Recipes
Recipes with my own touch
Leg of lamb with crunchy herbs
Anyone who knows me knows my love affair with roast lamb. This recipe is bursting with flavour and the meat literally falls off the bone! The crunchy herbs and spices add a delightful contrast in texture, making it perfect for a long, lazy Sunday lunch. You simply can’t go wrong with this classic dish!
Rocket, burrata & tomato salad
Burrata means buttered in Italian and is a fresh mozzarella outer shell filled with mozzarella and cream. I first ordered this salad in Ticino a few Easters back when my friend, Marianne, was visiting. Both she & Marcel mocked me for ordering something so simple, but boy, were they jealous when my plate arrived! This salad is scrumptious!
Baby beetroot, walnut & goat’s cheese salad
This beetroot salad is a staple in my kitchen. The flavors blend beautifully: the earthy beetroot is complemented by the natural sweetness of maple syrup, while the silky, creamy goat’s cheese melts in your mouth. For a slightly peppery kick, try using rocket leaves, or opt for lamb’s lettuce for a milder taste. You can prepare this salad in advance and keep it in the fridge; just drizzle the dressing over right before serving. Plus, the dressing works wonders on other salads too!
Dark chocolate mousse
Chocolate mousse is a delicious, silky-smooth decadence first described as “mayonnaise de chocolate”? What an appropriate description! Legend has it that was invented by the French painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec in the late 19th century. He was an experimental cook who loved to create signature dishes, but this was his singular success in the kitchen. It could be appropriate to describe him as the “Right-Said-Fred-I’m-Too-Sexy” of the culinary world! Let’s hope that a bit of his sweet success rubs off on us!
Spicy guacamole
We all pronounce guacamole wrong! In Mexico where this dish comes from (it literally means avocado sauce), it is pronounced WAKA MOLE! You can play around with the chillies to make it spicier or milder but know your chillies. The jalapenos from my garden are literally like non-identical twins – some are so mild you’d think they were asleep, and others have a LOT of VA-VA-VOOM! So don’t say you weren’t warned.
Sticky toffee winter pudding
This is a finger-licking-good pudding. The dates add a lovely layer of sweetness and the caramel sauce oozes throughout to make it truly sticky! Doesn’t matter the type of weather, this little beauty will go down a treat with those who love dates and caramel. You can make it a couple of days ahead of time and keep It in the fridge or even freeze it, defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat gently in the oven when you are ready to indulge!
Sunday roast lamb
My absolute favourite thing to make for Sunday lunch at Notachef’s Table is a lamb shoulder. It is so juicy and tender and reminds me of Christmas in my granny’s kitchen when I always tried to get my hands on the crispy leg of lamb fat when she wasn’t looking! I often got wrapped over the knuckles instead! It’s the season for roasts and a perfect dish for the holidays when you have lots of people around. I love serving my lamb with an interesting rice dish like Jerusalem-spiced rice and a couple of salads.
Lamb and feta meatballs
I love meatballs! They are great as finger food and our kids love them too! Double bonus! These lamb meatballs with jewels of feta and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses are absolutely mouthwatering: perfect as part of a tapas meal or in a lunchbox for work or school. I usually make a couple of batches and freeze them in portions for those evenings where I just don’t feel like cooking. Yes, believe it or not, that actually happens to me too!
Applewähe (Swiss apple tart)
I wanted to make an apple tarte tatin for dessert the other day, but my husband requested an Apfelwähe, Switzerland’s beloved open-faced apple pie. This recipe is very delicious and definitely much healthier than a tarte tatin! There’s a secret layer of crushed hazelnuts at the bottom of the buttery pie crust and a delicious custardy filling is poured over the apples before baking. Get your Swiss on and give this recipe a try!
Buttermilk loaf baked in a cast iron pot
I bake bread for my family at least twice per week using my trusty Thermomix to make the dough. It’s so much cheaper and tastier than grocery store bread. This is one of my go-to breads. It yields a generous loaf, although my family almost devours it as soon as it comes out of the oven. The tender loaf, a Cookidoo recipe, is very soft with a beautifully crisp, golden crust thanks to the cast iron pot it is baked in. I prefer to use maas instead of buttermilk as I find that buttermilk is quite runny nowadays
The best ever chocolate brownies
My youngest almost-four-year-old twin was hiding in the corner at the Tupperware cupboard yesterday morning (straight after breakfast), her mouth smothered in chocolate – not suspicious at all. She had stolen two chocolate brownies from the freezer, taken a bite and was trying to pack the rest in a lunchbox for school! Can this recipe get a better testimonial than this?! They are actually THE BEST BROWNIES I HAVE EVER EATEN. And let’s face it, brownies can get you so excited and suddenly bring you to tears when the first bite is either too dry or too gooey with no crust and chunky bits. You know what I’m talking about! I borrowed this recipe from my #culinarydiva friend, Alida, who in turn borrowed it from a guy who owns a deli in the Midlands. I made a few upgrades along the way: I use either Lindt Couverture Surfin Piccoli 52% Cocoa or Callibaut 33,6% milk callets for the milk chocolate and Lindt Couverture White Piccoli 36% for the white chocolate. Yes, it’s expensive, but trust me it’s worth it. The store-bought run-of-the-mill chocolate doesn’t melt properly. I quadrupled my last batch (at one stage it looked like a chocolate CSI crime scene in my kitchen!) to make sure I had a decent-sized batch in the freezer (don’t do this, the batter is too big for any normal kitchen equipment!). Make sure that you cut them with no-one around to you get all the off-cuts, because they are so more-ish that they will disappear in no time! Enough said: let’s bake!
Kulfi (Pistachio ice cream)
Kulfi is often described as traditional Indian ice cream. And it is one of THOSE ice creams you eat just ONE scoop of – just ONE MORE! This ice cream is thick and creamy filled with bursts of slightly salty pistachios. You don’t need an ice cream machine to make it. It’s literally beat, beat some more and freeze! The hardest part of this recipe is to wait util it’s frozen! If you’re a little more zhuzh (gosh I had to look the spelling up!), make the ice cream into popsicles – then people might be too shy to ask for just ONE MORE! PS I’ve started making my own condensed milk – so cheap and easy! Find the recipe on my website!