Snooty Starch

Risotto is one of those dishes I don't really get. Mushy and sticky rice. Appealing? Not so much. But it's one of those dishes you feel you have to like if you don't want to look like a gastropleb. It's like people getting misty eyed about liver (puh-lease). I sat in an expensive restaurant in Venice with the Grand Canal lapping at my feet and I ordered Fegato alla Veneziana. Yup, liver and onions. Why? Because the snotty waiter suggested it and, hell, if you're single in Venice you already look sad, I figured the least I could do was look sophisticated.

I'm also no good at making risotto because it's so damn slow and wants way too much attention. (Two qualities highly reminiscent of one of my exes. Now that I think about it, he was pretty mushy and sticky too...) Besides, I don't think patience is one of my virtues. Or maybe I simply don't have the attention span. I don't mind waiting for hours for a stew or a soup, but to have to stand there, endlessly stirring, is a little too double-double-toil-and-trouble for me. I'm more of a fire-burn-and-cauldron-bubble-while-I-play-on-my-laptop kind of girl.

For months I've had two packets of dried porcini mushrooms (graciously gifted by Jean) glaring at me accusingly every time I opened my pantry cupboard, begging to be resurrected. So finally I relented, but I decided to cut out the ladidaness and the tediousness [sic] with some coocoocookness. And what's less ladida than good old Old Brown Sherry? Shame I actually think I heard the mushrooms sobbing with joy and relief as they lay there slurping up the OBS.

As for the boring bit, all that tedious ladling? I discovered if you ladle enough Old Brown Sherry down your throat, shtirring and shtaring at shoggy rische aint sho bad after all.

xx

J 

PORCINI MUSHROOM RISOTTO 

2 Packets dried porcini mushrooms (40g)

2c Risotto rice

1 Onion chopped 

2 Cloves garlic sliced

1T Rosemary chopped

1c Old Brown Sherry

1/2c White wine

2L Beef stock

2T Olive oil

4T Butter

1/2c Parmesan

Put the porcini in the OBS and leave to soak for at least half an hour. Chop up finely then sieve, retaining liquid. I subsequently filtered the OBS through a coffee filter, in case of sand. Heat the beef stock on a separate plate to keep it hot. Fry the onion and garlic slowly in the olive oil until soft and glossy. Remove the onion and garlic and melt 2T butter. Add the rice and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the white wine and fry until all the liquid is soaked up. (NB - All future liquids added should be done in increments of half a cup at a time and no more liquid should be added until all the previous liquid has been soaked up by the rice). Add the onion, garlic and rosemary then the sherry in increments until soaked up. Add the mushrooms then the stock in increments until soaked up (you may not need all the stock). When the rice is al dente add the remaining 2T of butter, the parmesan and seasoning to taste. 

Hell's Kitchen

I made Blanquette de Veau last night. It's a classic French veal stew in a creamy sauce, made according to the Blanquette method whereby the meat is not browned during the cooking process (blanquette means white). It's simple yet robust, elegant but sensual. And may I say, it's vealy good. 

Yes yes, I know it's not funny. I'm killing off another baby cow. But look, the way I see it, I'm already doomed. On this blog alone I have killed:

8 Chickens
7 Baby Chickens
6 Cows
5 Pigs
4 Lambs
1 Baby Cow
1 Hake
1 Haddock
1 Salmon
20 Prawns

You see where I'm going with this? Exactly. Hell. Danté's Seventh Circle of Hell is for Violence so I figure I'll end up there. I looked it up to see what I'm in for and it seems I'll be in for a few unexpected surprises... turns out sodomites get sent there too! Eish.

Of course, since I constantly have food on my mind, I definitely qualify for the Third Circle of Hell - Gluttony. Personally, if I were to have a choice, I'd volunteer for the Second Circle of Hell - Lust. I know for a fact Robbie Williams will be there. And as Hell goes, that would be Heaven...
 
xx
J

PS - You are welcome to make the Blanquette with lamb or chicken but don't complain to me if you land in the Tenth Circle of Hell - Boredom.

BLANQUETTE DE VEAU

 2.5kg Veal stewing meat
1 Lemon
250ml White wine
3L Stock 
1 Onion 
4 Cloves
5 Cloves garlic peeled
Small handful thyme 
Small handful rosemary 
2 Bay leaves 
2 Sticks celery in chunks 
500g Small onions 
500g Mushrooms quartered
250ml Cream
4T Cornflour
4 Egg yolks

Wash the veal. Put into a pot with 1T salt and 2 lemon slices, then cover with cold water. Heat until boiling then reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. From start to finish this took about 30 minutes for me. Strain and discard water. Wash the pot then put the veal in with the stock (you're supposed to use veal stock so I used half chicken half beef). Add the wine, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, onion with cloves stuck in, celery and carrots. Simmer for 2 hours. Meanwhile fry the mushrooms slowly for 10 minutes. Season and add the juice of the lemon. Soak the onions in boiling water for 15 minutes to make them easier to peel. Once peeled fry slowly for 10 minutes in 1/2c butter, 1/2c water and 1T sugar.  Strain the veal (keeping the liquid) and throw away all the vegetables. Melt 1/2c butter then add 1/2c flour and stir for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the stock from the veal and keep whisking to ensure the sauce stays smooth until all the stock has been added. Mix the cornflour with the egg yolks and the cream, then slowly mix into the sauce. (Keep the heat low you don't want the egg to scramble). Add the veal, the onions and the mushrooms and allow to simmer until thickened. Serve on rice.

Sweet 'n Sore

What is it about love that it HAS to hurt? Why oh FFS why do I have to be torn between these extraordinary highs and these exsanguinating lows? Is this a cosmic joke? Am I being punked? Have I lost my sense of humour? The whole love/hurt theme is so oxymoronic it's moronic. And it's bloody unfair. I mean - pain hurts, fear hurts, anger hurts, disappointment hurts - is it so much to ask of the Universe to just let us have one poxy little emotion without kicking us in the balls? 

Here's a newsflash! Happy soppy smoochy poochy coochy people don't have roadrage they have sex. Instead of killing they'd be kissing. Instead of fighting they'd be ... well, you get the picture. I don't know about you but I think a bunch of sexed up people smiling like twats might just be what this world needs. (I can tell you for a FACT that being a sexed up smiling twat is EXACTLY what I need.) So why does love have to be sore? Why can't it just be sweet?
 
Maybe it's simply Newtonian. What goes up must come down. Maybe there's a limit to how much walking on air and sitting on Cloud 9 us humans can do before we come crashing down like everything else thanks to the Law of Gravity-Sucks. I wonder if anyone has done research on this. Or a thesis: "The Effect of Excess Joy on the Psyche" (subtitled - "And Other Causes of Psychotic Breaks").   

I'm not one of those people who thinks it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. And I can state without equivocation that what almost killed me certainly did NOT make me stronger. 

So you can shove your pain. I'm all for excess joy. You know how they say "too much of a good thing"? Have you ever noticed how it's never followed by anything? It's always just "well, you know, too much of a good thing..." Dot dot dot. You know why? Because no one knows! No one's been happy long enough to know...

So here I am! I volunteer! Throw love at me you miserly Universe! DROWN me in too much of a good thing! Hell, I'll take the consequences! Whatever they may be...
 
After all, someone once said "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". 

That's true, right?

Right??
 
xx  
J

CHOCOLATE CHILLI NOUGAT

(This is sweet - and it's going to hurt. I know you're scared - but don't be. Look, if you want to bail, leave the chilli. But if you're like me, if you envy the people who bungy jump but you're not mad in your head - do this. It's bungy jumping for the soul!)
 

NB - You'll need a candy thermometer for this, trust me, my last nougat was sticky enough to reunite Sean Penn and Madonna.
 
400g Caster sugar
60g Glucose syrup
250g Honey
2 Egg whites
1T Caster sugar
200g Whole almonds
200g Hazlenuts
2 Chillis finely chopped
2-3 Sheets rice paper
6 Bournville slabs
50g Butter

Toast the nuts at 150C for about 10 minutes until it's slightly brown. Oil and line a square dish with half the rice paper, so try to get something vaguely the size of the paper. (I had to patch a bit.)

This part had me nerved to the bone so make sure you have everything ready and on standby! Pre-whisk the egg whites with 1T caster sugar until you have stiff peaks (you'll need to give it another whack at the last moment). Melt 1 slab Bournville with the butter in another pan. Heat the caster sugar, glucose syrup, chillies and 140ml water to soft crack 280F. Warm the honey separately until it boils, add the syrup and bring up to 310F.

Slowly pour the honey/syrup into the whites and whisk until glossy. Mix in the melted chocolate. Fold in the nuts, pour into the rice paper dish and smooth out. Top with the rest of the rice paper. Allow to set (I left it overnight).

Good luck the next day - it's bloody hard to cut. I had to picture various people's faces to manage it. But it's worth it. I cut squares about 8x8cm. Melt the rest of the Bournville chocolate (in a bowl over a pot of boiling water). Dip the pieces of nougat in the chocolate and put on a plate covered in clingwrap. It should set in the fridge in an hour or so.

Mangia! Mangia!

I always thought if I were to be reincarnated I'd either like to come back as the wife of an Afrikaans Boer or an Italian Mafioso. Either way I'm picturing a vineyard in the mountains with tables groaning under the weight of my food and wine while my family and friends get royally fed and ridiculously wasted.

Being proudly South African I'm a bit of a sucker for a Big Burly Boer as long as there's no safari suits or long socks involved. And I can quite happily fill a table with bobotie and pap and bredie and melktert. But when I picture the Boer sidling up to me by the potato salad and saying:

"Hoe lykit hoe lykit ek en djy naked" 

....I kind of lose my appetite.

Rather pass me that Sexy Scary Sicilian. In the first place - the table will overflow, I can cook Italian till Venice sinks. And in the second place - when I picture my Mafioso grabbing me by my hair and throwing me on the table (red wine glasses shattering and terrified families scattering) and saying:

"I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse"

.....MAMA MIA!!

As I start reciting all the names of all the Catholic Saints I think about the lush vine-ripened tomatoes, the juicy olives, the glistening olive oils, the silky anchovies, the rotten cheese, the bulging sausages... oh yes, and my Sicilian of course... and all I can think is:

"You better make it good Guido, or I'm yelling Forget About It and I'm off to the market!!"

xx

J

ZITI AL FORNO

This is my version of Tony Soprano's favourite dish, Baked Ziti, from the Sopranos Family Cookbook. Sadly I didn't have Ziti because I'm not living in Sicily with Guido. But I don't think Fabs and Emily minded that I replaced it with Diatoni Lisi. Or any other pasta for that matter. Fabs came for some seriously needed and deserved TLC and I suspect any pasta with any meat and any cheese was going to put the smile back on her face. And Emily eats like a locust on crack so she was going to be happy too. Of course, that just left me, and you know me, I have to go all out. So I made Sunday Gravy - an Italian tradition which warms my soul for the sheer love of cooking it requires...

Sunday Gravy

1kg Beef stewing meat (previously I've made it with half pork/half veal - great but richer)

1/2kg Pork sausages

4 Garlic cloves crushed

1/4c Tomato paste

6 Tins chopped tomatoes

1t Dried chilli

1t Dried fennel

Meatballs

500g Mince

1/2c Breadcrumbs

2 Eggs

2 Garlic cloves crushed

1/2c Grated parmesan

2T Parsley chopped

Pasta

500g Pasta (preferably a smooth tubular one)
1c Grated parmesan
1c Ricotta
150g Mozzarella diced

Fry the beef until nicely browned and remove. Fry the pork sausages with the fennel and chilli until browned. (You're supposed to use Italian sausages which I don't have, but since Italian sausages are spiced with fennel and chilli - voila). Drain most of the fat from the pan. Add the garlic, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, 2c water and s&p. Add the meats and bring the sauce to a simmer. Leave the pot uncovered and simmer slowly for 2 - 3 hours until the meat falls off the bone. Remove the meats and set aside for a separate dish. (I'd serve it with just crusty bread). To make the meatballs combine everything but the oil then make little meatballs the size of grapes. Fry them until nicely browned. Add them to the sauce and allow to simmer for another half an hour. Cook the pasta until al dente. Add the pasta and 1/2c parmesan to the gravy and meatballs. Spoon half the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the ricotta on top and sprinkle with half the mozzarella and 1/4c parmesan. Spoon on the remaining mixture and sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan. Cover with foil and bake at 180C for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes.

MALVA PUDDING WITH HOMEMADE CUSTARD

Being TLC night Fabs gets what Fabs wants so I had to channel my Afrikaans Boer for dessert. Emily wanted to bring Woolworths malva pudding as a backup in case mine was horrible. I love her but she's swimming with the fishes...

Pudding
2T Butter
1c Sugar
2T Apricot jam
2t White vinegar
2c Flour
2c Milk
2 Eggs
2t Baking soda

Syrup
1c Sugar

3/4c Butter

1t Vanilla extract

Custard

1t Vanilla extract
500ml Milk
5 Egg yolks and 1 whole egg
1T Maizena
120g Caster sugar
250ml Double cream

For the custard I didn't bother with vanilla pods - you'd hardly notice on a rich tasting pudding like malva. Add vanilla extract to the milk and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and allow to infuse. Whisk eggs together with sugar and maizena until pale and thick. Add the milk in slowly over low heat and stir until thickened. Add the cream. For the malva melt the butter, sugar, apricot jam and vinegar together until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool. Alternate sifting the flour with the milk until the mixture is smooth. Add the eggs, then the baking soda and a pinch of salt. Mix well. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 180C for 40 minutes. For the syrup mix the ingredients with 1/2c boiling water and heat until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the cooked pudding and allow to stand for 10 minutes to soak.

Comment Anyz-oVous?

A few of you have mentioned the stupid Comments don't work. I think I've fixed the damn things now! I've also added a link you can use to email the post to someone.

So if you want to say something click on the Comments link at the bottom. It will bring up a popup window in which you will put your message, your verification code and then you can either choose "Name/URL" (ignore the URL bit, you can type anything for Name) or "Anonymous" which will post the comment anonymously (bet you didn't see that one coming!). To email a post click on the little envelope and it will ask you for the email address you want to send it to.

If all else fails please email me on thecoocoocook@gmail.com. 

Thank you!

xx

J

My Bête Noire

I've been friends with Allison for about 7 years. I've moved up in the ranks to the point where I'm officially her second best friend. As for Chloé, she was just a little snot of 8 or so when I met her. Now she's about to have her sweet sixteenth and she's growing into a lovely woman with a wicked sense of humour. What I'm trying to convey here is, these people aren't strangers. And trust me, they've seen the worst of me so they're fully cognisant of my twatness, as Chloé calls it. Which is a good thing because when I invited them to my house for dinner for the first time in 7 years, that twatness came out in full fanatical force.  

Let's start with the starter. It had to be prawns because Chloé likes prawns. So naturally I had to test out four different prawn recipes, right? Normal people generally eat up a 750g bag of prawns in order to find the right recipe for which they then have to go out and buy another 750g bag of prawns because they don't have any left with which to make it. (At least it allowed me to scratch off one memorable kebab recipe with a rather unique taste that was later revealed to be caused by the sandalwood incense stick I mistook for a wooden skewer...)

 

For the main I decided to have a fondue with healthy sides of chips and garlic bread. And a fondue needs sauces right? So I made 5 sauces of 500ml each. And 200g of meat seems adequate right? So I got 200g of beef. And 200g of chicken. And 200g of chipolatas. EACH. 

 

So to recap, for 3 people, I had 750g of chips, 0.5m of garlic bread, 2.5L of sauce and 1.8kg of meat. I feared they might still be hungry afterwards so I made Bête Noire - it means Black Beast and it will give your scale nightmares. Surprisingly, they had to take a doggy bag...

Aside from being the Jeffrey Dahmer of chocolate desserts, Bête Noire is also a way to describe something or someone that causes fear or dread without reason. You know, I may be wrong, but I suspect my Bête Noire (twatness?) is undercatering. That said, I really should have had meatballs too. Or maybe mushrooms. Definitely mushrooms...

 

xx

J

PRAWN & LEEK SAMOOSAS

 

 

20 Prawns chopped up

3 Baby leeks sliced

1T Dried dill

Juice of large lemon

1/4c Cheddar 

1/2c Sour cream

2 Sheets phyllo

 

Fry the leeks in butter until soft. Add the prawns, dill and lemon and fry until slightly browned. Add the sour cream and cheddar and fry until liquid has been absorbed. Season and allow to cool completely. Butter the first phyllo sheet, cover with the second, butter then slice lengthwise in three. Add a 6th of the prawn mixture on one end and keep folding over until you have a samoosa. Repeat with the rest. Bake at 200C for about 15 minutes but watch carefully so it doesn't burn. Serve with lemon.    

 

FONDUE SAUCES

Cheese Sauce

1/4c Butter

1/4c Flour

1.5c Milk

1/2c Cream

1/2c Cheddar and/or Gouda

Pinch cayenne

Pinch nutmeg

Melt the butter. Add the flour and fry for a minute. Slowly add the milk to make a thick white sauce. Add the cheese, cayenne, nutmeg, cream and season.

Pepper Sauce

1/4c Butter

1/4c Flour

1/4c Beef stock

1T Brandy or 1/2t Brandy essence

3/4c Milk

1c Creme Fraiche

2T Green peppercorns bashed

Melt the butter, add the peppercorns and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the flour and fry for a minute. Slowly add the milk, brandy and beef stock to make a thick sauce. Add the creme fraiche and season. 

 

Mustard Sauce

1/4c Butter

1/4c Flour 

2T "Kids" mustard

1T Wholegrain mustard

1c Milk

1c Sour Cream

Melt the butter. Add the flour and fry for a minute. Slowly add the milk to make a thick white sauce. Add the mustard, sour cream and season. (I used Steers mustard but any sweetish mustard will do).

 

Garlic Mayo Sauce

1c Nola Mayo (or other tangy mayo)

1c Hellmans Mayo (or other plain mayo)

1t Condensed milk

8 Cloves garlic crushed

1T Parsley chopped

Mix all together and season.

Marie Rose Sauce

1c Nola Mayo (or other tangy mayo)

1c Hellmans Mayo (or other plain mayo)

1t Condensed milk

2T Tomato sauce

1T Worcestershire sauce

1t Lemon juice

1/2t Tabasco sauce

1t Brandy or drop Brandy essence

Mix all together and season. 

BÊTE NOIRE

This can be made as one big tart, but I split the recipe in half and filled 4 baking rings with the mixture. I'll give the recipe for the whole one though - it's a lot less effort!

 

Cake

3/4c Sugar

9T Butter

5 Slabs Bournville

6 Eggs

Ganache

1c Heavy whipping cream

3 Slabs Bournville

Butter a springform pan/baking rings. Line the bottom with buttered wax paper. Wrap the whole pan/rings with 3 layers of foil. (If you want to do it right don't cheat and do less layers, or use less chocolate for that matter!) Simmer sugar with 1c water until fully dissolved - cool. Melt the butter over low heat and add the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Add the sugar syrup and cool slightly. Add the eggs and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into pan/rings. Put in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides. Bake at 350F and check after 35 minutes if you're doing half, 45 minutes if you're doing whole. A toothpick must come out mostly clean don't worry if it still looks like it's not done. Cool completely. Bring cream to a simmer then add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over the cooled cake and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I then dunked it up to its sides in boiling water for 20s or so then it just slid out onto the plate. You can serve it with cream, Rennies and/or Eno.

Brownie Bombshell

OK I want you to sit down. Maybe get a cup of tea. Or sugar water. This is going to come as a shock. It might even be disturbing. I want you to keep your Ativan close by. Maybe dial 911 or whatever the hell one dials in South Africa for medical help. (Whatever you do, just don't dial 0800-MantoTshabalalaMsimang-izaMoron.)

Right, are you ready? Here it is:

I'm HAPPY. You heard me. In fact, I might go completely bedonnerd and do an "[insert smiley face here]" or even an "LOL".

Now now, please control yourself. Deflate those balloons. Roll up the streamers. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you fainted the moment I said the H-word...

So let me modify that to Undepressed/Nonmiserable/Antisad/Contradown. I hope that's less WTFking to those who know me.

I have no idea why I'm happy today I just woke up that way. It's entirely unexpected and quite possibly unwarranted. But I shouldn't think about it too much because joy is not my natural state. I'm too prone to worry, paranoia and fear. So before coocoo-me takes over and interrogates happyfornoreason-me I'm going to sign off. 

After all, ours not to reason why, ours but to laugh or die, right?

:)

xx

J

PS - I'm so happy I'm sharing my Brownie recipe with you. As bombshells go, this one is particularly blissful!

JUNE'S FAMOUS FABULOUS BROWNIES

Brownie
175g Butter
40g Cocoa powder
2 Eggs
175g Soft brown sugar
1t Vanilla essence
100g Pecan nuts bashed
50g Self raising flour

Frosting
100g Bournville chocolate (or other dark chocolate - please, hell, not cooking chocolate!)
25g Butter
15ml Sour cream

For brownie melt butter and stir in cocoa. In another bowl mix eggs, sugar and vanilla essence, then stir in cooled cocoa and nuts. (I buy whole ones, put them in a plastic bag and whack it with a kitchen hammer - let them frustrations out...). Sift over the flour and mix in. Pour into buttered dish (mixture must be at least 2cm deep) and bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Rather under than over it MUST still be soft but not wet on toothpick. For frosting melt butter and chocolate then add sour cream. Once brownies are cooled cover with frosting then leave in fridge overnight. I cut mine into 16.

Desperate Dishes

I've been busy at work and busy in the kitchen. You'd think working double digit hours every day and drowning in admin at night would keep my itchy little paws out of the kitchen but nooooooo. There's always time for cooking. There's always a need for cooking. I've been all-a-turmoiled emotionally so no matter how blistered my feet and my brain I research recipes till late at night with bleary eyes, drag my body through Pick 'n Pay's aisles and then, when I reach the kitchen ... I perk up like Hugh Hefner on Viagra!

Oh to replace the PC errors, the vile invoices, the aching emotions with meats and veggies and spices! I forget everything, I forgive everything. Hours later I leave the kitchen, which looks like it's been hit by Hurricane Cucina, and I can start again. (Which is more than can be said for poor old Hugh when he's done...)

The level of my desperation can be measured by not only the volume of my cooking but by the complexity and variety of it. A particularly bad week is also characterised by continent hopping, say, from Brazil to Japan to France to Russia.

So if I tell you that this week I made Feijoada, Sushi, Chicken Kiev and Beef Stroganoff ... do I really need to tell you that it hasn't been the best week emotionally? 

And if I tell you that this week I made Feijoada, Sushi, Chicken Kiev and Beef Stroganoff ... do I really need to tell you that I now feel soooooo much better? 

I didn't think so.

 

xx

J 

FEIJOADA

There's a lovely threesome living a couple of blocks away - Peter, his wife Angela and their happy dog Mack. Mack and I have a crush going. If he were a dog and I were a bitch... (OK scratch that...) 

Anyway, Angela got her sister to bring me a bag of Feijao Preto from Brazil - black turtle beans. It didn't take a lot of research to determine that the only real option was Brazil's national dish Feijoada. A simple peasant-like pork and bean stew. Eat in front of a hearth with a storm raging outside.

2c Dried black beans soaked for at least 8 hours (use any small bean if you're not friends with Angela, Peter & Mack)

1 Onion roughly chopped

6 Carrots roughly chopped

4 Cloves garlic crushed

2 Bay leaves

750g Pork leg cut in chunks (or pork ribs/stew meat/any pork really)
250g Chorizo roughly sliced

2 Chillis chopped

1t Smoked paprika

Fry onions, garlic and carrots until soft. Add the black beans, pork, 6c water and bay leaves. Bring to a boil then simmer covered for 2 hours. Add the paprika and spice. Simmer for another hour or until the beans are tender but not mushy. Add water/thicken as required.

SUSHI

OK, it's not cooked but it's my first ever homemade sushi and ain't it pretty?

 

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU

6 Chicken breasts seasoned with S&P and pounded to 1/2cm (careful not to break the meat)

6 Slices ham

1c Mozzarella grated

1t Thyme

1t Paprika

2c Breadcrumbs

2c Flour

3 Eggs

Place the ham and a heaped tablespoon of cheese in the middle of the chicken. Roll and secure with a toothpick. Tuck in the sides and secure each with a toothpick. Try to encase the cheese and not to break the meat. Season the flour with S&P and paprika. Season the crumbs with S&P and thyme. Dip the chicken in flour, then egg, then crumbs. Wrap in clingwrap and leave in the fridge overnight if you can, half an hour at least. Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes.

BEEF STROGANOFF

500g Rump cut into strips (against the grain)

2 Red onions sliced

1 Red pepper sliced

250g Brown mushrooms sliced

1T Dijon mustard

1T Paprika

1c Beef stock

1/2c Brandy (or 3T brandy essence)

250ml Sour cream

Fry the onion and red pepper until soft. Add the mushrooms and cover, allowing the mushrooms to sweat out. Add the mustard, paprika and beef stock, bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Meanwhile fry the beef separately in a very hot pan until seared. Add the beef, brandy and sour cream to the vegetables and simmer for a few minutes. Thicken if required and serve on rice.