This bright green soup with its slightly sweet, delicate flavour of fresh peas is delicious! Frozen baby peas work very well in this recipe.

4 T (60 ml) butter
2 leeks with green leaves, well rinsed and finely sliced
2 T (30 ml) cake flour
2 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman's Chicken Stock Powder mixed with 3½ cups (875 ml) hot water
750 g frozen petit pois (baby) peas
1 small head of butter lettuce (about 12 leaves)
Ina Paarman's Seasoned Sea Salt to taste
½ cup (125 ml) fresh cream

Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat until it foams. Add the leeks, cover and simmer until tender. Stir occasionally. Add the flour and stir-fry for approximately 30 seconds. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add the peas and lettuce leaves. Increase the heat slightly to moderate-high, cover and simmer for five minutes. Liquidise the soup in a food processor until smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan and stir in the cream. Warm for about 3 minutes over a low heat. Season to taste with Seasoned Sea Salt. Serve immediately.

Back to top

The secret of this excellent method of cooking fish is to use a heavy-bottomed, fluted cast iron pan with a metal handle, which may be placed in the oven. A flat cast-iron saucepan is also suitable. Pan-fry the fish until brown on one side, turn it and then bake it quickly in a hot oven for about ten minutes.

4 T (60 ml) olive oil
4-6 thick fish cutlets (any firm fish such as kingklip, yellowtail, geelbek, steenbras, etc is suitable)
Choose a large fish and ask the fishmonger to cut bone-in slices from the centre of the fish, at least 2cm thick
Ina Paarman's Lemon and Black Pepper Seasoning

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cut off the bony fin end of each cutlet and rub the fish liberally with olive oil on both sides. Season both sides. Heat the pan, without oil, until hot. Place the oiled and seasoned fish in the dry, hot pan and brown one side only. Turn the fish. Place the entire pan with the fish immediately into the preheated oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the fish from the oven and serve topped with slices of flavoured butter.

Back to top

4 T (60 ml) unsalted butter, softened
1 anchovy fillet, mashed to a paste
1 medium-large garlic clove, crushed (about 5 ml)
1½ t (7.5 ml) lemon juice
2 T (30 ml) finely chopped, fresh parsley sprigs
½ t (2.5 ml) Ina Paarman's Lemon and Black Pepper Seasoning

Mix all the ingredients together. Roll up in greaseproof paper in the shape of a thin salami. Refrigerate for at least one hour to firm or pop in the freezer for 10 minutes. Cut into slices about ½ cm thick and place on top of the warm fish just before serving.

Back to top

Plan your timing so that the potatoes are nearly done by the time you need to bake the fish in the oven. Bake the two together for the last 8-10 minutes.

6 medium-large potatoes
Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper Seasoning to taste
1 x 400 g Ina Paarman's Creamy Cheese Pasta Sauce
½ cup (125 ml) cream or chicken stock
½ cup (125 ml) grated cheese, eg Gruyère, Jarsberg or Emmenthal

Boil the potatoes until just done, remove the skin and cut into thin slices. Place in a buttered, ovenproof dish and season between the layers. Beat the Cheese Pasta Sauce with the cream or chicken stock and pour over the potato slices. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 30 minutes at 220ºC until golden.

Back to top

10 ripe plum tomatoes or medium-large, ripe tomatoes, cut lengthways into wedges
Ina Paarman's Rosemary and Olive Seasoning
2 t (10 ml) sugar
20 peeled garlic cloves
2 T (30 ml) olive oil
1 butter lettuce
½ cup (125 ml) stoned calamata olives
½ cup (125 ml) Ina Paarman's Caesar Salad Dressing

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place the tomatoes, cut side up, in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Season and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 45 minutes until the tomatoes have shrunk and are browned. Toss the garlic with the olive oil. Place in a separate small ovenproof dish and bake at the same time as the tomatoes. This preparation may be completed a day beforehand. Tear the butter lettuce leaves into slightly smaller strips and place in a salad bowl. Add the oven-dried tomatoes and roasted garlic (and oil) and olives. Drizzle with Caesar Salad Dressing.

Back to top

Few of us are able to resist the rich taste of real milk tart with butter and aromatic spices. These little soufflés look really impressive and are as light as a feather. Fortunately most of the work can be done beforehand.

2 cups (500 ml) milk
½ piece stick cinnamon
Rind of ½ naartjie or lemon
1½ T (22.5 ml) butter
½ cup (60 g) cake flour
½ cup (100 g) sugar
¼ t (1 ml) salt
½ t (2.5 ml) almond essence
4 eggs, separated
± 1 t (5 ml) ground cinnamon
1 cup (250 ml) cream
½ cup (125 ml) full cream milk

Butter six large or eight small dariole moulds or ramekins or old teacups. Line the bases with a small circle of greaseproof paper. Heat the milk, cinnamon stick, lemon rind and butter to boiling point. Allow to stand for a minimum of 30 minutes. Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Strain the milk mixture through a sieve and whisk it into the flour mixture. Add the almond essence. Return the mixture to the stove over a moderate heat and bring to boiling point. Stir with a metal whisk until thick. Allow the mixture to cool until lukewarm Beat the egg yolks in one at a time, then beat the egg whites in a separate clean bowl until stiff but not dry with a scrupulously clean beater. Fold the egg whites into the milk tart mixture and spoon into the moulds until two-thirds full. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Tie a collar of well-greased baking or greaseproof paper around the moulds, ensuring that the paper extends 3-4 cm beyond the rim. This will prevent the milk tart mixture from running over when it puffs. Place in an oven dish filled with boiling water to a depth of 2 cm. Bake at 190ºC for 20-25 minutes until well puffed and golden. Up to this point, the pre-preparation may be done the day before. Do not be concerned if the mixture collapses as it cools. Before serving remove the paper collar and turn each little milk tart out onto its own buttered, side plate. Warm the cream and milk together until boiling point and pour over the soufflés.

Bake again for 15 minutes at 180ºC until almost all the cream has been absorbed and the soufflés are well puffed out. Serve immediately.

Back to top