Easy Gazpacho

Purists will most likely roll their eyes at my recipe, but the problem with South African tomatoes is that they lack the intensity and sweetness of Spanish tomatoes, thus the reason for my using rosa tomatoes instead. Using rosa tomatoes, being meatier than your average tomato, means I don't add bread to the recipe as I feel the soup is thick enough as is. 

Easy Date and Nut Cookies

This is a simple recipe that will give you delightfully moreish, soft-centred cookies. Use choc chips instead of dates if it's more your thing.

Broccoli, Asparagus and Holloumi Salad

Long-stemmed broccoli is one of my most favourite things, followed closely by holloumi. Then there's my obsession with salads with little to no lettuce - it's all here. A salad that's neither boring nor bland; it's vibrant, crunchy, sweet and salty...an absolute win. And, it will go with absolutely anything.

Hoison-Glazed Pork Shoulder Roast

This magical dish requires only 3 ingredients and is perfect alongside this type of slaw or any crunchy, baby cabbage-based salad. It's a great alternative to a Sunday roast and couldn't be simpler to prepare

Atchar and Pineapple, Chicken Burger

The Peppadew company of South Africa have upped their game of late, introducing a whole range of new and exciting Peppadew products, including an array of fabulous Atchars. An 'Atchar' is a South African pickle, most often served with curry. 

They contacted me and asked if I wanted to be part of their #AwesomeAtchar campaign, to think out of the box and come up with an interesting South African recipe incorporating one of their atchar products. I had a little think and decided on a seriously decadent, chicken and atchar burger paired with sweet grilled pineapple and cooling mint raita to counter the spicy kick. It’s a great combination and perfect for any braai. You can vote for your favourite recipe from the campaign here.

Easy Chicken and Mushroom Bake

This is the last recipe in my series of #Blendability recipes in conjunction with #MushroomSA and I have to say it's also my favourite. It's such an easy dish to create, and whilst it's comforting and moreish, it's also light and very low in carbs.

#Blendability means blending chopped mushrooms together with meat to up the nutrition and taste and decrease the calories. It's a cool concept that works to lessen cost, calorie intake and your carbon footprint whilst upping the vitamin and mineral content of your food.

And, aside from all of the technical jargon, it simply tastes delicious!

Pak Choi and Tofu in a Spicy Peanut and Coconut Sauce

Simple, vegan, moreish and crunchy - gluten-free and wheat-free, but not fun-free

Easiest Lamb Stew

It's getting colder, and that means it's stew time! This lamb stew could not be easier. While the list of ingredients might look quite long, the ingredients are simple and all you really need to do is brown the meat and veg, bung the rest of the ingredients in the pot and forget about it for 2 hours :)

Mushroom and Steak Braai Pie

For the last few months I've been working with the marvellous people at MushroomSA to come up with delicious recipes that revolve around a concept called 'Blendability', basically blending chopped mushrooms with meat to up the nutrition and taste and decrease the calories. It's a cool concept that works to lessen cost, calorie intake and your carbon footprint whilst upping the vitamin and mineral content of your food. 

Mushrooms are a fantastic super food and have an amazing ability to make food taste better; they deepen and enrich the flavour, and I am most certainly a fan.

Super Quick and Easy, Steamed Pesto Fish

I have endeavored to come up with some great recipes that are quick and delicious and that you can make from scratch in the microwave in a matter of minutes. My first is a simple, healthy and scrumptious, steamed fish and veggie dish for one - but you can make as many as you like if you're having guests ;)

Easiest, Cheapest, Most Delicious Lentil Soup

Delicious, nutritious, easy and cheap...what's not to love! 

Mushroom and Ostrich Koftas

I've been working with the marvellous people at MushroomSA to come up with healthy recipes that revolve around a concept called 'Blendability', basically blending finely chopped mushrooms with ground meat to up the nutrition and taste and decrease the calories. It's a cool concept that works to lessen cost, calorie intake, your carbon footprint as well as up the vitamin and mineral content of your food. 

But, aside from all of that factual stuff, it makes the food taste better and in the case of these koftas, makes them lighter in texture which means they're delicious both hot and cold.

You can make them with either ostrich or lamb mince, but ostrich mince is more freely available in South Africa and very low in fat.

Spiced Cauliflower Salad

A delectably moreish salad that's spicy and warming and perfect for the beginnings of Autumn...

Easy Baked Mushroom and Beef Samosas

These are a deliciously healthy alternative to the fried samosa; baking rather than deep frying and using phyllo pastry instead of samosa pastry, plus using half mushrooms to beef mince means less calories, but even better taste - it's all about #Blendability

'Afrochic' Chicken and Pap

I got asked by Mediterranean delicacies to come up with a cool ‘Afrochic’ recipe for their #Afrochic campaign; basically they want to celebrate all that's South African and local.  Here’s my take on #Afrochic: I used pap as the base, but treated more like polenta by adding onion and spices to it before frying it on a griddle to crisp the outside. I paired that with delicious and simple, free-range chicken breasts and let the Mediterranean pesto and tsatziki do the rest – happy days!

Pears poached in Saffron and White Wine

I helped my dear friend and amazing photographer Robyn Davie with the food for a wedding shoot and this was my naughty dessert - it's simple, delicious and tastes as good as it looks. Thank you for the photos Robyn!

Easy Tomato Tart

 

This is such a scrumptiously, gorgeous looking dish - it wows without even trying and it's really easy to make. I roast the tomatoes for this tart before baking them with the tart itself, as I find it stops the tart from getting soggy (you'll notice how much liquid is left over once you've roasted them all). In a nutshell, if you place whole, uncooked tomatoes onto the raw pastry before baking they often release too much juice which affects the pastry.