Dips

Homemade dips are always nice - and very easy to make.  Here are a selection - a smoked fish dip, garlicky Greek skordalia (which can be served with meat and fish as well as as a dip), an easy avo dip and a smoky baba ganoush (also nice as a sauce with meat, or as a pasta sauce).

This is Kit's smoked mackerel pate, I do a smoked snoek pate which is very similar and I use cottage cheese and sour cream but I agree with Kit and think the creme fraiche or fromage frais is nicer.  You can use any type of smoked fish - mackerel, snoek, hot smoked trout etc.   You can also serve it in individual pots as a a starter.   Kit's recipe appeared in the school recipe book so here is :

Mrs Somers' Mackerel Pate

Get some smoked mackerel (the type you can find in a supermarket vacuum packed) and peel off the skin and mash with a fork. Add a tub of fromage frais (you can substitute with greek yoghurt, quark, cottage cheese - I've seen it done with all sorts but I prefer fromage frais) add 1 clove of garlic grated, the juice of half a lemon and a big tablespooon of horseradish sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with crackers, french bread etc.  I always garnish it with a slice of lemon in the middle of the bowl and a bit of parsley sprinkled. So easy and very tasty! 

Skodalia

The traditional Greek method is to use a mortar and pestle to first mash the garlic with salt, then add other ingredients to create the purée texture desired.  You can use a food processor or hand mixer which makes things a lot easier.   Skordalia (skorthalia) can also be made with bread, but the potato recipe is more versatile.  Serve it with pita bread or thick crusty bread, or as a sauce with meat or fish.

Ingredients

 1 lb potatoes 

6-12 cloves of garlic, minced or grated

(depending on how garlicky you like it)

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup of lemon juice or good quality red or white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Add the salt to a large pot of water. Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water until well done (easily pierced with a fork). Drain.  Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and pepper and mash.

In the blender bowl of the food processor (or with a hand mixer), purée the potatoes and garlic until well mixed, about 30-45 seconds. Still puréeing, slowly add the olive oil and lemon juice, alternating between them, tasting as you go, until the mixture is smooth.   Skordalia should be creamy and thick. If it gets too thick, add a little cold water (not more than 1/4 cup).

When serving, pour some extra olive oil on top and sprinkle with fresh thyme. 

Skordalia is a matter of taste. Some people prefer a mild garlic taste, while I like a strong garlic taste. If the garlic is too strong, add more potatoes.   If it's not garlicky enough - add more garlic!  

Additions

In various regions of Greece, walnuts or almonds are added. If you like, add a cup of finely chopped walnuts or almonds to the food processor at the beginning, with the potatoes, and add the juice of a lemon to the liquids. The consistency will still be similar to thick ketchup but granular due to the nuts.

Caro's avo dip

Caro and I used to make this dip and sit in the sun on the kitchen door step at her house and eat the whole bowl with a packet of salt and vinegar chips for lunch!  If you want to make guacamole use lime juice instead of lemon juice and add chopped tomatoes, a finely chopped red onion and some chopped coriander.

Ingredients

1 large avocado or 2 small ones

1 tblsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp cottage cheese (or creme fraiche or sour cream)

the juice of 2 lemons

salt and pepper

Mash all the ingredients together with a fork.  Serve with chips or crusty bread, or spread it on your toast for breakfast.

Juj's baba ganoush

(photos to come!)

Baba Ganoush -- aubergine dip, relish for steaks & lamb on the braai,

pasta sauce

Put two whole aubergines in the flames on the braai before it's ready

for the meat (or directly in the flame on gas hob) until they are

completely charred and very soft.

Scoop out the flesh and mix with 1 clove mashed garlic, juice of half a

lemon, 3 tbsp olive oil, salt & pepper. 1-2 tbsp tahini paste -- start

with a little tahini and taste as you add more -- too much is yuck. Mint

too if you like. Pour more oil on top. 

healthy(ish) no-bake choc nut bars

These are really quick and easy to make, relatively healthy and you don't have to bake them.  they are nice for something sweet after dinner.  Keep them in the fridge in summer.   Almond butter and coconut oil are quite expensive and hard to find so I use peanut butter and canola oil instead.  You could also substitute other types of seeds and nuts and dried fruit, as long as you keep the quantities the same.

Makes 16 bars 

Ingredients

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut oil (or canola oil)

1/4 cup almond butter (or peanut butter)

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 sunflower seeds

1/4 pumpkin seeds

1/4 goji berries (or cranberries or raisins)

1 cup rolled oats

Heat honey, coconut oil, almond butter, sea salt, vanilla and cinnamon in a saucepan over low heat. 

Combine chopped almonds, chopped walnuts, dark chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries and rolled oats in a bowl. 

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Press into a greased 8" x 8" pan and refrigerate until hardened. Cut into 16 bars. 

cheesecakes

I know it's probably much cheaper to go and buy a cheesecake from the cheesecake shop (in Australia anyway!) than to make it yourself - but they taste so much better homemade.  There a a few cheesecake recipes here - Debbie Wijers chocolate cheesecake (which I used to make a lot in Zim), Mandy's lemon cheesecake, Lindy's grapefruit cheesecake and Ness' white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake.  They are all rich and yummy and worth a try!

Debbie’s chocolate cheesecake

Topping

500 g cottage cheese

65 ml caster sugar

15 ml gelatine

100 g dark chocolate (grated)

5 ml vanilla essence

3 eggs (separated)

250 ml whipped cream

50 mil cold water

Base :

1 pkt Romany cream biscuits (crushed)

50 g melted butter

Mix biscuits and butter.  Press into a round greased spring-form tin and put in the fridge to set.

Beat the cheese, vanilla and sugar together.  Add the egg yolks and beat well.  Dissolve the gelatine in warm water and stir into the cheese mixture.  Add 2/3 of the grated chocolate.  Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture using a metal spoon.  Finally fold in the whipped cream.  Pour into the tin and leave to set in the fridge.  Sprinkle with the remaining grated chocolate before serving.

*  I don't know what the Australian equivalent of  Romany Cream biscuits would be.  I get them at our local South African shop but if you can't find them you need a chocolate-coconut type biscuit.

Mandy's lemon cheesecake

Ingredients:       

1 ½ packets of lemon jelly

4 x 15ml spoons water

2 eggs separated

300ml milk          

Grated rind 2 lemons    

6 x 15ml spoons lemon juice      

500g cottage cheese

1 x 15ml spoon castor sugar

150 ml double cream whipped

For crumb base:

100g digestive biscuits( or half digestive half ginger)

50g castor sugar               

50g butter melted

Crush the biscuits, stir in the butter and sugar, press it into the bottom of a greased 20 cm spring release pan. Put it in the fridge to set.

Put the jelly and water in a small pan and warm gently over low heat (important that it’s not too hot!)

Stir until dissolved. Beat together egg yolks and milk pour onto thejelly and stir, return the mixture to the heat for a few minutes WITHOUT boiling.

Remove from the heat and add lemon rind and juice. Put jelly and cottage cheese in an electric blender. Mix until smooth. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, fold into cool cheese mixture.

Fold in the cream. Put mixture into a 20 cm spring release cake tim

Mandy usually adds blueberries on top, fresh cooked in a little sugar and water or tinned if fresh not available.

* 15 ml spoon = 1 tablespoon

Lindy’s Grapefruit Cheesecake

(aka Pamplemousse Cheesecake)

Base

175 gms plain sweet biscuits  (eg ginger snaps, digestive biscuits etc)                 

90 gms melted butter 

Filling

230 gms cream cheese                         

1 tsp grated grapefruit rind

2 grapefruit

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 large tin sweetened condensed milk

Crush biscuits very finely & combine with melted butter.   Mix thoroughly.

Press mixture into a 23 cm (9 inch) pie plate covering base & sides evenly.

Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Remove all the skin & pith from the grapefruit, cut fruit into segments over a bowl

to save juice.   Keep four segments for decoration & cut rest into small pieces.

Beat cream cheese & grated rind until creamy.   Gradually beat in condensed

milk, lemon juice & any juice from grapefruit.   Fold in chopped grapefruit.   Pour

mixture into prepared case.   Decorate with reserved grapefruit segments.

Refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours until well set.

Ness' White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake to come ....