Saffron poached pears with Lourensford noble late harvest 2014

I have never been a fan of avocado. 
The texture was simply something I could not accept. 
I remember being young and being told that certain things in life were an acquired taste and that an appreciation for them would more than likely come with age. 
For many years I wasn’t sure that this was true, until, lo and behold, my absolute distaste for avocado disappeared. 
Slowly but surely I invited this green fruit into my life and I started experimenting with its flavours. Strange how that happens.
How the adults turned out to know a thing or two at the end of the day.

Another food that I have had the same experience with is blue cheese. 
The thought of it when I was younger turned my stomach (and my nose).
It was off putting to know that mold was grown in the cheese (on purpose!), the taste was pungent, the smell oh-so-over powering rushing into my sinuses with a less than agreeable result and that people actually ate it AS A SPECIAL TREAT!?

Now, in my later years, I enjoy a mild blue cheese and won’t say no to it especially with a fig on top. 

My new found love for blue cheese and avocado started me thinking about the wines that I drink. 
Being a stone’s throw away from some of the best wine estates in the world have given me a unique opportunity to expand my palette and begin appreciating some phenomenal wines.  

I have always loved dessert wine. For obvious reasons, it is sweet and pleasing to a novice wine drinker. 
In the same way, I have learned to appreciate new tastes with a maturing palate, I am loathed to admit that I had forgotten the delights of some of my younger forays into dessert wine and had all but excluded it from my repertoire.

Revisiting some of my earlier favorites, I’ve fallen in love with dessert wines all over again 

Appreciating the nose of a wine and the tasting notes have definitely come with age.
I found the perfect opportunity with this Lourensford Noble late harvest to pair up some unique flavours that will not only test your palette but please it right down to its nuanced sensibilities.

The wine has a certain richness to it and could be a dessert all on its own. 
With its liquid gold colour and an inviting nose of rich tropical fruits, I decided to pair it with saffron poached pears served with blue cheese and walnuts. It’s a flavour symphony that will sing in your mouth and should be kept in your arsenal for Christmas, which is just around the corner, complete with a list as long as your arm of demands for indulgent desserts and treats.

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Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes. 

Ingredients:

• 4 pears peeled 
• 1 cup of castor sugar 
• 3 cinnamon sticks 
• pinch of saffron 
• 4 cardamom pods
• 4 whole cloves 
• peel of 1 lemon
• 3 star anise
• 100 grams blue cheese
• 80 grams walnuts 

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Instructions:

In a medium pot add the pears, sugar, cinnamon, saffron, cardamom, cloves, lemon peel and star anise. 

Fill the pot halfway with warm water. Place on a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 40-50 minutes or until the pears are soft when pricked with a fork. 

Remove the pears from the pot and set aside. Reduce the syrup in the pot for another 15 minutes. You want it to become slightly thick. 

Serve warm or cold topped with syrup, blue cheese and walnuts crumbled on top and the perfect glass of dessert wine from Lourensford! 

-Melissa 

p.s this can be made the day before and the flavour gets even better! 

How to grill the perfect steak and a giveaway with Risoli!

I often get asked, “how do you make the perfect steak?” 

As a proudly South African girl, my first answer is on the grill with an open flame. There is something primal about it that ignites my inner pyromaniac, plus it’s really wonderful cooking on an open flame out in the elements. However, this isn’t always achievable. Add in a howling south easter and that little open flame meant to char a chop can turn into a roaring mountain blaze faster than you can put down the braai tongs. In fact more often than not, in simpler terms, it’s just too much hassle to set up a fire and wait for it to be the correct temperature to grill a single steak. So then what?

Enter Risoli and their marvelous grill pan! Imported from Italy and an absolute essential in the kitchen.  
The best part of the design is that it is non-stick. I love this because a cast iron grill can be such a pain to clean and with the Risoli it is quick and easy! You can focus your energy on cooking rather than cleaning which is right up my alley. 
Nobody likes to wash dishes.  

A grill pan is an essential in the kitchen because it actually goes so much further than just grilling a steak. Essentially you are cooking without added fat making it a healthier cooking method. 
You can grill vegetables as well as meat and my personal favorite, corn. 
I have a habit of trying to incorporate that little yellow ‘mielie’ into as many dishes as I can.
The possibilities are endless, think grilled corn salsa, marinated grilled vegetable salads and of course, chorizo tapas and perfect meat options!  

So, without further adieu - let’s get down to basics. Here are a few tips that I believe will make your life easier in the kitchen: 

Lesson Number 1.
The biggest mistake people make is to put oil into a grill pan. 
This is a big no-no because all you are going to do is smoke out your house. Unless your house is already on fire from that earlier braai attempt in the South Easter – nobody enjoys choking on the thick smoke billowing from an oiled grill pan.
The pan is designed to work with little to no oil. When grilling your steak all you need to do is lightly brush the meat. Lightly. That’s it. If you add more oil it will just cause a mess. 
So lesson no 1, oil the meat - not the pan.

Lesson Number 2.
The second biggest tip is to cook one side and then another. Don’t toss and turn your piece of meat. What I mean is; lightly oil your meat, bring your pan to a high heat and then lay your meat down. The main thing you are looking for is a sizzle! It is all about the sizzle. Once the meat is in the pan, leave it face down for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes turn your meat over and grill for another 3 minutes. You will see the grill marks showing up nicely. Cooking time can vary based on the thickness of your steak as well as how you would like your steak done. I personally only like medium rare to medium. So my cook time on a based on a 2cm thick steak, 3 minutes a side.
Aside from the taste benefit of minimizing the manhandling of your meat – it leaves your steak with a perfect aesthetic; marks on meat that looks more like a grill pan and less like you prepared your meat on chicken coop wire.
I’m a stickler for the details.

Season your meat after grilling with a basic salt and pepper herb mix. 
If your meat is marinated then you won’t need to oil your meat. Just let excess marinade drip off before grilling the meat. 

Lesson Number 3.
Let sleeping meat lie…
Allow for rest time on your meat. You want to be able to rest your meat for 5-10 minutes. 
Remove it from the pan (heat) and put it on a chopping board. 
Cover it with foil to allow the steak to keep warm. 
Resting the meat means it won’t end up in a bloody pool on the plate! (Unless you like that sort of thing...no judgment…okay, maybe a little Hannibal) 

Once rested, slice and serve with a simple chimichurri sauce or cracked salt. See recipe below ... 

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Ingredients: 

• 2 Rump steaks approx 200 grams, cooked according to above method. 
• A bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley 
• 1 teaspoon coriander 
• 1 - 2 garlic cloves 
• 1/4 red onion
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1/2 red chilli (depending on how hot you like it)
• 5-6 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar 

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Instructions: 

Grill the steak and set aside to rest. 

Blend all chimichurri ingredients together and serve on top of sliced steak. 

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GIVEAWAY TIME! 

Now for the exciting giveaway! Comment below on what your favourite grilled dish is and you can stand a chance to win this amazing pan! Competition for South Africa only, entries close on the 17th of November. If you share the post on social media from The Truffle Journals facebook page and follow the page, then you score some extra points! Good Luck! 

*This blog post was sponsored by Risoli, all opinions are my own. 

La Petite Ferme

La Petite Ferme is a wine farm situated on the hills of Franschhoek, upon the Oliphants Pass and Middagkrans Mountains with splendid views over looking the valley. This establishment is something special.
Its story even more so - like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Le Petit Ferme is a modern day institution and Franschhoek would hardly seem complete without this bastion of present day permanence. 

The modern farm was bought in 1974 and in 1984 a 40-seat restaurant was built. The farm previously ran as a plum farm and when the plum farm closed down the owners John and Carol Dendy-Young re-hired all the original staff to help run the restaurant.

After experiencing a tragic fire in 1996, the restaurant was brought back to life with the help of the staff and community… Instead of donning the usual aprons, they put on gumboots and rebuilt this beautiful establishment from the ground up.

The restaurant is bright and beautifully decorated. Adorned with the original fireplace in the main seating section, the new interior honours both the old and the new, salvaging what survived the fire and embracing it with fresh décor. Outside the lawns roll down into the Franschhoek valley and the views are simply spectacular. Walking around the estate, while sipping on perfect glass of crisp Sauvignon Blanc, I watched an elderly couple; sitting quietly on a bench taking in their surroundings. A place that encourages the appreciation of peace and calm really is a place worth visiting.

The property has luxury accommodation and will make even the wariest of travelers feel welcome and well rested. With large bedrooms with spectacular views I could picture myself in the stand-alone bath with bubbles in hand over looking the valley.

We were treated to a special, old versus new tasting to launch the new menu at the restaurant. The food brims with flavour and is the perfect option for a long summers lunch. My must try was the trout which was served with a citrus hollandaise sauce. Who knew that hollandaise needed citrus? A revelation! Hardly one to be forgotten - A very real concern for me now is how to ask chefs at other restaurants to up their hollandaise game without getting thrown out.

Paired with the La Petite Ferme Sauvignon Blanc, I was in heaven!

The maestro in the kitchen, Neethling du Toit has struck the perfect balance between the much-loved old menus, retaining certain inalienable elements to pay homage to the past, but with an ever-mindful eye to the future.

To know where you are going you can never forget where you have come from.  

If you find yourself in the area or travelling up the Franschhoek pass then this estate is a spot that you simply have to try.
It might feel a little strangely familiar, like a home away from home, but that’s ok.
You could stay on for a few days and lose yourself in La Petite Ferme. 

The Pool Room at Oak Valley

Have you watched the show Chef’s table on Netflix? If you have you will remember Dan Barber from Blue Hill. I recently watched the episode about Blue Hill farm and he made a statement that stuck with me. He believes that eating needs to become an ethical act. 

This resonated with me. As you may well know I am big on buying organic. In fact, it is everything. I eat mostly vegetarian and try to worry less about meat free Mondays but more about where my meat is coming from. Dan Barber also believes that if the meat is free range and reared ethically,  it will result in a better flavour. 
All produce, both meat and vegetable alike should be treated with the respect that they so richly deserve; for the simple reason that they sustain human life.
That’s a pretty big deal.  

After a recent trip to Elgin, I experienced The Pool Room at Oak Valley with Chef Gordon Manuel. It was affirming to meet someone in our very own back yard that believes in and practices these principles in the kitchen. 
The meat sourced for the restaurant is mostly reared on the farm (or at one of the neighboring farms) and all vegetables are organic and locally sourced where possible. 
All animals are free range and ethically treated during their tenure at pasture. 
The farm focuses on the Spanish and Portuguese tradition of acorn fed pork (a pig’s culinary dream) and wagyu beef and the estate also offers their own signature Oak Valley wines. 
In case you were wondering, Oak Valley gains its name from the over 4000 giant English oaks that are scattered all over the 30 hectare property. 
Naturally this provides ample acorns for the piggery, which are harvested and stored under water in large bunkers to provide feed.
This time of year (spring) the trees glow bright green in the dappled sunlight that has made its way through the canopy. The sound of the wind through the leaves rushes upon the senses offering a tangible connection to nature.
It is truly a sight to behold. 

The actual restaurant, The Pool Room is set amidst these beautiful trees and tables are arranged around a bright blue swimming pool. 
Sitting poolside you could lose your sense of time and sip away at a never ending glass of wine on a long summers day while the children play.
A family establishment that is pet friendly (Yes – Piglet joined me on the excursion and lay sunning himself while I feasted) that offers fantastic service from well trained and knowledgeable staff.
It is an ideal summers destination also offering picnics on the lawn under the trees.

Each dish was unique and had an element of country charm. Slightly rustic in their own right but elevated under the hand of professional chef. The salmon was perfect and the rich oiliness of the fish cut perfectly with the Oak Valley Chenin Blanc. 
My favourite dish and an absolute must try was the pork. It was melt in your mouth; served with creamy mash and wild mushrooms and rounded off with a jus that takes two days to prepare. 
Liquid gold if you ask me. My brother did make advances at my plate with a piece of table bread in an attempt to grab the last remnants of my dish.
Too bad I beat him to it. 
I then made my way through dessert and it didn’t disappoint. A pear and frangipane tart with the perfect crisp and soft combination!

A perfect afternoon some might say? I tend to agree.
Establishments like The Pool Room are getting it right in more ways than one.

-Melissa 

*This blog post was sponsored by The Pool Room, All opinions are my own. 

Diemersfontein Pinotage on tap and a giveaway!

This one is for all the wine lovers out there (whether they know it yet or not)!
The Pinotage on tap festival aka POT, (recently voted the best wine festival in the world) is around the corner and I couldn't be more thrilled!
On October 29th Pinotage will flow, amazing bands will play and utterly delicious food will be served to eager patrons at Diemerfontein Wine & Country Estate. 

What's not to love?
I'll be at the event with a wine glass at the ready and a suitable appetite to boot! 
Of course, I look forward to sharing an exciting day filled with a hive of activities on my social media channels.  

The festival will be held at Diemersfontein Wine and Country Estate in Wellington and tickets are available on Computicket. 
I am also going to be giving away two tickets to the value of R435 each! All you have to do is keep reading to the end of the post and follow the easy instructions.

The Diemersfontein Original Coffee Chocolate Pinotage will be served on tap - that's right out of the barrel and my type of party! It has been accoladed as one of the easiest drinking wines and will soon convert any cynical red wine drinker into a believer!
Dubbed "the peoples pinotage" it has rich coffee & smokey overtones on the nose and voluptuous fruit on the palate, along with cinnamon and chocolaty notes; this wine is completely irresistible!

If you would like to stand a chance to win tickets to this oh-so-savvy shindig; then answer the following question below in the comment section. 
Drumroll Please.....

What has Diemersfontein's Original Coffee Chocolate Pinotage affectionately been dubbed? 

Good luck and I hope to see you there.
I'll be the merry maiden sipping on South Africa's most delicious pinotage... and perhaps sharing a song or two with anyone who cares to listen.

-Melissa 

*tickets are for the Cape Town event, travel not included.