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Newsletter 6: July 2008 |
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| Make Flower-Petal Ice-Cubes! |
At your next gathering, wow your guests when you serve them drinks with gorgeous floral ice-cubes. We suggest small flowers, petals, or herbs such as mint frozen within a block of ice to create the ultimate impact. Be sure to choose petals or flowers that are edible or non-toxic - rose petals, small pansies or mint are perfect choices for the task.
Fill an ice-tray no higher than the half way mark with water. Place your chosen petal into each ice block compartment. Place the ice-tray in the freezer for a few hours until the cube is frozen solid. Fill each compartment to the top with water, and then place the tray back into the freezer until it's time to serve your guest.
For more Entertainment Ideas visit the South African Foodies website
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| Herb Q & A: Sage |
 Sage is a small perennial shrub which has aromatic, evergreen, gray-green leaves and whorls of small lilac-blue flowers on branched stems. This herb is often used in stuffings, with red meat, poultry and eggs. It is considered to have a slightly peppery flavour. |
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| New Articles |
| Wine For Dummies - Part 2 |
| Recipe to try: Cardamom Chicken (by Appetite Catering Services) |
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
500gms filleted chicken breasts
25 cardamom pods
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3cm piece fresh ginger, finely grated
350ml plain yoghurt, drain off excess liquid
1 tsp fine white pepper
Grated rind 1 lemon
60 ml oil/ ghee
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
400ml coconut milk
2 TBS chopped coriander
45ml lemon juice
2 green chillies – leave whole and prick all over |
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METHOD
- Cut the chicken fillets in half.
- Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods and crush them in a pestle and mortar.
- Mix the ginger, garlic, cardamom, pepper, grated lemon rind and 3 TBS of the yoghurt together.
- Spread this paste over the chicken breasts and leave to marinate overnight.
- Heat the oil/ ghee over low heat and carefully fry the chicken pieces for a couple of minutes, until they turn white on both sides.
- Take the chicken out of the pan and fry the onions until soft.
- Add the coconut milk and remaining yoghurt to the pan.
- Bring to the boil.
- Add the whole chillies and let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add the sealed chicken pieces and simmer gently till the chicken is cooked through. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Remove the chicken pieces and thicken the sauce with a little maizena mixed with water if the sauce is too thin.
- Replace the chicken, check the seasoning, add the lemon juice and chopped coriander and serve with Basmati Rice.
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| Entertaining
Q & A |
Vegetarian Options For Your Dinner Party
Hosting a Dinner Party can be quite a difficult task at the best of times, but when one of your guests is a Vegetarian and won’t appreciate your roast lamb or fillet medallion main course, you might be left in a quandary. While most Vegetarians will feel embarrassed if you pour all your efforts into creating an entirely separate meal for them, they also don’t want to be made to feel unimportant by having to make a meal of the side dishes.
The best option when catering for a Vegetarian is to serve a similar meal for both meat and non-meat eaters and then substitute the meat portion with a dish suitable for Vegetarians. In other words, if you happen to be serving a beef medallion main course with roasted vegetable and baby potato side dishes, the only difference in the vegetarian options might be to serve soya patty medallions. Starters are very often Vegetarian friendly – stuffed garlic mushrooms or a butternut soup go down equally well for Vegetarian and meat-eaters alike. Dessert could be a decadent fruit salad with fresh cream or a baked apple crumble.
Always remember to serve a balanced meal – even though a Vegetarian has chosen not to eat meat, they haven’t chosen to give up protein too! Balanced meal options of Soya Cottage Pie, a Fried Corn, Garlic, Herb and Lentil Potato Bake or even a Soya Mince Bolognaise Pasta will satisfy any Vegetarian’s dietary needs.
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