Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2024 i Woolworths TASTE

“FOOD WAS A BIG PART OF MY CHILDHOOD.” This sentiment, expressed by foragercook Roushanna Gray in “Wild at Heart” (p 56), or a variation of it, appears in at least six different places in this issue. Sierra Leone-born author and cook Mariama “Maria” Bradford refers to it repeatedly in her inspirational cookbook Sweet Salone (p 102). And at least four out of five of the chefs whose restaurants I was lucky enough to experience on my gastromanic reunion tour of London, can recall specific childhood food memories that inspired and then shaped their careers. And it seems apt, in May and June, as we celebrate our parents on Mother's and Father's Day, both in person and in spirit, that this issue should pay tribute to the role they played in…

ALL TIED UP It's not just you – there really are ribbons everywhere. Fresh off the fashion runways, where the coquette look is à la mode, FoodTokkers are tying fabric around tacos and fries, even threading it through bread. Each to their own, we say. At TASTE, we're having fun with edible bows made from baby marrows, carrots and celery. Case in point, this little snack: place a dollop of Woolies’ new goat's-cheese cream on a plate, top with shaved baby marrow styled into ribbons, dust with trout pearls, scatter with crumbled blue cheese, season to taste – and share on TikTok before taking a bite.…

OFF THE MENU Who are your food heroes? I can't talk about food without acknowledging my grandmother and mother. They both expressed love by preparing nutritious meals for the family, and I can almost smell the aroma of our Sunday curry when I think of that moment in time. Ultimate kitchen tool? My Le Creuset signature round casserole is a workhorse! It makes cooking that much more enjoyable and delivers consistent results every time. What would people be surprised to find in your fridge? My bottom drawer is always stocked with a cheese. Also: a big jar of two-year-old preserved watermelon rind that my grandmother made. I keep it in remembrance of her. Your most popular recipe? My version of caldo verde is by far one of my most popular…

SCENE STEALER 1 PAYET & RIVIÈRE FOR ARTISANAL SUGAR, SYRUPS AND BONBONS You've never tasted sugar quite like galabé, a heritage delicacy made from sugar cane juice that takes various forms – from thick, dark syrups to crystallised sugar, caramel spread and melt-in-the-mouth bonbons. Book a tour of the micro-factory on the historic Bel Air estate where artisans craft products endorsed by French chefs such as Michelin-starred Anne-Sophie Pic. Owner Alexis Rivière shares insight into the products: “There is sweetness, but there is also depth due to different chemical reactions, such as the Maillard reaction, during production. The syrup can be used in marinades, vinaigrettes and cocktails. Serve the bonbons with coffee after dinner.” 50 Chemin Transversal du Bel Air, Saint-Suzanne; @payetetriviere 2 CHEZ BILLY FOR LUNCH AT A FAMILY-RUN CREOLE RESTAURANT…

BISTRO FOOD “This year's Summer Olympics in Paris inspired me to create these bistro-style recipes to cook at home, perfect cold-weather comfort. The rillettes recipe is dedicated to fabulous chef and friend, Giles Edwards, who opened the muchmissed La Tête restaurant in Cape Town. And the (easy!) chocolate tart is one of the best I've ever eaten.” – Abigail Donnelly PORK RILLETTES WITH CANDIED PRUNES AND CHICKEN LIVER PÂTÉ “This can be served as a snack but I've also been known to eat rillettes as a meal – spread thickly on slices of sourdough with a smear of mustard.” Serves 6 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 40 minutes, plus 4 hours’ chilling time Cooking: 3 hours For the rillettes: pork belly 600 g pork shoulder 600 g cinnamon sticks 2 star anise 2 freshly ground nutmeg…

NEW COOKBOOK My name is Mariama. I was named after my grandmother, but for as long as I can remember everyone has called me Maria. I speak three languages – Krio, Mende and English – and I live in Kent with my family. I have many fond childhood memories of growing up in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, all of which have influenced my recipes. I started my food business in 2017, creating delicious African food for dinner parties, weddings and corporate events. Back then, it was called Maria Bradford Kitchen, but my fellow Sierra Leoneans would describe my dishes as ‘fancy’. They would say in Krio, ‘Dis na Shwen Shwen’, which, in English, is an exclamation along the lines of, ‘This is fancy food!’ So, I decided to…

“I started to dig deep and it was all there, this arsenal of ideas I had collected over 18 years of travel” It's safe to say that Jared Melamed is not a traditional pastry chef. For one thing, he is completely self-taught. For another, he has travelled the world as a professional diver. (He was also deported from Australia, but we'll get to that later.) But despite the unconventional path he has taken to master his craft, there can be no doubt that he has done just that – mastered it. Under the banner of his business La Tarte in Johannesburg, Jared and his team are producing world-class, French-style pastries, desserts and baked goods that are in high demand. Now 36, Jared took the first step on this journey almost 18…

Sadie's chocolate-chip cookies This might just be the cutest video we've ever made. Supermom Saadiyah Hendricks of Sadie's Bubble of Yum brought her two eldest daughters to the studio to help make these outrageously good chocolate-chip cookies for Mother's Day. Jam-packed with white choc chips, shards of dark chocolate and a joy-inducing quantity of sprinkles, they also boast the very best of textures - crunchy on the outside, soft and fudgy in the middle. Bake them at your peril! Catch this video on TASTE's social channels in May.…

What's happening online? @WWTaste In a perfect world, with infinite time and money, mealplanning would be pleasant. Imagine poring over recipe books and magazines, scrolling through your saved folder on Instagram – perhaps even messaging a friend for their potato salad recipe, building up to a glorious, colour-coded meal plan containing meals you're excited to make and eat. But far too often, it's a more rushed scenario. Some plan in the aisles – you can see them hesitating in front of the beef shin – as they calculate how many of their family members will willingly eat a beef shin stew, and whether they'll have enough leftovers to stuff some pitas the following night. For others, it happens all week long, in a kind of background tab in their minds,…

OFF THE MENU The Terrace, Muldersdrift (above) Located on the Cronjé family farm in Muldersdrift, the venue known as Ground is already a thriving events space (think weddings, hikes and picnics), but has recently welcomed a new restaurant to the stable. “The Terrace's focus is on simple food, done really well,” explains Nicci Campbell, Ground's marketing manager (who married into the Cronjé family). “We love long, relaxed lunches in a beautiful space – we want you to feel like you're on holiday.” If the scenic venue does not succeed in giving you all the Mediterranean holiday feels; the menu certainly will. Influenced by the family's travels to Spain, Greece and Italy, guests can look forward to small plates of bites such as chicken Caesar salad croquettes or fresh tuna skewers…

OFF THE MENU I often tell people who say white wine is too cold for autumn and winter that they've probably overchilled their wine. Serve it at the right temperature and you'll get maximum enjoyment from the aromas and flavours, which will be shut down when it's served too cold. This does depend on the varietal, but lighter whites can usually be poured at between 7 and 10°C, while more fullbodied or oaked wines will generally taste their best between 10 and 13°C. I suggest experimenting by pouring your chosen wine on the colder side, tasting it, then letting it slowly warm up in the glass as you sip – a great way to experience the changes in its distinctive characteristics. For cold-weather sipping, rather than salinity and minerality, think…

TASTES THAT BIND I had surgery earlier in the year. Not a big deal. But I was put on a liquid diet for two weeks afterwards. That was a big deal. The day I was discharged from hospital, having had my fill of clear soups and jelly and custard, I gingerly made my way to the fridge, fully expecting that Jacques would have stocked it according to the WhatsApp directives (including screenshots from Woolies) I had sent him from my hospital bed. He had remembered the cranberry juice and plain yoghurt but instead of my favourite country vegetable soup, he had bought tomato soup. In the parlance of the day, I found this to be enormously triggering.“Why tomato soup?” I wailed. “I hate tomato soup. I wouldn't eat it if…

COFFEE COFFEE FLAN CAKE “This is an ode to the days when my father and I would drink coffee with condensed milk around a campfire, dreaming of magical things to come. This cake, too, is magical: two different mixtures go into the tin and somehow swap places. Pure alchemy!” Serves 6 to 8 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes’ chilling time Baking: 30 minutes Woolworths Easy to Bake chocolate cake mix 1 x 650 g box free-range eggs 2 canola oil ½ cup milk 200 ml hot water 1 cup For the flan: condensed milk 1 x 385 g can evaporated milk 1 x 380 g can free-range eggs 4 cream cheese ½ cup Woolworths Italian instant coffee 3 T “I love the power coffee has to both soothe and energise. Its distinctive aroma entices me to take…

“These new recipes are some of my favourite no-fuss, nutritious soups for cosy nights in. And because there's no such thing as too much comfort, I've also included recommendations for sides (butter rotis, polenta cake) and optional extras (risotto) to make them even more filling as family suppers.” – Abigail Donnelly LAMB KNUCKLE-ANDPOTATO IRISH STEWSTYLE SOUP “Nothing brings cold-weather comfort like my favourite Irish stew – or this brothy version with all the traditional flavours that make it such a classic.” Serves 6 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 2 hours flour 200 g salt, to taste free-range lamb knuckles 750 g canola oil 2 T carrots 4, peeled and halved celery 2 sticks, chopped onions 2, peeled and chopped bay leaves 3 water 1 litre potatoes 4, peeled and quartered ground white pepper, to taste 1 Place the flour…

LONDON CALLING WHEN YOU ASK A GREAT CHEF HOW THEY DISCOVERED THIS WAS THEIR CALLING – spending gruelling, 16-hour days in the kitchen brigade, sweating over their station to the endless chorus of “Yes chef!” – most have an origin story, a nostalgic childhood memory of eating their first oyster in France with their father (Anthony Bourdain) or helping “the cook prepare school lunches” (Merlin Labron-Johnson, see p137). But, “I don't have a romantic story of being the son of a fisherman or my grandmother doing fresh pasta,” says Santiago Lastro, chef-patron of the Michelin-starred KOL, in London. “I'm from the millennial generation in Mexico – when I was a kid a microwave was something new. So women were able to work because they didn't have to cook.” But Santi,…

MAKE IT YOUR OWN If kale isn't your thing, swap it for baby spinach. This recipe is delicious with baked potatoes, pasta or brown rice. WEEKEND ENTERTAINING SNACK FRIED HALLOUMI WITH CLEMENGOLD-AND-DATE SYRUP AND 15-MINUTE LAVASH “Woolies’ date syrup has a wonderful sweet taste with just a hint of bitterness, a delicious contrast with fragrant citrus and salty halloumi. This recipe is great for last-minute guests as a casual snack with wine on a cool evening.” Serves 4 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 15 minutes For the syrup: Woolworths date syrup 4 T ClemenGold 1, zested and juiced bay leaves 3 rosemary 2 sprigs For the lavash: flour 100 g, plus extra for sprinkling wholewheat flour 50 g (alternatively, use plain flour) salt ½ t oil 3 T water 5 T Woolworths roast seed-and-coriander dukkah spice 2…

OFF THE MENU Milk tart-flavoured mini teacake: Think essence of milk tart – vanilla sponge is topped with condensed milk icing and a dusting of cinnamon. This cake introduces a new type of icing to the range: the cooked condensed milk icing is made by preparing a thick, egg-free custard using condensed milk, which is set until firm, before being whipped with real butter. Sigh… Berry snowball mini teacake: This nostalgic favourite consists of vanilla sponge cake topped with strawberry jam and desiccated coconut. For a modern twist, fresh lemon zest is added to the sponge to enhance the fruity flavours of the strawberry jam. Chocolatecaramel mini teacake: Here's one for the chocoholics-chocolate sponge meets all-butter chocolate icing, lightly salted caramel to cut through that decadent chocolate profile, with fudge…

OFF THE MENU Homely comforts like hot buttered toast, scones, or a stack of flapjacks may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of jams and preserves. But here's a new association for you: how about a cocktail? Not only is it perfectly acceptable to add jam to your drink; it's recommended. Firstly, it acts as sweetener, meaning there's less need to use simple syrups or ingredients like honey or molasses. Secondly, it brings a punch of fruity flavour to the mix. So why not experiment? Substitute the cranberry juice in your cosmo with some berry jam. Add a scoop of gooseberry preserve to your daiquiri and see how you get on. There's even the revelation that is the so-called “breakfast martini” – a lemony concoction…

FOOD INNOVATOR The cool Cape Peninsula air, fragrant with the aroma of wet earth and fynbos, invites us to inhale deeply as we admire the jigsaw-style glass house nearby. It is made entirely out of windows, some found and others gifted by friends. Inside, chandeliers of dried indigenous flowers and mollusc shells sway gently from the ceiling and a disco ball spins slowly over a large table laden with fresh flowers, jewel-toned glassware and thick ribbons of kelp. We haven't been here for long, yet already we feel immersed in the softness, the slowness, of this place. “My husband, Tom, built the glass house; he built that table, he built the kitchen cabinets. He's a landscaper but his passion is carpentry. The glass house is a love project of ours,”…