Franschhoek food rocks

A few weeks ago we had two lovely couples for dinner and there was some pretty über cooking. A four course culinary wander through the continents....

Starter: Tuna Carpaccio with watercress salad

This dish hails from the Country Kitchen restaurant at Mont Rochelle in Franschhoek. I have a wonderful cookbook with recipes from some of Franschhoek's top eateries and this will be made again! It is fiddly and requires 12 hours marinading time so not a quick fix dish

Ingredients:

500g trimmed tuna loin

Marinade
150ml soya sauce
150ml olive oil
150ml tomato juice
20g chopped basil leaves and stalks

Vinaigrette
1/3 marinading liquid (see method)
2/3 olive oil (see method)
juice of 2 lemons
20g basil leaves, shredded
4 large red tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and diced
100g black olives (I used black olive tapenade to decorate each plate instead)
seasoning

Watercress Salad
80g watercress
20g basil leaves
1 chicory bulb, cut into thin strips
seasoning

Method

Marinade: whisk together the soya sauce, olive oil and tomato juice. Stir in the basil then submerge the tuna in the mrinade. Turn it regularly while it marinades for at least 12 hours in the fridge

Vinaigrette: Measure of one-third of the marinade. Double that quantity for the olive oil. Whisk the two together then whisk in the lemon juice. Add the basil, diced tomatoe and olives just before serving.

Salad: wash and dry the ingredients, toss gently and season

Serve: slice the tuna thinly and arrange the slices on a plate. Top with the vinaigrette (you might not need all of it) and top with the salad. You can do this as one big salad or as individual starter portions which I did. Serve with a slice of toasted ciabatta.

Main: Thai chicken dish

This is the same as aromatic Thai salmon but with chicken so I wont repeat the recipe as you can find it here . It is nicer with salmon and prawns but one guest didn't eat shellfish so we had a last  minute ingredient change. 

 Dessert: Mum's cheesecake

Again, a complete crowd pleaser and one I have done often. Loving the addition of fresh raspberries. I have also realised I didn't take a piccy. Recipe is here.

Cheese course: Camembert Gateau

This recipe is from the Franschhoek cookbook and comes from probably our favourite restaurant in the Valley - Le Petit Ferme. This place is amazing and here is a pic of our most recent visit there so you can appreciate the setting and the view. Our dining room isn't quite the same but we served this with a Groot Constantia dessert wine and it was almost like being in SA......

Camembert Gateau

Ingredients:

1 x 1.5kg Camembert round - hahahah, who has this? I used two normal sized shop bought jobbies
500ml roughly chopped pistachio nuts
500ml roughly chopped preserved stem ginger
500ml chopped preserved green figs (these are hard to find in the UK so I used dried soft figs)
500ml chopped apricots

fresh berries, poppy seeds (which I forgot to put on), fresh mint, ginger syrup, fresh figs if in season - quartered

Method:

Leave the cheese in the fridge until firm, then, using a warm (and obscenely sharp) knife, slice the round/s horizontally into three layers of equal thickness. This is the hardest part as they keep sticking back together. Keep them separate. Oh, only do this once you have all the other bits ready.....

Combine the pistachio, stem ginger, green figs and apricots, mix gently and divide into two equal portions (or 4 if using two rounds). Spread one layer over the bottom layer of cheese and cover with the middle layer. spread the remaining mixture and top with the last round of cheese. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave in the ridge until needed.

To serve, unwrap and put on a plate, drizzle over the ginger syrup (from the stem ginger jar) and garnish with the berries, figs, mint and poppy seeds. We served it with some Ryvita Thins and it was superbly good.

We could have done 1 round for 6 people but the leftovers kept really well and we had it as part of a picnic-style lunch with more friends the following day.

In other news:

It's been months since the last post so this list is going to be long

• We celebrated 7 years of marriage - go ROD and COD
• EEROD is potty trained - go EEROD
• LOD has completed her first term at big school and can read sort of well - go LOD
• We went to Ireland
• Ireland came to see us (COD's parents)
• Isle of Wight came to see us (ROD's parents)
• My brother (the older of the two) came to visit and has inspired the forthcoming series of posts (watch this space)
• Virtually no sewing has happened but somehow I have agreed to make three bridesmaids dresses next year. Involving velvet. And tulle. I suspect there will be tears
• My year (8 months) of no clothes shopping for me has come to an end due to a need for jumpery things. I don't miss shopping. I am not richer. I have even more fabric.
• I have not finished Christmas shopping
• We acquired a new niece - go ROD's sister