Lifestyle

You’ve grilled the perfect steak. How could you make it even better? Nothing, if you are a purist. Quite a lot, if you’re ready to venture into the unknown. To do this, you’ll need butter. Anchovies. Maybe even a can of smoked oysters...

I received an email from Peter and Dalene asking me to revise their sketch. They preferred two separate wings for the bedroom sections, and to keep within the private development allowable area of 250m².

For the mid-20th century connoisseur, the ideal of fine dining consisted of a prawn cocktail, followed by Tournedos Chasseur, finished off by an Irish coffee. Here’s that very same culinary delight, but without the Irish coffee. Or the prawn cocktail.

It is possible to design an eco-friendly cottage. Jonno shows us how.

For years, vegetables were simply annoying competitors for real estate on my plate. I needed the room – all of it – for meat. Then I learned how to cook the green things. No boiling to a flavourless pulp: just a moment at high heat in a wok.

This superb homage to the pig is a luxurious meal, easy to cook and quick too, assuming that you have some quality chicken stock in the freezer. If not, I’ve shown you how to make your own.

Approximately seven years ago, I designed a home for Pete and his family on a golf estate.

Baking, as I’ve mentioned before, is a dark zone of potential failure and damaged emotions. But sometimes, there is light at the end of the oven. Here is a totally unexpected cake, invented by sheep farmer and slow food specialist, Richard Haig of Enaleni Farm. As the ads used to promise, it’s truly flop-proof.

Nowhere does it say that you have to have spaghetti with bolognaise sauce. And to prove it, here’s a combination of great flavours, textures and aromas all designed to transform pasta into the meal of your dreams…

A single garage and staff quarters is converted into the granny cottage.

While there are some folk, this backwoods cook amongst them, who regard plain vanilla ice cream as an eternal miracle of fine dining, other more sophisticated diners have requested a few enhancements. Here they are...

Here’s a way to rev up frozen hake. Playing anything but second fiddle to the fish is a crunchy assortment of slightly unusual green vegetables.

Dear Jonno I recently purchased an 8ha smallholding on which I plan to grow macadamias. The building on the property is not worth repairing, so...

Pork, red meat’s poor relation, makes a roast of multidimensional complexity if treated right. Thanks to crisp crackling with a moist interior, this roast adds its own special blessing to Sunday lunch.

Jonno designs a house on an elevated slope for Pamela.

This magnificent invention can also be called curry without rice. A splendid combination of traditional Cape and KZN cooking, it provides both cook and diners with a powerful set of calming emotions.

Dear Jonno One of my employees, a widow, owns a shack in the township, and is in the process of building herself a better home. She...

Never judge a book by its cover, or a pie by its pastry. You never know what delicacies lie hidden beneath the dish’s crispy exterior. If it’s succulent texture and rich aroma you’re after, read on.

This requires only a few simple ingredients and can be prepared quickly. But it tastes absolutely marvellous. What’s more, it goes with nearly any vegetable or salad you desire.

Mark, a previous client of mine who owns a game farm in Limpopo, visited my studio on his way to the KZN coast.