermilk – the liquid residue from fresh cream that has been churned into butter. This is the traditional buttermilk and is much thinner than the artificially produced brew available in most of the retail outlets nowadays.
• Sour cream buttermilk, a by-product of butter and produced from raw, unpasteurized cream that has soured naturally or by the addition of a bacterial culture.
• Traditional buttermilk, which is much thinner than the artificially produced brew available in most of the retail outlets nowadays, is made from the fluid extracted when butter was churned from cream.
• Cultured buttermilk, like skim milk, consists of 90 % water, 5% milk sugar lactose and about 3% of the protein, casein. It is made from low-fat milk contains about 2% butterfat. In both low-fat and nonfat buttermilk, some of the lactose is converted by the bacteria into lactic acid, hence the sour taste.

Buttermilk has less fat and less kilojoules than ordinary milk because the fat has been removed to make butter.  It is high in potassium, vitamin b12 and in calcium.  It is also much more easily digestible and contains much more lactic acid than skimmed milk.

BUTTERMILK RUSKS FOR LISA

I dedicate these to an impossibly beautiful, tall and intelligent woman who also happens to be my daughter and the woman I respect and love most in the world. I thank God every day for her.

Rusks were baked by the Voortrekker women for their families. There was little time or opportunity for them to prepare breakfast for their families whilst on trek and these certainly did the trick. Rusks have formed part of the Afrikaans culture for centuries and are now intrinsically woven into the culinary fabric of all South Africans.

Ingredients

1 kg self-raising flour
400 g butter
100 ml sunflower oil
500 ml buttermilk
200 ml sugar
200 ml honey
20 ml baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1000 ml oat bran
250 ml wheat germ
500 ml sunflower seeds
125 ml sesame seeds
125 ml pumpkin seeds
350 ml crushed pecan nuts
60 ml poppy seeds
3 extra large eggs, beaten until frothy

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 C

Mix flour, bran, pecan nuts and all the other seeds into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter with the tips of your fingers until a bread-crumb like consistency is formed.
Combine eggs with the dough mixture and add the buttermilk and oil to form a smooth, soft dough.

Place in a well prepared baking tray and cut into dipping size squares using a wet knife. Should the knife become sticky and covered in dough, wipe clean. Bake for about 50 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove from oven, allow to rest and cool and break into dipping sized rusks.

Dry in a cool oven, around 60 degrees, depending on your oven.

When completely dry, remove and pack away into an airtight container.  This is a wonderful and nourishing breakfast or a great pick me up when the afternoon hunger pangs set in.

Luckily the recipe is just in time for the weekend!

GALIEMAH’S BUTTERMILK COCOLIME CAKE

This is a little fussy but Galiemah has a few short cuts.  She uses sosatie skewers to keep the cake firm after layering and then she refrigerates it for about an hour. Before icing, the skewers go out, the icing is applied and the dessicated coconut is patted firmly against the icing before it has a chance to set.

Ginger-lime curd
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
½ cup fresh lime juice
¼  cup grated lime zest
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter, cut into little blocks at room temperature

Cake
5 cups sifted cake flour, sifted & then measured
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½  cups butter again at room temperature
3 cups sugar
8 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk at room temperature

Icing
1 ½  cups sugar
2 large egg whites
about 1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons golden syrup
¼ cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups of dessicated coconut

Method

Ginger-lime curd
Whisk the eggs, sugar, lime juice & zest, ginger and and salt in large bowl. Put this bowl over pot of barely simmering water  and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens (about 10 minutes).  Take the bowl off the pot and whisk in the butter. Put the mixture through a sieve if you like. Cover tightly with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare cake pans.
Beat butter and sugar together until light and frothy after which you whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Sift in flour mixture (all the dry ingredients sifted together) and buttermilk alternately.  In other words, add the flour and then a bit of buttermilk and then so on. Whisk in eggs individually and then pour equally into cake pans. Bake on for about 35 minutes until golden brown and  the skewer comes out clean. Please note that all ovens are different and you will have to keep an eye on your cake.
When cool, stack layers together with ginger lime curd in between and when you reach the final layer, spread the last curd on top. You should be able to make four layers with this recipe.

Icing
Whisk egg whites, sugar, 1/3 cup water,  syrup and cream of tartar in large bowl.
Put bowl over a pot of lightly simmering water and with your little electric mixer beat on medium speed until mixture looks like white, thick soft fluff. Take bowl off the water and add vanilla extract and whisk until the mixture is cool. Take the dessicated coconut and press against the icing of the entire cake.

This recipe is from a Cape Malay friend of mine that lives in an area in Cape Town known as the Bo-Kaap. It should, therefore, only be served with tea -  try  Dilmah Ceylon Supreme, surely your best bet!

Butter, Part 2 – France

The Scythians, a most barbaric group of nomadic tribes, were the first people to make butter which they used chiefly for medicinal purposes. They had learned how to do this whilst still living in Mesopotamia. So important was the manufacture of butter that a specific category of slaves were appointed to do only that. According to legend these poor slaves had their eyes removed so that nothing would distract them from churning the butter, however, there is absolutely no proof of this. To get back to France which is, after all, under discussion here, the Gauls (image of a statue below) were the first to use butter for cooking (except for the Scandinavian countries) in Europe, but it was the Normans that introduced it to them. The Normans, in turn, had learned this from the Danes, who had all but perfected its use as an essential ingredient in cooking. The Scythians, having left Mesopotamia (current day Iran) lived far north in the Russian areas, so it would have been easy for them to send it to the Scandinavian countries as they were expert horsemen.

Before butter was produced and distributed in the format we know today, it was mrketed locally and produced at home. Then the Gauls brought it (often coloured with marigold flowers), to the markets wrapped in herbs or sorrel leaves. It would then be stored in earthernware pots and covered with salted water. Soon the colouring was forbidden because even in the days of the Gauls, it’s production was regulated and, for example, could not be sold near fish stalls.  Later, the Catholic Church forbade the use of butter during Lent, unless of course a generous contribution was made to the “butter chest” which, thanks to people like the Archbishop Georges d’Ambroise provided funds to build one of the most exquisite cathedrals in France, the Rouen Cathedral. I have a special fascination for Rouen, because my son, Richardt, was named for Richard Lionheart whose tomb, image below, can be found there. His heart lies buried here.

It is interesting to note, though it has nothing to do with butter, that his bowels were buried inside the Chateau of Châlus-Chabrol from whose walls the crossbow bolt that killed him was fired and his bodily remains were buried next to his dad at the Fontevraud Abbey. Should you want to visit it, he is the one lying on top of his tomb with his name on the side.  I have never understood why his bowels, specifically, had to be at Châlus-Chabrol. Now that I think of it, to say that the French do not waste is an understatement.

Unlike in Africa and Asia where butter was (and still is I believe) made from the milk of buffalo, camel, goats and donkeys, the French favoured cows, sheep and goats milk.  Below an image of cow’s milk butter on the left and goat’s milk butter on the right.

Butter, as the French know it today, has only been made in this way for a little over 100 years. Thanks, to the phylloxera that destroyed the vines in France, many devastated wine farmers had no option but to turn into dairy farmers.  Being French, they excelled at it and the first cooperative was opened in 1888 at which point pasteurization and selective breeding flourished because the Atlantic coast’s damp weather was perfect for the growth of lush vegetation so necessary for feed.
In Echiré (north east of Niort) the local inhabitants founded a cooperative in 1894 and to this day milk is collected from the local farms by their own trucks. As soon as the cream has been separated, milk ferment is added (1 to 2 %) and then left to mature, biologically, for about 18 hours (give or take a few) at 14 C.  It is beaten in massive, strong, teak churns which then breaks down the membranes of these little fat globules so that the butter fat is released and coagulates into even bigger lumps which are called the butter grains.  As soon as these grains are the size of peas, the almost fat free buttermilk is drained off and whatever remains of the buttermilk is rinsed off with fresh spring water to prevent it from tasting like cheese. It’s kneaded so that the grains produce a uniform mass with approximately a 16 percent moisture content. The finished Echiré butter is wrapped in gold foil and put in its characteristic small basket. I am almost sure that nobody forgets the taste of this butter. Ever. Whilst there are dozens of incredibly good butters in France – from places like Normandy, Charentes-Poitou and a many other areas -  it is the Echiré that I never forget.

In closing, I have to do something I have never done before and that is to recommend a book. Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This is, probably, the best read I have had in while. He puts clarifies age old questions, poses new ones and puts food into perspective in a way that no other book ever has.  Easy to read, excellently researched and fascinating, the book brings up an interesting point relating to butter.
I have always been fascinated by the fact that that butter, containing at least 15% water, could seem to be a solid. He explains it so simply, and I quote:
Because of the crystals that increase with cooling and interlock with one another; Scraped with a knife, butter seems to soften, not because it is heated but because the crystals are separated.
To have an idea how these discoveries can be used in cooking, try testing split crystallization yourself. Melt the butter and skim off the solids as they form, just as the physical chemists did. You will then be able to manufacture your own butters by mixing proportions of solids and liquids and in this way obtain the specific texture appropriate to a particular dish.

I am including some recipes again, however, please note that these are my interpretations of the French recipes and in most cases, I have altered them as I see fit.

FLAVOURED BUTTERS OF PROVENCE

BEURRE à L’AIL (GARLIC BUTTER)

100 g butter
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 lemon, zest and juice
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pound garlic, parsley and zest with the butter in a mortar. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and a little olive oil to create a smooth butter.

BEURRE AU BASILIC (FRESH BASIL BUTTER)

100 g butter
Fresh basil leaves to taste
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste

Pound and blend as above

There are many other possibilities, like saffron (au safran), black olive (aux olives), anchovy (aux anchois), almond (d’amandes), crab or prawn (de crabe ou de cervettes), hazlenut (de noisettes), Montepellier (de Montpellier), lobster (de homard), red peppers (aux poivrons rouge) or a myriad of others.   All recipes available on request.
I recently dug out this Catalan recipe and reminded myself of a visit to Perpignon where I swore I wanted to live for the rest of my life.  I have done that a few times in my life, usually influenced by the food of the region and I will show you why.  One of the most astonishing deserts in Catalonia is the mei i mato (goats milk cream cheese sprinkled with honey) which requires no recipe and so to close, an unusual

TATIN D’AUBERGINES AUX POMMES

4 apples (golden delicious), peeled and cored & sliced into 12 pieces
2 aubergines (eggplants), peeled & thinly sliced
100 g butter
100 g sugar
1 egg yolk
Frozen flaky pastry

Preheat the oven to 200
Thaw the pastry dough.

Melt the butter in a round non-stick baking pan and then add the sugar gradually allowing it to caramelize. Remove from the heat and arrange in alternative slices of apple and aubergines in a circle over the caramel on the bottom of the pan. Scatter small pieces of butter over this and then make a second layer of apple and eggplant.

Place in the oven for about 15 minutes until lightly browned and roll the pastry dough over the tart.
Brush with egg yolk and bake for 35 minutes. Turn upside down and serve so that the pastry forms the base.

The types of butter commonly produced in France are:

• Farmhouse butter – usually made from unpasteurized milk and naturally matured cream. Always prepared in the area of origin and under the strictest of strict hygiene controls. My absolute favourite butter.

• Pasteurized butter – this is made in factories, officially monitored and not my favourite.

• Dairy butter – also pasteurized but not good enough for the Ministry of Agriculture’s approval and is sold as table butter or cooking butter. Watch out for these.
• Sweet butter – this is made from creams with low acidity and is a fragile and uncommon butter. It does not keep well at all!

• EEC butter - this butter is purchased by the governments when too much butter is produced in Europe. It is deep-frozen for no more than a year and placed on the market when demand is high and the prices are then lower than the cheapest butter. There is nothing wrong with it except that it will not keep for more than a week.

• Imported butter – usually from Denmark or Holland, it is excellent butter and usually whiter than the French butter. The country of origin must always be indicated as this is a legal requirement.

• Restored butter – made from really bad quality cream, reblended with bicarbonate of soda for deacidification and is very rare. If you see it, avoid it.

• Salted butter – this contains about 1,5 to 2 g of butter per 100 g. It actually improves both taste and texture of the food when used in cooking.

• Regional butter – produced only in the specific regions using cream from the local dairy cows, thus preserving and ensuring distinctive flavours, textures and colours.

• Concentrated butter - again known as cooking butter and containing 96% butterfat and a low moisture content. Can be used for frying and it does not decompose at high temperatures. It keeps well.

Hope this helps!