Home, Cooking In The Club

I enjoy good food, and while great food is anything you didn't have to cook, labouring in the kitchen as part of the social event appeals to me. Well... Sometimes! It depends highly on the kitchen, and as any social goes, the people. So I guess it's a good thing when we all get along, have similar interests and we indulge. We even came up with a name for it, Club Kombuis. Kombuis being kitchen, in Afrikaans.

We've been doing this for years, but today I figured I would at least attempt to get some decent photographs in, of the food, rather than simply a mobile photography after thought. I also need to practice on my indoor photography, where natural light isn't as giving. You'll have to take my word for it when I say Granny Mom, Lyall, Chomba, Vonda, Maya and Gabi were in the kitchen, as the pictures I've chosen to post, have specifically focused on the food (barring the one above with Gabi and Maya baking).

Lyall pretty much had carte blanche on the creativity on the braai. So while we had a white fish and ostrich fillet, a braai is not a braai without boerewors. Even if you have herbs and citrus fruit for colour, boerewors maketh the braai.

Chomba made the Sababa inspired Green and Red Cabbage Salad with Sesame Seeds, Dill, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. We've been fans of Tal Smith and her Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Food for years. Having bought hers and Nirit Saban's cookbook, trying out recipes at home adds to the gastronomic nature of our home. The cookbook was launched in 2014 and is called Sababa, so I expect more books from that stable.

Vonda made the oven roasted potato and sweet potato, as well as the Ottolenghi inspired Chargrilled Broccoli With Chilli And Garlic. This recipe can be found in Ottolenghi, The Cookbook... This is where I added more value than simply taking photos and pouring wine... Vonda did ask me to assist with this dish.

As for the wine, no meal is complete for me without a decent bottle of wine. Enter the Waterkloof Wine Estate's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon!

It felt effortless... I haven't even mentioned the dessert. A banting friendly chocolate brownie, ice cream and chocolate sauce (home made Lindt based chocolate sauce), and a vanilla cake with chocolate icing. The dessert in itself is another blog, as we lounged around for the rest of the afternoon, working off what we ate trying to get the ball down that was stuck in the tree.

That's to me what a lazy Sunday can have in it, if you want to drag me out of my gown, and away from my comfortable Sunday reading, where I catch up with the world and its drama.