CHEERS | BOOK GIVEAWAY
Ready,
steady,
eat!
The word ‘prepping’ carries with it connotations of tinfoil-hatted doomsday theorists stockpiling cans of non-perishable food and water. There’s no harm in being prepared. When it comes to feeding a family or catering for a birthday or significant event, being organised is key. Vickie de Beer’s latest book, Clever Cooking, provides handy tips and recipes for the home cook.
It’s a survival strategy, busy author, chef, food stylist and mom, Vickie de Beer, maintains. And she would know. As the food editor for the popular Afrikaans magazine Rooi Rose for 18 years, she knows how hard it can be juggling work deadlines and feeding a family of growing boys and their sports schedules! So meal prep of nutritious, balanced and tasty food is vital.
Planning is second nature to this food dynamo. It's something she has had to do for years after one of her sons was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. It turned out to be fortuitous because the family’s transition to a low-carb lifestyle inspired a range of books: The Low-Carb Solution for Diabetics which won the Sunday Times Best Cookbook of the Year award in 2015, My Low-Carb Kitchen and Low-Carb Express, all of whichhave sold thousands of copies locally and internationally.
Some of her family’s favourite dishes feature on the pages of this new book, from soups and stews to oven bakes and one-pan dishes. Then there are sauces and ‘flavour starters’, which can be prepared ahead of time, so a wholesome meal from scratch can easily be pulled together on busy nights.
What’s more, Vickie knows that all South Africans are faced with the unique challenge of load shedding, which can disrupt cooking time in the kitchen. Meal prep is a clever way to work around annoying blackouts – making wholesome meals in advance, when the electricity is available, as a great way to ensure the family can still eat well, even with limited resources.
Vickie includes tips for freezing and defrosting food, batch cooking, as well as a sample seven-day meal plan to show how you can combine advance prep with dishes made from scratch on the night. All of the 75 recipes indicate how many portions they make, allowing you to choose whether to freeze them as a single meal, or in portion sizes to suit the family’s needs.
Chapters include meal prep, flavour starters such as pastes, spice mixes and rubs, marinades and the like. Then there are cook-in sauces, fermented salads and salsas. Broths and soups get their time to shine in a chapter, as does slow cooking. Naturally, there are one-pan and tray-bake meals, along with the old faithfuls of basics and side dishes.
It is indeed clever cooking.
COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Competition submissions should reach us no later than 25th April 2023. The Prize/s is as indicated, no alternatives or cash will be provided. The decision of Integrated Media will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into. Under no circumstances shall Integrated Media, TOPS at SPAR, SPAR or its appointed representatives and the prize donors be liable to anyone who enters these Prize Draws for an indirect or consequential loss howsoever arising which may be suffered in relation to the Prize Draws. By entering these competitions, you make yourself subject to receiving promotional information. Entrants are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions. Prize Draw Rules: The prize draw is only open to consumers who must be over 18 years of age and resident in South Africa. Employees of Integrated Media and TOPS at SPAR, SPAR and their respective advertising, media and PR agencies, as well as the family members, consultants, directors, associates and trading partners of such organisations and persons are ineligible for the draw. Participants can only win one competition every three issues.
It’s a survival strategy, busy author, chef, food stylist and mom Vickie de Beer maintains. And she would know. As the food editor for popular Afrikaans magazine Rooi Rose for 18 years, she knows how hard it can be juggling work deadlines and feeding a family of growing boys and their sports schedules! So meal prep of nutritious, balanced and tasty food is vital.
Planning is second nature to this food dynamo. It's something she has had to do for years after one of her sons was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. It turned out to be fortuitous because the family’s transition to a low-carb lifestyle inspired a range of books: The Low-Carb Solution for Diabetics which won the Sunday Times Best Cookbook of the Year award in 2015, My Low-Carb Kitchen and Low-Carb Express, all of whichhave sold thousands of copies locally and internationally.
Some of her family’s favourite dishes feature on the pages of this new book, from soups and stews to oven bakes and one-pan dishes. Then there are sauces and ‘flavour starters’, which can be prepared ahead of time, so a wholesome meal from scratch can easily be pulled together on busy nights.
What’s more, Vickie knows that all South Africans are faced with the unique challenge of loadshedding, which can disrupt cooking time in the kitchen. Meal prep is a clever way to work around annoying blackouts – making wholesome meals in advance, when the electricity is available, as a great way to ensure the family can still eat well, even with limited resources.
Vickie includes tips for freezing and defrosting food, batch cooking, as well as a sample seven-day meal plan to show how you can combine advance prep with dishes made from scratch on the night. All of the 75 recipes indicate how many portions they make, allowing you to choose whether to freeze them as a single meal, or in portion sizes to suit the family’s needs.
Chapters include meal prep, flavour starters such as pastes, spice mixes and rubs, marinades and the like. Then there are cook-in sauces, fermented salads and salsas. Broths and soups get their time to shine in a chapter, as does slow cooking. Naturally there are one pan and tray-bake meals, along with the old faithfuls of basics and side dishes.
It is indeed clever cooking.
COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Competition submissions should reach us no later than 25th April 2023. The Prize/s is as indicated, no alternatives or cash will be provided. The decision of Integrated Media will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into. Under no circumstances shall Integrated Media, TOPS at SPAR, SPAR or its appointed representatives and the prize donors be liable to anyone who enters these Prize Draws for an indirect or consequential loss howsoever arising which may be suffered in relation to the Prize Draws. By entering these competitions, you make yourself subject to receiving promotional information. Entrants are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions. Prize Draw Rules: The prize draw is only open to consumers who must be over 18 years of age and resident in South Africa. Employees of Integrated Media and TOPS at SPAR, SPAR and their respective advertising, media and PR agencies, as well as the family members, consultants, directors, associates and trading partners of such organisations and persons are ineligible for the draw. Participants can only win one competition every three issues.
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lamb, spinach and feta pie
Phyllo pastry is not low-carb, but because it is so thin, you use less of it. This delicious pie is easy to make if you use precooked lamb or chicken.
Serves:
6
Prep time:
12min
Cook time:
2hrs
Ingredients:
500 g frozen spinach
350 g roasted and pulled lamb
250 g cream cheese
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and black pepper to taste
Ground nutmeg to taste
8 sheets phyllo pastry
100 g butter, melted
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
Method:
Place the frozen spinach in a saucepan and cook until it is defrosted. Place in a colander to drain, squeezing out any excess water with your hands.
Place the spinach and shredded lamb in a bowl. Add the cream cheese and feta and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Season with salt, black pepper and ground nutmeg and set aside.
Place one sheet of phyllo on a clean surface. Brush all over with melted butter, then top with another sheet of phyllo, brushing it with melted butter. (To prevent the phyllo from drying out, keep the sheets covered with cling wrap and a damp cloth.)
Spoon one quarter of the lamb and spinach mixture along the long edge of the pastry, then roll into a cylinder, brushing the phyllo with butter as you roll. Place the roll, seam-side down, in the centre of a round ovenproof dish (± 30 cm diameter) to create a tight spiral.
Repeat with the rest of the phyllo and lamb mixture, to make four rolls in total, coiling each roll around the previous one to complete the spiral. Tuck in any loose ends as you go.
Brush the pie all over with melted butter, and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for 50–60 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Cut into wedges and serve immediately, with a salad on the side.
Notes
Defrost frozen phyllo pastry in its packaging for 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Half a 500 g pack should be sufficient for one pie. This recipe is not suitable for freezing.
moroccan meatballs
Serves:
4
Prep time:
20min
Cook time:
3hr 10m
Serves:
4
Prep time:
20min
Cook time:
3hr 10m
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
24 uncooked basic meatballs (recipe in the book)
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1½ Tbsp Moroccan paste (recipe in the book)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chilli flakes, optional
1 cup (250 ml) Tomato Cook-in Sauce (recipe in the book)
1 can (400 g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup (125 ml) full-cream plain yoghurt
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
Coriander leaves, for garnish
40 g lightly toasted flaked almonds, optional
Method:
Heat half the olive oil in a pan and brown the meatballs well on all sides (± 2–3 minutes; do this in batches if necessary). Set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the onion for 4–5 minutes, until golden and softened. Stir in the Moroccan paste, garlic, cumin and chilli flakes (if using), and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
Add the tomato sauce or whole tomatoes and chickpeas. Simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you have a thick sauce.
Place the meatballs in the sauce (along with any pan juices). Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, until they are cooked through.
Remove from the heat. Spoon over the yoghurt and top with the crumbled feta. Garnish with coriander and toasted almonds, if using. Serve immediately with buttered cauli rice or couscous.
Notes
If using frozen meatballs, allow them to thaw completely before using. Instead of homemade Moroccan paste, use 2 Tbsp store-bought harissa paste. Replace homemade Tomato Cook-in Sauce with 1 can (400 g) whole peeled tomatoes (crushed with your hands or a fork, along with the juice from the can).
rich oxtail ramen
You can use beef shin, but oxtail imparts a really delicious flavour and is a rich source of both gelatine and collagen. The cabbage ribbons serve as a low-carb, gluten-free alternative to traditional wheat-based noodles in this ramen-type dish.
makes:
3 litres
Prep time:
30min
Cook time:
50min
makes:
3 litres
Prep time:
30min
Cook time:
50min
Ingredients:
1 large oxtail (± 1.5 kg), sliced into 6 pieces
Salt to taste
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
6 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
6 sprigs thyme
3 fresh or dried bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
5 allspice berries
2 star anise
1 cup (250 ml) red wine
2–3 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 litres chilled Meaty Bone Broth (recipe in the book) or beef stock
3 cups thickly sliced green cabbage
200 g shiitake mushrooms
200 g Tenderstem® broccoli, halved lengthways
Coriander leaves, for serving
Sesame seeds, for serving
Method:
Season the oxtail all over with salt. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and brown the pieces on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add the onion, garlic, ginger, celery and carrot and cook until soft and caramelized. Tie the thyme and bay leaves together with string and add to the saucepan, along with all the spices, and cook for 4 minutes, until fragrant.
Add the wine and simmer for 2 minutes, scraping any residue off the bottom of the saucepan.
Return the oxtail to the saucepan. Add the tomato paste, soy sauce and beef broth or stock. Lower the heat and simmer, with the lid off, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone. Check after about 2 hours, and add a little warm water if it has reduced too much. Remove the oxtail from the soup, cool slightly, then use two forks to pull any remaining meat from the bones. Return the meat to the saucepan and discard the bones.
Add the cabbage ribbons, mushrooms, and broccoli and simmer for 15 minutes, until cooked. Add the coriander leaves and sesame seeds and stir through. Serve immediately or leave to cool completely before decanting into containers for freezing.
note
If you do not consume alcohol, replace the wine with an additional cup (250 ml) of beef broth or water.
