What A Pickle

Ah Yes, Mrs. Balls, the famous South African Chutney we all know and love.

I challenge you to find a larder in SA deprived of this tangy peach resin.

Although, I would never wish such a barren larder upon anyone, I could not shake the urge to concoct my own sumptuous preserve.

By no means was I wishing for my homemade jar to take the place of my loyal Mrs. Balls Chutney but merely to sit next to it on the shelf, as a supplement, just in case.

After hours of pouring myself over numerous cookbooks, magazines and food blogs and much deliberation, I eventually fabricated a recipe.

The backbone of a recipe, which I can tweak, as and when I please, according to the season, my mood or the state of my kitchen cupboards and this is how it goes…

1kg Cooking Apples/ Courgettes/ Peaches diced

1kg Tomatoes, diced

500g Rasins or Sultanas

500g soft brown sugar

400ml White wine vinegar

500g Onions chopped

3 Chilies, chopped finely

Good pinch of Maldon Salt

A few glugs of good Balsamic vinegar

(If using Apples, I add a few Teaspoons of Mild Curry Powder)

For the Spice bag or Bouquet Garni – if you will

6 Cloves

2 Teaspoons Black/Mixed Peppercorns

2 Teaspoons Coriander seeds

2 Bay Leaves

Combine all the ingredients in your biggest pot and bring slowly to the boil then simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally so as everything reduces nicely without sticking to the bottom!

When it is a nice thick consistency, leave it to cool slightly and decant into your sterilized jars and line your shelves with your homemade goodness. Now all you have to do is wait, a month or two, the longer the better to let all those flavours fuse.

Eat it with Relish!

Not So Cheesy After All

So, you want to make a cheesecake.

You are enticed by the luscious sweet tang of cream cheese and biscuit-y bite, but the thought of hauling yourself to the kitchen and following a recipe with the words ‘Bain-Marie’ in it make you immediately stop salivating, then fear not.

Frankly, I do not have time (or want to have time – for that matter) in my life for any kind of recipe, which involves running a bath for my food to sit in whilst in the oven. So, Thank You to the French for inventing the delicate heating process of ‘Mary’s Bath’, but no Thank You, all the same.

It is mid-summer in sunny SA and we are already baking, so there is absolutely, positively no room for any other source of heat and therefore this cheesecake shall be a well and truly oven-free recipe. So for those of you who are in Cape Town today at 32 Degrees – Hoorah!




To re-create this divine dessert you will need:

2 x Packs Cream Cheese
1 x Tin Condensed Milk
2 x Fresh Lemons
Splash of Vanilla Extract

1 x Pack Buttery Biscuits (Shortbread or even Digestive Biscuits will do!)
1 x Ginger Biscuits
Enough Melted Butter to mix with Biscuit crumbs – roughly 125g
Strawberries, sliced – to decorate


First, you want to bash your biscuits in question to smithereens and add your melted butter until your mixture resembles wet sand.
Line your spring-form cake tin with cling film so as to avoid impending panic attack when said cheesecake doesn’t oblige and neatly slip out of your tin, when ready.
Press your ‘wet sand’ into lined tin, spreading over the bottom and all up the sides, covering the entire inside of your tin, you can move your tin to the freezer now so it hardens up, after all - time waiting for cheesecake to freeze inevitably means time spent not eating cheesecake and this is not what we want, not one bit.

Meanwhile, blend your cream cheese in a big bowl until smooth and pour in condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing all the time achieving a silky, smooth concoction.
Pour this pale emulsion into your biscuit lined tin and return to refrigerator.
Slice your strawberries as thinly as you can and arrange around the top of your cheesecake once it has fully set.




Now sit back and revel in the glory of your gorgeous gastronomy.

Oh So Peppy Pesto

I scream, you scream, he screams, we all scream for Pesto!

To this day, I am yet to meet an individual who does not like or even love this uncooked condiment.



Pesto (alla Genovese) translates directly to ‘crush’ in Italian and Genoa’s Basil version is the most popular amongst the Pesto’s. Consisting of the infamous combination of ingredients –Basil, Parmesan, Pine Nuts and some Garlic, Salt and Olive Oil thrown in for good measure. This sauce is enough to transform your sorry Spaghetti into gastronomy, with every moorish mouthful.



Pesto is extremely versatile, charitably accommodating all of your random ingredients and left overs, marrying them all together in holy matrimony ‘til death do them part, (or at least until hunger gets the best of you.)

I was first introduced to my trusty old friend Pesto, in the form of pesto pasta or Linguine to be more precise. I may have adapted this since – just a tad, varying pasta shapes using anything from Fusili to Orecchiette. Along with Sun-kissed Tomatoes, Lardons, (Pancetta, Bacon bits – whatever you chose to call those salty sweet Pork nuggets,) Artichokes or quite frankly, anything along the Italian antipasto kind of vibe.
A great, vibrant meal, which becomes outstanding with the addition of some shavings of Parmesan and some toasted Pine Kernels, it also keeps really well, which is ideal. Not suggesting that it keeps too well in my house but just incase it is not immediately demolished, rest assured, I know it will be just as yummy for lunch the next day.

This green gourmet you see below, is the way in which I like Pesto the most – Pesto Veggies. As we are all going ‘green’ these days, I felt it only right to conform.
So I use Sugar Snap Peas, Asparagus, Green Beans and Tender stem Broccoli – all lightly steamed. Adorned with Pesto, Parmesan and yes – you guessed it, Pine Nuts, this makes for a meal fit to make all your colleagues ‘green’ with envy when you whip it out at lunchtime.




Be sure not to let basil pesto’s popularity restrict your culinary escapades as Coriander, Mint and Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto are also equally spectacular and will bring your plate and your taste-buds straight back to life.

Try using Mint Pesto (home-made or shop bought,) as a generous dressing for your leftover rice, add some peas and courgettes, feta and maybe even some toasted seeds or nuts.
Coriander Pesto works amazingly well as a marinade for Chicken or Fish, but slicked over some noodles, Thai-style, with some crunchy Veg and toasted Cashews or even Coconut is pretty damn good.

When you have some spare time, (who does?) or cash, for that matter, try making your own ‘crush’. It is not difficult or time consuming, use a pestle and mortar or a food processor and basically bash/blitz the living daylights out of your ingredients and seal in airtight jars in the fridge.




As a marinade, meal or simply to give your ole’ sarnie a new lease of life – the moral of the story is, we all need some Pesto in our lives, so get involved.

So, today I was asked ‘what inspires me?’ Of course, the usual textbook answers sprang to mind – markets, magazines, my mum…

Then someone passed on a book to me, a book, which they said I might like - and this book or the author, rather conjures great inspiration indeed.



The book was none other than ‘Harvest Diaries’ the second organic cookbook slash memoir from Christine Stevens, English born Christine moved over to sunny SA and is running her own farm, makes her own wine and is basically self-sufficient and living the life.





I think being able to go out in to your back garden and choose whatever you want from your very own vegetable garden is definitely inspiring.



It definitely tastes better if you’ve grown it yourself because lets be honest, who has the time and infact dedication to do anything more than talk about, never mind grow your own herb or veggie garden.

Well, Christine Stevens does and I’m glad.