Terri Dunbar-Curran
AS THE hot summer days drag on, now is the perfect time to gain a new skill that will improve your “cool quotient”.
While an ice-cream cone at the pool can be fun, presenting your friends with a crisp fruity sorbet which you just happened to whip up yourself is far more impressive.
The 15 on Orange Hotel is on hand with a sorbet workshop to ensure you’re all clued up and ready to start churning out fresh and fruity sorbets and decadent ice creams.
The team walks you through a variety of recipes and methods, so you won’t even need the fancy equipment for many of them.
Executive chef Sanel Esterhuyse explains one of the most important things you need is a basic stock syrup to work from. “The recipes are exact, but it’s good to taste as you go,” she says, encouraging some experimentation with flavours. “Fruit with more body gives you a softer, more crystallised sorbet.”
Esterhuyse warns, however, that alcohol doesn’t freeze. Also, sugar takes longer to freeze, so the sweeter your mixtures the harder it will be to get them to set to the right thickness and texture.
A good place to start is with a granita, which has a little more crunch and texture. It can be made fairly easily with a metal baking pan and your freezer – allow the syrupy, fruit mix to set and then use a fork to scrape it into granules when you’re ready to serve.
“Sorbet is something you want to eat on the day you churn it,” says Esterhuyse. “But you can make the syrup the day before, then keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to churn.”
The workshop uses simple baking pans, Kitchen Aid mixers with ice cream fittings, industrial-strength churners and even dry ice, and is packed with tips and delicious samples to inspire you to make sorbet and ice cream a staple this summer.
If you’re looking for a way to spoil yourself without having to lift a finger in the kitchen, make a weekend of it and book for the Bottomless Bubbly lunch at Savour, on the first Sunday of every month.
The lunch is open to visitors as well as guests, so book a table and prepare for some extra special culinary indulgence.
This is not your average buffet – the variety is staggering and you’ll need to do more than a handful of trips to the table before you’ve even grazed the surface.
An abundant salads and starters section boasts everything from a classic cobb salad to seared beef carpaccio with mushroom confit and horseradish cream. Pick away happily at the marinated olives and a wide selection of cold meats and cheeses. Make sure you don’t miss the asparagus spears wrapped in smoked springbok with a chive aioli – in fact, save yourself the extra trip and grab a couple while you’re there.
Another winner is the goat cheese and red beets tian.
However, as tasty as one thing is, you need to resist the temptation to fill up on that alone – there’s also a spread of seafood to explore.
Freshly shucked oysters, salmon sashimi, gravadlax, squid marinara and tuna ceviche beckon those with a taste for the sea.
If you still have room, of if you’re hankering after something a little more hearty, take a turn past the entrée section, where you’ll find hazelnut crusted beef filet mignon, chermoula lamb cutlets, wickedly moreish gnocchi with creamy gorgonzola, Royal Thai seafood curry and Nasi goreng. At this point you’ll probably be a little sluggish, especially after indulging in the bottomless bubbly, but you’ll also have been eyeing the sumptuous dessert spread throughout lunch.
It is a work of art. With giant meringues, the daintiest little lemon meringue tarts, bright macaroons, perfect little cheese cake squares, chunks of soft toffee, and smooth mounds of chocolate mousse – you’ll never want to leave.
l The Bottomless Bubbly Lunch Buffet is R495 a person. To book, call 021 469 8000.