MINCE AND CABBAGE STUFFED SOFT ROLLS AND A POTATO BREAD

I love watching cooking programmes on TV and at the moment we have a fantastic show on called The Hairy Bikers Bakeation where they go around Europe tasting all the different food that each country has to offer and they especially love breads and pastries.

Last night they were in Germany and made a Potato Bread and the most delicious soft little rolls stuffed with mince and cabbage.

Today I spent a lovely afternoon making both while listening to K.D Lang on my ipod.  I think she has a fantastic voice - pure listening pleasure.

Potato Bread with  black onion seed

Soft mince and cabbage rolls

At the moment I am as happy as can be - my tummy is full and beautiful music  is playing and life is just perfect.

Love The Tipsy Tart
xx

BEER BIRD

My husband loves having a BBQ and will at any opportunity suggest we have one regardless of the weather.  We have even been known to cook outside in the snow with friends on New Year's Eve.

So when I saw this in a South African food shop, I just knew that I had to buy it for my husband for his birthday.  The idea is that you place a tin of beer (three quarter's full) inside the chicken's cavity

as the flavour of the beer leaves the chicken tasting absolutely wonderful as well as

keeping it incredibly moist.

As we had all my family for lunch yesterday for Easter Day, what better time to try it out and see if it is as good as it sounds.

 I am happy to report that not only did my husband love his birthday present but my whole family said that the chicken was absolutely wonderful.

Love the Tipsy Tart

xx

A SOUTH AFRICAN EASTER TREAT

Take one chocolate marshmallow egg and one

Marie biscuit - put it in the microwave for a few seconds

and immediately put on another Marie biscuit

and just sit back and enjoy a simple South African Easter treat that is just so wonderful

that one is just never enough......

Happy Easter to you and all of yours
Love The Tipsy Tart
xx

A POCKET OF PLEASURE

Some days when you are tired and really just not in the mood to stand for hours creating magic, by doing just a few simple steps, delicious food is never far away and this is such a meal.  It is really impressive enough for serve for a dinner party or perfect for a BBQ in the garden.

Take a lamb steak and place it on a sheet of tinfoil

 Take a tablespoon or two of red pesto sauce and grate some lemon zest and the juice of half the lemon and mix together.

Spread a layer of the red pesto sauce on top of the lamb steak.

And wrap it tightly so that the folds are facing upwards and no juice can leak out.

Take a red pepper or two and cut open and de-seed.

 And put into the middle of each pepper about four cherry tomatoes

Slice very thinly a garlic clove and put one or two slices in between the tomatoes and add three anchovies over the tomatoes and then the oil from the tin - sprinkle over the whole pepper.

Anchovies when cooked  melt and give the pepper the most wonderful flavour and saltiness.

Put both the steak and peppers in the oven for about an hour at a temperature of about 180 C

until the pepper is roasted and the tomatoes soft.

About five minutes before you take the steak out of 

the oven - open the tinfoil and allow to brown slightly

          

Add a few boiled baby potatoes and steamed snap peas and

sit back and enjoy your pocket of pleasure that took 

no time or effort at all.

Until next time my friends.
Love The Tipsy Tart
xx

AN AWESOME FOURSOME +1 AND MY PROFESSIONAL TASTE TESTER

I was browsing through a few blogs the other day and found a fabulous blog called Curly Girl Kitchen by Heather whose recipes and food is amazing.


However, there was one that just called to me saying "make me, make me, be mine" and as I find it so hard to  resist any wonderful cause, I did.

Although I have not yet made the coconut muffins and my version of the kiwi lime curd is definitely not as pretty, it tastes pretty good even if I say so myself.

And that got me thinking (as you do)  - I had Lemon and Raspberry Curd in the fridge so why not make Passionfruit Curd which I know is delicious and make a pudding with the four different flavours - and so I did.

I took all the flavours that I had and just mixed each of them individually with a tablespoon or two of whipped double cream and put the filling in a meringue and this is is how my awesome foursome ended up looking like.

Passionfruit Cream

.

Lemon Cream

Raspberry Cream

Kiwi and Lime Fruit Cream

and only because my favourite snack is never too far from me at the moment,
I just could not resist making another Chocolate Philly Cream.

I just love the little mark left by a telltale secret taster
when your back is turned - so sweet.

And my professional taste tester, just happened to be one cute granddaughter.

Love The Tipsy Tart

xx

CHOCOLATE PHILLY MERINGUES

Tonight we were invited to friends for supper and my contribution was the pudding.

Other than to tell you that I took two tubs of chocolate philly and mixed it together with two big tablespoons of extra thick double cream and put a very very big tablespoon into the middle of each of the 8 meringue nests and then grated a bit of toblerone over - I shall say no more other than to let my photos do the talking for once...

Dylan, my son, the taste tester.

Love The Tipsy Tart 

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH AMBER

While speaking to my daughter this last week and discussing all the food that our family has loved and enjoyed over the years,  she reminded me that my spinach and feta quiche was one of her favourite meals that I used to cook for her as a teenager. I was immediately transported back to my kitchen in Cape Town and packing a picnic hamper with this quiche and heading out to the beach to enjoy quality time as a family or with good friends under a cool shady tree during the extreme heat of the summer sun.   

Sadly for me, Amber left home years ago to work in London so I do not get to see her that often but her love of  home cooked meals remains as passionate as ever.

Because she works such long hours and shares accommodation with friends,  it is not always easy or possible for her to cook or eat what she loves,  so when she homes home, the pen and paper come out and I am given a list of all the things that she wants to eat.

 As Easter is a few weeks away and Amber is coming home with Jonathan her wonderful boyfriend, I know that we will both be in the kitchen cooking up a storm

 and taking a trip down memory lane of all things wonderful and I am hoping that after just one bite of my quiche, Jonathan will turn to Amber and say he will definitely bring her home more often xx

Love The Tipsy Tart