Flavour Cape

My friend Fabio of Roma is visiting and made us his crostata the other night – that’s a jam tart to you and me. It was so delicious we persuaded him to make another one a few days later. It’s the ideal light dessert after lunch, and even works with an espresso for breakfast the next day (if you have any left over!)

The recipe is a little short on details because Fabio makes it from memory - he doesn’t bother with sifting flour or combining ingredients in a specific order - and the baking time is by feel and the look of the pastry in the oven. But it’s simple, not overly sweet and quick to make. The only fiddly bit is getting the pastry to crisscross neatly.

FABIO’S BLACKBERRY CROSTATA

400g cake flour
250g chilled butter, softened
250g sugar
2 eggs
Most of 1 jar of quality blackberry jam (we used Hillcrest)

1. Mix the flour, butter, sugar and eggs in a food processor or cake mixer to make a soft dough.
2. Line a 25-cm to 27cm-diameter tart tin with kitchen paper, or use a silicone tart base.
3. Use about two-thirds of the pastry and press on to the base of the tart with your fingers so that it’s flat. It should be about 1cm thick. Reserve the rest for the pastry strips on top.
4. Spoon the jam over evenly, leaving about 1.5cm from the edges free of jam, as you would if spreading tomato sauce on a pizza. Fabio: “It’s a personal thing, but I spread enough jam over until I just can’t see the dough underneath.”
5. Take the remaining dough, roll worsies ie strips (Fabio’s South African slang is pretty good) with your fingers. Lay them over the jam filling, flattening them slightly as you lay them and press on to the tart edges (that way the strips won’t stick if they come into contact with the jam). Crisscross with strips running the other way to produce a lattice effect.
6. Bake at 190 degrees celcius for 45 to 60 minutes, or until golden with crisped edges. The time depends on the size of the tin. Serve at room temperature. Apricot or prune jam works nicely too.

Baking takes on new meaning when you have a young baby, and friends are arriving within a few hours for Sunday tea and cupcakes. Little guys want attention and cuddles so they generally cry and moan loudly when they are tired/hungry. This makes simple tasks such as baking quite a challenge. Solution: lie them back in a baby chair to observe the kitchen action and wonder about all the creative stuff.

If the crying starts again (quite likely) place in a baby carrier on your chest. Your little guy will fall asleep in a cosy position, while you’re able to continue the flour sifting and beating. Cake mixers produce surprisingly soothing lullabies. There are drawbacks however: quick work is required, and you’ll be stuck on your feet carrying a fair weight for the next couple of hours. But the rewards are sweet.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE ICING & GINGER AND CARROT CUPCAKES WITH SWEET ‘N SOUR ICING

Makes 12 to 14 of each of the cupcakes

BASIC CUPCAKE MIXTURE
125g butter at room temperature
150g castor sugar
200g cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon salt

CHOCOLATE CHIP ADDITIONS
1 x 100g slab dark chocolate, broken into rough pieces

GINGER AND CARROT ADDITIONS
60g grated carrot
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

CHOCOLATE ICING
125g butter at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
¼cup Nomu cocoa powder

SWEET ‘N SOUR ICING
400g icing sugar, sifted
125g butter at room temperature
200 - 250g fat-free or low-fat smooth cottage cheese

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and place 12 to 14 cupcake paper cups in a muffin pan.
2. Beat the butter and castor sugar. Add the remaining ingredients, alternating the flour with the egg and milk. Beat for a few minutes until it produces a smooth batter.
3. Divide the batter into two bowls. Add chocolate pieces to one half. Stir in ginger, carrot and cinnamon to the remaining batter.
4. Spoon into cupcake cups (don’t heap batter as cupcakes will overflow during baking).
5. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool.
6. For the chocolate cupcakes, combine the butter, icing sugar and cocoa in a cake mixer to create a stiff mixture. Spread over chocolate chip cupcakes.
7. For the carrot and ginger cupcakes, combine the butter and icing sugar together in a cake mixer. Add the smooth cottage cheese to create a runny consistency. Dollop over cupcakes. Sprinkle with pan-toasted almond flakes.

Some of you may be on the mailing list of the Main Ingredient newsletter from John and Lynne Ford’s gourmet-goodies-one-stop-shop in Sea Point. I loved hearing about their kitten Hamish the Greedy Guts Gourmet, who had allegedly “sampled (and, mostly, enjoyed) mange tout, wasabi, sushi ginger, broccoli, pork crackling, Laksa coconut soup, a corner of the Cape Times, smoked salmon trimmings, roast potato and some tomato”. They reported that he wasn’t - yet - keen on wasabi.

Recently pet-sitting two Terriers (one tall, one short) and a somewhat grumpy cat, I was delighted to make the acquaintance of the neighbour’s puppies. A Weimaraner called Chilli, and my favourite – a Beagle called Ramsay! I never asked what inspired the latter puppy’s name, but its owner lived in London so I’m assuming that a certain foul-mouthed Michelin-starred chef had something to do with it.

Ramsay is at that wonderful puppy stage of all paws. I noted on her frequent inquisitive visits into the kitchen that like some chefs I know, there is always tummy space for a little something extra. Chefs I know don’t have ears that drape into the food bowl though…

Our impromptu pet-sitting braai recipe for peppered fillet has been dedicated to the ever-expectant appetite of Ramsay the Beagle.

RECIPE RAMSAY PEPPERED FILLET
serves 5 or 6

1.2kg beef fillet, trimmed
olive oil
black peppercorns, coarsely crushed in a pestle and mortar
freshly ground salt
7 fresh rosemary sprigs

1.Rub the fillet with olive oil on all sides. Sprinkle with crushed peppercorns and salt. Using toothpicks, fasten rosemary sprigs into any folds, securing them in place with toothpicks.
2.Cook the fillet on a braai grid over hot coals (wood and charcoal mixed) for 20 minutes. Cover with foil in a warm place off direct heat while the meat rests. Serve slices of rare meat.

MUSHROOM SAUCE
½ packet of 20g dried chanterelle mushrooms
Approximately 250ml boiling water
⅓ cup butter for frying
1 pack portabellini mushrooms, sliced
a splash of white wine
250ml cream

1.Hydrate the dried mushrooms in a cup of boiling water. Strain and reserve the water.
2.In a saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the sliced fresh mushrooms for about 10 minutes. Add the drained mushrooms and strained water. Cook at high heat to reduce the liquid. Add a splash of wine while doing so.
3.Add the cream and keep reducing the liquid while stirring. The sauce should thicken slightly after about five minutes.
4.Serve warm with the peppered fillet.