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Beef and mushroom pot pie...food for the gods

Well, Friday night's beef and mushroom pie, which we made on Sunday night, was a real winner!

This supper reminds me of those dishes one finds in remote places on travels that send the taste buds on a whole new exciting experience. On my very first travels overseas I had lambple pie in a centuries old pub somewhere in the Cotswolds in England. Lamb and apple pie! Oh what succulent and delectable warmth on the tongue. Heart warming stuff that makes you feel as if you are at home, even though it tastes nothing like what you normally would get at home. One day I am going to try and make it.

I can imagine having found this beef and mushroom pot pie travelling between Colesburg and Graaff Reinet on a sleety, cold day on the way to the Grahamstown Festival. We would be freezing, yearning for warm sustenance. The Karroo would lay desolate beneath us, clouded in the snowy atmosphere. We would see an isolated hotel as we descend into the plains, neon light flashing Hotel, Hotel, Hotel, weakly through the milky air. Just one road sign with an arrow pointing west off the main road, onto a gravel roadlet, barely wide enough for a John Deere. Yearning for coffee, we would dash from the parking lot, inhabited by only our car and bang desperately on the front door of the hotel, shut against the elements and stuck by frost so that it cannot be opened from the outside. Our cries are heard by the manager who comes to the door and opens it. A tall man with ruddy cheeks and a beaming smile, clad in a thick home spun and home knitted merino wool cabled jersey, khaki shorts, knee high socks, with comb and Grasshoppers. There is a miserable parrot on his shoulders, puffed up against the cold, screeching “Welkom hier by onse plek” over and over again until you want to order it roasted with cranberry sauce.

The delectable smells from the kitchen draw us in like helpless moths to a candle. We find a table as close to the ineffectual fire as possible. Feebly burning against the enormous coldness of the vast yet uninhabited dining room. The moer koffie is delivered in thick porcelain cups with tiny ears and chipped saucers and we ask for lunch. The beef and mushroom pot pies arrive. But surely this is lamb country? Vir seker ja, maar ons boer met wol!

The pie is made by taking 500g of cubed beef and tossing it in flour. The bits are browned and sealed in a smidgeon of olive oil in a pan. A chunkily sliced onion is added, with a heaped teaspoon of crushed garlic. Make up a cup of a mixture of red wine and beef stock to taste. Can be all red wine if you like, whose watching? Add two tablespoons of Worstershire sauce and toss the liquid into the pan. Take a punnet of button mushrooms and wash them. Yes, wash them, the theory of not washing mushrooms is gross. I do not want peat and all sorts of stuff in my supper thank you. Half the big mushrooms and leave the small ones whole and toss them into the pan too. Allow this meaty, mushroomy stew to stew for about forty minutes, or until you are happy with the tenderness of the beef. You can use tenderised steak instead if you like. Once cooked, aliquot servings into ovenproof bowls, slap on a lid of some ready made puff pastry, egg it to make it shiny and gold in the oven, and bake for about twenty minutes at 180 degrees. Food for the gods I tell you.

The one issue I have with the Food Ideas plan is that I don’t think they have given much thought to the seasons. A couple of weeks ago I was meant to use naartjies. Where on earth do you get them now? I used a mineola instead. These exquisite pot pies would be a ten out of ten for a mid winters meal, but we are frying at this time of the year.

Savoury pancakes a la pretentious

I fear that sometimes the cooks who invent recipes for magazines get so desperate for new ideas that they become impractical and present old staples in ridiculously unworkable ways. Last nights supper was savoury mince pancakes…a la pretentious. Instead of simply rolling up pancakes with a good savoury mince filling and a coating of nice sauce, they decided to get fancy and make a pancake stack. So we did too. Pancakes are layered with savoury mince one on top of the other and then the stack is cut in wedges like a cake. The picture in the book looks very attractive, but I don’t know how they were able to get such a clean slice with all the bits still in the stack. When you cut it the mince falls all over the place, and when you eat it, it falls apart. We served a wedge each with a simple green salad but both son and I decided that the same food served the good old fashioned pancake way would be a much better way to go next time.

Thursday night, Thursday Night, we reach the deadline on Thursday night...

..for our edification, and pure delight... Irene comes to dinner on Thursday night!

Remember the good old days of Springbok radio? I remember sitting at the supper table some evenings having to be quiet of the news was being read at the same time. And how we would linger at the table to listen to "The Mind of Tracy Dark" or "The Avengers."

But getting back to cooking. Irene goes to choir practice around the corner from us on Thursdays, so it makes absolute sense that she has supper with us.

So last night we had honey and sesame chicken. This is a fantasmogorical picnic meal. Chicken fillets are cut into biggish chunks that are dusted in corn flour and then lightly fried in our Family Frying Pan. Once beautifully browned, a little honey is oozed over to make the chicken bits sticky and then the sesame seeds are added to coat them. They are left aside to cool down for a little while and the juices also do their thing during this time. They form part of a delicious salad when added to lettuce, red and yellow peppers, rosa tomatoes and a handful of roasted cashew nuts...we like cashews. The picture shows Irene caught just before we said Grace off better than the dish...but I thought it would be nice to have a different kind of picture for a change. Have a marvelous weekend!

My day started crumbling yesterday just about from the time I woke up! The building I work in most of time got flooded out after a massive storm the night before and I got my sandals messed up getting through it all and had to wear my hideous lab shoes for the rest of the day. The the patients at the hospital where I do some research work went on the rampage because they don't like their food, so I could not get all the work done there that I had planned! By 12:30 I was in bed because it felt as if my cranium was about to divorce itself from the rest of my body! It was one of THOSE days.

Son and I have decided to take pot luck on days when the Food Ideas menu has fresh fish on it because we have such a problem finding good fish. So this is what he woke me up to at about 6:30. Bangers and mash...cordon bleu!

He made creamy mash potato with loads of delectable whole grain mustard in it. Tasted wicked! He topped a pile of this mash with fried onions onto which he placed two bangers. He steamed carrot coins for conscience food. Which mother on this earth woke up from a migrain to such style and taste? JUST ME I BET! I am so lucky!

Shrove Tuesday and Durban pancakes

Eggs, dairy products and sugar are usually given up during Lent and Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday) often involves a pancake feast in order to get rid of stashes of these ingredients. And yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, so we had Durban pancakes - rotis - again! They are so good who can blame us.

For the filling we roasted butternut, cherry tomatoes, olives, red and white onions, garlic, origanum and cashew nuts in a tiny bit of olive oil and then added some fruity sweet chilli sauce. The rotis were DIVINE!

So what am I giving up for Lent. When it comes to food, there is no way I can give up eggs, dairy products or sugar. I can't give up chocolate because I have to make a chocolate tart for Tiara club next month. I cannot give up coffee because I need the caffeine. I have already given up sugar in my tea and coffee. Nah! I think I will stick with my pantry and not sacrifice anything there. Sooo, what else can I give up? Maybe some TV time to make a blanket for the winter blanket drive that will start soon. Yes, I think thats what I'll do!