What's Cooking?

This is our page dedicated to our hard working chefs in our kitchen and our Food & Beverage Manager, Martin Beylefeld!

Find recipes that we adore and stories we love out of our kitchen where we cook our delicious Pan-African cuisine!

RECIPE OF THE MONTH:

Lemon Meringue

Ingredients:

Pastry:

62g of Butter, Softened

1/4 of a Cup Castor Sugar

1/2 an Egg

1tsp of Baking Powder

1 Pinch of Salt

Lemon Curd:

3 Lemons

1 Cup of Sugar

1/4 Pound of Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature

5 Extra Large Egg Yolks, Egg Whites Removed

1/2 a Cup of Lemon Juice

1/8 of a Teaspoon Kosher Salt

Meringue:

4 Egg Whites

1tsp of White Vinegar

1 Cup of Castor Sugar

Diretions

Pastry:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together and add the egg, beating well to combine.

2. Add all the other ingredients for the pastry and mix to form a stiff dough.

3. Press the dough into a greased loose bottom tart tin to form the tart shell.

4. Dock the pastry base and blind bake at 180 C for 20 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden and crispy.

5. Leave the pastry to cool completely before filling with the Lemon curd.

Lemon Curd:

1. Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 Lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.

2. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

3. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.

4. Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture.

5. Add the Eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt.

6. Mix until combined.

7. Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over a low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The Lemon curd will thicken at about 170 F or 80 C, just below simmer.

8. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

9. Fill the pastry after the Lemon curd has cooled.

Meringue:

1. Place the Egg whites and Vinegar into a clean bowel over a Bain Marie (hot water bath) and wisk until soft peaks form.

2. Gradually add the sugar and beat until thick and glossy.

3. Spoon the Meringue on top of the curd and grill under a preheated hot grill for 1-2 minutes, or use a blowtorch to toast until golden.

Lemon Meringue is one of Sbongile's favourite desserts to make.

Butternut With Cumin Soup

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 Peeled and Chopped Green Apple

3 Medium Onions, Peeled and sliced (3 Cups)

3 Pounds Butternut Squash, Peeled and Cut into 2-inch cubes (8 Cups)

2 Teaspoons of Salt

Freshly ground Black Pepper

1 Teaspoon of Ground Cumin

3 Springs of Fresh Thyme

3 Cups of Chicken Broth, Vegetable Broth, or a Commercial Broth or Bouillon Cubes

Preparation:

In a 6-quart heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat and stir in the Onions. 

Cover, reduce the heat, and braise for 15 minutes, checking that the Onions don't burn.

Add the Squash and Apple to the the Onions. Sprinkle with Salt, Pepper, Cumin and Thyme; cover the pot. Braise for another 15 minutes, checking once in a while that the vegetables do not burn.

Add the Broth, bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the Squash is tender.

Purée the soup in a blender of food processor in batches or use an immersion blender. Reheat the soup; taste the salt, and add more cumin to taste.

Elias, one of Ubizane's Chefs preparing the Butternut with Cumin Soup.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Makes 2x 22cm (9-inch) cakes.

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

2 Cups of Sugar

1 3/4 Cups of Flour

3/4 Cup of Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon of Salt

2 Eggs

1 Cup of Buttermilk

1/2 cup of Unsalted Butter, Melted

1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

1 Cup of Hot Coffee

4 Heaped tbsn of Peanut-Butter

Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

1/2 Cup of Smooth Peanut-Butter

1/2 Cup of Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

2 1/2 Cups of Icing Sugar, Sifted

3/4 Cup of Cocoa Powder, Sifted

1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract

3 tbsn of Milk/Cream

Salted Peanuts, for Topping

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Grease 2x 22cm cake tins.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients.

3. Mix together the Eggs, Buttermilk, melted Butter and Vanilla and combine with the dry ingredients.

4. Place the Hot Coffee and Peanut-Butter in a bowl and allow the Peanut-Butter to soften/melt slightly and incorporate into the batter. Mix thoroughly.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins and place in the oven.

6. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (If you feel the cake is browning to quickly, turn the heat down half way)

7. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool down on a wire rack.

8. To make the frosting, beat the Peanut-Butter and the Butter until well combined and fluffy.

9. Slowly beat in the Icing Sugar and Cocoa Powder until the mixture is quite stiff. Add the Vanilla and the Milk/Cream and beat until glossy and creamy.

10. When the cakes are completely cooled, frost them using the Peanut-Butter frosting. Sprinkle over the Salted Peanuts and serve.

Goodman, one of Ubizane's kitchen staff helping prepare the Peanut-Butter Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Milk Tart

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tin Condensed milk
750ml Milk
45ml Corn Flour
60ml Cocoa Powder
5ml Vanilla Essence
2 Eggs
45ml Butter
1 Packet of coconut/tennis biscuits
Cinnamon for dusting

DIRECTIONS:

1. Reserve 125ml of the milk and add the rest of the milk together with the condensed milk to a medium saucepan and gently heat until hot and steaming being careful to not allow the mixture to boil.

2. While the milk is heating, combine the reserved milk, corn flour, cocoa powder, vanilla essence and eggs.

3. Add this mixture to the hot milk very slowly, whisking continuously over a medium heat until thickened . This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

4. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the butter.

5. Place a layer of biscuits into a greased tart dish.

6. Spoon the hot custard over the biscuits and dust with cinnamon

7. Allow the tart to set at room temperature for 45 min or chill in the fridge.

Zebra Cake

INGREDIENTS:

4 large eggs

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup milk (low fat is fine)

1 Cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract

2 Cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).  Line a 9 inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper and lightly grease the bottom and sides of the pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together eggs & sugar until mixture is light and creamy and the sugar has mostly dissolved.  Stir in milk, vegetable oil, vanilla & almond extracts.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Pour into wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Measure out just over two cups of vanilla batter and place it back in the medium bowl.  Sift cocoa powder over the bowl and whisk until fully incorporated.

4. Put 3 tbsp of vanilla batter into the center of the pan and let it spread slightly on its own.

Put 3 tbsp of chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla. It will push out the other batter and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself. Alternating spoonfuls of the two batters, repeat the technique until all batter has been used up.

5. Bake for 38-42 minutes, until the cake is light gold and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out the cake and remove the parchment paper. Reinvert on to a wire rack and let cool before slicing.

Ubizane's Famous Beetroot Soup

Ingredients:

500g small beetroot, scrubbed & leaves trimmed
5 tbsp Olive Oil 1 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1tbs fresh thyme ½ tsp salt ½ tsp pepper 1 tsp balsamic vinegar Juice of ½ orange 1 tbs grated orange zest 1 litre (1 quart) chicken or vegetable stock Garnish: Sour Cream & Chopped chives or Mint

Boil the beets for about an hour, or until easily pierced with knife and set aside to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a pot; add chopped onion, garlic, thyme, salt & pepper.

Sauté for 10 minutes and in the meantime peel and roughly chop the beets (I recommend using rubber gloves if you don’t want to look like you’re conducting a crime scene investigation)

Dump the beets in the pot; add balsamic vinegar, orange juice, zest & stock.

Simmer for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a blender or food processor and purée.

Garnish it with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives/mint leaves for extra spunk – it’s as easy as that!