Heart Of The House

Soups

Roast Tomato Sauce & Soup

Roast Tomato Sauce & Soup

A very versatile sauce made from ripe, full flavoured tomatoes.  Use it as base  for sauce,  stew or soup. Roast Tomato Sauce (recipe source: The River Cottage Cookbook) Ingredients 1 kg ripe organic tomatoes (like those pictured above) 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 tbs live oil sea salt & ground black pepper Method Cut Read More…

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Rillettes Ravioli

Rillettes Ravioli

These were made with left over pel’meni dough and pork cheek rillettes.  Quick and easy to put together.   After cooking the ravioli in salted boiling water, they were lightly pan fried in butter & garlic chives.

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Rillettes – Simple, Rustic and Fattilicious!

Rillettes –  Simple, Rustic and Fattilicious!

Warning:  Don’t read this on an empty stomach,  may make you very hungry! Rillettes are traditional French delicacy which were originally made with pork.  However, you can make rillettes from duck, goose,  chicken, rabbit and even fish.  I made mine mostly with pork and duck.  Made with good quality meat and fats, they are delicious Read More…

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Grilled Fish with Carrot, Yacon & Seaweed Salad

Grilled Fish with Carrot, Yacon & Seaweed Salad

It was cold and windy on Sunday but that did not deter me from visiting our local Winter market at Mapleton. Although there were not many produce stalls,  I did find some local & organically grown Chinese Cabbage (Wong Baak) and Daikon for making Kim-chee, Yacon and Black Radishes, some of which I used to Read More…

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Spiced Carrot Soup

Spiced Carrot Soup

With nutritious homemade stock, a touch of warming spices, healthy fats from the coconut and  fresh carrots (from Wonderworld Organics), I made this very satisfying and nourishing soup. Spiced Carrot Soup Ingredients * 450 ml coconut milk * 3 cups homemade stock * 1/2 lime, juiced * 1  onion (medium size), peeled and sliced * Read More…

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Sri Lankan Lamb Curry

Sri Lankan Lamb Curry

Inspiration for this curry came from “the part travel essay, part recipe journal – Mangoes & Curry Leaves” . Sri Lankan Lamb Curry Ingredients 500 grms boneless lamb shoulder 1 tbs homemade coconut ghee or ghee 10 fresh curry leaves 1 green chilli, finely chopped 1 cup of finely chopped onion 1 tsp tumeric 1 Read More…

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Wonderful Bone Marrow

Wonderful Bone Marrow

I was in the local butcher recently and bought these wonderful shin bones (grass fed) to make roast bone marrow.   Sprinkle some parsley salt and with sourdough bread and a salad, it makes an absolutely delicious lunch.

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A fascinating talk by Carolyn Steel – “How Food Shapes Our Cities”

Why you should listen to her: The question of how to feed cities may be one of the biggest contemporary questions, yet it’s never asked: we take for granted that if we walk into a store or a restaurant, food will be there, magically coming from somewhere. Yet, think of it this way: just in Read More…

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Spiced Beef Soup Vietnamese Style

Spiced Beef Soup Vietnamese Style

This simple beef soup with warming spices is perfect for cold winter nights. Spiced Beef Soup Vietnamese Style Inspired by Charmaine Solomon’s recipe for Pho (Vietnamese Beef and Rice Noodle Soup) Ingredients 1 litre of homemade beef broth 10 whole black peppercorns 2 star anise 3 cardamon pods 3 cloves 1 sprig of celery leaves Read More…

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Beef Broth

Beef Broth

Beef Broth (Recipe from Jessica Prentice’s Full Moon Feast.  ) Ingredients A few large beef soup bones, knuckle bones or marrow bones 1-2 tbs tallow or other fat An oxtail, some short ribs, a couple of shanks or other meaty bones Filtered water to cover A tablespoon of white wine or other vinegar (I use Read More…

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