Watermelon and mint infused vodka, salmon and herb fritatta … it’s all about flavours this Spring
Herbs, salmon and a glass of organic rosé
The sun is out, the weather’s warm … we’re loving weekend al fresco lunches again.
And this frittata, loaded with herbs and smoked trout, is the perfect lunch dish. Serve with a glass of Spier Rosé and toast to Spring.
Serve this herb & leek frittata, piled with smoked trout, sour cream and avocado, with Spier The Yellowwood Organic Rosé, a wine with beautiful flavours of violets, mulberry, juicy red plum and subtle spice. Serves six.
You’ll need: 30ml butter; 200g leeks, sliced up (about 2 cups); 8 XL eggs; Small bunch of baby spinach leaves (about 20g); Small bunch of parsley (about 20g); Small bunch of dill (about 20g) with extra for garnish; Salt and pepper, to taste; 250g thick sour cream; 1 ripe avocado, sliced; at least 100g cold-smoked trout/salmon ribbons; Fresh lemon wedge, to serve
To make: Preheat oven to 220°C
In a 23cm iron skillet, heat half the butter and fry the leeks until soft but not too brown.
Transfer to a blender, adding eggs, spinach, parsley, dill and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Process into a thick, green batter.
In the same pan, add the rest of the butter over high heat. Add the green mixture, using a spatula to stir it slowly as if making scrambled eggs. Stop stirring when the mixture starts to look lumpy but still runny (it only takes a minute or two).
Transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until just set.
Allow to cool at room temperature, then top with sour cream, sliced avocado and trout/salmon. Season, slice and serve with fresh lemon wedges.
Serve with a glass of Spier Rosé, which you can buy at your local wine stockist or online at shop.spier.co.za
Add a little flavour to the dining room table with a watermelon. Bowls, platters, a cake stand and plump jug, from R950 from bordallopinheiro.co.za
The fabulous book of foodie miracles
Oh my. You’ll find The Year of Miracles in the cookery section of your local bookstore. But this extraordinary book – subtitled Recipes about Love and Grief and Growing Things – is so much more than a cookbook. It’s Ella Risbridger’s story, which just happens to have some lovely, warm, every-night-of-the-year recipes included, ones that, she says, mostly feed four generously, adding ‘two hungry women, plus left overs for tomorrow’s lunch’. You will, and should, read the whole book before you settle down to cook – from when Jim, who Ella loves and lives with, dies, through Covid and lockdown, through grief and hope and change and miracles. The year of Ella’s grief kicks off with The Winter Before (and Leftover Pie), then through the early part of the year (Dippy Eggs and Pistachio Pie, Crisis Cardamom Coffee and Banana Bread and Three-Ingredient Brownies) and UK Summer (Impromptu Green Tart, Courgettte in Ribbons, Big Summer Sandwich), before winding back to the cooler months and Christmas (Furious XO Stir-Fried Beans, Jacket Potato Garlic Soup, and Marmite Crumpet Cauliflower Cheese). With little hints and tips, gorgeous line drawings and illustrations (without which how would we know how to roll a Cardamom Bun?), and chatty asides (mostly, use what you have), it’s a heartwarming, heartbreaking, glorious read, with really fabulous recipes (fried jam sandwich, anyone). Her final message … it will probably be fine in the end, along with delicious Love & Dumplings. Bloomsbury, R685
