Daily News readers learnt the finer points of cheese at a recent tasting and lunch hosted by Simonsberg. Award-winning Stellenbosch chef Nic van Wyk cooked some fabulous recipes using Simonsberg products and shared them with us.
Cheese and mushroom pizzettas
25g butter
30ml olive oil
4 cups mixed mushrooms, wiped
1 - 2 garlic cloves, grated
Salt and pepper to season
Juice of 1 lemon
Store bought pizza dough rolled in very thin 8cm rounds. (ask for ready-made bread dough at the supermarket bakery counter)
1 cup grated Gouda
8 slices mozzarella
A drop of truffle oil for each pizzetta (optional)
Preheat oven to 230ºC. Heat butter and oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and the lemon juice.
Place the dough circles on the hot oven stone or place on oven trays. Bake for 2-4 min on each side. Remove from the oven, scatter over the grated Gouda, followed by the fried mushrooms and top off with the mozzarella.
Put it back in the oven till the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and add a drop of truffle oil on each pizzetta. Serve cut in half. Makes 8.
Beef escalopes with Edam, matured Cheddar and jalapeno
4 slices Edam
4 x 100g fillet steak, flattened with a meat mallet
4 small Jalapeno peppers, seeds removed
4 slices 12 months mature Cheddar cheese (not too thick; cut with a knife and not a peeler)
Tempura batter (the store bought variety mixed with soda water is fine, 100g tempura flour with 100ml soda water) add extra soda water if needed.
Breadcrumbs, for coating. (Preferably Panko/Japanese breadcrumbs, otherwise white bread crumbs)
Put a slice of Edam cheese in the middle of the meat followed by the jalapeno.
Top with the matured Cheddar.
Fold the sides and ends of the beef over and secure with tooth picks.
Dip the escalopes in the batter and then in the breadcrumbs; do this twice; then fry in a deep fryer at 180°C till golden brown.
Place in a hot oven at 220ºC for 3-4 min.
Remove and leave to rest for a few minutes. Remove the toothpicks before serving.
Serves four.
Wild salad with home smoked vegetables & cheese
Home-smoking is a hot trend and easier than you think. There are no hard and fast rules with this salad as long as you use vegetables in season and smoke some of them. Vary the amounts to your taste. To add an extra dimension you can also home-smoke the cheese.
A bunch of wild rocket
Cherry tomatoes, roasted in a hot oven with sugar, olive oil and garlic
Smoked chicken breast
Avocado
Aubergine, cut in blocks, seasoned and roasted with olive oil,
Asparagus, seasoned and roasted with olive oil
Small Nicola potatoes, boiled in the skin and roughly cut up.
Slices of Edam and 12 months matured Cheddar
Dressing:
¾ cup virgin olive oil
¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
What you need: To smoke the vegetables and the cheese you would need a wok with a wire rack and a lid. Any other pot with a wire rack and lid will do. Place some wood chips and rooibos tea leaves on the bottom of the wok.
Arrange the vegetables and cheese on the rack and place the wok over a flame. When the chips and tea leaves start to smoke place the lid on top and turn off the heat. Wait a few minutes until all the smoke has dispersed. Repeat the process should you prefer a more smoky taste. Rather under-smoke than over-smoke.
Toss all the ingredients together and drizzle with the dressing. Serve immediately.
Asian flavoured beetroot risotto with crumbed Camembert
10 small beetroot
olive oil
seasoning.
Asian dressing:
50ml rice wine vinegar
50g grated palm sugar
50ml lemon juice
25ml soya
25ml fish sauce
50ml canola oil
Pre-heat oven to 220ºC. Roast 10 small beetroot skin on, drizzled with olive oil and seasoning for 30 minutes or until soft.
When the beetroot is soft and still warm remove the skin and cut into small cubes. Toss the beetroot with the dressing. The beetroot will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.
Risotto
1.5 litre vegetable stock
25ml olive oil
25g butter
½ onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove finely grated
One knob of ginger, grated
1 cup Arborio rice
½ tin coconut milk
Water
50ml cream
1 cup of grated white Cheddar or Edam cheese
Sesame oil for serving
Heat the stock. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.
The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the coconut milk with the same amount of water.
Stir well and cover with a lid. When the liquid has been absorbed add ladlefuls of warm stock, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. When the grains are soft with the smallest hint of crunch, add the cream and cheese and stir well. Season. Put the lid back on and leave to rest.
Crumbed Camembert:
(This can be prepared ahead of time and left in the fridge until needed.)
1 Camembert
Flour
1 egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs to coat
Sunflower oil for deep frying
Cut Camembert in quarters. Dip the Camembert first in flour then in beaten egg then in breadcrumbs. Repeat the process. Deep fry in oil until golden brown. Leave to rest for 2 minutes then serve.
To assemble place the risotto in a bowl followed by a spoon of the beetroot, top with the fried Camembert and sprinkle with sesame oil.
Serves four.
Simonzola panna cotta with wine-poached pears
For the pears:
1 bottle red wine
250g sugar
1 star anise
6 firm ripe pears, cored and peeled
125ml water (if needed) to top up
Pour the wine in a saucepan and cook for 15 minutes, then add sugar and star anise.
Add the pears and put a plate on top of the pears to make sure they are all under the liquid.
Poach gently for 30 minutes or till the pears are soft but not mushy.
Check regularly during cooking until pears are ready. When the pears are ready remove from the pot and leave to cool. Reserve and cool the cooking liquid.
Cut pears in cubes and return to the cold poaching liquid – keep in a covered container in the fridge till needed.
For the panna cotta
75ml cream + 150ml cream
1 x 125g Simonzola blue cheese
25g sugar
1 ½ gelatine leaves soaked in cold water
225ml plain yoghurt
Bring 75ml cream to the boil and add the Simonzola and sugar.
Stir until melted.
Mix the gelatine leaves with the warm cream mix, cool and add yoghurt.
Whisk 150ml cream until stiff and fold into the cream, cheese and yoghurt mix.
Divide the pear cubes among 6 small glass jars.
Cover with the Simonzola panna cotta mix and leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
Serve in the glass jars.
Serves 6.
Feta and olive bread
500g white bread flour
1x 10g sachet instant yeast
10g salt
350ml luke warm water
1 cup stoned olives
2 discs of feta (any flavour variant)
1 shallow baking tin about 30 x 20 cm, oiled with olive oil
Mix the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer with the dough hook on a low speed. Add water in a steady stream. The dough should be sloppy at this point.
Speed up the mixer and beat the dough for 4-5 minutes. It should start to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out on to the oiled baking tin and leave to rest for a few minutes.
Now spread the dough out evenly on the pan, sprinkle over the olives and top with crumbled cheese.
Leave to prove for 30-40 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 220ºC for 15 minutes till golden brown. Remove the bread from the pan and leave to cool. - Daily News