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It wouldn’t be Heritage Month without a good braai, so break out your grid to try celebrity chef Reuben Riffel’s recipes – complete with beer and wine tasting notes 55 67

Prawning glory

Peri-peri prawns with basil butter Serves 1–2

• 6 tiger prawns, butterflied • pinch salt • pinch crushed black pepper • 1 teaspoon olive oil • 1 lemon, sliced • ½ handful basil leaves For the peri-peri sauce

• 1 onion, sliced • 15 red chillis, deseeded and chopped • 4 red peppers • 100ml red wine vinegar • 30g smoked paprika For the basil butter

• 150g butter • juice of 1 lemon • pinch of salt • pinch of black pepper, finely ground

Edgars club september 2017

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method

To make the peri-peri sauce, sweat the onion, chilli and red peppers for 10–15 minutes on medium heat. Deglaze with the red wine vinegar, and then add the smoked paprika. Simmer for 20 minutes, and then blend until smooth. To make the basil butter, blend all the ingredients until smooth. Season the prawns evenly with salt and pepper and rub with olive oil. On a fine grid over high heat, grill the prawns, lemon and basil (roughly interspersed) for two minutes, meat-side down. Turn over and cook for two more minutes on the shell side. To serve, dollop basil butter and peri-peri sauce over the prawns and remove from the heat immediately.

These delicious recipes were extracted from Reuben Riffel’s book, Braai – Reuben on Fire (Quivertree Publications), R390. For more information, visit quivertreepublications.com

Goes best with Beer | Boston Breweries Lager  Wine | De Bos Walker Bay Chardonnay

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2017/07/28 4:08 PM

L I V E FO O D

The lad salad Apple, bacon and walnut salad with Dijon vinaigrette Serves 2–4

‘Associate with a few strictly meatand-potato types? Get them to sample this ridiculously tasty salad and you may have a few converts. There are the texture contrasts of the apple, the walnut and the lettuce, the sweetness vs. acidity of the fruit and the dressing, and, of course, the heady sensual provocation of the bacon to lure them in.’

Bugger the bun burger

Burger on aubergine ‘ bun’ with BBQ sauce Serves 2

‘Playing with the idea of a slider (mini burger), I thought I’d rope in that mighty vegetable – the aubergine. The viscous nature of aubergine takes the concept of a slider to the next level as you won’t need to chomp through a giant burger bun. Aubergine is very light and you can also flavour it with that unique smoky braai essence. If you’re the muscle-bound type with an aversion to carbs or have a girlfriend who has nightmares about bread, then this is an excellent low-carb option that sacrifices nothing on the flavour front.’

Smoked BBQ sauce

• 5 large tomatoes • 4 garlic cloves • 1 red onion • 1 red chilli • 500ml tomato sauce • 2 tablespoons brown sugar • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika • 20ml molasses • 200ml orange juice • 150ml brandy

open grill) to melt the cheese. Grill the aubergine until soft with grill marks. Layer the patty between two slices of aubergine with onion, tomato, bacon, gherkin and a dollop of BBQ sauce. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. For the smoked BBQ sauce

• 2 good-quality patties • 4 bacon rashers • 100g mozzarella, sliced • 4 x 1.5cm-thick aubergine slices, same size as the patties • 1 medium onion, sliced • 1 medium tomato, sliced • 2 gherkins, sliced • ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds



method

On a grid over medium-high heat, cook the patties evenly for about three minutes on each side. Grill the bacon on the grid until evenly crisped. Place the mozzarella on the patty and cover with the braai lid if using a Weber-style grill (use cast iron or fireproof lid on an

Braai the tomatoes, garlic, onion and chilli for about seven minutes. Place in a pot along with the rest of the ingredients and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Blend. Goes best with Beer | Boston Breweries Lager Wine | Idiom Cape Blend

• 4 strips bacon • 80ml canola oil • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard • 30ml cider vinegar • pinch of salt • pinch of ground white pepper • 1 garlic clove, crushed • 1 red apple, sliced • 1 green apple, sliced • 1 head baby lettuce • 1 radish, sliced method

In a pan over medium-low heat, fry the bacon in oil until crispy and the fat has cooked off. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to room temperature. Whisk together the Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic and gradually whisk in the bacon and oil to form an emulsion. Allow the garlic to infuse the dressing for at least 5 minutes. The dressing can also be kept in the fridge. Just before serving the salad, remove the garlic, dress the apples, lettuce and radish and serve with the walnuts sprinkled on top.

The sandwichified salad Bread salad

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Serves 4–6

‘Salads don’t always have to be light and delicate. I find that bread is a perfect vehicle to add texture to a salad, especially quality bread like sourdough that soaks up all the good flavour of the dressing. If you are looking for a decent base for a good salad, this is it. From the bread base, you can add lots more, from smoked fish to braaied chicken. ‘I didn’t grow up with bread salads in the home – or any salads for that matter – as my mum was the only one in my family who really ate salads. As I grew older and started working in restaurants, I grew to love them. For me, a crouton needs to be soft and crunchy at the same time. That’s what you get in this salad, soaking up a bit of the olive oil and the dressing. It reminds me a bit of a pudding my mum and gran used to make that had a crunchiness on the outside, with a soft and velvety inside.’

• 3 cups sourdough bread cubes • 2 teaspoons olive oil • ¼ cucumber, diced • ½ red onion, thinly sliced • 8 anchovy fillets, halved • ¼ cup fresh basil • 3 tomatoes, sliced • ½ cup rocket • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar • 2 pinches cracked black pepper • 2 pinches smoked sea salt Dress the bread cubes evenly with olive oil and toast them evenly on a grid over medium-high heat. Remove and leave to cool to room temperature. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl, add the bread cubes and serve.

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2017/07/28 4:08 PM

LI V E FO O D • 4 medium lamb shanks • 8 teaspoons sea salt • 4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper • 1 onion, finely chopped • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 4 sprigs of thyme • 150g butter • some lemon wedges

Liver lover’s liver Liver and patat Serves 4

For the pesto

• 75ml extra-virgin olive oil • 2 garlic cloves • 50g pine nuts • 50g Parmesan • 2 bunches fresh basil • 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley • 2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard • 2 tablespoons honey

Lamb in camo

Lamb shanks and pesto Serves 4

‘Our love for lamb borders on obsession. I reckon that, because our Karoo lambs eat wild mint and dry rosemary-like bushes, we have the best-tasting lamb in the world. ‘I thought I’d try it on the braai to give it a bit of that incredible smoky flavour. If you cook it slowly, the fat starts to crisp. With lamb, when you taste it for what it is – especially on the shank because it’s so close to the bone – you get that incredible lamb flavour better

than on other cuts. Rich lamb goes very well with something fresh and herbal so when braaied and served with a green sauce, it’s the perfect marriage. I also include something sweet by adding in wholegrain mustard. ‘Try to make the onion and garlic surround the shank. It’s best if you don’t wrap it too tightly wrapped in foil – there needs to be some distance between the foil and the shank, to allow for better steaming and prevent hard roasting that will toughen the meat.’

To make the pesto, blend the olive oil, garlic and pine nuts in a blender until fine. Add the Parmesan, basil and parsley and blend until chunky ( you still want some texture in the sauce). Mix in the mustard and honey until well combined. Rub the shanks with one teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cut four 70cm-long pieces of heavy-duty foil. Evenly divide the onion, garlic and thyme onto the middle of each foil sheet. Then place a shank on each piece. Wrap evenly. Cook over medium-high heat (coals) for two hours, ensuring there are no flames. Remove from the heat and unwrap. Melt the butter in a pot until it starts to turn brown. Season each shank with one teaspoon salt and, with a pastry brush, brush on the brown butter. Place the shanks over medium-high heat. Keep basting with the butter until they’re a delicious dark brown on the outside. To serve, place the shanks on a platter with a dollop of pesto on each. Serve family-style with the lemon wedges. Goes best with Beer | Porcupine Quill Brewery Karoo Red Red Wine | Waterford Estate

recipes & photography: EXTRACTED from BRAAI – REUBEN ON FIRE, QUIVERTREE PUBLICATIONS

method

‘Liver and patat is something that I grew up eating and, for me, it equals comfort food deluxe. Though my mum never made it exactly like this, it’s a dish that always reminds me of my childhood. While we used to have smoored liver, I like to keep mine a bit pink. My mum’s patat , cooked in the wood-burning oven, would be sweet as hell. ‘In this dish, the liver is cooked nice and pink, with beautifully braaied sweet potatoes and caramelised muscadel onions. It’s almost like pub food made on the braai and, like most rich comfort food, it would be best served in winter. (And yes, you should be braaiing year-round. Cold weather gives you even more reason to light up the braai and create something delicious.) Cut the liver one and a half to two centimetres thick to allow for better cooking.’ • 2 small sweet potatoes (patats) • 1 onion, sliced • 1 tablespoon butter • 2 tablespoons brown sugar • ½ cup fynbos vinegar • 250g calf ’s liver, cleaned well, deveined and skinned, cut into four pieces • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper • 2 teaspoons canola oil • ½ cup grated Parmesan method

Cook the patat directly on medium heat coals for about 30–40 minutes until soft. Over low heat, cook the onion in a pan with butter and sugar for about 20 minutes until

P R O E fe s i o n ee l w it h Re u b e n o n SABC 2

caramelised. Deglaze the pan with fynbos vinegar. Season the liver evenly with salt and pepper. Rub evenly with oil. Sear on a grid over medium-high heat until the liver is dark brown on the outside. Remove from the heat. Dust the liver with the Parmesan and leave to rest for about three minutes. Serve the liver on top of the patat and top with caramelised onion. Goes best with Beer | Mitchell’s Brewery 90 Shilling Wine | Boschkloof Conclusion

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SA’s favourite celebrity chef, Reuben Riffel, teams up with SABC 2, Samsung and Capsicum Culinary Studios this September to bring you the uplifting new cook-off reality series, PROEfesioneel . The 13-part series will see 20 culinary students at Capsicum, the country’s top chef school, prepare meals to be judged by Reuben and a guest chef. Up for grabs are real-life jobs at some of the top local restaurants and R135 000 in additional prizes. Visit capsicumcooking.com or proefesioneel.co.za for show schedules (starting September 2017) and to find out how you can win your share of prizes to the value of R350 000.



2017/07/28 4:08 PM