Fabulous Fish October 15, 2012

Hello everyone!
I just want to let you in on our latest: Fabulous fish

This is a cook-in bag that we launched 2 weeks ago. For some of you who didn’t know, I work at seafood company in New product development: Value added section. This bag is so awesome! Both Microwavable and suitable for the oven. Convenience at its best I kid you not. You don’t even have to pierce the bag or anything of that kind. Basically it’s fish in a bag. We have it at all our Cape Town Seafood counters at Woolworths Food Stores:
-Cavendish Square
-Constantia
-Sea Point
-V&A Waterfront
-Tygervalley

Fish in the bag: (available at all 5 branches)
-Peri peri prawns in a pouch (Microwave on High for 8 minutes)
-Lemon and Coriander prawns in a pouch (Microwave on high for 8 minutes)
-Lemon and coriander mussels in a pouch (Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes)
– Whole stuffed Trout in the bag (Stuffed with garlic butter, lemon slices & herb bunches) – Oven bake for 30 minutes
The stuffed trout currently only available at Constantia)
-Salmon Portions with honey and soy sauce in the bag (Microwave on high for 4 minutes)
-Kingklip portions with sticky three pepper sauce (Microwave on high for 4 minutes)
Kingklip portions with sweet and sour sauce (Microwave on high for 4 minutes)

The awesome thing about these bags is the fact that its microwavable and its just sooo quick and easy, wow! I know this ’cause I’ve been working with it for the past 3 weeks non-stop!
So basically, just place the bag in a ovenproof dish, or microwavable dish and microwave or oven bake. Be careful when opening, Hot steam!

Plate, serve and enjoy.
So why try this? I’ll tell you why;
-Its quick and easy.
-Perfect for those who love seafood but don’t like the handling that much.
-Succulent fish in just minutes, full of flavour and much more! 🙂
Additional info:
-Prawns=15 Vannamei Prawns in a bag with the marinade
-Mussels=500g fresh mussels in the bag with marinade
If you prefer oven baking over microwave cooking, an additional cooking time of 5-10 minutes to be added to the overall cooking times.
Find this at our 5 seafood counters around town.

For all my Joburg peeps, have a look at our Joburg Woolworths Food seafood counters:
-East gate
-Nicolway
-Bedfordview
-Linksfield
-Sandton
-Rivonia
-Fourways
-Cresta
-Farramere
-Hyde Park
-Brooklyn

Till next time.
Happy cooking-

Update on life*

Good day all my beautiful peeps! 🙂

I know, I know, you probably forgot about my blog– cause that’s how quiet I’ve been. Well, let me just get one thing straight. Work’s been hectic! Keeps me on my toes though.

well, let me just let you in on why I’ve been MIA for the past few months. I’ve recently started with my WIL (Work integrated learning) or Food Practice module. Inservice training as you all know it.

So, I started out working for this other company–decided to leave that and move on, mostly beause I didn’t see myself preparing salads and developing salad recipes for 5 months! lol. Boooooooring!!!

This was a very tough decision, because it meant going against everything I believe in about ‘finishing what you’ve started’ and all that. I had to start praying seriously and trusting God for something better before it was too late. That happened. while I was there, doing nothing for about 3 weeks, I did everything I could never do, cause I never had time.haha! Wait, before I start writing my life here let me just get to the point.

Can you believe how awesome God is? He blessed me with this awesome position at a company caled Greys marine cc situated in Diepriver.

I’m currently working as a New Product development assistant during the week and on weekends I am a tasting consultant at the different woolworths stores in Cape Town, pretty cool! and this–needless to say, I TOTALLY love, beacause I get to food demonstrations: formal and informal all the time:)

So not only do they allow me to be a part of all kinds of tests, procedures and all, I also get to cook up a storm and play around with fish:) I also work very closely with Woolworths chef: Gavin Anhaeusser with developing new products for our gourmet range.

My bosses this side has got so much faith in me. I get company transport, get to sit in on Big shot meetings (where I absolutely just stop and stare, lol), attend events, Do store visits, I get space to do my own thing on my own time, Meet the hot shot business men and women, Breakfasts with management, get to have my say in everything I do and the list just goes on… Most importantly, I enjoy this way more!

We have our ups and downs yes, but more ups than downs. Haha, TGBTG!

So, we’re a fish company that supplies woolworths Cavendish, Sea Point, V&A Waterfront, Constantia and Tygervalley of all their raw fish and fish products. We have seafood counters in each of these stores.

Besides the NPD and Tasting consultant, theres alot more to my job. We’ll discuss that some other time.

Just know, that I haven’t abandoned you completely. I’ll be posting some cool fun with fish recipes soon*

ciao for now!
Have fun in the kitchen and don’t forget to pray! ***
Till later;)

Something FISHY— inspired by YOU”,) May 16, 2012

Good afternoon all:)

So, not only is fish good for one’s health, but it tastes great and is easy to prepare. Fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals such as iron and zink and most of them are very low in fat!

This week I only chose five types to tell you more about

1. Harder: This is a firm textured and tasty fish and also has a lot of bones.

Some great cooking methods to bring out the taste: Tastes absolutely great when it’s braaied. (When harder is dried, it’s called bokkoms)

2. Salmon trout: This is a sea or fresh water fish with a fine, smooth texture, delicate flavour and pinkish orange colour.

It is delicious when pan-fried, grilled or smoked and a cheaper substitute for salmon.

3. Anchovy: This tiny fish is also known as white bait. This can be pan-fried or deep-fried(whole) and eaten crispy.

4. Yellow tail: This fish is recognised by it’s yellow tail. Like snoek (an oily fish) is a predator. It is has a white flesh and it is course and dry so be careful when handled, especially when cooking, not to overcook it. Soak in milk, dip in flour and fry in oil. It can also be braaied, grilled, smoked or pickled.

5. Jacopever: This fish is recognized by its protruding eyes and red skin. It has a firm white flesh and a delicate flavour. This can be braaied whole or grilled in the oven. If it is filleted, it should be pan-fried or grilled.

=========RECIPE TIME!!! =))

Pan fried Salmon Trout with Oriental Mushrooms

Serves 4

preparation time: 20 min

Cooking time: 15-20 min

Mushrooms

15 ml (1T) sesame oil

30 ml (2T) canola oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

15 ml (1T) grated fresh ginger

2 leeks, sliced in thin rings

200g baby button mushrooms

5 ml (1t) fish or oyster sauce

5 ml (1t) sugar

Fish

oil for frying

4 portions (180 g each) salmon trout

a few drops of vinegar and salt

To serve:

Fresh asparagus, steamed

Mushrooms: Heat the oil in a pan and stir fry the garlic, ginger and leeks until soft. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry until lightly browned. Add the fish or oyster sauce and sugar and mix. Sprinkle with fresh coriander.

Fish: Heat the oil in the pan. Put the fish in the pan skin down. Fry until the skin is slightly crisp. Turn the fish, cover and steam-fry until just done. Sprinkle with rice vinegar and salt while cooking. To serve– Put the asparagus on a plate. Top with the fish and mushrooms.

To find out more about this recipe, go to:

http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://www.huisgenoot.com/uploads/articles/woensdag59.jpg%3Fwidth%3D300&imgrefurl=http://www.you.co.za/articles/Food/Panfried-salmon-trout-with-Oriental-mushrooms&usg=__TZRs-ruMxOk5psvNfkYF-uMK4B0=&h=300&w=300&sz=32&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=29Ura5UzJapBJM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&ei=RZazT-HdNsW0hAfAh8nbBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpan%2Bfried%2Bsalmon%2Btrout%2Bwith%2Boriental%2Bmushrooms%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1

 More interesting information about fish:

http://www.helpwithcooking.com/fish-guide/introduction-to-fish.html

 Source: YOU magazine Summer 2011

Till next time, happy cooking..

Ciao*

pretty in pink(*^,) May 9, 2012

My obsession!! I don’t need a reason to love cupcakes, I just do.. simply because not only is it easy but you can experiment all you want with beautiful patterns and stuff=)

Allow me to share some pictures. These always inspire me to bake some cupcakes. Gotta love it!

Enjoy…*

Takeaways…

 

 It’s the 21st century and no more slaving away in front of the stove/oven to make delicious and healthy meals. We’d rather spend less time in the kitchen and eat out or buy takeaways. The problem of course is that we’ve become way to dependant on take aways and its not doing our bodies any good. I ave to admit though, that if and when possible, I dont mind indulging a bit, but that’s the difference. I can gladly and proudly say that I don;t make it my work to out and buy takeaways. It’s absolutely shocking to see how the takeaways are taking over. To see the queues in fast food outlets is just scary. People are out of control when it comes to this.

It is said that, to have takeaways is much more expensive than to actually prepare it in the comfort of your own home. Totally agree with that! I mean, preparing the food is what makes it even more exciting. Sure the pressures of our everyday life don’t always make that possible, but we really should try preparing healthy balanced meals at least 3 times a week.

The low down on takeaways:

Not only is it extremely high in fat but also in salt.

Fact: takeaways or rather “fast foods” actually takes longer to digest, yet it’s called fast foods.

Takeaways are high in trans fats

 it is relatively expensive
it can be unhealthy, with too much fat and salt
it can mean families spend less and less time together
it is not balanced in nutrition
it may be half-cooked, and contain microbes that cause diseases

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_fast_food#ixzz1uOaIgApm

Read more:http://www.healthyweightweek.com.au/index.asp?pageID=2145857400

Sure takeaways have its benefits too, but you have to admit that the cons outweighs the pros.

Some tips for takeaways:http://www.healthyweightweek.com.au/index.asp?pageID=2145857400

Let’s do ourselves a huge favour and be responsible when it comes to take aways

be good, till next time foodies, stay healthy!=))

Pick of the week May 3, 2012

For those of you who are absolutely too lazy to make a decent lunch or like me, have limited time on your hands the Knorr Cook-in-Bag is just for you!

I know that I promised some quick lunches to my good friend, Lynton. I hope this will come in handy=)

On my most recent visit to Woolies foods, Rondebosch, I bought the Knorr Cook-in-Bag, expecting only the best.

Not only is this little baby convenient, but full of flavour

The bag is initially designed for chicken pieces but they also mention on the bag that you can add vegetables to the bag as well. This was just awesome for me because I love steamed veggies with some yummy flavour.

It’s a roasting bag but can be used in the microwave oven as well=)

All you have to do is, place your fresh chicken in a single layer in the bag, add your veggies, and then the seasoning spice that comes with the bag, shake it a little bit just for the spice to coat everything. Then you make a knot and pinch a few holes in the bag just for the steam to escape. Or just follow the cooking instructions on the bag.

I had the lemon and herb flavour and it was soooo good! The chicken was juicy and the veggies perfect. If indeed you decide to microwave the chicken and veggies, do so only for 18 minutes on high-speed, checking all the time.These bags  comes in exciting flavours and feel free to experiment all you want.

It’s available at any supermarket and only R12.95

Feel free to check out the site for more of the product specifications: http://www.woolworths.co.za/Home/Food-Household/Grocery-Cupboard/Herbs-Spices-Rubs/Knorr-Cook-in-Bag-Spicy-Roast-Chicken-Flavour-35g/6001087009522.pid

 

Happy cooking! Till next time foodies…

The big BREAKfast… April 25, 2012

To quote Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s: “Rather go to bed supper less, than run in debt for a breakfast”

Can you relate to that?

Hi all. I know this is one of the biggest problems we have not eating breakfast! I know that you probably heard a lot about breakfast already?

I know I know time management! Once again. Well, I hate to say this, but I find myself pressing the ‘snooze’ button on my cell phone up until the point where I literally fly out of my bed and realize that I’m extremely late. Then on top of that, I blame my poor pillow, which is just wrong! That eventually resulting in me skipping breakfast simply because I’m running late. When I think breakfast, I think of the importance my Home Economics teacher used to drill into our heads. Breakfast is really very important-the most important meal of the day and skipping it may lead to serious problems throughout the day. Without further due, allow me to share some of the importance of breakfast daily…

The importance of breakfast:

• Studies have found that skipping breakfast increases the chances of becoming obese, developing diabetes or even having a heart attack.
• Breakfast regulates the blood glucose levels
• Breakfast regulates the cholesterol levels
• Breakfast provides energy for the rest of the day’s activities
• Breakfast provides other essential nutrients to keep your energy levels up throughout the day
• Eating breakfast reduces fatigue

 

Some of the consequences of skipping breakfast:

• It can diminish mental performance
• Lacking the nutrients and vitamins in the diet
• More pressure on the body, in terms of nutrients needed, by not eating breakfast means that you will never make up for that during the day. Nutrients lost that was supposed to be part of the breakfast, is lost forever.
• Lack of concentration, sleepiness and sometimes dizziness
• Nausea
• Drop in blood glucose levels later in the day

 

Some good breakfast choices:

• Oats: Provides excellent nutrition to start the day (please make sure that you don’t buy the “Quick oats” as this contains all sorts of chemicals that are no good for the body.
• Eggs: No, they won’t raise your cholesterol! Eggs are a great source of protein and this works well with wilted spinach, mushrooms and onions! I even add some green pepper too very nice combo.
• Smoothie: a great ‘quick’ breakfast for people who are in a hurry. This is very nutritious and quick and easy to prepare.
• Fresh or 100% fruit juice.
• Whole wheat brown bread rather than white. I’m still very old school and still believe, together with my 9-year-old niece that white bread results in a big bum or tummy, ha-haJ
• Fresh fruit salad with plain yoghurt muesli can be added, personal  preference

 

So, let’s do the right thing and don’t skip breakfast. It is of utmost importance and we need all the nutrients we can get. Be responsible and even if it means that you have to wake up earlier in the morning, then so be it!

Till next time… look out for my next post. Exciting recipes coming your way 😉

Be good*

Delectable desserts… April 18, 2012

“Life is uncertain…eat dessert first” _ Ernestine Ulmer

Hi everyone! Before we tap into it, can we just forget that ‘desserts’ is actually ‘stressed’ backwards?J

Right! So, its almost winter time and I just love baked puddings. There’s nothing like baked desserts with freshly made custard and or ice cream to serve it with.

I personally like entertaining my friends with some of the baked puddings. The great thing about this is that you can go all out, using whatever you want to use and have a good time on top of it! Winter at our household is just the best. Everyone knows that Sunday afternoons its dessert time at our house- Pure entertainment. It’s almost like we can’t wait till Sunday just to catch up on the week and make the most of our time together.

Convenience: Pure bliss

We all are very familiar with the term and this has made a huge impact on our lives the past few years.

The best about this is that we get ready made desserts in the shops which give us even more time to relax, catch up and enjoy the moment.

I just want to share some of my favourite winter desserts. I’m very old school and still believe that baked puddings are meant to be eaten during winter only! Ha-ha. But some of the stuff we actually get all year round in the shops.

My top 8 warm desserts:

1. Sago pudding
2. Buttermilk pudding
3. Double chocolate pudding
4. Roly- poly
5. Malva pudding
6. Steamed pudding
7. Velvet pudding
8. Bread pudding

I’ve been craving buttermilk pudding for the past 3 days so I eventually decided on making it. Found an awesome recipe in the you Delicious desserts

 

‘For less trouble, you end up with a beautiful, velvety product!’

Servings: 4-6

You will need:

180ml sugar

15mlbutter

3 eggs

30ml cake flour

5ml vanilla essence

500ml full cream milk

250ml buttermilk

lemon juice to taste (personal preference)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Grease an ovenproof dish or 6 individual soufflé dishes or ramekins. Cream the sugar and butter. Add eggs to the butter mixture, one by one and mix well. Add cake flour and vanilla essence to the batter. Mix the milk together with the buttermilk and add to the flour mixture. Mix well and sieve into the prepared baking dish/es. If the individual sized ramekins are used, place in an oven proof dish filled with water and bake for approximately 40 minutes till cooked. This is known as the ‘Bain Marie method’ for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term.

A heads up from me for this recipe! Relatively cheap, quick and easy to prepare! Have a blast…

Final words…

So, as we all are very aware of the fact that most supermarkets sell readymade desserts. This actually saves us a lot of trouble but they don’t come cheap also. I do recommend this, but I must say that there’s nothing compared to the actual real thing! My mommy always say that you’ll never really enjoy it if it’s not your own. Plus you can’t take credit for someone else’s work 😉

Feel free to comment on this post if indeed you want some of the other recipes mentioned aboveJ

Till next time foodies. Happy baking*

Easter holidays (2) April 12, 2012

Good evening all you beautiful people!
While browsing through the April issue of Pick ‘n Pay’s Fresh Living magazine I came across the “Picks of the Bunch” and wow! Pure awesomeness
I know I’m a bit out of it but during Easter holidays we, love our pickled fish and hot cross buns. And I really want to share this with you. You might just want to use it in future. One never knows 😉
This made me think about tradition and how we’re so used to doing certain things. We simply grow into the habit of doing the things we’re used to. Thinking about the quote I read once, “tradition is living forth the habit of dead people” or something like that!
Well, my explanation of this, pickled fish with hot cross buns is, simply this:
Remember the story about Jesus feeding four thousand men? Well, His disciples had seven loafs and a few small fish. He ended up feeding four thousand men. Excluding the women and children! Just shows what faith can do. God really provides. Matthew 15: 32-39- truly inspiring made me think about all the things I’m greatful for and how God really came through for me in so many ways in my life.
Well, this is how the story lives on for us (mostly in the coloured community) or at least that’s what I know. Just correct me if I’m wrong. The pickled fish and the hot cross buns.
Moving on, well I must say that I’m not a big lover of hot cross buns. Simply because I don’t really like raisins in my food. Weird, I know. Strange enough, I actually thought about trying it out because what’s the worst thing that can happen, right? Ha-ha!
And bam! There it was…
5 ways with hot cross buns by Caroline Gardner: (this is for those of you who, like me, don’t like hot cross buns that much)
1. Hot cross bun and apple crumble
Here you just mix diced drained canned apples with raisins and spoon it into an oven proof dish. Then you blitz buns that are a day old into fine crumbs with mixed all spice and brown sugar. To finish off you then just scatter the crumbs over the apples and drizzle with honey before baking until cooked through and golden.

2. Easter tarts
Half and toast the buns. Top with a spoonful of ricotta or crème fraiche and sliced, fresh or roasted fruit (this can be figs, peaches or even pears), then drizzle with honey.
Great pudding snack I say… and you can use anything you like. Try to be as creative as possible and enjoy!

3. Hot cross bun pudding
Slice 6 to 8 buns and arrange in an oven proof dish. Whisk a little cream with PnP custard or even Ultramel and pour over buns. Bake at 180˚C.

4. Caramelized chilli hot cross bun fingers
Here you half the bus again then you slice it into ‘fingers’. Mix a pinch of chilli flakes with castor sugar and toss through the bun slices. Heat a non-stick pan or tin and cook to caramelise till golden. This can be served with good quality filter coffee or hot chocolate.

5. And lastly: Hot cross French toast
Slice buns into 3 slices and dunk in beaten eggs (you can sweeten the eggs with a little castor sugar if you want). Fry in a non-stick pan until both sides are golden brown and cooked through. Serve with a mixture of finely grated orange peel, brown sugar and a little cinnamon. You can also use golden syrup or even chocolate sauce…

I must add that I’m a huge fan of the PnP magazine team and absolutely love the recipes!
Like I said right at the beginning that I know I’m a bit out with the time but I still want to share this with you.
Well, till next time my beautiful people*
Ciao for now…

Source: PnP Fresh Living magazine: April 2012 Issue

Easter Holidays (1)

So we just got back from the short vacation and celebrated the most important component in a Christian’s life. The crucifixion, the death as well as the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
I’m sure most of you enjoyed long weekend! I sure did… being home again, being lazy, and being surrounded by all your loved ones and most importantly for me- having home cooked meals and freshly baked goods on a regular basis! 
A little bit on how I spent my Easter week-end:
Wednesday evening we started making our pickled fish already- as my mommy believes it’s better to make it early for the flavours to enhance and for it to taste better. 3kg of fish! Oh my gosh, that’s quite a lot if you ask me, seeing that we’re only 4 in the house. Not forgetting about everyone who wants some of our pickled fish, maybe that’s why! My mommy likes feeding the entire street by the way. Love her too bits!
Thursday was even better. We did some shopping for the actual weekend to come and bought a whole lot of awesome goodies. I started craving milk tart and came across this beautiful recipe in Annette Human’s Uisoekresepte that I want to share with you. It’s really very quick and easy to make and even forms its own crust. Absolutely beautiful!
Crust less milk tart
You will need:
2 dessert spoons (25ml) margarine
3 extra large eggs
150g sugar (3/4 cup)
110g cake flour (3/4 cup)
5ml salt (1/4 tsp)
750ml milk (3cups)
Cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 160 ˚C and prepare a baking dish. Melt the margarine and separate the eggs. Beat the margarine together with the egg yolks and sugar until mixed well. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix well. Add the milk and beat till mixed well. Beat the egg whites till stiff, but not dry and fold into the batter. Scoop the mixture into the dish, sprinkle the cinnamon over and bake for 55minutes or till cooked. Let tart cool down before serving. Enjoy!

Easter Friday started off in church. 3 hours service which was absolutely stunning! This reminded me once again of how lucky we truly are. I mean all that blood on the cross. If the story doesn’t move you by now, then I’m sorry, you’re a lost cause! I encourage you to read the book of Matthew in the New Testament and meditate on that.
After church we had lots of fish and chatted for long hours….we even had a thunder storm! Even cooler 😉
Saturday I slept late and had a good read- God has a dream, by arts bishop Desmond Tutu. I really enjoyed this part of the weekend because we get so easily caught up in the ‘city life’ and we’re so swamped with work we don’t even think about reading! Well, that’s how it is for me. Most of you might disagree. I know, I know, time management. Blah-blah 🙂 Except for the notes 😉 of course…
Sunday, however, I was really looking forward to… home cooked meal…the sweet stuff and all. I just went to church, came back, took a nap and had to start packing as I was leaving for cape Town again…Goodbye Holiday!(sad face). The great thing about coming back was that, I got to spend time with Alexa, a very good friend of mine and also, the Photographer of the Sarie Kos magazine . We had coffee at Wimpy- Laingsburg, a small town in the middle of Cape Town and my home town-Beaufort West. We enjoyed the rain on the road, the good music and of course the company, well I sure did even though I soaked in the music most of the time, ha-ha.
Not that exciting like most of you would define, but I had a great time. To me, holiday’s means, spending time with the ones you love, counting your blessings and baking
Till next time*