spring braai menu Asparagus in a Blanket Sticky Sesame Drumsticks Couscous Salad with Snow Peas and Baby Rosa Tomatoes Radish and Caper Salad Strawberry Sundae with Red Wine Sauce Coffee

Asparagus in a Blanket

Serves 4

Let's celebrate the arrival of Spring with this delicious asparagus treat. For vegetarians you can roll the asparagus in cheese slices and tie them with thin strips of blanched leek to keep the bundles together.

±12 fresh green asparagus
1 T (15 ml) olive oil
Ina Paarman's Vegetable Spice
4 slices of cooked ham or sliced cheddar cheese
1 cup (250 ml) full cream milk
2 T (30 ml) butter
2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's White Sauce Powder
2 T (30 ml) water
½ cup (125 ml) fresh cream
4 T (60 ml) grated parmesan or pecorino cheese

Either snap or cut off the woody ends of the asparagus. Put them into a frying pan with ½ cup of water and the olive oil and boil fast while shaking the pan to roll them gently. Three minutes cooking time should be enough. The asparagus will become bright green. Season lightly with vegetable spice and leave to cool.

Make the white sauce. Work according to the instructions on the pack. Just make sure you use at least a 1 litre size jug to prevent the sauce from boiling over in the microwave. Stir in the cream. Leave to stand.

Adjust oven rack to middle position.

Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Butter a medium size ovenproof dish or use 4 individual dishes.

Divide asparagus into 4 portions and roll each bunch tightly in a slice of ham or cheese. Spread about 2 T (30 ml) of the white sauce over the base of the dish. Lay the asparagus bundles on top and coat with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese over.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned in spots.

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Sticky Sesame Drumsticks

Serves 4

Everybody loves a dark brown, sticky drumstick speckled with nutty sesame seeds. The trick is to pre-cook the chicken in the microwave, before finishing it off on the braai.

12 fresh chicken drumsticks
± 1 cup (250 ml) Ina Paarman's Sticky Marinade
1 zip-lock plastic bag
Ina Paarman's Braai & Grill Seasoning
¼ cup (60 ml) sesame seeds

Make 2 deep slashes right down to the bone on the best side of each drumstick.
Place the chicken inside a zip-lock plastic bag, add ½ cup (125 ml) Sticky Marinade.
Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Massage the sauce into the chicken. Leave at room temperature for 2 hours or overnight in the fridge. Remove chicken from the bag, discard the bag and used Marinade, and place chicken into a micro proof dish, best side up. Season lightly with Braai & Grill Seasoning.
DO NOT COVER.

Microwave open on 60% powder for 12 minutes. Can be done in advance.
Braai, over a medium fire, until beginning to brown. Baste with remaining fresh Marinade. Turn and baste regularly until nicely browned all round. Sprinkle sesame seeds over before final baste.
Delicious with Couscous Salad.

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Couscous Salad with Snow Peas and Baby Rosa Tomatoes

Serves 4

This duel-purpose salad (salad and starch) is ideal to serve at a braai! I also love the bright and happy colour contrasts.

COUSCOUS

1¼ cups (310 ml) quick cooking couscous
2 cups (500 ml) hot water
4 t (20 ml) Ina Paarman's Vegetable Stock Powder
2 T (30 ml) olive oil
¼ cup (60 ml) parsley, chopped
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning

Place the couscous, hot water and Vegetable Stock Powder in a micro proof bowl. Microwave on high (100%) for 5 minutes. Add the olive oil and parsley. Stir to loosen with a fork. Add seasoning.

200 g snow peas (mange tout), cut in half lengthways
1 T (15 ml) olive oil
Ina Paarman's Vegetable Spice or Green Onion Seasoning
200 g baby rosa tomatoes, halved lengthways
1 T (15 ml) freshly grated lemon rind
½ cup (125 ml) mint leaves, roughly chopped
½ cup (125 ml) Ina Paarman's Lime and Coriander Low Fat Dressing

Pour fast boiling water over the snow peas and leave to stand for 3 minutes. Drain and toss with olive oil and Vegetable Spice to taste.

Also season the halved rosa tomatoes with Vegetable Spice. Toss snow peas, rosa tomatoes, lemon rind and mint with cooked couscous. Add dressing, toss, cover and refrigerate until serving time.

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Radish and Caper Salad

Serves 4

A salad with only 3 ingredients! Prepare the individual salads in advance, cover with cling film and refrigerate. Dress and serve.

1 small head of iceberg lettuce, broken apart - discard damaged outer leaves
1 bunch of small radishes, very finely sliced
2 T (30 ml) caper berries
Ina Paarman's French Vinaigrette or alternatively use our Greek Vinaigrette

Pile the lettuce on individual side plates, top with fine radish slices. Add caper berries and more radish slices as illustrated.
Dress just before serving.

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Strawberry Sundae with Red Wine Sauce

Serves 10-12

It is a good idea to make the Strawberry Ice Cream and the Red Wine Sauce the day before. The ice cream will be fine for up to 3 months in the freezer and the red wine sauce keeps indefinitely in the fridge. Just assemble the desserts as and when you need.

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM

400 g strawberries, washed, hulled and cut into halves
¼ cup (60 ml) strawberry jam
½ cup (125 ml) water
1 x 250 g Ina Paarman's Lemon Cheesecake Mix
2 cups (500 ml) fresh cream

Liquidise the berries until smooth. Add the strawberry jam, water and Cheesecake Mix and whiz it all together to form a smooth mixture.
Whip the cream until firm and fold into the strawberry mixture.
Freeze in an ice cream container.

RED WINE SAUCE

2 cups (500 ml) sugar
2 cups (500 ml) red wine
6 cloves
½ t (2,5 ml) black pepper
grated lemon rind

Combine red wine sauce ingredients and boil for 15 minutes until thickened and reduced. Cool and refrigerate until needed.

TO ASSEMBLE

300 g strawberries, some halved lengthways, some whole
Tall glasses, long-handled spoons and side plates or saucers

Layer ingredients in the glasses as follows:

halved strawberries
2 T (30 ml) red wine sauce
scoops of ice cream
repeat layers once more, depending on the depth of the glasses

Top with whole strawberries and drizzle with more sauce. Serve glass on a side-plate with a long-handled spoon.

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This month's wine sponsor: Spier Wine Estate

Spier Wine Estate are giving away two bottles of wine, their repackaged 21 Gables Chenin Blanc and their 21 Gables Pinotage to ten lucky subscribers!

21 Gables Pinotage 2009

The wine presents aromas of dark cherries and hints of caramelized orange. The palate surprises with rich layers of ripe cherries and liquorish. The wine's intense colour and tannin structure shows remarkable resistance to aging. The wine is produced from a trellised vineyard in unusually close proximity to the ocean. The cool False Bay breezes and rare terroir results in a Pinotage that is distinctive in style and bears 6-7 tons to the hectare.

Serve with mature beef, rich venison dishes or strong cheese. Ideal to drink with and make the red wine sauce for our Strawberry Sundae.

21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2010

The wine presents aromas of honey, apricots and ripe tropical fruit. The older vines contribute richness and complexity to the palette. Flavours of apricots, golden delicious apples and fresh toast are delicately balanced ending with a marmalade finish on the palette.

Trellised and semi-trellised vines from Lynedoch, Simonsberg and Durbanville with an average age of 40 years yielded the grapes for this wine. The average yield for these vines is 6 tons per hectare. The older vineyards produce thicker-skinned grapes resulting in wines with concentrated flavors and great aging potential.

Serve with Eastern style dishes and duck. Excellent with our chicken drumsticks.

Spier reawakens to its rich heritage:

Of all the Cape Dutch farms in the Cape, most of them with their own centre and end gables, it is Spier that boasts the greatest number of them 21 in total, all beautifully preserved.

As it happens these 21 gables represent half a century in time and virtually the entire range of styles of that period. Spier's vinous heritage is as old as the farm itself. It is likely that this wine was originally made from Chenin Blanc grapes, or Steen as it was known in those days.

In recent years South Africa has been recognized as one of the few countries producing fine wine Chenin, along with the Loire Valley in France and a few wineries in Australia.

Together with Pinotage South Africa's unique contribution to wine, Spier celebrates these heritage varietals by repackaging its top tier range and naming them after the historic gables on the farm. 21 Gables Chenin Blanc and 21 Gables Pinotage celebrate both the legacy of winemaking in SA, as well as the unique feature of the Spier Farm.

The new label reflects an old-world style that is reminiscent of labels seen on Spier's early wine bottles.