Recipes

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.

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.

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.

There’s nothing mysterious about a piece of cold meat between two slices of bread. But here we take the basic sandwich invention and thrust it right into the middle of fine dining, with your bare hands doing most of the work.

There’s a whole lot of gustatory novelty in this splendid collection of ingredients. From pancetta to chilli, to the pasta itself, this menu item for your personal collection is excitingly different – and set to become a favourite.

Raw mussels, straight off the rocks, were a staple of the strandlopers, indigenous South Africans from long ago. For those of us far from the strand, the nation’s supermarkets provide cleaned and shelled frozen mussels, just waiting for this recipe to convert them into a diner’s delight.

Here’s a meal from the great folk who gave us the Roman Empire, Luciano Pavarotti, Ferrari sports cars, and some of the strangest Test rugby known to modern man.

Pan-fried calamari is an impressive addition to the new cook’s repertoire, and the tomato sauce is a tasty reinvention of a classic. Enjoy this dish with a cold beer, or if you have a more delicate palate, a good white wine.

Stir-frying, as I never cease to tell my readers, is a liberation for the new cook. It’s a quick path to astonishing dinner parties or even a quick and fragrant dinner time for two.

While a broiler fowl straight from the chiller at the supermarket may be a marvel of contemporary agriculture, the bird can sometimes be a little low on flavour. And that’s where lime salsa verde comes in, transforming the humble broiler into a splendid vehicle for enticing aroma and taste.

This is a fine stand-alone dish, or if you’re a relentless carnivore like this writer, a great side-dish to a mutton or chicken curry. A couple of roti per diner are all you need to complete the menu.