Paint the table red - recipes

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Cranberry champagne cocktail. Picture: Antoine de Ras

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Impress your Valentine with Angela Day’s easy menu of dishes using red ingredients.

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Cranberry champagne cocktail

Roasted tomato gazpacho

Roast fillet with red onion marmalade

Beetroot carpaccio with goats’ cheese

Strawberry and raspberry jelly

RECIPES

CRANBERRY CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

Makes 4-6

250ml cranberry juice

15ml sugar

30ml orange liqueur

30ml lime or lemon juice

chilled pink champagne or sparkling wine

red berries for serving

Put the cranberry juice in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until reduced by two-thirds. Remove from the heat and stir in sugar to taste. Cool completely.

Combine with the liqueur and lemon juice. When ready to serve, pour about 30ml of this mixture into a serving glass and top up with chilled champagne or sparkling wine.

Add a few berries to the glass.

ROASTED TOMATO GAZPACHO

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 cold water

10-15ml red wine vinegar

a few croutons

a few slices of avocado pear

Put the tomatoes, garlic, pepper and onion into a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar and roast at 160°C for 40 minutes.

Cool the mixture slightly, place into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the basil and enough water to obtain the desired consistency. Add vinegar to taste.

Chill well before serving topped with croutons and avocado slices.

ROAST 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 200°C for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Season the fillet with salt and pepper and brown in heated olive oil in a frying pan until nicely browned all over.

Place on a roasting tray and roast in the oven at 200°C for 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.

BEETROOT CARPACCIO WITH GOAT’S CHEESE

1-2 beetroots, cooked

1 orange, segmented

baby salad leaves

handful of walnuts, lightly 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 over the goat’s cheese and pour over the dressing just before serving.

DRESSING: Combine all the ingredients and mix well.

l Freeze the goat’s cheese to make it easier to crumble.

STRAWBERRY AND RASPBERRY JELLY

Makes 2

125g strawberries, chopped

60g raspberries

125ml water

castor sugar to taste

15ml cherry liqueur

5 sheets of gelatine

berries for serving

Combine the strawberries, raspberries, water and sugar to taste in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove and set aside for 20 minutes.

Pour the mixture through a sieve lined with a clean cloth and let as much liquid drip through without squeezing the mixture (squeezing will make the jelly cloudy). You should have 200ml.

Put the gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water and leave to soften. Squeeze out the excess liquid and add the gelatine to the strawberry liquid. If this mixture has cooled down too much, warm it slightly to make sure the gelatine is dissolved.

Divide this mixture between two moulds or ramekins and refrigerate until set. Unmould on to serving plates and decorate with berries. - The Star

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