A new twist to the traditional braai!
September is Heritage month. So … braai.But why not up your braai game by catering for pescatarians and vegetarians, too?
On the braai … crayfish
Step up your braai game this Heritage Day … with crayfish. The meat grills beautifully, and its natural richness just gets better when drenched in a wine-infused, buttery Beurre Blanc sauce. A delicious warm-weather treat, particularly when paired with a glass of Fat bastard Chardonnay.
The wine This is the granddaddy (or grandmammy, if you prefer) of all Fat bastards. Inhale the scent of classic ripe, rich butter and tropical fruit, taste soft vanilla … it’s a voluptuous wine that’s fabulous to drink.
The crayfish braai Serves 8 (depending on size of crayfish tails)
You’ll need: 20 crayfish tails; melted butter, for brushing; 150ml Fat bastard Chardonnay; 60ml white wine vinegar; 1 Tbsp shallots, finely minced; 225g fridge-cold butter, cut into small cubes; salt and pepper, to taste
To serve: Fresh green salad and
lemon wedges
To make:
Prepare your braai.
For the sauce: Bring the Fat bastard Chardonnay, white wine vinegar and shallots to the boil. Reduce until you have about two tablespoons of liquid remaining. Then turn the heat down as low as it can go, and add the cold butter two to three little pieces at a time, whisking constantly.
Continue to add the butter, whisking with each addition until the sauce is thick, smooth and glossy. Season to taste, then strain into a bowl and keep in a warm place or in a dish with warm, not hot, water (heating the sauce too much will cause it to split).
For the crayfish: Cut the crayfish tails in half. Clean, remove the veins, rinse well and pat dry with paper towel.
Brush the melted butter evenly over the crayfish halves and braai them flesh side down for about two minutes and then flip and finish cooking for another one to two minutes.
Remove crayfish from the braai and plate family style on a platter.
Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with the Chardonnay Beurre Blanc – serve the rest on the side for dipping.
Squeeze over some fresh lemon juice and plate alongside a big green salad.
Coal-cooked vegetarian options
Tomato risotto. An ice-tea sandwich. Chermoula mielies. Cheese fondue. A braai doesn’t have to be just a twirl of boerewors and a rump kebab. And it really doesn’t have to scare off any vegetarians coming to the Heritage Day party. Jan Braai The Vegetarian Option kicks off with a traditional braaibroodjie and ends 200-odd pages later with apple tart in a potjie. In between there’s recipe after delicious recipe for cooking over the coals, without a chop in sight. Plenty of inspiration taken from abroad – Greece, Italy, India, all with a local twist (after all, ‘here in Africa we know how to make a fire and we know how to braai,’), but traditionalists will be kept happy with Umngqusho, bobotie, soetpatat. For us … we’re making this braaied sweet pepper salad, the aubergine pita and coal-baked peaches in port. A great spin on the traditional braai. Bookstorm
Braai aubergine pita
Depending on whether you prefer speaking Greek, Turkish or Arabic around the braai, you might also like to call this meal a gyro, döner or shawarma – it’s really up to you. Whatever language you speak, the important thing is to gather around a fire. Everyone loves this meal and, as a bonus, it looks great in photos. Feeds six.
What you’ll need: 6 pita breads; 2 large aubergines
For the marinade: 1 teaspoon each of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, salt, and ground black pepper; 2 chopped garlic cloves; juice of 1 lemon; 3 tots olive oil
For the yoghurt sauce: 1 cup double-cream yoghurt; half a cucumber, chopped; 1 tot olive oil; 2 chopped garlic cloves
For the salad: 2 big tomatoes (or 12 cherry tomatoes) chopped; half a cucumber (use the other half left over from the yoghurt sauce); 1 smallish red onion (or half a big one) finely chopped; 1 tot each fresh mint, fresh parsley, fresh oregano and olive oil
To make: Crush the coriander and cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar, and mix in the salt, pepper, garlic cloves, lemon juice and olive oil. Make the marinade by combining all the ingredients.
Cut the aubergines into 1 cm-thick slices and use all the marinade to baste the slices of aubergines.
Prepare the yoghurt sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl and mixing well.
Make the salad by combining the tomatoes with the cucumber, onion, mint, parsley and oregano. Add a bit of olive oil to give it that nice shine.
Braai the aubergine slices over hot coals, turning a few times until done. They should be completely soft and a bit charred on the sides. As the aubergines come off the fire, immediately add the pita breads to the grid and toast them for a few minutes, turning a few times and taking care not to let them burn. Open the toasted pita breads and evenly distribute the ingredients into them, starting with the salad, then the aubergines, and ending with the yoghurt sauce.
