Sophie's choice - Potato mince (ground beef) casserole

Potato mince dish
This is going to become one of my firm favorites as I love potatoes and minced / ground meat. Oma Sophie is the creator of this dish and is not only a fantastic cook but also a fantastic human being. Her 3 year old grandson was listening as his mother explained to his older sister exactly what grandparents are. He then piped up and said: “When I grow up I want to be Oma Sophie.” What a compliment and a well-deserved one too.

Szegediner Gulasch (Pork sauerkraut goulasch)

Szegediner Gulasch (Pork sauerkraut goulasch)
This is generally a recipe that we eat in the winter time, but the weather has been so awful and so unusually cold that we have (thankfully) been forced to enjoy this in the summertime. I am less strict about summer and winter food than my hubby and am quite capable of eating a vindaloo curry at the absolute height of summer (that we would be so lucky). We do try to eat seasonal fruit and veg, but sauerkraut in a tin doesn’t seem to follow any season…

Catherine The Divine

Today's recipe: MINCE / GROUND BEEF FOR CURRY BUNNY OR CURRY AND RICE
Catherine, Anna, Maya, Lars & Table Mountain
The next part of our South African adventure took place in Cape Town with Lars and another divine member of my extended family whom you have as yet not met, namely my wonderful sister-in-law, Catherine. She may no longer be married to my husband’s brother, and she may try running and hiding from me, but she will always be a part of the family along with our two beautiful nieces, Anna and Maya. That’s them in the photo with Table Mountain and its tablecloth in the background.

Braai time (not Brie time!)

Today’s recipe: Marinade for meat or chicken.
Springbok kebabs.

A braai is similar to a barbeque in that bit involves cooking meat over flames outside. But that is where the similarity ends. A PROPER South African braai involves real wood, no charcoal or (heaven forbid) (gasp) gas. We want flames and carcinogenic black bits on our meat. The word can be difficult for foreigners to pronounce and it has been referred to as a Brie, which is just plain wrong!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braai

Family and other wild animals

Today’s recipe: Elephant stew
A photo of sea and rocks in Port Elizabeth.
In light of all the miserable weather in the northern hemisphere, I am almost ashamed to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the summer sunshine in the southern hemisphere. If it makes you feel any better, I have had a spot of bother with sunburn, food poisoning and hate mail from freezing Europeans

Steak and kidney pie

A photo of steak and kidney pie with mash and beet.
Of all my wonderful memories of England, steak and kidney pie is way up there as a fixed favorite. Friends and family would try to have me eat other foods, but I just HAD to try the steak and kidney pie wherever we went. With LOTS of gravy and NO peas.

Confit of Duck (Confit de canard) and Foie Gras (Fat liver)

A photo of duck carcasses on the barbecue.
Just before leaving France, we partook in the age old French tradition of bottling confit of duck and foie gras / fat liver. Foie gras is a much discussed product and I am not going to make a judgment about if one should eat it or not – I’ll let everyone decide for themselves. We enjoyed joining our French (and Scottish) neighbors / friends in preparing this traditional French delicacy so I thought I’d tell you about our fun evening and give you the recipes.

Beef Filet, mashed Potatoes and Root veggies & Blue Cheese Endives

A photo of Beef filet, mash potatoes & root vegetables, and blue cheese endives.

As I have mentioned in several posts, I spent a couple of weeks in the States at the beginning of the year and my great friend Peg and I made a Standing Rib Roast for New Years Eve dinner which was superb. As there are no photos of this great meal, you are getting recipes for a Beef Filet dinner I made in May which was also superb and for which I do have photographs! We had Beef Filet, blue cheese Endives and Mash Potato with carrots and pumpkin and here are all the recipes. But first the stories…

Curry Buffet Dinner for 12 - Part 1

Today's recipes are: Meatball Curry; and Lentil Curry
Photo of a curry buffet plate.

How about a Curry Extravaganza for your next dinner party? My menu included: Potato Curry Soup – a total winner that even non-curry people love as it is velvety smooth and delicately spiced – as a Starter, then for the main course a Prawn Curry, Meatball Curry, Lentil Curry, Compressed ginger rice, and Green beans with sesame oil. You can prepare them the day before if you like, as curries definitely improve if you let them sit a bit. But first some stories…

Joerg's Cypriot grilled meat / Pork Kebab

kebab on grill

Today’s recipe: Joerg’s Cypriot grilled meat / Pork Kebab

When people are hard at work, they need to be well fed so we have been pulling out all the stops this past week to keep our work force in good spirits. And we all love braaing (barbecuing) so yesterday we got out the grill we brought back from Cyprus last year and made a special Pork Kebab and drank German wheat beer (Hefeweizen).