Angela Day reviews - and share recipes from - two new cookbooks on the market from a local and an international chef
JACKIE CAMERON COOKS AT HOME
Author: Jackie Cameron
Publisher: Penguin Books SA
Price: R250
Jackie Cameron, the head chef at the award-winning Hartford House restaurant in the KZN Midlands, has fulfilled her dream to produce a non-cheffy cookbook accessible to anyone.
Cameron, who has been cooking since she was small, credits her mother and grandmothers for giving her an appreciation of good food. They encouraged her and her sister to make their own food.
Another strong family motto that has shaped her cooking is “waste not, want not”. This motto ensures that everything in her kitchen at home and at work gets well used and recycled, from scraps of paper to vegetables and meat.
Cameron doesn’t believe in short cuts or using inferior ingredients. “I make sure every dish is jam-packed with deliciousness and I don’t short-change my guests,” she says.
Here are two of her recipes:
CHICKEN WITH ONIONS, GARLIC AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Serves 4-6
Stuffing
butter for frying
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, crushed
250g pork sausage mince, removed from sausage casing, or pork mince
40g chicken livers, taken from gizzards
7ml dried thyme
1 egg yolk
1 whole (1.8kg) chicken with gizzards
½ large onion
4 garlic cloves, crushed
250g brussels sprouts
5ml dried thyme
60g butter
45ml sunflower oil
salt flakes and black pepper
STUFFING: Heat a pan and add the butter, then onion and garlic and sauté. Remove from the heat. Once cooled add this to the mince, roughly chopped liver, thyme and egg yolk. Mix together well.
Rinse the inside of the chicken and remove gizzards. Manoeuvre your fingers between the chicken breast meat and skin to allow two separate openings with the breast bone dividing each side. Place the stuffing under the breast skin, being careful not to tear through the skin.
Fill the cavity with the roughly cut onions, garlic, sprouts and thyme. Pan-roast any other vegetables you care to add.
Place the chicken on a tray, top with butter and oil and finish with a sprinkle of salt and a grind of black pepper.
Knot string around the base of the chicken and the leg bones to create a symmetrically shaped bird.
Cover with aluminium foil and roast at 180ºC for one hour. Remove foil and roast at 200ºC for a further 30 minutes or until cooked. Serve immediately.
MOM’S APPLE CRUMBLE
Pastry Base
250g butter
125g sugar
1 egg
470g (3cups) cake flour
5ml baking powder
1 egg yolk
Apple Filling
800g Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into eights
3 cups water
125g white sugar
2 cloves
5ml ground cinnamon
100ml apple syrup
35g seedless raisins
5ml extra ground cinnamon
sugar for sprinkling
PASTRY: Cream the butter, sugar and egg together. Add the dry ingredients and bring the pastry together by kneading it slightly.
Using your hands, thinly line a pie dish with the pastry. You won’t use the whole amount and can freeze any extra. Dock the base with a fork, making holes in the base and side pastry of the pie. Place in the fridge to relax for 30 minutes. Bake at 150ºC for about 20 minutes.
Lightly whisk the egg yolk and smooth over the cooled pastry base. Put it back in the oven to cook for five minutes. This prevents the base from getting soggy.
FILLING: Cook the apples in the water with the sugar, cloves and cinnamon for about 15 minutes, ensuring the apples keep their shape. Strain apples from apple liquid when cooked. Reduce liquid to 100ml and reserve.
Place the apple pieces in the pie base, top with raisins and cinnamon powder. Drizzle reduced apple syrup over this.
Grate a generous amount of sweet pastry over the apple mixture, sprinkle with sugar and bake on a tray for 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve, hot from the oven, with a dollop of fresh cream.
* Meet Jackie at the Angela Day Kitchen in Johannesburg
Jackie Cameron will be demonstrating recipes from her book at The Angela Day Kitchen.
She will prepare her special savoury muffins, an unusual potato and smoked salmon salad, beef fillet with spicy coconut milk, hummus and coriander, tomato pasta with rocket pesto and pecorino crisps, and decadent chocolate brownies.
All this can be enjoyed with a glass of Newton Johnson 2012 Southend Chardonnay and Newton Johnson 2009 Full Stop Rock Syrah
Date: Wednesday, May 22
Time: 6.30-9.30 pm
Cost: R150 a person
To book: Call Lesley Hamlyn at 011 791 1304 or e-mail angeladay@telkomsa.net
CHOCOLAT
Author: Eric Lanlard
Publisher: Octopus Publishing
Price: R300
I can’t resist a book on chocolate and the cover of Eric Lanlard’s new book made me drool. It’s filled with recipes for everything chocolate, from a simple marble cake without any adornment to a beautifully decorated Opera Gateau studded with gold leaf.
I found his introduction to the history of chocolate brief and to the point and the instructions on how to melt and temper chocolate useful.
The chapter From the Bakery has recipes for cakes, muffins and macarons. The Dessert and Pudding section is filled with mouth-watering creations. There is a section on Truffles and Treats with recipes for fudge, toffee, marshmallows and an array of truffles.
The Drinks, Spreads and Sauces section has delicious recipes for hot chocolate, perfect to enjoy in winter, as well as chocolate cocktails .
Here are two of his recipes:
CHOCOLATE AND BANANA TARTE TATIN
Serves 6
plain flour, for dusting
250g ready-made all-butter puff pastry
100g light brown sugar
50g unsalted butter, and extra for greasing
75g dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 cinnamon sticks
5 firm bananas, cut into large chunks
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (fan 180ºC). Grease a 22cm diameter tarte tatin tin.
Roll out pastry on a floured surface to a disc 2.5cm larger than the tin. Put to one side.
Put the sugar and butter into the tin and cook gently over a medium heat until it forms a dark blond caramel. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until melted. Drop the cinnamon sticks into the centre of the tin.
Arrange the banana chunks tightly in the tin. Place the pastry over the top, tucking in the overhanging pastry between the fruit and the tin. Using a small knife, pierce the top of the pastry to allow the steam to escape.
Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed up and golden.
Invert on to a serving dish immediately.
Serve with crème fraîche or ice cream.
HAZELNUT AND CHOCOLATE SPREAD
Makes 2 x 450g jars
100g ground hazelnuts
150g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
250g unsalted butter
10ml vanilla paste or extract
400ml condensed milk
30ml hazelnut oil
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan 160ºC).
Spread the ground hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast for three to four minutes, or until a nice rich golden colour and the full aroma escapes from the oven. Leave to cool.
Melt the chocolate and one quarter of the butter together in a small heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. When melted, remove the saucepan from the heat, but leave the bowl over the hot water. Stir in the roasted hazelnuts and the remaining ingredients until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
Pour into sterilised pots or jars, then leave to cool completely before sealing with the lids.
Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. This is best removed from the refrigerator one hour before serving. - The Star