What's in Season?

Litchis; Pineapple; Green Beans; PawPaw; Nectarine; Pumpkin

We know you can get most of these things throughout the year but by eating foods that are in season you are almost guaranteed fresh, nutritious and tasty meals.

And, with Summer and all, we thought we'd share our little fizz with you!

Bellini Baby

3 ripe, peeled & stoned, nectarines (traditionally Peaches are used)

Bottle of Bubbly

Grenadine Syrup for decoration

( For 4)

Puree the peeled and stoned nectarines.

Fill each glass with 1/3 of the nectarine puree.

Slowly top with chilled sparkling wine, stirring as you pour.

Add a dash of Grenadine just before serving.

Cocktail Love.

Our Christmas Want

How cool?

Check out http://www.wuandwu.com/

Inspiration!

How beautiful are these biscuits? Check out her cakes, cupcakes and petit fours on her website.

These are our Friday inspiration for our weekends baking.

http:// www.roxannefloquet.com

Fun Times

Chocolate Brains...

Halloween brings out the weird in us!

Slime soup; Chocolate Brains; Witches Fingers; Bat Droppings... our imaginations go wild!

Here's our recipe for Chocolate Brains:

Dunk batches of popcorn into a bowl of melted dark/milk chocolate. Press together to form irregular clumps. Set aside on a foil lined baking tray to set. Drizzle with melted white chocolate with a drop of red food colouring added, for extra effect.

Yummy. Bwahahaha (cackle like a witch).

Something fun!

We're big fans of Aleit Wedding Co-ordinatiors and we follow their Facebook page religiously! Yesterday they posted something we thought was just great! Sticky Boards!

A designer notice board: canvas + polymer = sticky board!

Awesome for Offices, Desks and perfect for our Kitchen-Offices! Paste recipes, pictures, notes, menus etc.

Check out their website www.inkart.co.za

Jamie's America!

We can't wait to get our hands on Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, Jamie's America.

Here's his recipe for Burgers. So good!

FOR THE BURGER MIX

• Olive oil
• 2 medium red onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 Jacob's crackers or 4 slices of bread, crusts removed
• 500g (1lb 2oz) good-quality lean minced beef
• 1tsp sea salt
• 1 heaped tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
• A handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 
  

FOR THE SPICY MAYO

• 4tsp mayonnaise
• 1tsp tomato ketchup
• A good pinch of smoked paprika or cayenne pepper
• Juice of half a lemon

TO SERVE

• 12 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, the best quality you can afford
• 6 large or 8 small burger buns
• 1 soft round lettuce, leaves washed and spun dry
• 4 tomatoes, sliced
• 6 gherkins, sliced
• A few pickled chillies

METHOD

1. You can make these burgers or sliders in an oven at full whack, on the barbecue or in a hot pan. If you're using the oven or barbecue, preheat it now. Put a splash of olive oil into a large frying pan on a low heat and add your chopped onions. Fry for 10 minutes or until the onions have softened, then put to one side to cool completely.
2. Blitz your crackers or bread in a food processor until you get a fine consistency. Oil a clean baking tray and put aside. Put the cooled onions into a large bowl with the rest of the burger ingredients. Use clean hands to scrunch the mixture together really well, then divide into 6 equal balls for burgers and 18 equal balls for sliders. Wet your hands and roll the balls into burger-shaped patties about 2cm thick.
3. Place your burgers or sliders on the oiled baking tray and pat with a little olive oil. Cover them with clingfilm and put the tray into the fridge for at least an hour, or until the patties firm up. This is a good time to make your spicy mayo, so put all the ingredients into a bowl, mix well and put to one side.
4. If using a frying pan or griddle pan, put it on a high heat now and let it get really hot. However you decide to cook your burgers, they'll want around 3 or 4 minutes per side - you may have to cook them in batches if your pan isn't big enough. When your burgers or sliders are nearly cooked on one side, add the rashers of bacon - whichever way you're cooking them - then flip the burgers and cook the bacon until golden and crisp. When the burgers are cooked to your liking and it's all looking really good, halve your burger buns and warm them through. Put the bacon on a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain.
5. When everything comes together, pop your burgers or sliders on to their buns, add all your toppings and spicy mayo (you know how to put a burger together!), then tuck in with a lovely fresh salad, baked potato or potato wedges.

source: dailymail.co.uk

Recipe of the Day

Summer is definitely on its way. Gym time, healthy eating and salads are back on the menu!

Here's our Broccoli Salad which is always a hit!:

2 heads of broccoli, chopped into small florets

4 ripe tomatoes, deseeded & chopped

3 spring onions, sliced

1/2 tsp sugar

1 chilli, chopped

Dressing:

1 tsp mustard

juice of 1 lemon

6 Tbs olive oil

good pinch of salt & pepper

Boil the broccoli in boiling salted water for 2 minutes - you want it to still have a little crunch. Drain then let dry on paper towel.

In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, spring onions, sugar and chilli, then add the drained broccoli.

Mix the ingredients for the dressing together then pour over the salad.

Serves 4

Drink and be merry...

We went to Franschhoek's Uncorked on the weekend. Rainy and chilly it was perfect weather for indulgence. We started at Moreson and ended at Le Petite Ferme.

We began with a delicious Boerewors Roll at Bread & Wine at Moreson (sustenance to line our tummies!); yummy Veritas double gold Chardonnay...Boekenhoutskloof's obnoxious Chocolate Block...spectacular views from Haute Cabriere finished with Apple Crumble at Le Petite Ferme.

Of all the wine farms Chamonix sticks out in our minds. These wines should be sold out before they are even made. And for purchase by invitation only. They are that good.

Gottfried Mocke is a very talented man! www.chamonix.co.za

http://www.franschhoek.org.za/festivals

What's fresh now?

What's in season?

Veg - Sweet potatoes; asparagus - green & white; beetroot...

Fruit - Guava; PawPaw; Pineapple

Try eat what's in season, it will taste so much better! And besides, who wants to eat fruit thats been jam-packed and flown thousands of miles before getting to our plates? Local, fresh & seasonal is the way to go!

Melkkos

We thought we'd give you our recipe for Melkkos just before it goes off the winter menus!

1 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg
3 cups milk
Sugar
Cinnamon

Method:
Sift flour and salt together and rub butter into mixture.
Add the whisked egg and mix thoroughly.
Roll the dough out thinly and cut into 4cm strokes.
Sprinkle flour over strips, stack them and chop up in fine pieces.
Heat the milk till boiling point and add the slivers of dough.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Add sugar and cinnamon according to taste and cook through.
More milk can be added if mixture is too thick.

until next winter...

Hot Sauce!

It's a rare entrepreneur who doesn't have challenges to overcome, but for most, incarceration isn't one of them. That's not stopping a group of inmates in Florida's Hillsborough County Jail, however, from making and selling their own line of hot sauce. JailHouseFire hot sauce comes in three varieties—Original, Smoke and No Escape—all made by inmates at the minimum-security jail from peppers grown right there onsite. What's especially compelling is that rather than glossing over the product's roots, the prisoners' marketing of the sauce makes the most of its origins, with slogans like "So Lethal" and "Murder on Taste Buds" "Created with Conviction" - very clever!

We'd love to try it!

Website: www.jailhousefire.org

Source: www.springwise.com

Mieliemeel Orange Cake

Finally, the Sarie Kos Mieliemeel cake! And it's gluten free! Swop Oranges for Lemons for different flavours.

Ingredients

450g butter, softenend

450g castor sugar

400g ground almonds

10ml vanilla essence (or better, extract)

6 eggs

zest of 4 oranges

juice of 1 orange

225g mieliemeel

7ml baking powder

2ml salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 30cm cake tin and line with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add almonds and mix. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine. Pour into cake tin and bake for 45 minutes.

This is a really different, delicious treat for tea time or dessert - served with thick cream.

Food shopping

Food shopping in a foreign country can be tricky.

Cool !

I guess we have a thing for fridges at the moment?

How cool is this though? We can see it in a stylish student's res room or digs? Electrolux Lego Fridge.

source: http://www.inhabitat.com/

Going Bananas?

We were absolutely horrified reading this story on Food Waste. We cannot believe that people can throw away food like this? Please look at these photo's from The Guardian http://bit.ly/HGZhk

Let's be more aware of what we throw away!

Happy happy !

We really want C3 Food Services to be a place where people want to come work and we advocate that happy staff = productive employee = happy customer!

Thanks for all your hard work guys! Have a GREAT Women's Day!

Slow Cow

www.slowcowdrink.com

Red Bull gives you wings? Slow Cow is meant to help you destress and relax. Good idea? We think so!

Bring it to SA soon!

Smeg our heart!

We want one for our office!

source: mrpricefashion.blogspot.com

Potatoes!

Shoestring Fries:

Thinly slice potatoes. Pat dry with kitchen paper. Slice into thin strips. Deep-fry in batches until crispy and golden.

Potato Wedges:

Preheat oven to 200C. Slice potatoes into wedges. PLace on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and chopped fresh herbs (rosemary or thyme are good). Roast until golden, crispy and cooked through. About 45 minutes.

Root Veg Chips:

Use Sweet Potato, Normal Potato, Carrots, Butternut, Parsnips. Preheat oven to 120C. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the veg into ribbon like strips. Place on a baking tray and spray with olive oil spray. Bake for about 1 hour until golden and crispy.

inspiration: fresh living

The Pioneer Woman

We discovered The Pioneer Woman's website awhile back and have been drooling ever since. Cowgirl Ree Drummond and her Marlboro Man live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere and her website is a little insight into her life on her farm. Her recipes look so appealing and when you cook them they work perfectly and are delicious. Check it out http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Cappuccino

RB magazine rated Vida e Caffe, Mugg & Bean, Woolworths, Indulge and Nino's.

Criteria were price, service, accompaniments, how served, froth, appearance, temperature, quality. We're Vida loyalists so were surprised to find it was beaten by Woolies Cafe and Indulge.

The overall scores were as follows:

Woolies Cafe - 166

Indulge - 152.5
Vida e Caffe - 151.5

Nino's 148.5

Mugg & Bean 125

Woolies scored high on foam rating, price and quality. Although they're not the cheapest the judges felt it offered value for money.

Indulge got highest score out of all the categories for way it served its coffee. Vida got good marks for temperature. Mugg scored lowest on froth, appearance and quality.

Cappuccino prices charged at the outlets:

Mugg & Bean 14.90 - most expensive with worst overall score.

Vida 13.00

Woolies 14.00

Indulge 13.00
Nino's 13.00

Apparently the magazine is going to be doing these kinds of surveys regularly so we'll keep you posted.

Let us know where you've grabbed a decent coffee lately!

Source: Restaurant Business May 2009

Frugal Food

Cape Town Restaurants Winter Specials:

Andiamo Two pastas + two glasses of wine R100Everyday, lunch and dinner
021 421 3687
Alba Lounge Two pastas and two glasses of wine for R100 Everyday
021 425 3385
Aubergine Two courses R185 / three courses R245 Everyday
021 465 4909
Bravo 1kg of prawns for R69 Monday to Friday lunch and Tuesday evenings until the end of June
021 439 5260
Beluga Two course lunch R125 / three course dinner R165 Every day until the end of September don’t forget their year round specials: 1kg prawns R100 / 26 piece sushi platter R100 / half price sushi until 7pm
021 4182948
Bungalow Crayfish R100 / Lamb Shank R100 / half price cocktails & tapas between 5pm and 7pm Everyday
021 438 0007
Caprice Two of their legendary burgers for the price of oneLunch and dinner, Monday to Thursday 3 course meal with Heineken R80 Friday nights
021 438 8315
Catharina’s Two course set lunch menu with glass of wine R125 / three course set lunch menu with glass of wine R165 / three course set dinner menu with glass of wine R195 Everyday
021 713 3222
Five Flies Two course menu + glass of wine R125 Monday, Wednesday & Friday
021 424 4442
Geisha Half price sushi & dim sum before 7pm / 25% of noodle dishes Everyday
021 439 0533
Harbour House Three course R150 / two course R130Everyday except Sunday lunches
021 788 4133
Henri’s in Somerset West Three courses R120 Everyday until end June
021 852 6442
Myoga Six course menu R150, paired with wines R225 Dinner only, everyday until end August
021 657 4545
Pepenero Rump with fries and sauce R80 / half price sushi / seafood platter for one R110 / 1kg of prawns with chips or rice R100 / oysters R9 each / sushi platter R90 / Osso Bucco with mash R90 / pasta of the day R55 Everyday
021 439 9027
Salushi (Claremont)Half price sushi until 5pm / standard starter + noodle dish R70 Everyday
021 671 4271
Sinns Two courses with a glass of wine R100 / three courses with a glass of wine R125Everyday
021 465 0967
Tank Half price sushi Everyday 021 419 0007
The Foodbarn Three course meal R175 Everyday
021 789 1390
The Kove Parties of 4 get one of the meals free / half price on entire menu between 5pm & 6:45pm / 2 courses with glass of wine R100, 3 courses with glass of wine R130 Everyday
021 438 0004
Tobago’s at the Radisson 25% off tables of 4 or more Until end of June
021 441 3000
Tuscany Beach Order two main courses, get one free / 20% of all sushi and oystersEvery night and lunches Monday to Friday
021 438 1213

Buitenverwachting Three courses + carafe of wine R230Everyday until end September
021 794 3522
Constantia Uitsig Three lunch courses R200, with carafe of wine R230 / 3 dinner courses R240, with carafe of wine R280 Everyday until end September
021 794 6500
Cuvee at Simonsig Two courses with a glass of wine R125 / three course with a glass of wine R165Until end June
021 888 4932
Jonkershuis at Groot Constantia Starter & main from the Cape Malay themed buffet R100 / add dessert R110 6pm to 9pm weekdays until end August
021 794 6255
La Colombe Three lunch courses R210, with carafe of wine R240 / 3 dinner courses R250, with carafe of wine R290 Everyday until end September
021 794 6500
Terroir Two courses R150 / three courses R195 Everyday until end September
021 880 8167

Cape Colony restaurant at the Mount Nelson Four course pairing R350 Last Thurs of each month until end October
021 483 1948
Salt at the Ambassador hotel Four course pairing R350 Last Thursday of each month until end October
021 439 7258
Cafe Sofia Cooked breakfast for R20Every day
Sevruga Twenty six piece sushi platter R110 / seafood tasting platter R110 / sushi half price between 2pm and 5pm and all day sunday
021 421 5134
Societi Bistro & Labia Two pizzas + two Labia movie tickets R70Monday and Tuesdays
021 418 9483

Personal Food

You've heard all the lingo - traceability; sustainable; local etc. A company in USA have taken this trend and actually implemented it to service all customers; not just those shopping at organic farmers markets.

“Stone-Buhr has created a simple, easy-to-use website for you to locate the family farms that grew the grain that we milled to create your flour. We believe it is important to support these multi-generational family farmers who are producing quality wheat in a responsible and sustainable manner. Simply type in your product's lot code in the field to the left, and we'll introduce you to the local growers responsible for the final product you hold in your hands”. Check out http://www.findthefarmer.com/

The underlying idea, broadly called traceability, is in fashion in many food circles these days. Makers of chocolates, oranges and other foods want to create relationships between consumers and farmers, reverting back to pre-industrialised food manufacturing, where close food ties had not yet been broken.

Traceability can be good for more than just soothing the culinary consciences of foodies. Traceability can be used as a way to minimize the impact of food scares like the recent peanut salmonella crisis in USA (The Peanut Corp. of America had to recall hundred thousands of dollars worth of product after a salmonella outbreak! To date 2100 products in 17 categories affecting 200 companies!). The theory: if food producers know they’re being watched, perhaps they’ll be more careful?

Apart from accountability, food manufactured with trace and locality offers a "made with care", "personal" appeal. We are going to bite into that bread or pastry and know whose hands were on the product. When eating your scone you’ll now say ‘Oh my, there’s a real person behind this’.

We've all seen the enlarged photographs of farmers on display in Woolworths. This website concept takes it to a whole other level.

Way to go!

sources:

http://www.findthefarmer.com

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/Salmonellatyph.html

http://www.nytimes.com

Easy Peasy

We thought we'd give you something quick to make while you're at home these public holidays:

Mushy Pea Dip

500g frozen peas, cooked according to packet instruction then drained
1 Tbs butter
1/4 cup sour cream or smooth cottage cheese
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Blitz all together in a food processor until smooth.
Serve with pita chips / nachoes or even with fried fish and chips, yum!

Tweet Tweet

We love twitter!

Some of our favourites:
www.twitter.com/cookbook

www.twitter.com/jamie_oliver

www.twitter.com/vidaecaffe

You may ask what use is twitter to us? So big is this phenomenon that Pizza Hut has advertised a job for a “Twittern” – a social media whiz with the ability to communicate in 140 characters, to help manage their twitter account!

Come follow us and tweet!

www.twitter.com/C3FoodServices

Cape Town Pride

Jamie Oliver’s new magazine features Gugulethu restaurant, Mzoli’s Place. Apparently Jamie Oliver sampled a variety of meats and swapped recipes with Mzoli himself. Fantastic international recognition for Mzoli! Perhaps the next venue for our quarterly meet?

Check out his website www.jamieoliver.com/magazine for a preview of the article.

Wish we were there...

Deidre won a trip to Israel and sent us this update! Lucky fish!

Almond Apple Cake

Good for Passover & Easter!

3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs castor sugar
3 Tbs water

6 large eggs
325g ground almonds
275g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 Tbs lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Spray a 22cm tin with non-stick spray.
2. Place the apples in a saucepan with the lemon juice, sugar and about 3 Tbs of water. Bring to the boil, then let simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the apples are soft enough to mash. Mash with a fork and set aside.
3. Place the mashed apple, eggs, almonds, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice in a food processor or hand-held mixer and mix till combined.
4. Pour this mixture into your greased cake tin.
5. Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. Leave to cool in the tin before dusting with icing sugar to serve.

Plenty of fish in the sea?

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that half of the world’s fish stocks are already being exploited to the hilt and a further quarter are now fished beyond maximum sustainable levels. Sustainability can depend on where and how a fish was caught as well as its species. Enough to induce paralysis at the fish counter. Fortunately, SASSI (The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) are attempting to make it a little easier for us consumers.
Their Consumer Seafood Species List helps us to make sensible and sustainable choices.
How does the list work? Species, or in some cases groups of similar species have been placed into different colour categories. Each colour has a different meaning:

GREEN
These are species that are from relatively healthy and well-managed populations that can sustain current fishing pressure. Some green species are not targeted by any particular fishery, but are managed as a sustainable bycatch. These species are recommended as the most sustainable choices available.

ORANGE
These species may be legally sold by registered commercial fishers and retailers. However, an increased demand for these could compromise a sustainable supply, due to one or more of the following reasons:
The species may presently be rare because they are overfished.
The fishery that catches them may damage the environment through the method used and/or high bycatch.
The biology of the species makes it vulnerable to overfishing, or it may not have been adequately studied, but it is suspected that it will be unable to sustain heavy fishing pressure based on information for related species.
Consumers are encouraged to consider the implications of these choices.

RED
These species are illegal to buy or sell in South, Africa according to the Marine Living Resources Act. Some of these “no-sale” species are very important recreational species that cannot handle commercial fishing pressures, and may therefore only be caught for your own enjoyment and use, subject to the possession of a valid recreational fishing permit and other restrictions that may apply (such as daily bag limits, closed seasons and minimum sizes).



For further information and to download their Consumer List visit: http://www.panda.org.za/

We're loving twitter!

A new website, blog, facebook group and now twitter - very techno foodies!

Twitter is a real time short messaging service whereby people or companies express their opinions and relate news relevant to them. Follow Richard Branson and get his answers to questions asked by South African Entrepreneurs – how relevant; and read his twits about his around the world adventures. Jamie Oliver twits about his new restaurants, food and new recipes. Tap Project is another campaign we’re following: they aim to provide clean drinking water to children across the globe. Where in the world is this more relevant than South Africa?

Sign up, find people / companies you know, and twitter! What fun!
Follow us: http://twitter.com/C3FoodServices

World Water Day

22 March is World Water Day. It's held annually as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and its sustainable management. This years theme is "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities".

We all share the responsibility of managing our water resources for current and future generations. The pertinence of water awareness is nowhere more essential than in South Africa.

Source: unwater.org

St. Paddy's Day!

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than with a stout float?

Scoop vanilla ice-cream into a pint glass. Pour in enough Guinness to fill it. And don't forget the dash of luck!

Yum!

Source: marthastewart.com

The Fizz is Back

Fizzy drinks and juices are back in fashion - while expensive bottled water and smoothies stay on the shelves, as the recession changes our drinking habits.

The once fashionable bottle of water is being cast aside for cheaper drinks.
The Britvic Soft Drinks Report said sales of traditionally popular drinks such as cola, squash and juice drinks were up last year with energy and sports drinks seeing the fastest growth.
Many customers turned their back on more healthy drink options, with smoothies and bottled water the worst performers last year.
Sales of smoothies were down by 20%, as consumers showed a reluctance to pay a premium for their "5 a day", the report said.
Soft drinks continue to be a staple purchase on which consumers are reluctant to compromisePaul Moody, Britvic chief executive and president of the British Soft Drinks Association
Sales of bottled water were also down by 9%, the poor summer also impacting on demand.
The report is further evidence of the fact that consumers are turning to cheaper and less healthy food and drink in order to cut costs in the recession.
Paul Moody, Britvic chief executive and president of the British Soft Drinks Association said:"In the downturn so far, it's the big brands and traditionally popular sub-categories like cola, squash and juice drinks that consumers seem particularly unwilling to do without".
"Soft drinks continue to be a staple purchase on which consumers are reluctant to compromise", he said.
The report revealed that soft drinks were riding out the economic downturn, with UK sales at £8.4bn last year, down by only 1% from the year before.
However, sales of soft drinks in pubs, bars and restaurants were down by 4% at £2.3bn.

Source: skynews.com

Taste of Cape Town

For gluttons like me to be able to participate in tasting a selection of the most delectable dishes from the Mother City's most renowned restaurants at affordable prices, Taste of Cape Town is the nearest thing to heaven (despite gluttony being the 7th deadly sin!).

Diarise the 2nd – 5th of April! It’s being held at the Jan Van Riebeck Sports Field, off Kloof Nek. Go to their website www.tasteofcapetown.com for more information and to find out about all the participating restaurants and chefs and how to get tickets!

If you love food as much as we do you really cannot miss this!