Bridget McNulty

The best dinner EVER (aka Steak with three pepper butter)…

// August 31st, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Inspiration, food

… and salt baked potatoes.

Perfection on a plate! And yes, that is actually the steak I cooked up there. The very first steak I ever cooked! Doesn’t it look yummy?

It was.

If you want to try and match that perfection (ha!), check out the September issue of Fresh Living magazine (the salt and pepper feature) or follow this recipe:

Bistro-style at home.

Ingredients:

2/5 cup (100g) salted butter

2 Tbsp (30ml) green peppercorns

2 tsp (10ml) milled black pepper

½ tsp (3ml) milled white pepper

1 packet (700g) baby potatoes

Olive oil

4 stalks rosemary

1-2kg rock salt

4 (200-250g each) Angus steaks

Salt flakes and milled pepper, for seasoning

Watercress or rocket, for serving

Sour cream, for serving

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 220°C.
Allow butter to soften slightly.
Mix butter and pepper together. Place butter on a sheet of clingfilm and roll into a sausage shape.
Refrigerate to set.
Toss potatoes in a little oil.
Place in a baking dish with rosemary and cover with rock salt.
Bake for 40 minutes or until crispy and cooked through.
Rub steaks with a little oil and season. Heat a pan until smoking and cook steaks until done to your liking.
Cut butter ‘sausage’ into thick slices and use to top steaks.
Remove potatoes from salt and serve with steak, watercress and sour cream.

Photo of my very pretty steak by the ever-talented Mark Peddle.

Prawn and cashew nut korma

// August 26th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Blogs, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Recipe of the Week, food

This week’s Recipe of the Week is a real challenge… My first ever prawn dish (and I overcooked them ever-so-slightly), my first ever curry-from-scratch.

And it was deeeeelicious!
If I made it again, I’d throw in some cauliflower to flesh it out a bit, but the flavour was incredible.

Here’s the recipe if you’re feeling brave! (Thanks Fresh Living magazine!)

A traditional Indian dish, the coconut milk is often replaced with cream or yoghurt.

Ingredients:

1 onion, quartered

4 cloves garlic, peeled

4cm knob ginger, peeled

Vegetable oil

8 cardamom pods, husks removed

1Tbsp (15ml) ground coriander

1 Tbsp (15ml) ground cumin

1 Tbsp (15ml) ground masala

3 bay leaves

8 curry leaves

1 can (410g) coconut cream

1 cup (250ml) chicken stock

1 packet (100g) raw cashew nuts

Salt and milled pepper

1kg whole prawns, heads removed, peeled and deveined

Serves 4

1. Blitz onion, garlic and ginger to form a paste.
2. Heat a generous glug of oil in a saucepan and fry paste until it begins to turn golden.
3. Add spices, bay and curry leaves and fry for another minute.
4. Toss in coconut cream and stock, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Pulse cashew nuts in a blender until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
6. Take care not to over-blend as they will begin to seep oil.
7. Add cashews to saucepan and simmer for another 5 minutes.
8. Season.
9. Toss in prawns and allow to cook for about 5 -10 minutes or until prawns are just cooked.

Serve with plain, steamed or pilau rice.

Above: the photo from Fresh Living.
Below: my rendition.
Clearly, I have a long way to go still!

Button mushroom and thyme soup

// August 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Recipe of the Week, food

This week’s Recipe of the Week from Fresh Living magazine is (drumroll, please):

Button mushroom and thyme soup! The second successful soup I’ve ever made
Here goes:

15 minutes and dinner is served!

Ingredients:
Olive oil, for frying
½ small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 packet (250g) button mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp (10ml) thyme leaves
¼ cup (60ml) white wine
1½ -2 cups (375-500ml) good vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and milled pepper
Toasted baguette rounds, for serving
Serves 1

Heat a glug of oil in a small saucepan and fry onion until soft.
Add garlic and fry for another minute. Remove and set aside.
Add a little more oil and fry mushrooms over a high heat until slightly browned.
Reduce heat, return onion to pan and add thyme and wine.
Allow to reduce by half.
Add stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove a few tablespoonfuls of mushrooms. Blitz soup with a stick blender until smooth.
Return reserved mushrooms to soup and allow to reheat.
Season and serve with toast.

* This is part of our Dinner for One feature in this month’s Fresh Living magazine. If you’re cooking for 2 or more, multiply all ingredients except mushrooms. For 2 to 4 people, use 2 packets of mushrooms and then add one tablespoon of cornflour or one diced potato for every packet of mushrooms left out (i.e. if it’s for four people, use 2 packets of mushrooms and 2 potatoes or 2T cornflour).

Lemon meringue pie

// August 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Recipe of the Week, Tea Parties, food

Okay, so this week’s Recipe of the Week is already halfway through the week… Blame my wonderful weekend away, and subsequent need to spend all my spare time potting succulents! Seriously, my succulent garden just doubled in size.

Still, I would like to show off by telling you how unbelievable this lemon meringue pie is. So unbelievable, in fact, that I’m using my own picture! Looks delicious, hmm?

Now I won’t lie, this baby takes a long time. Set aside 2 hours and do it properly – step by step, following the directions. It’s worth it! Here goes…

Lemon meringue pie
Absolutely divine! Don’t be put off by the long method, it will help you to avoid a raw-tasting filling and meringue slipping off and pulling away from the sides.

Crust:
¾ packet (200g) Tennis biscuits
¼ cup (60ml) butter, melted

Filling:
2 cans (397g each) full-cream sweetened condensed milk
½ cup (125ml) boiling water
2 Tbsp (30ml) grated lemon peel
¾ cup (187ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 extra-large egg yolks
Pinch salt
2 tsp (10ml) cornflour

Meringue filling:
4 extra-large egg whites
1 Tbsp (15ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (60ml) castor sugar
¼ cup (60ml) icing sugar

Makes 1 x 24cm pie.
Serves 12

Preheat oven to 170°C.
Use a non-stick spray to coat the inside of a 25cm x 5cm pie dish.
Crush biscuits. Add butter and mix together. Tip into pie dish.
Spread crumbs onto base and up sides using the back of a tablespoon. Freeze for 10 – 15 minutes to firm.

Filling:
Beat condensed milk, boiling water, lemon peel and juice, egg yolks and salt together until well combined.
Carefully pour filling into crust to avoid disturbing the crumbs. Bake pie (without meringue) for 20 minutes.

Meringue:
Beat egg whites in a clean glass or stainless steel bowl until just beginning to foam.
Add lemon juice and beat until mixture forms stiff peaks.
Add castor sugar, a spoonful at a time, while beating fast.
Sift icing sugar over in 3 batches and beat well (meringue mixture must be stiff and shiny and be able to hold its shape).
Remove pie from oven. Sift cornflour over filling (this acts as a ‘glue’ to hold the filling and meringue together).
Spoon meringue over hot filling, working it up and over the edge of the crust.
Make a wave pattern in meringue by swirling it with a spatula. Return pie to oven.
Bake for another 35 minutes.
Open oven door by 1cm, switch off oven and allow pie to cool inside.

As always, recipe courtesy of Fresh Living magazine.

One wonderful weekend…

// August 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cape Town, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Nature, food

This past weekend was one of those weekends that will stick in my memory for a long time to come… My man and I went away with five other friends to a tiny little town called Prince Albert in the Karoo. It was a four hour drive (a stunning four hour drive, through some really majestic scenery) to get to the little town, and we arrived on Friday just in time for dinner. I fell in love then, even in the dark, mainly because there were succulents everywhere. Everywhere! Excitement overload.

The next day I fell in love even more. The whole town is centered around a main street, which has lots of the expected restaurants and guesthouses, but also has a Saturday market run by Afrikaans tannies and ooms (aunts and uncles, for those not from SA). They were selling pancakes for R3 each, big slices of homemade cake for R5, pots of tea for R3 and homemade roosterbrood for R8. It was like being in the land that time forgot…

Before the Saturday market, I’d gone for a long walk into the surrounding orchards and then out into the veld. It’s extraordinary how vast the Karoo sky is – like a completely different country, with a 360 sweep of sky. Incredible.

The weekend was spent strolling around, stealing succulents (see above), sitting in the sunshine eating delicious food, visiting the dairy (yes! A dairy!) to sample the homemade cheese (yum!), and playing a particularly fun game called Post-It (our name) where you think of a famous character, write it on a Post It and then stick it to someone’s forehead. Then they have to guess who it is in 20 questions, while dealing with the humiliation of sitting in front of everyone with a blue Post It on your forehead. Ha! Hilarious. Until it’s your turn…

The highlight of the weekend was our ghost tour – dinner combo. Prince Albert is a  town rich in history (and ghosts) and we went on a ghost walk around the town with a fascinating storyteller (dressed in a long black coat) who told us all the local tales… Creepy! We then went to African Relish for a superb dinner – bacon and spinach fritters (wow), Karoo lamb stuffed with roasted celery and pecans with the most amazing polenta I’ve ever tasted, and hands-down the best milk tart in the world. The dinner was long and full of laughter and I can’t wait to go back.

Oh! And how could I forget! That afternoon we’d visited African Relish (which is also a cooking school, and is co-owned by our friend’s father) and I tasted jamon for the first time! Jamon! The real deal! Made in South Africa using all the Spanish techniques! It was extraordinary.

So, all in all, a pretty wonderful weekend. We stayed in the most amazing cottage (see below), we ate some truly special food, and we spent good time with friends, laughing. What more could you ask for?

Photos courtesy of the extremely talented Mark Peddle: www.markpeddle.com

Day 23: Fulfilling a chocolate craving

// July 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // 29 Gifts, Cape Town, Reviews, food

Open-plan offices are so weird, aren’t they?

Never mind that everyone can hear your conversations, and easily deduce whether you’re working or just hanging out online, there’s also the whole hearing-other-people’s-thoughts thing. Obviously, we’re not all talking out loud as much as we would be if we had private offices (I, personally, would chat to myself all day if I had a door), but there’s still definitely an element of open thought that you don’t really get anywhere else.

So when one of my colleagues said today (in a wistful and forlorn voice), “I feel like chocolate cake”, I decided to make his dream a reality

And, okay, it was a brownie and not chocolate cake, but it’s the second-best brownie in Cape Town (from the delightful Sidewalk Cafe. The Best Brownie in Town award goes to Khayelitsha Cookies). And it tastes so many million times better than it looks!

Parmesan fish with avocado and watercress salad.

// July 20th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Blogs, Inspiration, Recipe of the Week, food

Time for this week’s recipe challenge… are you ready for it?

I made it last night and it is DELICIOUS. Absolutely yummy, and it only took about 25 minutes to make. My kind of dish!

Here goes… Enjoy!

Parmesan fish with avocado and watercress salad:

* Salt and milled pepper
* 4 (150-200g each) sustainable fish fillets, sliced into fat fingers
* Juice of ½ lemon, (about 2 Tbsp)
* ½ cup (125ml) breadcrumbs
* ¼ cup (60ml) grated parmesan
* Olive oil

Salad:
* Juice and grated peel of ½ lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
* 2 Tbsp (30ml) olive oil
* 2 tsp (10ml) PnP fresh basil paste
* 2 packets (30g each) watercress
* 2 avocados, cut into wedges

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 240°C.
Season fish and drizzle with lemon juice. Place on a baking tray.
Mix breadcrumbs, parmesan and a glug of oil together.
Spoon over fish and press down lightly to form a crust.
Bake fish for 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Salad: Mix lemon juice and peel, olive oil and basil paste together and season well.
Toss watercress and avocado in dressing and serve with fish.
Enjoy!!

(PS: If you want it in less irritating form, just buy this month’s Fresh Living magazine… Which you should be buying anyway, because it’s only like the best magazine in South Africa. And because I work for them.)

Day 19: Nesting kit

// July 20th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // 29 Gifts, Inspiration, Tea Parties

Those of you (men) who don’t have the nesting instinct might not know how essential nesting tools are. But let me tell you – when a woman wants to make her home her own, numerous nesting kits are necessary.

So when I heard that a lovely friend of mine has finally started nesting in her flat (despite having lived there for many months) I decided I had to encourage the nesting drive and buy her some tools. Hence the pan / spatula / apron / oven glove combo. In pink! Ohhh yeahhh…

Day 18: Fresh banana bread

// July 18th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // 29 Gifts, Love, Tea Parties, food

There are few things in life as delicious as fresh banana bread slathered in butter and accompanied by a hot cup of tea. Really, I’ll stand by that statement. It tastes like home and happiness and love all rolled into one.

So what better gift to give a friend who’s just moved into her first home, than a loaf of freshly baked banana bread?

Enough said!

PS: I have THE best recipe for banana bread the world has ever seen. It’s my mom’s, and it’s flop-proof. I might share it if you ask me nicely…

Day 15: Heartfelt card

// July 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // 29 Gifts, Life (and the living of it), Love

Do you ever have those, ‘What if I died tomorrow’ moments? I do, and not in a morbid way at all. I sometimes think to myself, ‘If I died tomorrow, would everyone I love know that I loved them? And, most of the time, the answer is a resounding yes. I’m very open with how I feel and I tell my man and my family and my friends that I love them, often.

But I was thinking, yesterday, that there’s one area of my relationships where I haven’t said how I feel – my future parents-in-law. I suppose because we got to know each other quite slowly, and I was (naturally) a bit reserved when I first met them. But I’ve grown to really love them, and I so appreciate all the delicious meals and incredible gifts (like my recent vintage crockery set!) and support they’ve given us over the years.

So today I wrote them a (very cool and sparkly) card saying just that.