Creamy Gazpacho

Serves 6

A delicious cold soup best made in Summer when the tomatoes are at their very best! The trick to developing full flavour is to pre-season the vegetables, giving the vegetable flavours time to develop. Some of the vegetables are cubed and kept aside for a garnish.

6 large very ripe tomatoes
1 English cucumber, unpeeled
1 red bell pepper
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 small red or green chilli
Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
1 slice white bread, broken into smaller pieces
3 T (45 ml) Ina Paarman's Tomato Pesto
½ cup (125 ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 T (30 ml) sherry or wine vinegar
1 tin (200 ml) tomato cocktail juice
Ina Paarman's Seasoned Sea Salt
2 T (30 ml) finely sliced chives

Roughly cut up 5 of the tomatoes, ¾ of the cucumber, ¾ of the bell pepper and ¾ of the onion and place in the bowl of a processor. Add garlic, chilli and add 2t Green Onion Seasoning. Pulse 5 times and leave to stand for 30 minutes in the processor.
By hand, dice the remaining tomato, rest of the cucumber, bell pepper and onion into small neat blocks. Place in a sieve over a bowl. Season the vegetables with Green Onion Seasoning. Refrigerate (still in the sieve, over the bowl) until serving time.
Add the juice from the diced vegetables to the roughly chopped vegetables in the processor. Add the bread and Tomato Pesto. Process on high speed until everything is very smooth. Gradually add the oil, while the processor is running on high speed.
Add the vinegar and mix in very well. Add tomato cocktail juice.Taste for seasoning and add Seasoned Sea Salt to taste.
Decant the soup into a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

TO SERVE

Dish up the soup, sprinkle the chives and pass the chopped vegetables for everyone to help themselves.

INA'S TIP:

Add a tot or two of Vodka to the soup before serving - to give it a 'bloody Mary' twist.

Braaied Chicken Thighs with Sweet Chilli Chutney

Serves 4

Chicken thigh meat is definitely more tasty than breast meat, which can dry out easily. Glazing these tasty morsels with Sweet Chilli Chutney for the last part of the cooking period, leaves them glossy and absolutely delicious.

12 skinless chicken thigh fillets
Ina Paarman's Lemon Pepper Seasoning
olive or canola oil
Ina Paarman's Sweet Chilli Chutney

Unfold the thighs to lay them flat. Season both sides lightly and drizzle with oil. Leave to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Prepare medium/slow coals. Briefly cook the thighs on both sides and then start brushing them with Sweet Chilli Chutney generously, while turning regularly. Cook until lightly browned. Cover and rest for 5 minutes.
Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with snipped fresh chilli.

Braaied Bacon Bread

Serves 4

Something completely new - a good way to stretch the meat offering.

1 short French loaf
Ina Paarman's Low Fat Balsamic Dressing
Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper Seasoning
250 g rindless streaky bacon

Slice the French loaf in half lengthways.
Spoon or drizzle the Dressing generously over the two cut sides of the bread. Season lightly with Garlic Pepper.
Put the bread halves back together again.

1. Top and tail the bacon slices to let them overlap slightly on greaseproof paper. Cover with a second length of paper. Roll over the paper with a rolling pin to flatten and spread the bacon.
2. Remove the top sheet of paper and place the bread, seam side up, along the long side closest to you. Roll the bread up with the bacon, use the paper to help. Peeling the paper away as you roll. Refrigerate, covered with the paper, until needed.
3. Braai over medium coals, best side down, until crispy and brown - turn and braai the other side.
4. Cut into nice thick 3-4cm slices and serve.

Braaied Butternut with Masala Spice

Serves 4

Vegetables on the braai are greatly underrated. Harder varieties, like butternut, cook in no time at all on the braai if you pre-cook them in the microwave first, then season, oil and finish off on the braai.

1 large butternut with a long, thick neck (skin on)
olive or canola oil
Ina Paarman's Masala Spice
Ina Paarman's Peach and Apricot Chutney

Slice the butternut into 2cm thick slices.
Arrange slices on a dinner plate and add 4T of water.
Microwave on high for 8-10 minutes until soft when pricked with a fork. Leave to cool to touch temperature. Drizzle with oil and season on both sides with Masala Spice. Leave at room temperature until ready to cook. Braai slowly turning only once until nicely browned. Serve topped with a spoonful of Peach and Apricot Chutney.

Stuffed Eggplant

Serves 4

Eggplant is reputed to be excellent for heart health. They are now in season. When prepared correctly they are delicious. Finishing these stuffed brinjals on the braai gives them a lovely smoky flavour.

2 large eggplant
2 T (30 ml) olive or canola oil plus extra for drizzling
1 small onion, chopped
Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's Tomato Pesto
2 medium size very ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced
Ina Paarman's Garlic & Herb Seasoning
fresh basil or oreganum

Prick each eggplant 4-5 times with a fork.
Place on a plate with 2T of water. Microwave on high for ± 8 minutes until soft when squeezed. Leave to cool while preparing the filling.
Warm the 3T oil in a non-stick pan. Add the chopped onion and Green Onion Seasoning.
Slowly sauté the onion until soft and golden. Add the garlic and Tomato Pesto.
Slice the eggplants lengthways through the middle and scrape out the insides with a tablespoon, reserve the skins. Mash the eggplant pulp and add to onion mixture. Taste for seasoning (Garlic & Herb Seasoning is very good here). Spoon filling back into the eggplant skins.
Place tomato slices on each half. Season tomatoes lightly with Garlic & Herb Seasoning and drizzle with a little oil. Place in an oiled aluminium foil container. Cook on the side of the braai until heated through.
Top with fresh basil to serve.

Braaied Cajun Peppers

Serves 4

Cajun Spice, which contains a lot of paprika is the ideal complimentary seasoning to bring out the best flavours in sweet bell peppers. Cook these on the skin side only so you don't lose the lovely juices that pool on the insides.

2 large red bell peppers, halved through the stem end and pipped
Ina Paarman's Cajun Spice
olive oil
8-10 pipped and sliced green or black olives
4 thin slices of cheese (we used Mozarella)
Freshly chopped herbs

Season the inside of the peppers generously with the Cajun Spice and drizzle with oil. Cook, skin side down only, until soft and lightly charred on the skin side. Add olives and cheese to the hollows. Sprinkle with fresh chopped herbs.

Sliced Tomato Salad with Herbed Yoghurt Dressing

Serves 4

February is one of our very best months for tomatoes. Make the most of sunripened tomatoes by dressing them with this delicious herb and basil flavoured yoghurt dressing.

4 large ripe tomatoes, skinned
Ina Paarman's Vegetable Spice
½ punnet rocket

DRESSING

¼ cup (60 ml) Ina Paarman's Herb Dressing
¼ cup (60 ml) plain Greek Yoghurt
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Basil Pesto

Overlap the sliced tomatoes on a serving plate, season with Vegetable Spice and top with rocket. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and drizzle over the salad just before serving.

Mango Mousse with Yoghurt

Serves 6-8

This healthy dessert is not only good for you, it also makes the most of the tropical flavour of mangoes, which are plentiful in February. See tips for freezing and making smoothies at the end of the recipe.

1 cup (250 ml) mango juice
1 x 250 g Ina Paarman's Lemon Cheesecake Mix
2 T (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
2 ripe mangoes, peeled and cut up
1 cup (250 ml) double cream Greek yoghurt
1 extra mango for presentation

The dessert can quickly and easily be mixed in a food processor.
Pour the mango juice into the bowl of the processor, fitted with the steel blade. Sprinkle over the Cheesecake and blend for a few seconds. Add the lemon juice, cut-up mango and yoghurt. Blend until completely smooth. Carefully peel and cut the cheeks from the remaining mango, and cut the cheeks into long slim slices - the rest of the mango can be cut up into smaller blocks.

TO PRESENT

Place a spoonful of the mango blocks in each of 6-8 large sundae glasses.
Dish the mousse mixture on top of the mango pieces to fill the glass nearly to the top. Garnish with mango slices. Cover with cling film and refrigerate. Will keep for 2-3 days. Any Mango Mousse left over can be frozen - it makes a divine ice-cream or is delicious added to any breakfast fruit smoothie which you are making.

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