Roasted tomato soup
Serves 4
500g cherry tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
half a red onion, chopped
15ml olive oil
salt and pepper
a pinch of sugar
45ml chopped basil
125ml vegetable stock
fried croutons
1 avocado, sliced
Put the tomatoes, garlic, pepper and onion into a roasting pan.
Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar and roast at 160ºC for 40 minutes.
Cool the mixture slightly, place into a blender and blend until smooth.
Add the basil and enough stock to obtain the desired consistency.
Pour into a pot and warm until heated through.
Serve topped with croutons and avocado slices.
Beetroot Carpaccio
Serves
1-2 beetroots, cooked
1 orange, segmented
baby salad leaves
handful of walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
25g goat’s cheese, crumbled
DRESSING
30ml olive oil
10ml red wine vinegar
15ml orange juice
10ml honey
salt and pepper
Thinly slice the beetroots and arrange them on a serving plate.
Add some orange segments, salad leaves and walnuts. Crumble the goat’s cheese over and pour over the dressing just before serving.
Freeze the goat’s cheese to make it easier to crumble.
DRESSING: Combine all the ingredients and mix well.
Fillet with red onion marmalade
Serves 2
400g roll of frozen puff pastry, defrosted
500g beef fillet
salt and pepper
olive oil
1-2 red onions, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
10ml castor sugar
125ml red wine
30ml orange marmalade
60g butter
125g enoki mushrooms
a sprig of thyme
Make a paper template of a heart 20cm in length. Unroll the pastry and cut out two heart shapes. Score a border about 1cm inside each heart. Place on a baking tray. Prick the bases with a fork and bake at 200ºC for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Season the fillet with salt and pepper and brown all over in heated olive oil in a frying pan.
Place on a roasting tray and roast in the oven at 200°C for 15-20 minutes or until done to your liking. Remove and cover with foil. While the meat is cooking, heat more olive oil in a frying pan and add the onions.
Add the sugar and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes until soft. Add the wine and cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the marmalade and 30g of the butter to form a thick saucy mixture.
Heat the remaining butter in a pan and fry the mushrooms with some thyme until soft. Spread a generous spoonful of the onion mixture on to the pastry, top with slices of meat and mushrooms. Serve warm.
Mint Crisp Tart
Serves 6-8
200g packet of choc mint-flavoured tennis biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted
250ml cream
385g tin of Caramel Treat
3-4 Peppermint Crisps, crumbled
Combine the crushed biscuits with the butter and mix well. Beat the cream until stiff, then beat in the caramel treat.
Place a spoonful of crumb mixture into the bottom of the container you will serve them in.
Add a spoonful of the caramel mixture and sprinkle over a layer of chocolate.
Add another layer of crumbs, then the caramel mixture, and finish with a sprinkling of mint-crisp chocolate.
Refrigerate for a few hours until set.
ANGELA DAY
The Angela Day cookery column is published in The Star, the Cape Argus, the Daily News and the Pretoria News.
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