|
“Maybe you think you don’t want to work on vacation. But when you’re staying at Babylonstoren, tucked in the Cape Winelands outside Cape Town, you’d be wrong. To start, you can play farmhand on the hotel’s 1,400 breathtaking acres: Gather produce – peaches, mulberries, stuff you’ve never even heard of (loquats!) – bake bread early in the morning, press olive oil from the 8,800 olive trees, harvest honey with the resident beekeeper. Then head back to your room, stylish whitewashed quarters inspired by centuries-old farm cottages, and cook your bounty in the room’s glass-cubed kitchen. Open a bottle of wine from the property, and wonder why making dinner doesn’t feel this magical at home.” (Excerpts and Recipes from “Eat, Drink, and Garden Your Heart Out at Babylonstoren,” in the May 2015 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. // Recipes by Maranda Engelbrecht).  “The color-coded salad is one of Babylonstoren’s signature dishes and always features a mix of fruits and vegetables on the same plate. Maranda Engelbrecht, Babylonstoren’s head chef, says produce that looks good together tastes great together, too, and she’s developed specific vinaigrettes to complement the red, yellow, and green options.”
Makes 1 Cup Vinaigrette Ingredients Pickled Beets 1. 6 baby red beets, trimmed, scrubbed 2. 2 whole star anise pods 3. 2 cups verjus 4. 1 teaspoon kosher salt Vinaigrette and Assembly 1. 2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas) 2. 2 anchovy fillets packed in oil 3. 1 garlic clove, finely grated 4. 1/3 cup grated Parmesan 5. 1/4 cup basil leaves 6. 1/4 cup olive oil 7. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 8. Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper to taste 9. Mixed red and purple raw fruits and vegetables (such as tomatoes, plums, berries, radishes, beets, rainbow carrots, and watermelon), halved, sliced, and/or cut into wedges Ingredient Info: Verjus is a tart juice made from unripe grapes. You can find it at specialty foods stores and online. Directions Pickled Beets 1. Bring beets, star anise, verjus, salt, and 1 cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook beets, adding water as needed to keep them covered, until tender, 30-40 minutes. Let cool. 2. Remove beets from brine with a slotted spoon and rub with paper towels to remove skins. Set beets aside. Reserve brine separately. Do Ahead of Time: Beets can be pickled 3 days ahead of time. Return beets to brine; cover and chill. Vinaigrette and Assembly 1. Toast pumpkin seeds in a dry small skillet over medium-high heat, tossing occasionally, until golden brown and puffed, about 3 minutes. Let cool. 2. Process anchovies, garlic, Parmesan, basil, oil, lemon juice, and 2 pickled beets in a food processor until smooth; season with salt and pepper. With motor running, thin vinaigrette with reserved brine to a pourable consistency. Add pumpkin seeds and pulse until coarsely ground. 3. To serve, spoon some vinaigrette into a shallow bowl and arrange fruits and vegetables of choice on top. Season with salt and pepper. Do Ahead of Time: Vinaigrette can be made 2 days ahead of time. Cover and chill.
0 Comments
“All great change begins at the dinner table.”
(Ronald Reagan) Isn’t it uncanny how often significant conversations begin while seated around a table? Be they first coffee dates, university discussion groups, Sunday family lunches, funny stories shared around a campfire, or the significance of the wedding banquet across cultures worldwide, conversation grows relational connection, often facilitated by the sharing of food and drink. How can you begin a weekly practice of curated, intentional conversations, seated around a table of your choosing? Here are a few questions to kickstart your conversation:
 “Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!
Hebrews 13:2, MSG) Have you ever failed to RSVP for a dinner party? The invitation has come, lovingly prepared with care. The menu is bountiful, thoughtfully designed. The table is set, anticipating the community that will gather around it to partake of the coming meal (both food that is tangible, and the food of deliberate love extended towards all). The host is ready to welcome you with open arms. But what if you didn’t show up, even if you said you were coming? Sure, your last-minute excuse would be ‘polite’ and ‘reasoned’ – ‘Work has delayed me. My family needs me. This thing or that is demanding my attention.’ One by one, everyone sends their regrets, “begging off, one after another making excuses” (Luke 14:18, MSG). What happens to the lavish dinner party then? More pointedly, how does the host respond? In Jesus’ Parable of the Great Banquet, the host, representing God, responds with an angry urgency: “Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full!” (Luke14:23, MSG). Often we minimise or seek to explain away the host’s response. God, offended by our excuses? What if we instead chose to look at the host’s response as coming from a place of deep desire to share his banquet table with those who would come to the party, whose position in life had stripped away all pretense, excuse, or distraction, and simply left them unable to refuse such a generous offer? What if you postured your hospitality in such a graciously open way – welcoming alien and stranger to share your table, regardless of ethnicity, culture, or ‘appropriateness’ to sit with you? Perhaps those who God desires for you to share a table with are close than you can imagine. What if you invited them in? Invite a friend to ponder this Kingdom reality with you, using the spiritual practice of “Imagining the Text: Ignatian Contemplation” to imaginatively enter into the scene of Luke 14:15-24 in The Message.
Removing political volatility for a minute, perhaps a simpler question could (should? will?) cause us to raise our collective voice, a united humanity of Jesus followers determined to “love our neighbour as ourself” (Leviticus 19:19). The question rises from Leviticus 19:33-34, and is as follows:
Perhaps God prefers a sprawling, welcoming dinner party instead of an intimate, closed gathering? “Maybe you think you don’t want to work on vacation. But when you’re staying at Babylonstoren, tucked in the Cape Winelands outside Cape Town, you’d be wrong. To start, you can play farmhand on the hotel’s 1,400 breathtaking acres: Gather produce – peaches, mulberries, stuff you’ve never even heard of (loquats!) – bake bread early in the morning, press olive oil from the 8,800 olive trees, harvest honey with the resident beekeeper. Then head back to your room, stylish whitewashed quarters inspired by centuries-old farm cottages, and cook your bounty in the room’s glass-cubed kitchen. Open a bottle of wine from the property, and wonder why making dinner doesn’t feel this magical at home.” (Excerpts and Recipes from “Eat, Drink, and Garden Your Heart Out at Babylonstoren,” in the May 2015 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. // Recipes by Maranda Engelbrecht).  Poached Eggs with Mushroom, Tamarillo, and Sage
“Babylonstoren’s Maranda Engelbrecht uses exotic tamarillos. If you can get them, great. If not, tomatoes are your best swap.” 4 Servings Ingredients 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar 4 large eggs 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided 8 ounces (~225 grams) shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, torn into pieces 8 ounces (~225 grams) oyster mushrooms, trimmed, torn into pieces Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided 1/4 cup sage leaves 8 tamarillos, peeled, thinly sliced, or 4 medium heirloom tomatoes, cored, thinly sliced (or a mix of both) 2 ounces (~55 grams) Parmesan, shaved Flaky sea salt to taste Directions Bring 2 inches water to a boil in a large saucepan; reduce heat to a gentle simmer and add vinegar. Crack an egg into a small bowl; gently slide egg into water. Repeat with remaining eggs, waiting until whites start to set before adding the next. Poach until white are set and yolks are still runny, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs as they are done to paper towels. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add half of both mushrooms; season with kosher salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining mushrooms and another 2 tablespoons butter; transfer to same plate. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in same skillet over medium-high; cook sage, shaking skillet, until fragrant and crisp, about 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towels with a slotted spoon. Reserve skillet. Divide tamarillo slices among plates, arranging so they overlap; season with kosher salt and pepper. Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice. If butter has started to solidify, return mushrooms to reserved skillet and gently reheat over medium, tossing. Using a slotted spoon, spoon mushrooms over tamarillos, top with poached eggs, fried sage, and Parmesan. Season with sea salt and more pepper. Drizzle any butter in skillet over eggs. |
RSS Feed
© COPYRIGHT 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.