Day 1 and 2: First Safari & Sun City

So, this is from an old fashion slow internet point in Sun City .... I am typing on my mac first and than get connected ... gosh how slow and how much they charge here!!Not crazily, but enough to try and with few small photos I can share.
So, how did the trip go so far? As usual I had delays in Heathrow. This airport is like "a land forgotten by the Lord"!! We had more than an hour delay to get there due to some sort of french military operations in the channel. Delay in departure ... because apparently the catering got lost!! Apart from this, the flight was quite enjoyable and we arrived more or less in time. Food was ok, but I won't say what it was ... so, Elke you are still going to enjoy the surprise. And I am sure there is a movie Elke will likely like to watch.

Arrived in Johannesburg, I met with my MBA fellows. Got a car and drove to Pilanesberg. Well ... I did not actually drive, Peter did. It was funny. Everybody driving like in the souther Italy (basically emergency lane is just another lane) and we did cross some villages where people wanted to sell us oranges. Given the paranoia we were instructed with, we panicked every time screaming "don't stop Peter, who cares of the stop sign!!!"
We are now in the Golden Leopard Bakgatla lodge. Very basic, but given the price (50 euros a night with breakfast and dinner), I cannot really complain. Yes, the dinner is so and so, the shower tiny, we sleep like in a dorm ... but who cares (I hope the honeymoon lodges are not like this one).Nevertheless, we had quite some fun and excitement. Once all the others arrived (or at least the ones that did not get lost .... 10 over 15), we jumped on a big van and did our first safari! That was supercool !!! It got extremely cold and dark (good lesson ... forget photos after 6pm ...). We were quite lucky, we managed to see a white rhino, a group of Zebras, a nice group of Elephants with little ones going to a little pond. This was super!!! Some hippos from distance a few nice birds.

But the fun was that our van (and others) got stopped by a group of female elephants and little ones crossing the road ... and they got scared! Gosh, the noises they made and how much we got scared. We had to wait 30 mins or more until they calmed down and one faked charging and then went away. And we believed that was the clue, but actually we managed to get a lion walking on the path and we followed it by van. Fabulous experience. Pictures and telling is nothing like being there with the colors, the noises of the animals, this is real savanna. Elke come come ... this is superb!

Right now I am in Sun City ... basically something like a Las Vegas hotel in the middle of nowhere. Casinos, a fake beach (where my friends are) or bars (where others are watching Rugby). Honestly, I advice people ... do not come here. But at least in this way I get to post something. Till next time ... probably tomorrow night or monday.

Here we go.

I am sitting somewhere in Zaventem (the airport of Brussels for the ones who do not have a clue) after my wife left heading home ... sad that she will join me only next week.
Anyway, a friend blogger (and old school pal) complained about airlines these days ... well, are they going nuts? I have just started and they are turning into a bit of a pain. Only one bag (and yes that women handbag counts), please use the machine or no please do not. No gate known any longer till last minute ... most desks closed. Bah! I preferred the relaxed italian checks ... everything passes including liquids. Anyway, few hours and I am back in my lovely London for a step-over ... even if it is only Heathrow I will feel somewhat back there.

Now, time to finish my last MBA assignment and enjoy the study (well party) week preceeding the honeymoon.

For Elke ... yes, the hotspot works!! Great we upgraded!

The Food Traveller .... goes to Africa!!!

Yes, the time has come ... the honeymoon time I mean.
In fact, the honeymoon starts next week ... but my trip to Africa starts today. In the late afternoon I will catch my flight to Heathrow and from there to Johannesburg, where I will land tomorrow morning. Elke will take the same route next week and join me almost a week later. Why not at the same time? I actually will have one week for my MBA next week (and few party days before in a Pilanesberg lodge) in Johannesburg. When Elke joins me the real trip starts ... lot of safaris and traveling around South Africa with a short visit in Zimbabwe as well (the famous Victoria Falls).
So ... for the next four weeks, the blog will be our traveling diary (assuming we get internet access) ... there could be food report and photos, but not cooked by us this time.

Stay tuned for more on The Food Traveller in (South) Africa !!!

Risotto with ricotta and lemon

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

This one is super easy!!! Despite so Elke made it this time. I am way to busy with finishing off things for my study and work before leaving for the honeymoon ... my mind is so off than even the photo I took is barely acceptable! Well ... hopefully will get better soon. This risotto is fantastic. Perfect for a hot summer as marjoram and lemon combine perfectly and the ricotta make everything lighter! Really nice! And I like the verdicchio with it ... Elke not so ...

Serves: 4 or 8 as starter
FlexiPoints: 5 or 2.5
Suggested wine: A Verdicchio di Jesi or a young Chablis.
Special equipment: none.

Ingredients:
250g rice
150g ricotta cheese
1 shallot
1 lemon
3 sprigs of marjoram
1 L vegetable stock (max)
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredient note: none.

How-to:
1. Finely chop the shallot. Sauté it with the oil until soft or 3’. Add the rice and cook it on high heat for 2’ minutes (or until it changes color) stirring continuously.
2. Add about 200ml of stock and let it get absorbed by the rice on medium-low heat (it should be only simmering). Once it is mostly absorbed, add more stock and repeat until the rice is cooked (about 18’).
3. Remove from the heat. Crumble the ricotta and add the marjoram leaves. Stir well until creamy. Season with salt, pepper and the grated zest of the lemon. Stir well and serve immediately.

Light lasagna with asparagus

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

This recipe was on my mac for a while waiting to be blogged ... and in our freezer as well, but for eating. We found the recipe on an Italian magazine and, as we welcome every light recipe, we gave it a try. Actually Elke made it and I only tried (but not very successfully) to take a photo. Not a simple dish to capture ... at least for me. If you like asparagus, give it a try (but probably next year!) ... since that is the dominant taste. The main problem I have with the dish is .... after one hour I was hungry again!

Serves: 4 or 8 as starter
FlexiPoints: 4 or 2

Suggested wine: not really sure here. Feel free to give us a suggestion!
Special equipment: a kitchen robot or a blender.

Ingredients:
250g fresh lasagna sheets
1.5 Kg of green asparagus
650ml half-fat UHT milk
35g corn starch
80 sliced roasted ham
30g Parmesan cheese
5g butter
2 garlic cloves
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
Nutmeg and salt to taste

Ingredient note: The corn starch (or mazeina in some parts of the world) is a nice alternative to butter to bind a cream with less fat. Of course, you will miss the buttery taste ... but overall the cream will be much lighter and delicate so suited for recipes like this one. Only side effect ... I am not sure the cream will freeze that well as with butter.

How-to:
1. Cook the asparagus. Remove and halve the heads. Puree the stalks in a kitchen robot.
2. Work the starch with 100ml of cold milk. Slice the ham in stripes.
3. Press the garlic. Put it in a casserole with 500ml of milk, the thyme and the marjoram. Let cook on low heat until it simmer. Remove from the heat and pass the milk through a sieve to remove the herbs and garlic. Stir in the starch and milk mix.
4. Place the cream back on low heat and add the asparagus puree, 1 tbsp of the Parmesan cheese, some nutmeg and salt. Let simmer for 4’-5’ or until creamy. Stir frequently.
5. Grease an oven pot with the butter. Choose a pot which is low and wide and where the pasta sheets can be placed with little (but some) overlap, and without need for cutting them. Alternate in layers alternating the cream, the pasta, the asparagus heads and the ham. Mix the remaining Parmesan cheese with the remaining milk and distribute it on top.
6. Bake in an hot oven at 200C for 25’ or nicely crunchy on top. Serve lukewarm.

Of bread and Kitchen Aid ...

As part of the wedding list, we received a fantastic and long sought Kitchen Aid (KA for us). Here it is on the left after it survived kneading the dough for our brownish tomato bread of last Sunday.
As you see we went original, not red or metallic ... but cream colored. Which is interesting since we will also receive (again from the list) a kind of rainbow Alessi coffee machine, we have the bluish Alessi boiler and a granite Nespresso ... a colorful kitchen ... still it looks quite nice.
It was not our first bread trial with the KA and we have been making bread for a long time (even if not often). Elke uses the classic do all-in-one-day dry dough approach and I use the modern do-it-in-more-days wet dough. In both cases we all know the annoyance of kneading and kneading ... enough to get it well proofing. Well the KA solved everything! It makes bread making easy, cake making very easy and everything else a breeze. And above all ... the kitchen is amazingly clean at the end !!!! So, here I am sharing with you like in a journal our last successful trial of making bread ... this time nicely flavored and almost redding in color!!

Let's start from what we put int he bowl. We used half white and brown flour (250g each). Instant yeast (5g) ... and despite what everybody says, I did learn from my wet dough days that instant yeast is simply fantastic! Usual salt (5g) and warm water (280ml) ... but also finely chopped sun dried tomatoes (16) and a couple of spoons of their oil (2tbsp) !!! Yes, this was simply delicious to add. The KA simply made the entire procedure simple ... from mixing the dry ingredients (see above) with the flat beater to the following kneading the dough (see below) with the water and oil added to it.

And it went pretty fast too .... did it grow in the first proofing. Oh yeah !!!! This is what came out after the kneading (I believe it was 10 minutes overall from flour to dough).

This is the result after a bit more than half an hour of proofing !!! (forgive the disgusting Ikea yellow cloth we used as cover ... ;-)

And it grew even more in the second proofing inside a baking tin ...

And finally ... or this post gets really too long and boring, I present you the loaf after half an hour baking at 200C (where we use the water spraying trick used for wet doughs) and the sliced version ... well we are now enjoying the bread for our sandwiches this week ... yes, poor us .. this is our lunch. Everyday sandwiches ... but this time they are tastier!!

Little savoiardi cakes with apple

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Oh well, let's bake some little cakes. Not that we have kids yet, but we love to bake something on sunday for our breakfast during the week. This time I just wanted to try something simple and low in fat. The normal cakes Elke bakes calls for lot of butter, while the savoiardi base not. So, here we are ... making little muffin-shapes cakes using a the savoiardi base with some apple to make it wetter. I have to say the end result is nice with the sugary and light texture of the savoiardi and the moisture of the apple. Nice ... and not a killing calories bomb!

Serves: 12 cakes
FlexiPoints: 2.5

Suggested wine: none
Special equipment: none or maybe a kitchen robot

Ingredients:
5 separated eggs
2 little apples
150g fine sugar
120g flour
3g baking powder
1 pinch of salt
Margarine as needed

Ingredient note: Well, not a recipe note ... but for people wondering what a savoiaro is, well they are also called lady finger cookies in English (wikipedia link).

How-to:
1. Whip the egg whites until stiff. Peel and finely chop the apples.
2. Work the yolks with the sugar until a uniform pale yellow cream is obtained. Add the baking powder and keep whipping.
3. Pass the flour though a sieve. Work the flour in the egg yolks one spoon of the time so as to obtain a homogeneous batter. You might need to use a metallic (hard) whip now as the batter will be somewhat hard.
4. Fold the egg whites. Add the chopped apple and mix well still with a folding movement to avoid the batter to loose its foaminess.
5. Grease a muffin tray with some margarine. Distribute the batter and bake in an hot oven at 180C for 20’-30’.

Orecchiette mustard & gorgonzola

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Simplicity and good ingredients. This recipe embodies this very simple idea. It is extremely simple, you only need to basically boil the pasta and melt the cheese. But the ingredients must be perfect. Use young and creamy gorgonzola to get a creamy piquant taste. Use Meaux Mustard to get a nice kind of sweet and sharp mustard flavor. We really loved this dish ... one of our favorite fast pasta's.

Serves: 4 as main course
FlexiPoints: 9

Suggested wine: I’d go for a Chardonnay, preferably from the old continent ...
Special equipment: none

Ingredients:
400g orecchiette (pasta)
200g young gorgonzola cheese
2 tbsp Meaux mustard
1 garlic clove
1 thyme sprig
1 parsley sprig
Salt and pepper as needed

Ingredient note: The Meaux Mustard differs from Dijon’s as it keeps the seeds and it has vinegar as well. It has a sharp and rustic taste on its own, but I find it very delicate when used for cooking. In Italy we call it also Old Mustard ... no clue why ?! For people in the Netherlands ... Zeeland Mustard is not that different.

How-to:
1. Cube the gorgonzola. Finely chop the parsley and the thyme.
2. Half the garlic clove and scrub the base of a non-stick pan with the two halves. Melt the cheese in such pan on low heat avoiding it to bubble. Once melted stir in the mustard and keep warm.
3. Boil the pasta in abundant salted water. Add it to the cheese sauce and stir well. Add the parsley and the thyme. Season with pepper. Stir well and serve immediately.

Piccolomini "Poggio della Fonte" 2004

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

We are always alert for good decently price wine to use as table wine ... we discovered this one in a restaurant where they served it. Should be easy to find in Italy and if you like Tuscanian wine, this is for me the quintessential table wine from that region.

Piccolomini "Poggio della Fonte" 2004

Country: Italy
Grapes: Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon.
Winery: link
Price: 7 euros

Impressions: Nose of flower, red fruit and ... could it be roses ?! The taste is medium dense and follows very closely the nose. There is also some vanilla flavoring coming from the ageing in barrels. Good aftertaste, not very long but good. All round a balanced wine with low tannins and controlled fruit.

Verdict: Here it is, our new table wine! Well, yet another one. We like it as it is a tasty all-round wine.

Would I buy it? Yes. Good and fairly priced.

Rating: 79

Pappardelle in rabbit ragout

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

It was probably the second time I made rabbit, but this recipe from Florence that we saw in old cucina moderna (yet again) really was calling for a try. I have to warn that carving the mean is a lot of work ... so think twice before making this dish for many people (like I did ... sigh) or it might take a few hours! The dish is delicious and goes well in winter as in summer. We still have some rabbit left and I will probably try a variant without stewing ... curious to see how that comes also! Before I stop writing. This dish is worth a good aged wine like Barolo, in case you have a nice aged red wine and have no clue with what drink it !!

Serves: 4 as main course
FlexiPoints: 9

Suggested wine: We had a Niepoort Redoma 1995. Good alternative could be a good aged Barolo.
Special equipment: a good filleting knife!

Ingredients:
400g pappardelle (egg pasta)
1/2 rabbit
1 can of plum tomatoes (400g)
1 garlic clove
1 shallot
1 celery stalk
1 small carrot
2 laurel leaves
1/2 glass red wine
6 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper as needed

Ingredient note: none.

How-to:
1. Finely chop the shallot, carrot, celery (without leaves) and garlic. Rinse the rabbit in cold water and pat it dry.
2. Sauté the vegetables with the oil with the laurel on low heat for 10’ in a large pot. Stir often.
3. Increase to medium heat and brown the rabbit (possibly all at the same time) on both sides. With the rabbit still in the pot, add the wine. Let it evaporate and remove from the heat.
4. Remove the rabbit. Carve the meat out of the bones and chop it into a coarse mince. Put the mince and the bones back in the pot.
5. Chop and add the plum tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Let cook on low heat for 90’ stirring often. Add some warm water in the process when looking too dry. Remove the bones when the sauce is ready.
6. Boil the pasta in abundant salted water. Drain it and mix it with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Kasteel Genoels-Elderen Chardonnay Goud 2002

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Well, difficult to believe but there is such a thing like Belgian wine. The fact that is rare, unfortunately, makes it a bit expensive. This one comes from Limburg from what used to be a wine estate at the times of the Romans ... or so they say. It is the fourth wine we had from this estate and sooner or later I blog them all.

Kasteel Genoels-Elderen Chardonnay Goud 2002

Country: Belgium
Grapes: Chardonnay
Winery: link
Price: 23-25 euros

Impressions: Deep yellow and fatty in appearance. It curves pretty well in the glass. The nose asks for decanting ... and so we wait. We get dairy, yeast, some white peach and ... curry. Interesting nose. The taste is basically like the nose with a good long fatty aftertaste of white peaches and curry. I do have to say the yeast is quite prominent and asks for long decanting before drinking. This suggests a little bit too much vinification.

Verdict: An original chardonnay. Not like others and it seems to go extremely well with spicy food. We'll buy if occasionally.

Would I buy it? I find it expensive despite being something a bit peculiar. Again, we might buy occasionally it, but definitively not worth as a regular wine or a regular 'special' bottle.

Rating: 75

PS: Yes ... the one in the background is our new KitchenAid ... we are baking so much bread. Sooner or later we'll blog some recipes.

Risotto robiola and asparagus

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

This dish should go pretty well with the wine I just blogged about ... strange coincidence !! Anyway, asparagus are almost at the end here. This year they were not really particularly tasty (either the green or the white ones). Unfortunate, since they are always loved in our house!! We'll see next year! This recipe calls for robiola ... easy to find in Italy, but not so outside. Still, it is an important ingredient here. So, try hard to get it!

Serves: 6 as main course or 12 as starter
FlexiPoints: 4.5 or 2.5

Suggested wine: the dish is quite aromatic and with some acidity. A young Pinot Bianco could go, since rather fresh and low in acidity.

Ingredients:
- 420g rice (vialone nano)
- 800g green asparagus
- 70g robiola cheese
- 1 shallot
- 40g pecorino cheese
- 4g saffron
- 3 sprigs of marjoram
- 1/2 glass of white dry wine
- Salt, pepper and oil as needed

Ingredient note: Robiola (wikipedia link) is difficult to find outside italy, but it gives a special acidity in the flavor which cannot be easily replaced. You can try to replace with with ricotta in this dish. While the taste will be quite different, it will be still very nice!

How-to:
1. Clean the asparagus and remove their heads. Boil the stalks for 30’ with 2 liters of water, half shallot, marjoram and salt. Pass the stock through a sieve. Keep the stock and the asparagus stalks, discard the rest.
2. Chop the stalks. Add the saffron to the warm stock and let it infuse. Halve the asparagus heads. Cube the robiola.
3. Finely chop the remaining shallot. Sauté it with some oil until soft or 3’. Add the rice and cook it on high heat for 2’ minutes (or until it changes color) stirring continuously.
4. Add the wine and let is get absorbed. Add about half a liter of the stock and let it get absorbed by the rice on medium-low heat (it should be only simmering). Once it is mostly absorbed, add more stock and repeat until the rice is cooked (about 16’). You will most likely be left with some stock.
5. Half way (about 8’) add the asparagus stalks and heads, and continue cooking.
6. At the end, remove from the heat and add the cheeses and stir well to get a uniform creamy risotto. Let rest for few minutes and serve.

Lageder Pinot Bianco 2006

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

And so it was meant to be. All my friends know that my passion for wine started first, the one for cooking followed. Actually, I always cooked, but as I was in need of eating something that would fit with my wine ... well, I turned to cooking which is now my primary love. And not to mention how much I love to travel and visit places for food and wine.

Anyway, this is the first try at starting adding posts on my impressions on the wines we drink. I am definitively an amateur, but I will try to be short and simple and ... very subjective of course! I still believe taste is so! So, here is the first wine to get blogged!

Lageder Pinot Bianco 2006

Country: Italy
Grapes: Pinot Bianco
Winery: link
Price: 10 euros

Impressions: Pale greenish yellow in color. This wine has a very refreshing nose that reminds me of apple and flower with some minerality. The taste is rather light and respects the nose, but for a little bit of pineapple instead of flowers. Slightly buttery and very balanced with little acidity. Very short aftertaste.

Verdict: A good wine, but somewhat overpriced for what it is: a simple and correct wine. Easy to drink.

Would I buy it? only when in a restaurant I see nothing else ... or at half the price.

Rating: 80

Wonderful Gelato !!!!

We are back from our trip to Bologna in Italy, where we enjoyed joining a good friend of mine for his wedding. While there ,we stayed in an hotel near a gelateria (icecream maker & shop), which he suggested to us. Whow! I haven't been in such a place for ages!
The shop is nothing special ... but as soon as you get in, your attention will be captured by the funny names of the various ice creams .... examples are: che fatica farlo (so tiring to make), samurai, chuao (Amadei's chocolate), Neve di Primavera (spring snow) ... and the taste is simply sublime!
We landed late and got to our hotel at 11.30pm .... pass by this place at 12.15 (read 00.15am ...) ... and got ourselves a nice three scoop (2.5 euros) icecream! Nice nice nice!! We got another one the day after before the wedding ... which was yesterday!
My favorite is Neve di Primavera (spring snow) which is a simply a cream made from very fresh milk and samurai ... a flavor based on ricotta, chocolate and mascarpone. Elke liked nocciola and "che fatica farlo" ... something I do not remember what is was, honestly.

If you ever pass via Bologna, go there. Gelateria Gianni - Via Montegrappa 11 - Bologna (link)