Show me the man who will walk away from a robust and full flavoured meat pie. The secret to success is two-fold. Start with the right fore-quarter cut of meat such as brisket, bolo or thick flank and add one lamb's kidney. The single kidney gives amazing flavour depth without adding any kidney taste.

I have also found with much trial and error that it is best not to brown the meat beforehand, but simply to simmer it slowly and then to add the aromatics.

2 large onions, coarsely chopped
750 g well matured, boneless beef brisket, bolo or thick flank cubed 3 cm x 3cm
1 lamb's kidney, split horizontally, cut out the white membranes. Cube kidney
3 cups (750 ml) boiling water
2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's Beef Stock Powder
2 T (30 ml) Balsamic vinegar
2 T (30 ml) potato flour or cornflour
¼ cup (60 ml) cold water
¼ cup (60 ml) tomato sauce
2 T (30 ml) Worcester sauce
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper Seasoning
2 x 200 ml Ina Paarman's Ready to Serve Pepper Sauce
2 t (10 ml) fresh thyme leaves
1 x 250 g sliced mushrooms
1 T (15 ml) oil
1 T (15 ml) butter
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Garlic & Chilli Seasoning

Cover the base of a large heavy bottomed saucepan with the onions. Top with the cubed beef and kidney. Dissolve stock powder in the hot water and add together with balsamic vinegar.

Bring to a very slow simmer, cover with a light fitting lid. Simmer for 3-3½ hours until the meat is fork tender. Thicken with potato or cornflour mixed with water. Remove from the heat and stir in the tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, Garlic Pepper Seasoning, Pepper sauce and thyme. Taste for seasoning and leave to cool down completely. Can be prepared in advance to this stage.

Sauté the mushrooms in a mixture of oil and butter, when just beginning to draw water, remove from the heat and season with Chilli & Garlic Seasoning. Cool down. Dish the cooked meat mixture into a pie dish. Place a small ramekin half-filled with water in the centre of the dish, to support the pastry. Top with mushrooms and cover with pastry as illustrated in our video cookery lesson. Remember, do not prick the pastry as the steam will help to puff it up nicely. Leave pie to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven while the pie is resting. Bake at 200°C for 35-40 minutes.

SOUR DOUGH PASTRY

You will need only half the recipe for the pie. Freeze the rest for another time.

3 cups (350 g) bread flour
1 t (5 ml) salt
250 g butter
1 cup (250 ml) sour cream

Sift flour and salt 3 times and cut in the butter.

Use a small knife, a pastry blender or your fingertips. Be very careful if using a food processor, it is inclined to transform the dough into a paste within minutes. The knobs of butter should remain as big a peas, and never become as small as breadcrumbs, or worse, a paste.

Add all the sour cream at once to the flour mixture and cut in with a knife. Once well blended, use one hand to knead the dough until it holds together and forms a ball.

Never add extra liquid, just continue kneading lightly, the dough will become manageable and start to adhere.

Leave the dough to rest for half an hour or longer (at room temperature in the winter) - overnight produces excellent results.

Roll out on a floured board and fold into thirds.

Turn the dough parcel half a turn so the open side faces towards you. Roll and fold once more in the same way. Let the dough rest for another half an hour. Repeat the roll and fold process twice more. The dough is then ready for use, or can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

CHEF'S TIP:

This pie freezes exceptionally well. To defrost, cover it with foil to prevent condensation on the pastry and bake for an extra 10-15 minutes because the filling will probably still be a little colder than room temperature.

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Perfect with our beef pie or with grilled steak or chicken. This dish looks as good as it tastes!

12 plum or 6 medium size very ripe tomatoes
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Garlic & Herb Seasoning
2-3 T (30-45 ml) apricot jam or honey

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Halve the tomatoes, lengthways if they are plums or horizontally if round. Arrange the tomatoes slightly overlapping in an ovenproof dish.

Season generously with Garlic & Herb Seasoning and dot the apricot jam on or drizzle the honey over.

Bake for about 40 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and lightly browned on top.

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I keep these in my fridge as a condiment to serve with braais, on hamburgers, boerewors rolls, grilled mushrooms etc.

4 large onions, peeled and sliced into rings
½ cup (125 ml) white vinegar (any cheap supermarket one)
½ cup (125 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup (166 ml) soft brown sugar
1½ t (7,5 ml) Ina Paarman's Seasoned Sea Salt

Place the sliced onions in a saucepan. Add vinegar and water. Boil open while stirring now and again for 5 minutes.

Strain and discard vinegar water. Add the balsamic vinegar, sugar and Seasoned Sea Salt to the same saucepan. Bring to the boil, add the onions and boil open until the sauce is thick and syrupy.

Sterilize clean glass bottles with boiling water. Spoon the onions into the glass jars and close tightly. Turn the jars upside down to sterilize the lids.Store in a dark cupboard until needed.

CHEF'S TIP:

If using our empty pasta sauce jars, it fills one completely and the other about 1/3 full, keep the half empty one in the fridge and use first.

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A great condiment to serve on the side. Delicious with beef or chicken. Especially good on a ham sandwich.

3 T (45 ml) canola oil
½ small red cabbage, finely sliced
2 beetroot, unpeeled - just wash well and cut off top and root end and grate
2 apples unpeeled and cut into 1 cm x 1 cm cubes
4 T (60 ml) soft brown sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) red wine (or grape juice)
¼ cup (60 ml) cider vinegar
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Seasoned Sea Salt

Sauté the cabbage in the oil until limp ± 5 minutes. Add the grated beetroot, cubed apple, brown sugar, red wine, cider vinegar and Seasoned Sea Salt.

Simmer very slowly, with the lid on, for 15 minutes until the apples are soft. Sterilize 2 clean glass bottles with boiling water. Spoon the pickle into the glass jars and close tightly. Turn the jars upside down to sterilize the lids.Store in a dark cupboard until needed.

CHEF'S TIP:

Fills two of our empty pasta jars.

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We used a mature cheddar cheese that will stand up to the robust taste of the pie.

The salad is just a selection of green leaves and rocket dressed with our Honey Mustard Dressing. The bitterness of the rocket is nicely balanced by the Honey Mustard Dressing.

Green Fig preserves always work well with cheese.

We used fresh chiabatta and crispy whole-wheat rolls accompanied by a bowl of our Balsamic Vinaigrette for dipping.

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Coffee and Walnut Cake with Butter Icing

This is a classic layer cake with 'proper' icing!

1 T (15 ml) good quality coffee granules
¾ cup (187,5 ml) hot full cream milk
3 extra large eggs
¾ cup (187,5 ml) oil
2 t (10 ml) ground cinnamon
1 x 600 g Ina Paarman's Vanilla Cake Mix
100 g pecan nuts - reserve 8 for garnishing and chop the rest

BUTTER ICING

2 cups (220 g) icing sugar
2 t (10 ml) good quality coffee granules
2 T (30 ml) boiling water
½ cup (125 g) real butter - salted (at room temperature)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter 2 x 22 cm (or 2 x 20 cm) layer cake pans generously and line the bases with baking paper or spray with a non-stick cooking spray.

Dissolve the coffee granules in the hot milk and leave to cool a little.Beat eggs and oil for 2 minutes on high speed until well blended. Add milk with coffee and beat for 1 minute on high speed.

Add the cinnamon to the dry cake mix and then add everything to the egg mixture. Beat just until combined on slow speed.

Add the chopped nuts and fold through with a spatula. Divide the mixture between the two pans and level out, leaving a slight hollow in the middle of each pan.

Bake on middle shelf for about 35-40 minutes. Cake is done when a thin-bladed knife inserted in the centre comes out clean or cake pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan.

Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Do not ice until cake is completely cool.

BUTTER ICING

Sift the icing sugar, rub the lumps out with the back of a spoon. Dissolve the coffee granules in the hot water. Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add half of the sifted icing sugar and cream it in, add the coffee, cream in and finally the rest of the icing sugar. If the mixture is too stiff add another teaspoon or two of water.

Sandwich the cakes together with one third of the icing. Coat the top of the cake with the second third and finally use the rest of the icing to pipe over the cake. Garnish with halved nuts. Keep in an airtight container until serving time.

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