Welcome to the autumn 2010 newsletter. We have had a jam-packed summer! With numerous delicious scheduled courses and many individually designed courses, and events. Below are highlights of a magical summer plus news of our forthcoming courses and an update on the school and our accommodation. See you in the kitchen.
Banish the flaming Christmas pudding forever!
Christmas 2009 at African Relish was a truly Karoo affair. Our cooking guests were treated to some fantastic food and some wonderful new ideas for summery Christmas fare. Chilled tomato and spanspek soup, decadent whole berry fruit salad served in a watermelon bowl, butterflied lamb and duck breasts flash grilled on the braai. Guests also designed some very creative table decorations, inspired by a demonstration by Colleen Penfold form Prince Albert Country Store. Succulents, artichoke flowers and all manner of fruit and other items found their way into the unusual Christmas dinner table arrangements.
The day the Fig Eaters came to town....
January also brought the Fig Eaters to town. This well established book club from Cape Town chose African Relish for their annual literary getaway to catch up on some R & R ... that’s ‘reading and recreation’. An abundance of fresh plump purple Adams Figs during the height of summer ensured that the Fig Eaters were well satisfied with their fruit of choice. They prepared fig and frangipane tarts, baked figs wrapped with Serrano style Lucas Jamon and many other wonderful dishes. The Fig Eaters ate their fill and left Prince Albert with a fig shortage!
White lighting strikes! Our own Witblitz
In January, our kitchen was filled with the heady aromas of Prince Albert Witblitz or locally referred to as White Lightning. Our guests conjured up some very creative combinations with this very local spirit partnered with the delicious Adams Figs from Weltevrede Fig Farm.. We kicked off the proceedings with some hilarious interpretations of traditional cocktails using vodka or tequila and substituted them with Witblitz, with some interesting results. To add more of a local flavour to our creations we also renamed the cocktails with a South African vernacular – Screwdrivers became Bobbejaan spanners, Bloody Marys became Rooi Meraai, Mojitos became Jou ma se.... and apart from the different names, there was consensus regarding the effectiveness of the content.
On the culinary front, there were some delicious combinations using honey-sweet ripe fresh Adam’s figs with succulent Karoo lamb and venison. All in all a rather decadent and unforgettable occasion!
Kudu loin with Karoo cured ham and fresh figs
RECIPE for Kudu Fillet Salad served wtih Lucas Jamon and Ripe Figs
2 x 150gm thinly sliced kudu loin
6 slices ham
4 fresh figs
50ml olive oil
Salt
Pepper
100gm mixed lettuce leaves
6 cherry tomatoes
Heat a frying pan
Season the meat and seal the kudu slices
Remove from heat and allow resting for 5 minutes
Salad
Place the lettuce leaves, tomatoes into a bowl and mix well
Tear the figs in quarters
Place the salad onto a plate and arrange the figs onto it
Place the ham and kudu medallions onto the plate
Drizzle with olive oil and serve
Moonshine maestros. Karoo Grappa .
The Witblitz distilling baton has been passed on to three new aspirant ‘stokers’. Bokkie Botha, Dr Judy Maguire and Jeremy Freemantle were put through their abridged apprenticeship recently and given a crash course in the fine art of witblitz distilling. The Fransie Pienaar Museum has a licence to distill and sell Prince Albert Witblitz and each year at the end of wine harvest time the museum takes delivery of approximately 250 litres of base wine for distilling.
The three intrepid new distillers began their day early in the morning with the cleaning of the copper kettle and preparation of the wine for distillation. Much bustle and talk and imparting of knowledge and skills changed hands before, some hours later when the first precious drops of crystal clear liquor emerged as they dribbled over a fresh lemon leaf secured around the outlet. Much tasting was undertaken during the process, purely for quality purposes you understand! Later the final product was adjudged a triumph with the perfect alcohol of 65% level having been achieved.
Earth Hour plunges Prince Albert into starlit darkness
African Relish restaurant diners switched to candle power to acknowledge Earth Hour on Saturday 27 March. Guests were given notice that we would throw the main switch and resort to a more romantic ambience with candles and lanterns. Prince Albert did Mother Earth proud and even the Municipality played along by switching off all the street lights. We all know how spectacular the heavens are in the Karoo and everyone was looking forward to the pitch darkness to experience the starry splendour but unfortunately the Full Moon had other ideas and decided to rise just at that critical moment, stealing the show somewhat.
Painting: Vincent van Gogh. (Dutch, 1853-1890). The Starry Night Saint Rémy, June 1889
Pedal power meets potjie power
African Relish, in association with Escape Cycle Tours from Johannesburg, hosted a group of cooking- cyclists in for three days in April. This intrepid group from all walks of life and of all ages descended on Prince Albert for a few days of hilarity and great cooking and some mountain biking adventure thrown in to work off the extra calories. The schedule was jam packed with early morning rides into the Great Karoo, up the Swartberg Pass.... and down into Gamkaskloof (The Hell). “Who said the Karoo was flat?”.... was one comment on descending into a deep valley where the only sound was that of the wind rushing past the ears and the bike tyres crunching on the gravel road. The group spent time in the African Relish kitchen, puffing up soufflés, kneading bread and preparing potjies and generally cooking up a storm!
Let’s get saucy... Saucier supreme.
Mid April we had a fantastic cooking course with Jacques Erasmus. Nine people attended “Lets get Saucy” and none were disappointed. It would seem that different cooking themes attract different audiences and this time round serious cooks just could not get enough of the hugely informative classes. Jacques peppers his lectures and practical demonstrations with invaluable tidbits of scientific information that helped explain the magical transformation of the sauces.
Italy in the Karoo
Ciro Molinaro, delighted guests at African Relish in April with master classes in Italian cuisine, demonstrating the subtle touch that transforms simplicity into artistry. A simple Italian tomato sauce with hint of fresh mint and all your senses are awakened in a moment of magic. In his characteristically uncomplicated manner Ciro also demystified some classics and convinced us all that the perceptions we have about the difficulty index in making certain dishes such as pasta, polenta, pesto, zabaglione and many others, is unfounded – "Follow some simple rules and procedures and it all falls into place" says Ciro.
African Relish rediscovers
We have given our menu a heritage make-over with the introduction of some intriguing ingredients and recipes inspired by a recently published book, Koekemakranka, which gives a fascinating insight into the ancient Khoi-Khoin culinary culture and traditional ‘veldkos’ recipes.
The book was researched, compiled and written by South Africa’s foremost culinary and cultural researcher, Renata Coetzee. Renata has published a number of books about our rich and diverse culinary heritage and the multitude of influences that have shaped it over the centuries. Her most recent book, Koekemakranka, has truly inspired us to incorporate some of these traditional ingredients into our menus at the African Relish’s restaurant.
We are also planning a cooking course during October called the Crucible of Cuisine, which will focus on many of the traditional ingredients and recipes covered in the book. We have also begun planting as many of the veldkos plant varieties in our garden so that we can use the on an ongoing and sustainable basis.
There are some truly intriguing names such as anyswortel, bokmelk-suringpap, askoek, t’Kwabrood, roosterkoek, suurvytjie, t’samma and noem-noem jam to name but a few of the curious dishes made with plants and fruits gathered in the veld around us. Do not miss this fantastic opportunity to learn about our original culinary heritage and the modern derivatives that have evolved from it.
Olive Festival
Prince Albert’s annual Olive Festival takes place from 30 April to 2 May. The olive harvest is underway and the new season’s extra virgin ‘green gold’ is ready to be bottled. The town is gearing up for a busy weekend and stall holders are preparing some local delights. African Relish is hosting a special Olive Festival cooking course. Join us at our street stall for succulent spit-roasted pork deli sandwiches served on roosterkoek with rocket and relish.
Winter courses include
Culinary Crusade South African specalities 4 – 6 June Potjies & Praatjies Winter dishes around the fire with local storytelling 25 – 27 June Spice Girl Repeat of popular Indian Fusion with Chef Vanie 16 – 18 July True Karoo secrets of the local area, heritage cooking. 27 – 29 Aug
Tourism Indaba Durban 2010
African Relish will once again be attending the Tourism Indaba in Durban in May. This is one of the world’s largest and best-attended tourism expos in the world and attracts major tourism industry stakeholders from around the world. It is a fantastic showcase for South Africa as a destination and the perfect platform for us to entice our foreign friends into our Karoo kitchen. New material includes a CD with industry info and presentation, A5 flyer and meetings.
An extensive renovation to increase the size of this romantic cottage hideaway is now complete. It has its own windmill filled splash pool and private veranda with built in braai, an air conditioned bedroom with king size bed/2 single bed and spacious en suite bathroom, a fully equipped kitchen, sitting room and fireplace.
