When a passionate cook, talented food stylist, fantastic designer and skilled photographers get together, magic happens. In this case, the magic presents itself in the form of a beautiful and inspiring new hardcover recipe book, called Gather.
Filled to the brim with pages upon pages of mouth-watering meals and delectable, celebratory dishes, Gather is not just an ordinary recipe book. It is a gorgeous labour of love, carefully curated by a team of St Anne’s College old girls, all of whom live on the North Coast.
Their aim? To inspire both the experienced and the home cook by sharing easy-to-follow, exciting recipes and raise funds for bursaries that will allow other girls to join the St Anne’s family.
Spearheaded by Ballito mother, passionate foodie and caterer, Theresa Rattray, Gather comprises 62 recipes – all of which were submitted by old girls and tried and tested by Theresa herself.
“Food is my love language. I love feeding people and I love feeding myself,” she laughs. “I came up with the idea of doing the cookbook while chatting to a friend at an old girls’ reunion. I have done a St Anne’s recipe book before, about 10 years ago, but I did that one on my own, even funding it myself. This time I wanted to do it properly with the right team to make it really special,” she says.
After approaching the St Anne’s Old Girls Guild, who agreed to support and fund the project, Theresa set about putting together her ‘dream team’.
Each bringing their own incredible skill sets and expertise to the project, Theresa managed to commission three other old girls to help her create the recipe book – Emily Allan (who works alongside her photographer husband Chris), successful food stylist and one half of the ‘Delish Sisters’ duo, Becs Woodcock and designer Annabelle Armstrong.
Passionate about food her entire life, Theresa (a former farm girl from Mooi River and mother of four girls), has been a caterer, cooking teacher and café owner. Nothing brings her more joy than having her family around the table, cooking and eating together.
“We decided to centre the theme of the recipes in the book around celebrations and ‘celebratory food’ – basically what people enjoy eating when they gather with family and friends around a table. We sent out emails to all the old girls and got about 120 recipe submissions.”
Theresa sifted through them and tested the recipes, before whittling it down to the final 62 that would make it into the book. “I had to cook every single recipe that is in the book twice – once to test it and then again when we photographed the dishes.”
Theresa and the gang set aside a week in January to do the cooking, styling and shooting and her home at Umhlali Country Club was transformed into a ‘studio’.
“It ended up being the hottest week of the year and my aircon broke down,” she laughs. “It took us six days to shoot all 62 recipes. I cooked, Becs styled and Emily and Chris took the photographs.”
Although it was hard work, Theresa says, it was loads of fun. “And we ate like kings for the entire week! Of course, we had a few mishaps here and there – like the braided cinnamon bread that came out looking like a monster and had to be redone a few times – but it worked because we all respected each other’s skill sets and didn’t intervene with one another’s roles.”
From beautiful, comforting broths and breads to delicious cakes and treats, the recipes in Gather all come with their own ‘back story’ from the person who submitted it. “I didn’t change or adjust any of the recipes, but I did add the odd hint or tip here and there,” says Theresa.
Determined to ensure the book was as diverse and inclusive as possible, some of the recipes submitted even came from current and past staff of the school. “Gather has everything from Shisanyama to carrot cake, and even recipes from around the world. We also tried to make sure that even traditional dishes such as roast lamb had an extra little edge or spin on the standard way of cooking it.”
In terms of her own recipe submission, Theresa added her Italian chocolate wedding cake, the Double Diablo (a recipe she’s been using for more than 30 years and never parted with until now!).
Gather is available exclusively at Cookin at Lifestyle Centre Ballito (where you can find every utensil and item you might need to make all the recipes) and online for R485. A percentage of every sale goes to the St Anne’s Old Girls Guild.
CHICKEN, VEG & SESAME BROTH
You’ll need: 1 x whole chicken, 2 tsp olive oil, 3 tsp crushed garlic, 20g grated ginger, 2 red chillies (chopped), 2 onions (chopped), 4 carrots (chopped), 2 cups spinach (chopped), 3 litres water, 8 tsp chicken stock powder, 3 tsp sesame oil, 15g coriander (plus extra for garnishing), 4 tsp lime juice, 1 tsp honey, 2 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, toasted sesame seeds to top.
To make: Using a large pot, on medium, heat, sauté the onions, garlic, chilli and ginger in the olive oil until translucent. Pour in the chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Place the whole chicken inside the broth and let it simmer at a medium heat for 30 minutes. Take the chicken out of the pot and leave it to cool. Add carrots, spinach, sesame oil, coriander, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper to the broth and let it simmer for a further 15 minutes. While the broth simmers, shred the chicken and add to the broth pot. Serve bowls of hot delicious chicken broth topped with fresh coriander and toasted sesame seeds.
Details: @gatherrecipebook, www.cookinstores.co.za
Text: Leah Shone Photographs: Chris Allan Photo
