Winter Supper

Man, it has been so long, I think I have forgotten how to stand on my feet cooking for an extended period of time. Because it’s cold and winter (well not that cold, but apparently I am a freak that doesn’t get cold) we are doing hearty winter food, which for me means, yummy yummy yummy food.

Bizarrely enough we are cooking in the morning, because apparently everything needs a long time to cook, and Mariette has a kitchen tea in the afternoon. So I have to get to Mariette’s at an acceptable hour -10h00, after Di’s hockey trials. Then we will cook till about 14h00. So I am hoping to actually see it all, as opposed to her usual stunt of – gee, I prepared it the night before. So while Mariette and I cook, Di will be playing table tennis with Alan. She is most excited to play more and improve her game. When we were in Franschoek Di bought me a chef’s jacket, but I have not really felt worthy to wear it. Let’s be honest if you don’t know what top and tail means I don’t think u should be wearing one, but now Mariette is planning on humiliating me and announcing that she feels it is time. Man, tell me it is not happening…

So for starters we are doing a French onion soup, which I discovered I liked one night out with the girls. I am a bit concerned about the cheese and bread in the middle but I am definitely getting more adventuress so I will suck it up. I have never heard of Gruyere cheese, but I guess that isn’t saying much. Then we are doing lamb stew – yummy - lamb is my ultimate favorite. We are also making a chicken casserole for all those strange people who don’t love lamb. I will taste it anyway as per our deal.

The dessert is by far the best bit of all. It is my favorite dessert, crème caramel. I am so excited, as this is really is the perfect menu for me. I am so keyed up that I have already chosen the wine. I made a concerted effort to shut everyone up so I have chosen a sticky with the dessert. In order not to ruin it completely for me I am experimenting with a slightly chilled pinot noir as well. So all things considered it should be good fun.

We have invited a nice mix of people - Louise and Jaco, friend and ex colleague. Sigh……… Louise taught me everything I know about Staffware. I will however not bore you with sad job details. They got married recently, but since they have been together for over 7 years, they aren’t annoying newly weds - just kind of cool. Louise will also be bringing her camera so that she too can attempt the food photography, which is really way harder than I originally thought. They are also smokers, which mean I will probably get yelled at a lot for trying to sneak a smoke with the guests. Then we have Caroline and Stuart. Caroline is technically my boss but is so cool and funky, I sometimes tend to forget that, but they are both really good fun. Caroline doesn’t really drink wine much but I am hoping Stuart will like my selection. So on the upside everyone knows each other and there should not be any awkwardness and I am really looking forward to it.

Winter Supper
(6-8 people)


Menu

Starter
French Onion Soup
Wine: Muratie Isabella Chardonnay
Ridgeback Shiraz


Main
Lamb Stew
Chicken Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Pearl Barley
Wine: Stonybrook Ghost Gum Cabernet Sauvignon
Lindhorst Shiraz


Dessert
Crème Caramel
Wine: Waterford Family Reserve Dessert Wine
Haute Espoir Pinot Noir


Tea / Coffee

Shopping list:

Fruit and Vegetables:
1.5kg Red onions
Garlic
500g baby potatoes
1.5 – 2kg Mashing potatoes
250g Carrots
300g Button mushrooms
6 Leeks
1 Orange
Thyme
Parsley
Mint
Frozen peas

Meat and Fish:
2 Large chickens
1.5kg Sheep neck / stewing lamb

Dairy and eggs:
18 Eggs
250ml Double cream

Other Groceries:
Pearl Barley
1l Beef stock
3.5l Chicken stock
2 Vanilla pods
1 Bottle fruity dry white wine e.g. Chenin Blanc
Dried Cannelini beans

From the cupboard:

Salt
Black Pepper
Flour
Castor sugar
Olive oil
Bay leaves
Herbs de Provence
Coffee
Tea

From the fridge:

Unsalted butter
Milk

Time Planner

What can be done on Friday night:

Set the table
Make the crème caramel
Marinate the chicken
Soak the beans

Plan of Action:

Saturday morning:

Peel and slice onions
Braise onions
Make soup
Flour the lamb
Shallow fry the lamb
Cut onions, potatoes and carrots for the lamb stew
Cut the mushrooms in half

5 hours before serving the following can be done:

Assemble lamb stew
Put lamb stew in the oven and forget about it

3 hours before serving the following can be done:

Fry the chicken pieces in batches
Assemble the chicken casserole
Put chicken casserole in the oven and forget about it
Peel the potatoes
Boil the potatoes
Drain the potatoes


1 hour before serving the following can be done:

Cook the barley
Reheat the onion soup on very low heat
Grate the gruyere cheese
Mash the potatoes

CRUNCH Time - ½ an hour before serving:

Prepare the gruyere croutons for the soup
Open the and wine
Pop the gruyere croutons under the grill
Ask the kitchen assistant to pour the wine
Reheat the mashed potatoes on very low heat
Serve the soup

Serving the main course:

Clear the table
Spoon barley and mash into serving dishes
Ask the kitchen assistant to pour the wine
Place all the serving dishes on the table
Dish up at the table or let the guests dish up for themselves

Serving the dessert:

Clear the table
Turn out the crème caramel
Ask the kitchen assistant to pour the wine
Serve the dessert

French Onion Soup

What would you need to prepare the French onion soup:

Roasting tin
Chopping board
Small sharp knife
Mandolin if possible
4l Saucepan
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

Ingredients for the soup:

500g onion thinly sliced
8 cloves of garlic
1 bottle dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g unsalted butter
2.5 – 3l chicken stock
Slices of crusty baguette
600g grated gruyere cheese

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 220C
2. Combine the onion, garlic, wine and butter in a roasting tin and braise uncovered until the onions are soft and most of the liquid is absorbed
3. This will take between 1½ and 2 hours
4. Bring the stock to a simmer in a large saucepan
5. Add the onion
6. Dish the soup up in individual bowls
7. Place a slice of baguette on each bowl of soup
8. Evenly distribute the grated cheese
9. Put under the grill until the cheese is melted

Considerations:

I usually use red onions as it is sweeter that white onions. I used Chenin Blanc with the onions. If you don’t have a big enough oven for all the soup bowls, you can grill the bread and cheese just before serving and then place on top of the soup as you dish up.

Lamb Stew

What would you need to prepare the lamb stew:

Casserole dish
Chopping board
Small sharp knife
3l Saucepan
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

Ingredients for the lamb stew:

1.5kg neck of lamb / cubes of stewing lamb
125g flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 small onions
12 small carrots
300g small button mushrooms
250g frozen peas
10 – 12 baby potatoes peeled
100ml olive oil
1 – 1.5l chicken or beef stock
Bouquet garni
Chopped mint to garnish

Method:

10. Pre heat the oven to 180C
11. Put flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag
12. Add the lamb to the plastic bag and shake to cover meat with the seasoned flour
13. Peel onions and carrots and leave whole
14. Heat the oil in a large saucepan
15. Shake excess flour from the lamb when taking it out of the plastic bag
16. Seal the meat in batches in the hot oil
17. Saute the onions in the oil
18. Add the stock gradually and bring to the boil
19. Simmer until stock gets slightly thicker
20. Transfer meat, vegetables except peas and bouquet garni to an oven proof casserole dish with a tight fitting lid
21. Pour stock over and cover with lid
22. Put in pre-heated oven
23. After an hour turn temperature down to 150C
24. Leave in the oven for at least 3 hours, but up to 5 hours
25. Add the frozen peas 10 minutes before taking the stew out of the oven
26. Remove the bouquet garni before serving and sprinkle with chopped mint


Considerations:

I tried the stew with both neck of lamb and lamb cubes. The neck worked better because the cubes tend to be a bit dry. Instead of just using olive oil for sautéing, use a combination of butter and olive oil for more flavour. Don’t cook the stew too quickly. Long slow cooking ensures soft meat and good blending of flavours. A bouquet garni consists of 3 stalks of parsley, 1 sprig thyme and 1 bay leave tied together with a piece of string. Serve with either mashed potatoes, rice or pearl barley.

Chicken Casserole – The Kitchen Diaries from Nigel Slater

What would you need to prepare the prepare the chicken casserole:

Casserole dish
Frying pan
Big glass bowl for marinating chicken
Chopping board
Knife
Measuring cup
Measuring spoons


Ingredients:

2 whole chickens cut up into 8 pieces each
300g dried cannellini beans
100ml olive oil plus extra for frying
100ml balsamic vinegar
8 cloves of garlic
6 bay leaves
3 - 4 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence
Pared rind of 2 oranges
6 leeks thickly sliced

Method:

1. Soak the beans in cold water overnight
2. Bring the beans to the boil in unsalted water and boil them for forty minutes
3. Put the chicken pieces in a glass dish
4. Pour over the olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of balsamic
5. Tuck in the garlic cloves and bay leaves
6. Scatter over the herbes de Provence, salt and freshly ground black pepper and strips of pared orange rind
7. Leave in a cool place overnight
8. Pre heat the oven to 200C
9. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a shallow sauce pan
10. Add the chicken pieces to the hot oil, shaking the marinade from each as you go
11. Fry until the golden brown on each sides
12. Do this in two or more batches
13. Transfer the browned meat to a deep casserole with a lid
14. Drain the boiled beans and add to the casserole
15. Fry the leeks in the same oil over low heat to soften rather than brown them
16. Add the garlic from the marinade
17. Pour in the remaining marinade, the rest of the balsamic vinegar and about a liter of water
18. Bring to the boil, season generously with salt and then pour over the chicken
19. Tuck in bay leaves and orange rind from the marinade
20. Cover the casserole and put in a pre heated oven for two to two and a half hours
21. Half way through the cooking check that the chicken is still submerged
22. Check for seasoning: it may need salt, it will need black pepper and you may feel it needs a little more balsamic vinegar
23. Serve steaming hot


Considerations:

Do not replace the water with the stock, because this would make the casserole too rich. If you cannot find herbes de Provence, just omit it. Sometimes I do not use it and it is still delicious. Serve the casserole with mashed potatoes – real comfort food.
Barley

What would you need to prepare the barley:

3l sauce pan
Measuring cup

Ingredients:

500 ml Barley
2l Chicken stock
Salt

Method:

1. Bring barley and chicken stock and salt to the boil
2. Turn the heat down to low
3. Put a lid on the sauce pan
4. Simmer for an hour

Crème Caramel – The Food I Love by Neil Perry

What would you need to prepare the crème caramel:

Large mixing bowl
Roasting tin
250 ml oven proof moulds
Knife
Whisk
Heavy base sauce pan
Pastry brush


Ingredients:

1.5l milk
180g castor sugar
2 vanilla bean pods, split lengthways and seed scraped out
9 eggs
9 egg yolks
340g castor sugar for the caramel

Method:

1. Combine the sugar, milk and vanilla bean and seeds in a sauce pan and bring slowly to the boil
2. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for 1 hour to infuse
3. Meanwhile to make the caramel bring the sugar and 190ml warm water to a gentle simmer, stirring briefly to dissolve the sugar
4. Do not stir once it is simmering
5. Watch the sugar and water carefully, and simmer only until it starts turning a deep caramel colour
6. Remove the pan from the heat immediately and carefully pour equal amounts of the caramel into between 8 – 10 250ml dariole moulds or glass ramekins
7. Hold the moulds at the top of the rim and swirl to coat the moulds half way up teir sides with the caramel
8. Set aside
9. Pre-heat oven to 190C
10. Lightly mix the eggs and yolks in a bowl
11. Strain the cooled milk mixture into the egg mixture, slowly whisking
12. Strain again and pour into the moulds
13. Lay a tea towel on the bottom of a roasting tin or baine – marie that is deeper than the moulds
14. Put the moulds in and half fill the tin with hot water
15. Cover the tin with foil and place in the centre of the oven to cook for 30 – 55 minutes or until set (The time will vary depending on the oven)
16. Allow to cool, then store in the refrigerator for at least 4 – 5 hours
17. Pour some boiling water into a bowl and place a mould in the water for about 15 seconds
18. Carefully run a knife around the inside of the mould
19. Place the serving plate on top and quickly upturn the crème caramel and slowly remove the mould allowing the caramel to gently spill down the edges of the dessert
20. Repeat with the remaining moulds
21. Serve immediately


Considerations:

The two things that most affect the texture are the ratio of egg yolks to egg whites – too much egg white and it will be tough, too little and it will fall apart. I use extra large eggs in the crème caramel. The heat will affect the texture as well. If cooked for too long or at too high a heat it will have little air bubbles through it, which will destroy the texture. You can use a different flavour like lemon or orange in the custard. When making the caramel, it is very important to dissolve the sugar and use warm water, otherwise it will crystallize instead of caramelize.

Post Mortem

Well once again a really successful evening by my standards. The food was cool. In my humble opinion the starter and dessert were absolutely fantastic. The main meal was nice enough and the wine was fabulous. Alas, the weather wasn’t all that wintery, but the smokers thought it was cold enough and yearned to be by the fire place. I reckon the company made all the difference. Everyone knew each other and chatted up a storm. Louise even got Jaco to do bizarre party tricks. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos, because Louise was designated camera person. In case you were wondering, the answer is YES, Mariette did wack me on the head with a wooden spoon and ceremoniously handed me my chef’s jacket. We had Moet to celebrate the occasion - man it might be overpriced but it is really good stuff. I know - I know - here I am showing my peasant tendencies, because I have only had real champagne once before and then I didn’t appreciate it at all ……... but onto the food.

Starters:

Things I learned about French onion soup
1. It’s bloody delicious. It turns out if you melt the cheese for the croutons it is rather yum (when I had it previously the bread was wine soaked and the cheese not melted - not so hot).
2. It takes forever to make. I swear it must have taken about 3 hours to caramalise those stupid onions.
3. It wasn’t nearly as hard to make as I would have thought.
4. I was really grateful that Mariette has a kitchen full of stuff, so I could use a gadget to slice onions – it is called a mandolin and proved to be a real life saver. If I had to manually cut 2 bags of onions there would be tears (not the onion kind as they were there anyway).
5. As Floyd said, “If it’s not good enough to drink it’s certainly not good enough to cook with”. We upheld this philosophy using 2 really good chenins.

Personally I wouldn’t put the bread on top of the soup as it gets really soggy. I would like to dip it myself, but people thought I was odd on that point. Next time I’ll definitely ask for mine on the side. All in all the best soup I have ever eaten and would certainly want again. Two thumbs up!

Wine:

Muratie Isabella 2005 (Chardonnay): this is about the only white wine I like, so I was slightly biased.
Ridgeback Shiraz 2003: tough choice as this is also on my recent favourites list (next time you are in the Paarl vicinity, do yourself a favour and go to the vineyard - such a nice tasting experience too)

So, this was interesting as Mariette and I are both shiraz fans and thought the combination worked really well. There was a split at a point, but eventually the chardonnay won out since the majority felt that the shiraz over powered the soup a bit. Who would have thought - with all those onions, but it’s true. So the winner of the starter challenge was Muratie.

Main meal:

Stew versus casserole, here is my question: what the hell is the difference?

Anyway the lamb was a bit disappointing, because as it turns out, I don’t really like stew all that much. I am unquestionably more a roast or lamb chop girl. Anyway, it was rather pleasant with good flavour (I have to say this because I made this one). I did learn that one should use lamb on the bone because the cubes became a bit dry. In any case that was my opinion. All our polite guests disagreed with me. Well, since Caroline took the left-overs home, I guess she did enjoy it. I, bizarrely enough, enjoyed the chicken. It was delicious and the sauce was divine. I also very sneakily managed to avoid the beans so that made it even better. Even the barley wasn’t bad, but I must admit I did miss rice a wee bit.

Wine:
Lindhorst Shiraz 2003 (my favourite vineyard, we stayed in their cottage when we went to Cape Town)
Stony Brook Ghost Gum 2003 (Cabernet Sauvignon)

This battle was tougher than with the starters. The Shiraz is a true Shiraz, so not to everyone’s taste - but Stuart, Mariette and I thought it was fabulous, even Caroline (a G&T drinker) liked it. Here in lies the problem, the Shiraz was perfect for the lamb, but a bit overpowering for the chicken. The Cabernet was okay with the lamb, but went really well with the chicken. It was felt that it might have worked better with a white wine, but no fear, I quickly ignored that comment. And so in light of the fact that the chicken was better and the Cabernet more versatile it is only fair that the winner is… Ghost Gum!!

Dessert:

Herein lies a debacle to such a degree that I have not seen around a dinner table before. Anyone that says making crème caramel is easy, is a lying bastard. So I was tasked with watching the sugar and water and swirling occasionally. Sounds easy - yes? No, it’s damn complicated, because I am now paranoid and filled with dread at the possibility of burning the stupid sugar. So, I swirled it so many times that I had sugar crystallized on the side of the pot.

It also took over an hour to get it to the vague point of caramalisition, because I swirled so often it never got time to caramelize. So then we try to get the crystallized sides off, oy, not an easy endeavor, because that then caused a huge crystal lump in the middle of the pot.

Needless to say 2½ hours later it all crystallized and we had to try again. Mariette then claimed it would take half an hour. Then with less swirling and the expert eye - and just under an hour later, the whole thing crystallized again. So I fear I am cursed.

Eventually I left to fetch the wine and Mariette got it done perfectly without the Fenton curse peering over her shoulder. Still have no idea how to make it now, but guess we will try again. In the end, however, it was absolutely divine! Some of them didn’t set so well, because they were baked a bit late. But I stole Di’s and man there is a reason this is my favourite dessert. I have such good taste and a whole new appreciation for it.

Wine:

Haute Cabriere Pinot Noir 2002
Waterford Family Reserve

Okay, so I tried to move away from stickies with a chilled pinot noir. Oh yuck, let’s be honest, I don’t think there is much that goes with dessert and apparently pinot noir is definitely not one of them. The Waterford went down very well, even I had to admit it went well, though I did valiantly try to drink the pinot noir, sigh, but never again. So, basically no contest, the Waterford won with ease.

The experience was fantastic. Mariette had a girls’ night out and prepared almost nothing without me. I was broken, not that you do that much, but the standing around and swirling and watching nearly killed me. My back was so sore, I was in bed by 9 last night. It was also quite fun to see Mariette panic a bit, I think the caramel curse might have confused her slightly, ha - ha. I now have a new appreciation of food. Who thought that food that looked so simple would take so long. I guess it was worth it, as they say the proof is in the pudding and mine was great.

So a good evening was had by all, I hope, well I had fun.