The Karoo Heartland may be famous for its Karoo lamb, but there are more and more travellers with dietary requests. Vegetarians and vegans who don’t eat meat, gluten intolerant travellers as well as other allergies.
Having recently had a spate of vegetarian and vegan guests staying over at Angler and Antelope Guesthouse in Somerset East, Annabelle Hobson has been scouring the internet and playing around with new recipes. This spiced cauliflower dish was an absolute hit!
*Spiced cauliflower with chickpeas, herbs & pine nuts*
Ingredients:
1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets (about 1kg total)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp each carraway and cumin seed
3 tbsp olive oil
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g pine nuts
Small bunch each parsley and dill, leaves torn
Method
Heat the oven to 200C. Toss the cauliflower, garlic, spices, 2 tbsp oil and some seasoning in a roasting tin and roast for 30 mins.
Add the chickpeas, pine nuts and remaining oil to the tin, then cook for 10 minutes more.
To serve, stir in the herbs with a dressing of your choice.
Sunday lunch in the Karoo. Melt-in-the-mouth tender Karoo lamb roast and veggies with malva for pudding and chocolate cake for afternoon tea. Yeah, that sounds just about right. Sometimes you just want something a bit quicker to make. Maybe quick isn’t the right word. How about beef and vegetable soup, homemade bread and Macaroni Cheese?
This recipe is enjoyed by both guests and family and any leftovers freeze well for a quick and easy light meal.
Quick and Easy Macaroni Cheese
1 cup Macaroni (dry)
2 cups Milk
2 Eggs
1 cup Cheese – grated
1 tablespoon Butter
1 Tomato – sliced thinly
2 teespoon Maizena
2 teespoon Dry mustard
Salt and pepper
A dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Boil macaroni in salt water until tender and drain
Put cheese in a bowl and reserve some to sprinkle on top
Add mustard, maizena, salt, pepper and cayenne to the cheese
Add eggs one at a time and mix well
Boil milk, butter and macaroni together
Add to the mixture in the bowl
Pour into a buttered dish, sprinkle cheese over the top
Decorate with tomato slices
Bake at 180 deg for 30 +- minutes until browned and set
Serves six
One of the desert favourites on a Karoo farm stay is Pecan Pie. Especially if nuts are grown on the farm. Bakers have been asked, actually begged, to give it to everyone who has tasted it. So here it is. It has an indecent amount of butter (margarine can also be used) in it, but now and then it is such a joy to eat something so decadent and mouth-watering that, oh what the hell, just do it! It’s usually served with lightly whipped cream otherwise you can also serve it with ice cream.
Melt topping ingredients in a pot – DO NOT BOIL
Allow to cool slightly and add nuts
Pour over pastry in the dish
Crumble the remaining pastry over the filling
Bake at 180 deg for +- 35 minutes until brownish
If there is anything left afterwards it can be put out at breakfast the next morning and there will always be a few who can’t resist a small piece with their coffee. Utterly indulgent!
Tea time at a Karoo guest farm isn’t tea time without some cake or tart on offer with your afternoon coffee or tea. One of Anne Bowker’s most popular teatime dishes when they ran a guest farmi was Cupcakes, decorated with slices of green fig preserve as leaves with tiny fresh briar roses.
Cupcakes
125 g Butter
155 g Caster sugar
2 Eggs
115g Flour
1 1/2 t Baking powder
150 ml Milk
Preheat oven to 180 and line muffin tins with paper cases
Beat together butter and sugar with an electric beater until pale and creamy
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
Stir in flour and milk and spoon into cases
Bake for 15 minutes until skewer comes out clean
Take out of muffin pan and cool on a rack
Ice when cool with vanilla flavoured butter icing and decorate
Anne makes double quantities every time as they are delicious and get snapped up in no time at all.
Anne Bowker often made these Cheese Puffs as part of their breakfast when they ran a guest farm outside Cradock. There were usually nothing left afterward. And the name describes them to a T. Quick and easy to make.
EASY CHEESE PUFFS
Flour – 1 cup (250 ml)
Baking Powder – 1 dessert spoon
Cheese – 1 cup (grated Cheddar)
Milk – 1 cup
Oil – 50 ml (mixed in the milk)|
Salt – small pinch
Cayenne Pepper – small shake
