‘A Choice of 3 Soups…and Vantage at " Van’s Vintage "….'

'COOKING WITH MAVIS’  # 7    
                         ' A Choice of 3 Soups…and Vantage at Van’s Vintage…’

      “ VANESSA’ s VINTAGE”…  

One man’s castaways are another man’s treasures! And some wo-man has been smart enough to grab her persistent dream of opening a tiny little boutique store of old kitchen collectables-and-such, to satisfy that burgeoning  creativity of hers…

Yes! “ My-Friend-Van ”  is sohhhh damn good at making something out of anything!...She’ll take an old empty fruit tin…and bloodywell turn it into a couple of amazing tin roses!

She’ll source a dozen-or-so of the tiniest old glass bottles – ( yes. ..that we’d never look at, but all discard)….and makes a cheeky ‘shabby-chic’  hanging mobile!

Or some chicken wire and whatever…and shape it into a glorious heart-shaped wall hanging…

                                             Van's bespoke bunting

 

      

                                        Van's 'Littlebottle' mobile

 

                                             Van's tin roses

                                           "Things!"

And what is Van’s Passion?...Vanessa LOVES  vintage kitchen wares..and‘suchables.’

It may not be everyone’s taste, but if you’re adventurous..with an eenzy-wheenzy itsy-bitsy notion of creativity,  you’ll find a treasure-trove of gifts and such…all most definitely old..and ‘Shabby-chic’!

....A  selection of highly collectable 1950s and ‘60s Melamine cups and saucers sit cheek-by-jowl with a paintpeeling ORIGINAL ‘Hamilton-Beach’ mixmaster!

A vast assortment, too, of vintage linen...some of which, she sews into unique  bunting…apparently popular to decorate maintables at weddings!.......and what she does with mismatching metal lids-and-large-glass-jars…WOW!...

                                   Van's stock of melamine 1950's cups

                   Van's Hamilton-Beach mixer..shabby and collectable!

                                                

                                        Metal lids...and glass jars! 

We  visited Somerset West recently, en-route to Arniston, and couldn’t but deviate from our journey to explore “Vanessa’s Vintage”…and what a vantage “ Vanessa’s Vintage “ was!

Yes! I give a whopping bouquet  to............ “ My-Friend -Van “    for her wonderful tin roses!

        

                                                                     

You’ll find her amongst the shops in an old Victorian house “Coco Bella”on Andries Pretorius Street…just past the traffic lights of St James Street, Somerset West….Van’s cell # is: 084-810-1729  

(of course ,local to South Africa!)

(no answer,  means  my friend is attending to  clients! )

                                >>>>>>>>>VVVVVVVVVVVV<<<<<<<<<<<

                                

And so to recipes….

‘COOKING WITH MAVIS’  Easy & simple: Choice-of-three Soups… 

The “must!”  of “have-to’s!”  in making marvelously mouthwatering soups,  is to ALWAYS  use some fresh celery!

I have a simple formula when making certain veggie soups….

Whether the main ingredient ‘veg-of-choice’   be butternut , or cauliflower…or broccoli…perhaps leek…or even lettuce:

The basics always :

I begin with…

1 large onion  – peeled and thinly sliced

2 medium or 1 generously large potato  – peeled and thinly sliced

1 stalk of celery  –finely sliced (or sometimes I cheat with celery leaves)

50g of butter

Seasoning :  salt / or “Herbamare”- pronounced “herba-mahree”- (organic herb seasoning salt) is super to flavour with …AND HAS NO PRESERVATIVES / or if not available to you, use a healthy vegetable stock powder if you must (without MSG)…I usually don’t, as I find that my basic seasoning is ample.

1 litre water

Then add the main veg-of-choice flavour:

 For butternut soup:

I medium butternut, peeled, deseeded, and sliced thinly

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon powdered ginger)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (cassia)

1 teaspoon yellow mild curry powder  (I love the flavour of “ Cartwright’s “ mild curry powder)

1 tablespoon sugar

***If you can’t obtain butternut, substitute sweetpotato / yams!

 For  cauliflower soup:

1 medium cauliflower – sliced into small pieces

75 g blue cheese …or more if you like (added to the pot just before you blend to a puree)

2 cups (500ml) Fullcream milk and 2 cups water

 For broccoli soup:

1 Head of broccoli

Then a choice of either same 75 g blue cheese

And the 4 cups water

Or

2 cups milk and 2 cups water ….and at the end add juice of ½ lemon!

                              Ingredients for broccoli and blue cheese soup
                  

Leek and lettuce soups…wellllllll, perhaps I’ll divulge to you another time…or why not experiment !  …It’s good to realize too, that when making soup, the quantities don’t have to be exact!

METHOD:

As ‘a-shortcut-slightly-spoilt-and-uncomplicated’  cook, I am fortunate to use ALWAYS  my Magimix food processor…but you could well slice by hand…..

I make sure first that my “mise en place” (pronounced “ miz ɑ̃ plas “ ), is done!  - it’s a French phrase - literally means:  "putting in place" -  ….I suppose it’s the ‘pre-preparation’

The pot ready on the stove, with nut-of-butter gently melting on low heat.

Having peeled and cleaned the veggies, I use the slicing blade in the processor.

I start with the veg-of-choice, lastly slicing the potatoes, then onion last, and empty all the contents in the Magimix bowl  upside down  - thus, onions first, veg-of-choice last, on the top of the pile of sliced veggies into the pot with the butter already melting.

Gently sauté these on low heat, lid on.

After 10 minutes you can add ¼ cup water and the rest of the seasoning.

Stir once or twice.

Continue with lid on, for a further 15 to 20 minutes till veggies are soft.

Turn heat up to medium, and add the rest of the liquid, simmer further 10-or-so minutes.

Leave to cool.

Blend to a smooth puree.

Reheat gently, and Voila!...easy homemade healthy soup sans  MSG or other preservatives!

***If making the broccoli and lemon soup…only add the lemon juice at the end - to the cooked, blended soup .

                          SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

                                                                      ..0..

                                   Broccoli and blue cheese soup

MMMmmmmmmmmm......to read all of  'cookingwithmavis's blogs - just scroll up to the top right, and click an any month!...and enjoy!   

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ 

' FLAUMEN TZIMMIS.....and a Most STUBBORN Mind '

‘COOKING WITH MAVIS’ #6  ‘ Flaumen Tzimmis… and a Most STUBBORN Mind ’

       “ FLAUMEN TZIMMIS ”    ( BRISKET-OF-BEEF WITH PRUNES, GINGER, CINNAMON AND CARROTS )

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’  is writing this, just as  Jewish New Year is approaching. This particular dish of brisket-of-beef is typical cuisine of previous generations of South African Jewish families of Lithuanian decent…it is a dish that is sohhh ingrained in my psyche, that whether I want to go to the huge effort, or not, of preparing and cooking this mouthwatering aromatic dish, I have no choice!

My conscience overrides any endth of logic!    My mind  tells me that there IS NO CHOICE , but to keep some eensy wheensy bit of culinary tradition alive from  year-to-year…well , that same mind  is at least kind enough NOT to persuade me to make Ouma Flo’S pickled herring rollmops!

When in a moment of weakness, I always capitulate, to make too, at this time, an uncanny amount of the finest, thinnest, ‘kichel’…but that’s another story!

So?…back to the ‘Flaumen Tzimmis’……it is a roast of beef brisket, cooked very, very slowly with carrots and other veggies, lots of Golden Syrup or honey, and cinnamon and ginger, to which near the end of cooking, you add soaked, dried prunes. Yummy!

My emailed description a-year-but-once-ago, to ‘FriendsAbroad’  of the preparations and makings-of my ‘Flaumen Tzimmis’, brought pleas and demands for my recipe and instruction ‘ how to’…and even a Salivating Vegetarian  of yonks-long, decided to make and EAT it!

 

Below, I explain how I do it, my more modern way of cooking this…  I choose easy shortcuts!

….and I always cook this a day in advance.

You will have to judge and decide the quantities if you make a smaller piece of brisket..... This Tzimmis  will feed 12 to 18 people...or nice to have leftovers!

I call the butcher at my local supermarket, in advance and order brisket WITH  fat on!

To read ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’s   previous blogs...just scroll up to the top of this page...and look to the right......click on the month..and enjoy ! .....              .

And so to recipes…

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’s   Flaumen Tzimmis 
          

                         

Ingredients:  

3 kg piece of brisket (with some fat still on it)

2 onions – chopped (largish pieces) and browned with a tablespoon of oil / or schmaltz – then set aside to mix with the rest of the raw veggies.

1 bag (1.5 kg) frozen diced carrots (defrosted)…..can use fresh raw carrots if you prefer.

3 large sweetpotatoes …peeled and cubed… (about 2cm squares)

2 – 3 large potatoes …peeled and cubed

1 tablespoon schmaltz (you can use oil)

1 cup Golden Syrup (you can substitute honey)

2 teapoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger (I liberally sprinkle over both sides of the raw meat) ….use less for smaller piece of meat

Salt to season on raw meat

1 cup chicken stock (that is the liquid amount…if using powdered stock, use 2 tablespoons stock powder with 1 cup boiling water)

15 to 20 dried prunes reconstituted in boiling water

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon Maizena (cornflour), mixed with about ¼ cup cold water, to be a runny paste

1 very large oven cooking bag

Method:

1)  In a heatproof glass jug, mix syrup/honey (whichever you are using),  with schmaltz, cinnamon, chicken stock, and heat in microwave short time,  for syrup to thin.

2) In a large mixing bowl, pour warm liquid over the browned onions/carrots/sweetpotato/potato cubes

3)  Season the meat with ginger and salt. Set aside while you prepare the rest.

4)  Place all the veggie mix inside a very large oven cooking bag, and place on a large oven  roasting tray.

5)  Place ginger/salt-seasoned brisket (fat on top) on top of the veggies

6)  Tie end of bag, and prick 3 times on top, cover bag and pan with heavy duty foil, tucking the foil under the sides of the pan.

7)      Place roasting bag of brisket, etc into preheated oven (180 C) for 30 minutes, then....

8)     Then reduce temperature to 150 C and cook for 3 hours....turn off oven and leave inside, to continue to cook gently till cool (less stress than cooking same day when guests are due).

Remember to soak the dried prunes (as many as you want) in BOILING water  = easy way to reconstitute/plump them up) - just enough to barely cover them, as you will use this water into the dish when reheating if not too much liquid)...

When cooled, take the brisket out of the bag, slice thick slices, (about 1/2 width of a finger (unless you have very thick fingers!)...I suppose ½ cm (or ¼ inch) thick.

In a casserole /serving dish:

Add lemon juice to the cornflour plus ¼ cup water to make a runny paste,  and stir this into the veggies – ( this is to thicken while reheating UNCOVERED), meanwhile......

Put a layer of the cooked veggies into that casserole dish, then place rows of the brisket leaning one piece 1/2 on the next, then the rest of the veggies interspersed with the already soaked prunes.

*****Easiest to prepare it the day before and to cut and assemble for serving when cool/cold,   place the prunes inside the dish then gently reheat at 150*C for 1 hr, uncovered, before you serve it.

It is a labour of love...but this way is both EASY AND fairly effortless! 

             tekrir>>>>>>>BBBBBBBBBBBBBB<<<<<<<risket

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’             
                                           

                                   

ARTICHOKES .. ' To eat... and artichokes '

COOKING WITH MAVIS   #5         ” To Eat ...And Artichoke”

Don’t you hate generalizations ?....

“Most South Africans haven’t a clue as to ‘HOW’  to eat , nor  prepare , fresh artichokes…”

                            “ To Eat An Artichoke”…

Here in ‘The Western Cape’, the short, singularly-annual, artichoke season surreptitiously sneaks summarily into my life, in Spring - towards the middle-September  and hopefully lasts till around the last week of October. 

I have learned that it really is best to alert some supermarkets and fresh-food retailers just ahead of predicted ‘said’ season. Hopefully one of them will notify me of stock-arrived!

When that phone call comes, I drop everything I’m doing, and rush to that ‘said’ fresh-food-outlet and grab as many as my arms can carry…and then some for BestFriend Mo’   

And recently, mid-Winter, I twice happed upon consignments at ‘Fruit and Veg City’ –  unseasonably brought-in from EGYPT! …Can-you-believe-it!   A..an…and what was amazing, is that there were 5 varieties  to choose from!...Leaves plump-and-‘meaty’-and-succulent-and- generously-large! 

I forget myself! …The tastebuds already anttttttissssssipating the treat ahead….while “Doing A Granny Dolly” …( that is: examining each and every one of them, till satisfied I have chosen well ) … I plan which way I shall prepare them..these glorious delicacies! 

I first learnt to eat artichokes in Rome as a young ‘ Twentysomething ’ …and have never looked back!...and when BestFriend Mo' and Me  spent time in the South of France…in Perigueux…we shopped at the fresh-produce market in Thiviers, and dined on the biggest, succulentest, meatiest green French steamed artichokes – never ever to be forgotten ! 

And as for those in Duisburg-near-Dusseldorf, served to us at   Uta and Bertold’s gracious dinner table…MMMMMMMmmmmmm! 

So, as you might gather, freshly cooked artichokes hold a very special place in my cuisine!

I know that ‘My M’ dreads  this season.  Short-and-intense […the season ], ‘cookingwithmavis’  has been known to serve these gems nightly as hors d’oeuvres for 4 whole weeks.

Finally, after suffering my whim, ‘My M’  put his bloomin’ foot down!  He stamped, and ranted and raved, and no-more he would eat ! 

So, nowadays, I hold back…I have become more controlled  when purchasing fresh artichokes…for the two-of-us just !

 I’ll resist the anguishing temptation to buy more than 6….welllllll, maybe 8! 

Now, Mamma Peretti     makes hers the true Italian way..and that’s my adopted preferred choice…..

                            

                       0>>>>>>>>>>>acnarFFFFFFFFFFFFranca<<<<<<<<<<<<<0

And so to recipes…..

Artichokes cooked in red wine and garlic

I do mine in a pressure cooker…but that’s not to deter ‘You ‘ from cooking yours in a nice biggish pot…the conventional way…..

The whole purpose, is to cook them till the fleshy pulp (what I refer to as their “meat”), within each leaf, is nice and tender.

Ingredients :  -  for conventional cooking in a pot:

4 to 6 fresh artichokes

1 cup dry red wine

½ cup water

1 teaspoon garlic ( ‘Mavis  never  measures!  )

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mamma Peretti    adds a generous handful too, of finely chopped parsley     (I don’t ) 

p.s....AND the Italian way is to take off some of the hard outer leaves as well as trim half the bloomin' tops off...ooooooh...I cant bare to waste all that!See Lil's comment at the end ! 

Dipping Sauce: Quantity per person  :

2 tablespoons butter

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Tiny bit of crushed garlic (just for a hint of taste! ) 

METHOD:

1)Snip a little bit off the end of the stem of each artichoke. 

2)To open them slightly, press point-downwards, onto a worksurface/choppingboard with the palm of your hand resting on the end of the stem. 

3)To clean (usually seldom necessary) soak for at least 1 hour in a large bowl of cold water with a few tablespoons lemon juice and a tablespoon of salt.

I sometimes soak in this solution overnight in the fridge.

Rinse in fresh bowl of water before cooking. 

4)Place in a large pot, add the wine, water, garlic, salt ,olive oil (and parsley if using ).

5)Put the lid on, and bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 1 hour…or longer until the fleshy insides of the leaves are tender… (I’ve  noticed  smallish  artichokes too… 3/4 hour  is  enough)

“And ? ”, you ask , “how to know this?”….….well, the leaves should peel off the artichoke very easily – best if the outer leaves already begin to fall off the artichoke.

Take a leaf, hold the pointy tip between thumb and forefinger, and place the bottom thicker section between your (bottom and top) front teeth. Firmly close your jaw, clamp the leaf between your front teeth, and pull the leaf back out of your mouth….with teeth pulling the fleshy, ”meaty” pulp from inside the leaf! 

If it comes out easily, then the artichokes are ready!...never any harm in cooking for longer.

(In the pressure cooker, ‘Mavis  pressures them for at least an hour!...so the stems are very soft , able to guzzle too!)

To serve.

Gently melt the butter, lemon, garlic and salt in individual ramekins (I do so on “Defrost” in the microwave) for about a minute.

    … To eat an artichoke :        

Starting from the OUTER  layer, begin by peeling one leaf off, at a time .

Hold the tip of the leaf between thumb and forefinger.

Dip the fleshy “other” end into the lemon butter sauce.

Hold this succulent, decadent buttery leaf between your (bottom and top) front teeth.

Firmly lock that jaw, and pull the leaf back out of your mouth….with teeth pulling the ‘fleshy,”meaty” pulp from inside the leaf!

Be totally decadent and add a little of the cooked wine stock too, to your ramekin of lemon butter.  
       ….it’s  HEAVEN !!!!  

And, as you progress, leaf-by-leaf, from outer layers to the core….you’ll eventually reach the tender leaves which you can eat whole…then beware!..the actual “heart” and it’s choking hairs will appear at centre…

Gently, with a knife, prize away the round bed of fine hairs ( “the Choke” ) - you won’t ever want to choke on those …….and discard.

Eat the sumptuous tender heart of the artichoke.  

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm…and now youll probably have a buttery shimmer around the peripheral extremities of your satisfied lips!

                   >>>>>>>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<<<<<<<<

'COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ 

Fresh artichokes

                                   
                                               Fresh artichokes

                                    
                                                Fresh artichokes

                                               Fresh artickhokes

                                                  Opened fresh artichoke

                          

                  Artickokes -cooked in red wine 

                                                                            
     ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’