Cooking in Africa

 

Pizza in Deepest Darkest

So I’ve been visiting my amazing Husband in Mozambique, before you ooow and aaah wait. It’s not a resort on the beach. My husband works in a place called Chimoio, a 3 hour drive on very potholed roads from the beach. In the centre region.

So it’s Valentine’s Day and I want to make my Husband something special for dinner. There is an amazing Restaurant in Port Elizabeth called Mangiamo @ Wicker Woods in Walmer (041 581 1107), if you looking for a special night out and amazing pizza’s it’s the place to go. Thin crust Pizza’s with beautiful topping, ranging from Lamb Shank with mint, Prawns and rocket and many more. There are also loads of other amazing dishes in the menu. 

In Chimoio there is a Checkers and a Spar, not always well stocked but you can get your basic’s, there is a bit of meat and seafood but with black outs, one doesn’t like to chance it. Also a lot of the labels are in Portages so you not quite sure what you getting, can be a little scary. Although, at least you can see what you getting in the pictures. 

I’ve found an hopefully really nice pizza dough recipe promising thin crust yumminess , the dough can be frozen, this  recipe made 4 large pizza’s so, if you not making for 4 pop the rest in the freezer.

Pizza Dough Ingredients:

500g Strong White Flour

100g Semolina Flour (I didn't have so used white flour)

25ml Olive Oil

50ml lukewarm Milk

300ml lukewarm Water

1tsp Salt

7g Dried Instant Yeast

So Louise... the method is, in a glass bowl mix together Milk and Water,  hahaha no measuring jugs and I refuses to pay R150 for something I could pick up for R40 max, in South Africa. For my measuring I resorted to using a plastic container that said 80ml on the bottom and a empty tin of snails witch was 200g.

Sift (no sift) Flour and Semolina (no Semolina, so more flour) into a large mixing bowl ( I’ll make a plan) add the Yeast , Salt and the Oil, gradually add the Water mixture, mixing all the time until it forms a soft dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 4-5. The dough should be elastic.

Clean the mixing bowl and put the dough back into it, cover with a clean dish towel or cling wrap and leave to rise for two hour. Once the dough has doubled in size knocked back down and kneads again for 2min. leave it for another hour to rise again. Once risen divide the dough into 4 balls and roll each one out, on a floured surface (Yes my rolling pin is a wine bottle). Now it is pizza time! Top with Tomato Paste (please never use Tomato Sauce, all Italians will roll in their graves and will tip the earth off its axis.) I topped mine with roasted butternut and caramelized onions and three different cheeses.  Bake in the oven at 180 degrees  for  20min, very very yummy pizza dough, it was amazing not to doughy and not to crunchy, perfect.    If you not going to use all the dough balls, don't forget to wrap unused one in cling wrap and keep in the freezer.

So Louise... is back in S.A now missing her husband but keeping busy. hope you enjoy the pizza dough and get a little wild with your toppings, I think the secret is don't try put to many things on ,just 2 or 3 flavoursome ingredient and loads of cheese, goes without saying.

Till next time
xoxo
So Louise
 

The Last Supper.

 So Louise... Stuffed Roast Beef

A very good friend of mine, Lucy and her husband come home to S.A every two years. It is becoming a tradition for me to cook them there last the supper, before  they go back to Scotland.

This year I made Stuffed Roast Beef with Red Wine Mushroom gravy. I stuffed my Roast with Sundried Tomatoes, Spinach and Feta. The flavours worked beautifully with the Red Wine.

The Ingredients :
1.5kg Roast Beef ( I used Silverside)
1 packed of Sundried Tomatoes
1 packet of Spinach (steamed)
1 or 2 round of Feta
half a bottle of Red Wine
3 Cloves of Garlic ( peeled and whole)
Some string
pre-heat oven at 140 degrees

What I did was (very carefully, my track record with knives) cut the Roast so that it was one long piece of meat. laying it out flat I added a layer of Sundried Tomatoes then the Spinach and finally the Feta. Once I have all my Layers I roll my roast back up I fasten it with string. In a hot frying pan I sear the roast, to seal in all the juice goodness. I place the roast in a dish with a lid, add Red Wine and Garlic and pop it in the oven I left mine in for a little to long I would have liked it to be a little pink, but cooking is trial and era. My Roast was in for about an hour, so I would check it at 45min.

One of the many things that my wonderful Brother has taught me is never put salt on meat when cooking. Salt dehydrates the meat making it dry. Add a little Salt after or just have some on the table.

Now for the Red Wine Gravy. I'm pretty sure I could have given Lucy the Gravy on its own for dinner and she would have been happy.

The Ingredients :
8-10 Mushroom ( thinly sliced)
1tsp Butter
2 Cloves of Garlic (crushed)
1Tbsp Soy Sauce
2Tbsp Corn Flour (mixed into 150ml cold water)
Salt to taste

In a sauce pan I fried Mushrooms and Garlic in the Butter. Added the Red Wine from the Roast and the Corn Flour water mix to the Mushrooms, stirring it while it thickens. Adding the soy sauce and salt to taste, a little Black Pepper would be great to. The Gravy was dreamy, I probably could have had it for dinner by itself as well.

I served the Stuffed Roast Beef  with Roast Veggies and Roasted Potatoes. This meal was a big time winner. I'm definitely going to spoil my Husband with it soon.

For my next post I'm going to tell you about my Savoury Muffins, witch are great for a lunch, Breakfast, Party or just to have in your freezer.

 Until next time

xoxo So Louise