African Relish hosted an Easter cooking weekend with Karen Dudley in our Karoo kitchen.  

Good Friday

Friday afternoon after a lovely lunch cooked by Camilla and her team, dinner preparation started in full swing.

Karen demonstrated how to debone and marinade legs of lamb for Saturday dinner.

Friday dinner started with a duck salad. This was flavoured with cinnamon, orange and star anise and served with Chinese cabbage, spring onions and cashew nuts. This fresh salad was enjoyed by everyone informally seated around the cooking counter.

The most delicious main dish of stuffed tuna loin was an absolute hit. The tuna was stuffed with anchovy and parsley relish, creamy white beans and confit of fennel and served with Japanese tomato salad that cut through the richness of the tuna, This dish was plated with roasted celeriac and black garlic aioli.

Quinces were foraged from our garden, and miraculously turned into a yummy quince fool made with Gays Guernsey Dairy clotted cream. It was like a pink cream cloud on a Karoo sunset.

Easter Saturday

Saturday kicked off with a market visit and shopping.  After a light breakfast guests made their very own Easter wreaths from material foraged in our garden while Karen assisted all in painting Easter eggs.

The morning cooking session delivered roasted cauliflower steaks. The vegetarian lunch was served with coconut cream relish, black bean salad, crispy pears, spring onions, nori and Asian dressing. 

Chinese cabbage cooked in the wok with miso, along with steamed broccoli and green beans was served on the side. Dessert was a fragrant rose panna cotta with berry coulis.

Guests took a short break to freshen up after the lunch feast. The afternoon session explored new ways to combine flavour as we prepped for dinner.

Seared Lamb cooked two ways with Harissa fig relish. The dinner was served with plenty of lentils, anchovy mayo, beetroot orange fennel date salad, saffron rice with peas and sesame.

What would a meal be without a delicious dessert? Camilla’s chocolate and beetroot cake with dark chocolate ganache was decorated by Karen with colourful speckled eggs nestled in a muesli nest.

Easter Sunday

Sunday morning Camilla baked hot cross buns while Karen prepared a Turkish style breakfast.  

This was such a happy fun filled weekend with lots of young people that were keen to learn from this experience.

Watch our schedule for a return visit date by Karen Dudley and other visiting chefs. See you in our kitchen.