Prawns with rosé and a chardonnay and quick quesadilla from Jamie. Let’s eat outdoors.
Rakmacka prawn and salad cups with a dill and lemon mayo
This easy dish makes a delicious lunch for four Serve it with a glass of Allesverloren Tinta Rosé.
You’ll need: For the prawns … 32 large prawns (deveined and shelled, but you can leave the tail intact), 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp butter,
2 cloves garlic (finely crushed), juice of half a lemon, salt and freshly milled pepper
For the sauce … 1 to 2 Tbsp lemon juice (to taste), half a cup good quality mayonnaise,
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill, 2tsp freshly grated lemon rind (chopped superfine), salt and freshly milled pepper
For the melba toast … 2 mini-French loaves or 1 small ciabatta. 2 Tbsp olive oil, sea salt flakes
For serving … 2 to3 heads romaine lettuce hearts, leaves carefully broken apart and rinsed, fresh lemon wedges
To make: Preheat the oven to 180C. To make the melba toast, slice the bread as thin as you can without it crumbling (older bread generally works better). Spread out in a single layer on a baking tray. Brush each slice with olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, or until they start to go golden around the edges.
To cook the prawns, heat the butter and oil until bubbling and then add the prawns. Avoid crowding the pan by cooking the prawns in two batches. Add the garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until the prawns start going pink. Prawns cook very fast – remove them from the heat as soon as they go pink. Season well with salt, pepper, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.
To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together well. Place two prawns into the hollow of each salad leaf, serve with a dollop of the sauce, and melba toast.
Enjoy with a glass of Allesverloren Tinta Rosé … a pretty blush coloured wine which has the scent of strawberries and raspberries and tastes of fresh raspberries, cherries and a hint of vanilla. R87 from allesverloren.co.za
One-pan meals from Jamie … who’s coming for dinner?
On our wish list . . . Jamie popping in for the hols, and taking over the kitchen. Not. Going. To happen. But a close second is ONE – smart simplicity with his one-pan meals (which means less washing up … another wish that’s always high up on our list). Each recipe uses less than eight ingredients, there’s minimum prep needed and range from an eight-minute smoked salmon pasta to a one hour cajun chicken traybake (with sweet onions and peppers, fluffy rice and yoghurt – it takes just seven minutes to prep, then pop into the oven and relax). Then there is the amazing giant Yorkshire pud – loaded with brie and sweet roasted grapes, spring onions and tarragon. There are flat breads and fishcakes and a fabulous batch cooking chapter (one cook, half a dozen meals). It’s a use-it-forever cookbook ! Micheal Joseph, R490.
It’s a Chardonnay kind of day
Remember ABC? Well, the days of turning up your nose at Chardonnay are over, thank goodness. If they weren’t, we may have missed out on the new release Perdeberg Cellar’s The Vineyard Collection 2022 Chardonnay, which would have been a great shame. It’s elegant, well-structured, has a rich creamy aftertaste and is perfect for all-year-round enjoyment. The bright, yellow-green wine has aromas of ripe stone fruit, white pear, vanilla and butterscotch, is obviously best served chilled and goes brilliantly with creamy pasta dishes, seafood risotto and grilled chicken. R85 online at perdeberg.co.za. While you’re there, look out for the just released 2021 Grenache Noir, too, and the 2022 Pinot Noir Chardonnay, which we just love!
The most summery poolside drinks table imaginable … we’re loving these tumblers and wine glasses in clear, bright hues. All from Woolworths
Compiled by: KYM ARGO
