Egg Pots with Bread Sticks

Serves 6-8

A starter that is easy, tasty and inexpensive.

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 small onion, very finely chopped
a good shake of Tabasco
T (45 ml) thick mayonnaise, preferably homemade
Ina Paarman’s Seasoned Sea Salt to taste

Blend the egg, onion and mayonnaise in a food processor until very smooth. Spoon into 6-8 tiny pots. Level the tops neatly and dot with a sprig of parsley. Cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate until firm (it can be prepared the day before).
Serve with bread sticks.

Cook's Tip : Buy medium-sized eggs for frying or boiling. The slightly smaller eggs are produced by younger hens and the albumen in the egg-white is denser. These eggs retain their shape when fried, and the yolk remains in position (provided the eggs are fresh). The shells of smaller eggs are also harder and do not crack as easily.

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Serves 4-5

These are really good the next day or a few hours later because the flavours in the crust develops on standing.

Excellent served at room temperature.

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 T (30 ml) flour
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman’s Chicken Stock Powder
1 egg
1 T (15 ml) plain yoghurt, cream or buttermilk
½ cup chopped pecan nuts
½ cup fresh white breadcrumbs
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman’s Lemon & Black Pepper seasoning
2 t (10 ml) ground cumin
Canola or sunflower oil for frying
Lemon wedges for garnish

Slit the breasts lengthways to ‘butterfly’ them. Place the breasts one-by-one between two sheets of plastic and pound with the smooth side of a meat mallet until about 1cm thick.

Cut chicken lengthways into 2cm wide strips. Mix the flour and dry chicken stock powder in a plastic bag. Shake the strips in this mixture until coated.

Beat the egg and yoghurt together on a plate. Mix the nuts, breadcrumbs, seasoning and cumin on a plate. Dip the strips first in the egg and then roll it in the nut mixture. Space them out on a cooling rack and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer to ‘set’ or freeze for 15 minutes.

Heat a heavy based pan, when very hot add oil 1cm deep, wait for oil to warm through and fry the strips in batches, over medium heat, until golden all round. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper. Leave to cool down completely before packing into an airtight container.

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Transport the sliced salami separate from the bruchetta. Top the bruchetta just before serving with salami.
 

200-250g thinly sliced salami of your choice

BRUCHETTA
1 long French loaf, cut into slices ± 1cm thick
extra virgin olive oil or grape seed oil
Ina Paarman’s Garlic & Herb seasoning

Brush the cut-side of the bread lightly with olive oil and then sprinkle lightly with Garlic and Herb seasoning. Bake at 200°C for ± 10 minutes until golden. Leave to cool down completely and then store in an airtight container.

500g unstoned green olives
1 T (15 ml) coriander seeds, lightly toasted and crushed (see Cook's Tip)
1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4-5 thin slices lemon, each cut into quarters or eighths

In a mixing bowl, stir together the olives, coriander seeds, garlic and lemon. Spoon into a heavy plastic bag and seal tightly. Place the bag on a work surface, spreading the olives in a single layer. Using a rolling pin, wooden mallet, or the base of a small saucepan and gently hit the olives to crush them lightly without breaking the bag. Place the bag in the fridge overnight to marinate.
When the flavours have matured the olives can be served with bruchetta.
Whole, unstoned, marinated olives are an excellent addition to green salads.

Cook's Tip : Shake the whole spices in a small dry fry pan over medium heat until aromatic. Crush in a motar with a pestle or in a coffee grinder. Use immediately.

Ina Paarman’s Lemon & Black Pepper seasoning
6-8 freshly boiled potatoes, remove skins and cube
1 onion, finely chopped
1 T (15 m) dried, or 4 T (60 ml) fresh majoram, stripped off the stems
1 cup (250 ml) sour cream
 

Season potatoes and toss with onion and majoram. Dress with sour cream. Always serve potato salad at room temperature.

Cook's Tip : Majoram goes black if chopped. The tiny leaves are best if used whole.

Mustard Pickled Vegetables

Serves 12 as a side dish

Keep half at home in the fridge to use throughout the next week or two.

1 punnet baby marrows, quartered lengthways
1 punnet baby corn, halved lengthways
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
1 chilli, finely sliced
3 large carrots, cut into fine julienne strips

PICKLING LIQUID
1 T (15 ml) hot English mustard powder
3 T (45 ml) cold water
1 cup (250 ml) wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 cup (250 ml) white sugar
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman’s Seasoned Sea Salt
½ t (2,5 ml) crushed black pepper
3 cloves garlic, crushed

Mix the mustard powder and cold water and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Bring the vinegar, water and sugar to rapid boil. Mix in the mustard, seasoned sea salt and black pepper. Add the vegetables and boil for 3 minutes. Pack into a clean glass container fill up with boiling hot pickling liquid and seal immediately. These pickled vegetables are best after standing overnight. Keeps refrigerated for 2 weeks.

Cook's Tip :To develop the flavour in mustard powder it needs to be soaked in cold water first. Flavour development is stopped as soon as the mustard powder is heated or put into contact with vinegar.

8 lemons
8 cups (2 litres) water
1½ cups (375g ) sugar

Grate two of the lemons to remove the outer rind. Of the remaining 6, slice the best two into paper-thin slices. Squeeze the rest of the lemons, as well as the ones without rind, to remove all the juice. Mix the juice, grated rind and sugar into the water until dissolved over medium heat. Do not boil or the ‘fresh’ taste will be lost. Chill. Serve with a few slices of fresh lemon floating in each glass. Ice cubes are a nice addition!

Cook's Tips:

Get more juice out of lemons
Slice the lemons in half and microwave them for 30 seconds on high.

Ice cubes for travelling

Pack into a Styrofoam box and seal very well.

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