It’s no secret that my eyes are bigger than my stomach, my sense of time means that I always think I have more time than I do and I have an unrealistic view of how much fresh food we can consume in a week. I have this tendency to overbuy and then I find myself in the situation of: make something, freeze it or throw it away.
Not everything freezes well and I hate throwing food away. Once again, I found myself in a very typical situation, I had some strawberries and some cherries that weren’t looking exactly their best. I had pushed some strawberries and cherries to the back of the fruit and veg drawer where they were briefly forgotten. By the time it dawned on me that they were still there, it was too late to do much with them, but I certainly wasn’t going to throw them away.
Huckleberry BBQ sauce is very popular in Montana, which gave me thought towards a fruit based sauce. When fruit is a bit on the sorry side but still tasty, cooking will disguise a less than stellar appearance and you still get the benefit of the flavor.
Enter a strawberry and cherry barbeque sauce. I was afraid that infusing sweet fruits into a BBQ sauce would cause it to be too sweet so I added some chipotle chili powder for a smoky goodness. Genius! I found a perfect marriage between my not so great fruit and a beautifully perfect BBQ sauce!
What to pair it with? Chicken seemed the perfect match, a mild meat that happily sets the palate for a sweet and smoky sauce. Add bacon and cheese, well, it just couldn’t be better. Although not necessary, a food processor makes quick work of this sauce.
Recipe
Berry Cherry Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwich
Berry Cherry Chipotle BBQ sauce
2 cups cherries, pitted
1 cup strawberries, hulled
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. chipotle chili powder
Sandwich
6 Hoagie/sub sandwich rolls
6 skinless boneless chicken breasts, grilled and sliced
12 slice bacon, cooked
6 slices cheddar cheese
In a food processor puree the cherries, strawberries, onion and garlic. Scrap down side of processor as necessary. Place pureed ingredients in a medium sauce pan, add ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, black pepper, liquid smoke and chipotle chili powder.
Bring to a bowl then turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Pour sauce throw a fine mesh strainer or food mill. Let cool.
To build the sandwich, toast the sandwich rolls. On bottom half of the roll, top with sliced grilled chicken, bacon and a slice of cheddar cheese. Place under a broiler until the cheese is hot and bubbly. Smother in BBQ sauce and place other half of roll on top.
I’m not an exotic cook nor do I have an enormous amount of foodie knowledge. I cook more exotic than some and I seem to have an above average knowledge of foodie things. I’m not a foodie fad girl, I don’t go chasing the latest “in” thing. Lamb may be the new bacon, but bacon will always be tops in my book, and I liked lamb and ate it regularly before it was “in”.
That being said, sometimes I’m behind the times, sometimes I’m ahead of them and just didn’t know it. For the most part I pride myself on not being a food snob, food is either good or not,period. Now that doesn’t mean that some foods get my curiosity going. Occasionally I’ll start seeing certain food items mentioned in various and it peeks my interest to the point that I just have to try it.
I started seeing these guys around the blogosphere, and thought what the heck? I was sure it had something to do with garlic, one of the loves of my life, but what exactly is it?
“Garlic scapes are the flowering stalks of hardneck varieties of garlic. In late spring to early summer, in addition to the strappy green foliage, you’ll start to see a round stem growing up from the bulb. It will get around two feet tall, form a bud, and start to curl over. Once the scape starts curling, it’s time to harvest!
To harvest garlic scapes, just cut them off the plant 6 to 10 inches below the forming flower bud. They have a delicious, sweet, mild garlicky flavor that works very well in many dishes.“
So scapes are the top of the garlic bulb, I began to wonder would harvesting the “strappy green foliage” affect the garlic bulb itself? Turns out that you are supposed to harvest the scape when growing garlic so that it doesn’t steal all the nutrients from the bulb itself. In the end you’ll get a beautiful garlic bulb with the added benefit of enjoying an herb/garlicky scape.
Isn’t it wonderful how nature works like that? After reading about scapes, I was pleasantly surprised to see them at our local farmer’s market. Without a second thought I purchased a handful (for only $1.00) and brought them home.
Again, I took to the internet to find out what to do with them. I ran across a pesto recipe from The Crisper Whisper, bingo! I noticed that the article was published last year, alas I am still behind on the food scene. In this case, regrettably so. Oh garlic scape, where have you been all my life?
I have to admit, that I loved, loved, loved garlic scapes and I wish I had purchased 5 handfuls! The pesto utilized my whole little stash and now they’re gone. Gone from my coffers and gone from the market. A promise to myself has been made, next year I’ll be purchasing plenty of garlic scapes.
I made the pesto with the scapes and some basil. It came out as a wonderfully flavored pesto, all the garlic flavor I love with none of the bite. Next year when I buy too many scapes (as I have a tendency to over purchase at the farmer’s market), I’ll follow suit with The Crisper Whisper and freeze enough to hold me through the winter.
Recipe (adapted from The Crisper Whisper)
Garlic Scape and Basil Pesto with Pancetta
8 oz. Pasta, cooked according to package directions
1/2 cup pine nuts (divided)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
A few generous grinds of black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
4 oz. Pancetta, coarsely chopped
Sliced lemon and extra basil leaves for garnish
In a small, dry pan set over very low heat, lightly toast the pine nuts, stirring or tossing occasionally until just beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
Combine the scapes, basil, 1/4 cup pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse about 20 times, until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. When the oil is incorporated, transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese.
In a large non-stick pan, cook the chopped pancetta over medium heat until brown and crispy, drain excess oil. Add the cooked pasta and the pesto, toss to coat pasta evenly. Serve warm, garnished with a lemon slice, a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts and fresh basil.
Note: If you plan to freeze the pesto, wait to add the cheese until after you’ve defrosted it.
Happy Birthday McGyver, how old are you? McGyver holds up his hand and starts with the thumb, 1966, then the index finger, 1976, the middle finger, 1986, the ring finger, 1996 and finally the pinky, 2006. Let’s see now it’s 2011, so 2006 to 2011 is 5 years, “I’m 55”. Isn’t it great that after decades have gone by we can still count how old we are on one hand (that is when you start counting by the decades). Actually that makes McGyver 5 and 1/2 right?
When we get older we start wanting different things; McGyver, what would you like for your birthday? “A weekend up at the cabin alone with my wife, wink, wink” With the change in my income, that sounded like the perfect gift for me to give him. The Baby boy is still in a cast and with crutches, so he wasn’t too keen on going anyways, I just arranged for his buddy to come over and stay the weekend, in case he needed some help. I just had to hope that the house would still be standing when we got back.
I’m still feeling challenged about my open fire cooking so I planned a special meal for McGyver’s Birthday dinner. A surf and turf meal of grilled lobster, roasted garlic stuffed rib-eye steak with a bacon and mushroom risotto.
While McGyver worked away, I prepped everything. I pan roasted the garlic, chopped it up and mixed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Then I split the rib-eye and smothered the roasted garlic inside. The lobster had been purchased on a whim awhile back, I really wasn’t even sure when I was going to serve it. I stored it in the freezer until the right time. It was still slightly frozen mid-Saturday although I took it out on Friday. With no microwave, and limited water, the defrost cycle took place out side. It worked quite well!
My plan was to get the briquettes going, make cocktails, cook the risotto, then throw on the lobster and steak in that order. Only we were low on briquettes, which meant that I would have enough to cook the risotto, which takes about 45 minutes and the lobster/steaks. Plan B, bring out the propane cooker. I started cooking the bacon on the propane cooker, I sat down with McGyver and chatted for a couple of minutes. When I got up to check the back, it was burned. Really, again…I seriously need to work out this outdoor cooking.
I quickly regrouped. I drained the bacon, fed it to the dogs who were very appreciative of my error. McGyver disposed of the hot grease and I chopped up some more bacon (so much for having it at breakfast). I turned the propane stove to low and cooked the bacon, this time not leaving it’s side. Success! I babied the risotto the rest of the time, unfortunately my coals were burning down…
Once the risotto was just a few minutes from being done, I turned it off, covered it and started the lobster. The coals were warm but not hot. I knew that the steaks would not work out, they needed a nice high heat to get a good sear. I lit the other side of my propane stove and added the grill attachment. Steaks were cooked perfectly. I ended up moving the lobster over to the propane grill to finish them off. I also put the risotto back onto heat, cooked in the last of the liquid and added parmesan.
Voila Finally a birthday dinner worth having. I am happy to say that the coals were hot enough to melt the butter for the lobster
To go with dinner I brought a Mirabella Plum Wine that McGyver had purchased last year when he went to Glacier National Park. The wine’s label features Polebridge, MT. A small town with an enormous population of 25, it’s located just south of the Canadian border at the West Entrance to Glacier. The great thing about this wine is the Mirabella plums which are grown specifically for wine and Brandy are grown just 45 miles south of Polebridge by Merle and Emogean Baldwin.
Flathead Lake Wineries, est. 2002, specializes in small batch, handcrafted unique wines from fruit grown or picked wild in Montana.
I noticed all week I’ve been rambling on and not sharing recipes, it’s not that I haven’t been cooking and taking photos, I’ve just rambled on for so long that adding a recipe seemed too much. Here I am again, rambling on about cooking failures and successes at the cabin, but this time I’m leaving you with a great drink recipe! If you like hard lemonade, then you’ll love this drink. It’s made from the new Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey, which ended up pairing perfectly with some tart lemonade and a splash of soda water to make it bubbly and refreshing.
Start with a tall glass filled with ice.
Here’s the star of the drink. Yes I know Jack…sorry I couldn’t help myself.
If you are a super talented blogger, you take a photo of yourself pouring the liquor.
If you are super uncoordinated blogger, you make a mess trying to be the super talented self photo taker blogger.
After the shot of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey, pour in some lemonade, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup, leave enough room for the soda water.
Top it off with some calorie free bubbly.
If you don’t have any fancy stir sticks, you can go ghetto and use a butter knife. If you have a bar mixer, you can mix it all up and pour it over the ice. Up in the mountains, no one cares.
The result, a surprisingly light and bubbly hard lemonade with just a touch of tartness and a hint of honey.
Honestly, besides having a great meal with my hubby and some us time, that I know you don’t want to hear about, the best thing about the weekend was being able to take a hot shower. WooHoo, finally our hot water is working!
In case you are wondering about the light, it is a natural light. A tube is installed up through the roof allowing the natural light to come in without the use of electricity.
Recipe
Honey Jack Lemonade
1 shot Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey
1/2 to 3/4 cup lemonade
Splash of Club Soda
Lemon slices for garnish
Fill a tall glass with ice, add the Jack Daniel’s and lemonade, top with the club soda and stir well. Garnish with lemon slices if desired.
I met Susan through my daughter Leah. Susan and Leah have been blogger friends for awhile, she was super excited to introduce me to her at the Foodbuzz Festival in November 2011. The moment I met Susan I instantly liked her. Her warm and sincere personality was immediately evident. She had a quick and easy laugh, I could tell she enjoyed life.
After meeting Susan, I started following her blog The Great Balancing Act, and following her through Twitter. That doesn’t sound unusual unless you know that her blog was more about being healthy, eating well and exercising. I am not about eating well and certainly am a far cry from a regular exerciser (not that I don’t believe in them…I am just bad about it).
So why did I keep reading her blog? First, she is inspiring, and I could use some healthy inspiration; second and most importantly, she’s not a “healthy living snob”. In other words, the girl eats junk and boozes it up every now and then. She has “balance” in her life…like how I did that?
This lovely yoga loving, fun loving, young blogger friend was diagnosed with lymphoma. The big “C”! Cancer changes your life in many ways, unfortunately it also affects your finances. So the blogging community hosted by Janetha of Meals & Moves, has gotten together to do an online auction to raise money to help Susan out.
You can find out more about Susan here. The auction begins July 25th (I have my eye on a few items already), you can donate items, bid on items or donate directly to PayPal if you like. Or you can just stop by and show your moral support. To check the rules, click here.
Rustic living means rustic entertaining. Our cabin has finally been finished off enough to be comfortable and McGyver, the Baby boy and I worked hard to get the outside area cleaned up.
Our motivation to clean-up? I had invited our year-round neighbors over for dinner. If you remember my last post, my spit chicken the night before was an epic fail. I did not want a repeat. For our “big” dinner, my menu consisted of traditional outdoor get together food, I planned BBQ beef brisket, cooked on the Cowboy Grill, Cowboy Beans, Corn on the Cob, and Apple Cobbler.
The beans, corn on the cob and cobbler would be a cinch, however I was worried about doing the brisket on an open grill. Underdone brisket would be tough and chewy. My action plan was to start it at 11:00 am and slow cook it for 7 hours over low coals and hickory chunks. Paulette offered to make some shrimp scampi, I told her that it was a great idea, I may need a back-up.
I pre-seasoned the brisket before we left, using my Aunt Louanna’s recipe, got the coals started early, and the brisket on by 11:00. So far so good. I checked on my brisket regularly, I started worrying that it wouldn’t get enough smoke flavor on the open grill, so I nabbed a lid and put it over the brisket to create a smoke box.
A couple hours into my cooking, I noticed that my brisket was getting pretty well done on the bottom. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t have used direct heat, no matter how low the heat was. I flipped the brisket over, covered and went to the cabin to prep my apples. After a bit, I looked out the window and saw flames! You’ve never seen a fat old lady run so fast!
If you give it some thought and you know a little something about a beef brisket, you’d know the top layer is cover in a thick layer of fat. Thick layer of fat + hot coals = fire. I removed the brisket very quicker and checked it out, I caught it in time…not ruined!
Back on the grill it went, covered and ready to smoke. Once again I left it, if you are trying to smoke something, you need to leave the cover on it. Ever time you lift the cover you lose some that tasty smoke flavor. I checked it again about 3:00 pm. Guess what, it was done. It was more than done. The bottom was like charcoal. Really? Will I ever get the hang of this open fire cooking?
Not to be out done by my meat, I sliced off the overdone part, sliced the rest of the brisket and decided to reheat it just before serving. My dogs ended up being very happy. I figured, with a good BBQ sauce no one will care.
When Jeff and Paulette came over, we had a great time. I showed off pictures of our Safari, and the boys, well they did what mountain boys do.
Once the boys were done playing it was dinner time.
Please note, the Baby boy discovered if he stands in just the right place, his text messaging works….so much for getting away from technology.
I discovered something about our neighbors…they don’t eat corn on the cob.
The brisket tasted great and Jeff and Paulette had no idea that it caught on fire and that I took about a 1/2” off the bottom.
My paranoia that my meat wouldn’t get done, meant that I went overboard with my next experience. I recovered from this near disaster and once again I learned what not to do.
Newest lesson: do not slow cook brisket over direct heat. Next time I will do it over indirect heat and plan 8 to 10 hours to compensate. Or I just grill steaks from now on.
Post Script: I learned something else, my work gloves are no replacement for pot holders.
Yeah, that burnt right through my glove. Don’t worry, after plenty of jumping around, blowing on my finger, kissing my finger and shaking the bejeezers out of it, my finger was fine.
Now that the Safari is done and weather is cooperative, we’ve been able to head up to the cabin. McGyver and I went up one weekend on our own and got it ready for this year’s use. It was a quick overnighter, nothing to exciting, just relaxing mostly.
While we were up there, I decided that I needed to challenge my outdoor cooking skills the next weekend. Sure it’s easy to grill a hot dog, hamburger, steak etc. I wanted to do some real outdoor cooking, like using the cowboy grill and Dutch oven. I made a goal oriented menu for the following weekend.
The next weekend we packed the cooler full of my ambitious menu and started our journey to the cabin. On our way up, we saw about 70 Elk cross our road. The photo is not great (I didn’t have my zoom lens on), if you look on the hill you can see some of the ones that I scared off.
It is so thrilling to travel up the mountain, to view wildlife, see the beautiful flowers and the view, ahhh the view!
We traveled up late Friday night, unpacked and went to bed. Saturday morning was a lazy morning. I made fancy pancakes fomr a Bisquick mix(which we rarely have), I made way to much batter, so I tucked it away for later use. Most of our day was spent cleaning up the outside area. Particularly the area that I have designated our future outdoor cooking/entertaining area. You can imagine McGyver’s excitement about more of my lofty plans—-not.
Our property has old telephone poles everywhere, particularly in my outdoor kitchen/entertainment area. McGyver worked hard moving the poles (which are not light), until they formed kind of an outline for my special area. It happens that this night I had planned on doing chicken on a spit. Old fashioned rotisserie chicken. The plan was to cook it over low heat and then finish it off with a rosemary garlic glaze.
Problem #1, McGyver underestimated the time it would take to clear the area, which meant I couldn’t start cooking until 7:00pm. (I did offer to start the coals myself earlier, but was told that he was going to be done soon so I didn’t need too, see how that one worked out.)
Problem #2, I don’t have the patience to sit next to a chicken and spin it for an hour and a half. Fortunately I’m a McGyverette and I used a stick to hold the chicken in place and rotated it every 15 minutes or so.
Problem #3, which wasn’t apparent until much, much later. I started the chicken too high. Sure it was a beautiful color and it looked down right delicious! However, it was taking forever to cook!
While the chicken was cooking, I also tried my hand at some Dutch oven cooking. I actually baked my potatoes in a Dutch oven!
By 8:45 pm, I was starving and becoming a little impatient. The chicken looked great, the legs were a little loose so I determined it was time to start glazing the chicken and cooking the beans.
At 9:15 I announced that the chicken must be ready, the boys were hungry and couldn’t hardly wait. We removed the chicken, I tried cutting into it and it wasn’t very forgiving. I started to get worried, I cut deeper and pink meat was revealed. Nooooooooo! You can’t eat pink chicken meat, ever!
Sadly the chicken had to go back on, this time we lowered it, I didn’t care that it would burn on the outside. I knew that would happen since I used a rosemary garlic jam as the glaze, we just wanted to eat.
By 10:00 my chicken was black on the outside, my green beans had shriveled up to nothing and my potato skins were like leather.
Guess what? My chicken still wasn’t done. 10:00 at night and it was still undercooked. I said screw it, probably because I had about 3 drinks on an empty stomach and I was feeling reckless and hungry. I cut off the done parts of the chicken, we ate only the insides of the baked potatoes, and the beans had bacon in them so the flavor was still good. Besides, nothings wrong with bean jerky when you are a starvin marvin.
Not the best meal I’ve ever made, however I’m not giving up and I will try again. So…lessons learned:
1. Start early, even if the chicken cooks quicker than expected, room temperature chicken is better than raw chicken.
2. Start low and then raise the chicken if needed.
3. Do not glaze the chicken unless you are positively sure it’s done, in other words, don’t let hunger be your guide.
4. Don’t be too eager to start your sides, again the chicken can set while sides are cooking.
5. Don’t be to stubborn, if you are hungry and the sides are done, eat them and have chicken for dessert .
Remember my first post of our African adventure, and then part deux? Time for my last post on our adventure, the third part of our adventure takes us to a big hole and a coffee fountain.
When I had won the bid for the safari, I found out that my friend, TMP was from the area that we were going to. I immediately invited McGyver and myself to her parents farm, just for the last couple of days. It seemed a shame not to visit them when we were going to be so close.
Daan and Verity picked us up from camp Wag ‘n Bietje after Frikkie returned us there to settle our bill and eat lunch. When Daan and Verity walked in, I knew who they were immediately. TMP gets her height and long longs from her father, and her beautiful face and eyes from her mother, a perfect amalgamation of her parents.
Daan and Verity suggested that we go the The Big Hole. What’s so interesting about a big hole? In this case, The Big Hole, is old diamond mine in Kimberly (the town where we flew into…twice).
From Wiki:
”In 1872, one year after digging started, the population of the camp of diggers grew to around 50,000. As digging progressed, many men met their deaths in mining accidents. The unsanitary conditions, scarcity of water and fresh vegetables as well as the intense heat in the summer, also took their toll. On the 13 March 1888 the leaders of the various mines decided to amalgamate the separate diggings into one big mine and one big company known as De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, with life governors such as Cecil John Rhodes, Alfred Beit and John Rhodes. This massive company further worked on the Big Hole until it came to the depth of 215 metres, with a surface area of about 17 hectares and perimeter of 1.6 kilometres. By 14 August 1914, when over 22 million tons of earth had been excavated, yielding 2,722 kilograms (14,504,566 carats) of diamonds, work on the mine eased after it was considered the largest hand-dug excavation on earth.”
No surprise why it’s called The Big Hole. De Beers converted the The Big Hole into a major tourist attraction in 2002; rebuilding the original town, setting up tours, a movie, a trip down to the “mines” with simulated blasting and of course an amazing view of The Big Hole.
It was really incredible to see The Big Hole and imagine how difficult life was, I can’t imagine hand picking away everyday in search of diamonds. Shoot, I complain when I hit a rock or tree root when digging in my garden.
It was getting late, so we went out to dinner. We had dinner at the Kalahari Tea Garden restaurant. It was a beautifully decorated place with the thatched roofs that I adore, beautiful beams and woodworking, plus it had an amazing mural on the wall. The menu offered items like springbok and kudu.
We went spent the next couple of days hanging out at the farm, going into town; McGyver went out hunting with TMP’s brother.
Verity took me into Koffiefontein, it was interesting to find out that there was still an active diamond mine and the town once was the site of a POW camp. The POW camp happened during the second world war and held over 2000 Italians and 900 South Africans that were suspected of being pro-Nazi. Koffiefontein is mainly a farming town, with a high level of poverty (57%). The town was named coffee fountain, because it was a coffee stop for transport riders during the 1900s.
Mostly, I was really excited to go into town and shop at the local grocery store.
McGyver and I had been staying in luxurious hunting accommodations and felt that we hadn’t seen the real South Africa. Our time in Jo’berg was no different than anytime in a big city, it’s the rural life that we wanted to see.
I can’t say I was shocked, exactly, but there is still a huge dichotomy between the quality of life for the blacks versus the whites in the more rural areas. On the outskirts of town, there were tin shanty’s and run down homes, obvious poverty and I mean real poverty (not like Americans who get assistance and have help if they seek it). I wanted to take photos but Verity informed me that it would not be safe for me to go out with my expensive camera. I suppose, that is no different than any other part of the world that has a “ghetto” area, some places just aren’t safe.
Not to get too political, but I can’t believe the beliefs regarding the blacks “they like living that way”, “they don’t want to work”, “they are thieves and can’t be trusted”. I did not contribute any of my opinions, and I am sure there is some truth to that. After all, who hasn’t run into people who have no desire to better themselves? I just can’t believe it as a blanket statement. I am sure many people would like to do better but the opportunity is not there, and after so many generations of poverty, what motivation is there?
Staying with TMP’s parents was like visiting my own parents, McGyver and I couldn’t have been more comfortable or made to feel more at home. By the end of our visit, I was regretting the short time I had planned on staying with them. I took Benjamin Franklin’s words seriously “Fish and visitors start to stink after 3 days”.
Naturally while we were there, we had a Braai, drinks and a good time. I loved their braai area, which Verity had designed herself.
Our last night there, can you believe there was a partial eclipse of the moon? It was a bigger eclipse than what is photographed. Unfortunately the clouds moved in and my eyelids were heavy, I went to bed satisfied with what I had.
For one of our meals, I jumped in the kitchen with Verity and we made oepsies (pronounced oopsie). An “oepsie” is any meat in a cherry sauce, served on a stick at a braai. It is not a mistake, even though it sounds like it. Verity used some bacon, candied cherries and a packaged Honey Soy glaze.
I wanted to recreate my own oepsies. Our bacon is different here, plus I wanted to make my oepsie a little more substantial, so I substituted cubed ham. The candied cherries were such a sweet and toothsome contrast to the salty bacon that I wanted to keep them in my version but I couldn’t find them in a single grocery store in the area. Evidently, candied cherries only make an appearance around fruit cake making time. Maraschino cherries seemed like the next best candidate.
The honey soy glaze, was something else. I jotted down the ingredients from the package and set out to make my own version. Honestly the glaze is what makes the oepsie. The sweet and salty glaze ties the bacon ham and candied cherries maraschino cherries together. The recipe makes more than enough glaze, I recommend trying it on grilled chicken.
Oepsies are a perfect starter for any meal or a nice hors d’ oeuvres for a get together.
Recipe
American Oepsies
Glaze:
1/2 c. Soy Sauce
3 tbsp. honey
3 tbsp. currant or plum jelly
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
Oepsies
6” bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
1/2 lb. ham cubes
24 maraschino cherries
For the glaze, mix all the glaze ingredients and place in a small sauce pan. bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute, or until the glaze thickens. Let cool.
On each skewer, alternate ham cubes and cherries. Grill over medium heat, until heated through about 2 minutes on each side. Lightly brush oepsies with the glaze, turning frequently and brushing with the glaze until it caramelizes and begins blackening on the edges. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Random photo share. While I was in South Africa, we came across an abandoned farmhouse, I found it interesting so I took a couple of photos, it’s the amateur photography thing.
Lastly, my favorite picture of the entire trip. I waited days to sneakily snap this photo. I love her shoes!
What a wonderful adventure, I can’t wait for our next one, where ever that might be.
Part Deux from my post last week, when Mcgyver and I embarked on An Adventure of a Life Time. After finishing our time at Camp Wag ‘n Bietje, Frikkie loaded us and our gear up, I was comfortable smashed in the “extended” part of his small pick-up. In retrospect I probably should have just rode around in the back of the pick up, there was certainly more leg room. But what is an adventure if there isn’t a few uncomfortable moments.
This time we were headed to Thabo Mohathla, located in a town called Campbell, somewhere near Bloemfontein. The plan was to get a black, copper and white springbok. If you recall from my other post, a springbok is a type of antelope. Frikkie said that this area was the best for springbok, “O.K. Frikkie, you are the professional, we trust you”.
We pulled up to Thabo Mohathla, I disengaged myself from the back seat (trust me, it’s not a pretty site to see a middle-aged fat woman try to work herself out of a tight spot). Once I was safely out, I was able to get a good look at Thabo. It had a very different feel than Wag ‘n Bietje. Thabo was more of a farmhouse, less lodge-y and more homey.
We started by meeting Bernadette, she ran the household while her husband, Philip was doing his professional hunter thing. They have two lovely girls, Ananadia, age 5, with an endless supply of questions and Megan, age 2, a chatter box when given the chance (unfortunately she speaks mostly Afrikaans so we didn’t understand her most of the time).
We were shown our room, had lunch and out on the hunt again, that is why we came. We hunted a couple of days and McGyver got everything he had come for. Not only that, our PH talked me into hunting the last springbok. I ribbed a bit because I was wearing pink, and I crawled like a girl (avoiding all the poop piles and stickers). In the end I shot my first animal ever at 208 yards, a nearly perfect shot. Philip said that the springbok I shot, stopped and rubbed it’s eyes and thought “is that a pink springbok?”. That’s why I had my chance to get it.
Mandatory picture time:
While we were out, we almost got stuck… On another night we actually did get stuck, but it was too dark to take pictures.
Ananadia thought she’d help clean the side view mirror. Note that she has already wiped the mud once and put here finger right back in mouth, got to to clean the dirt off somehow? As my mother always said “God made dirt so dirt don’t hurt”. The fact that I’ve survived is proof of that.
Since we were able to get the hunt done with a day early, Frikkie offered to make us Puff Adder. Puff Adder is a common venomous snake found in Africa. Frikkie was not intending on feeding us venomous snake, rather it is a a liver and kidney stuffed colon that is grilled and ends up looking like it’s name sake.
It all starts with the prep the day before, the colon has to cleaned, cleaned very, very well. Say thank you Rhonda for not sharing the pictures. The day of, the meat and colon were prepped by Frikkie.
After the liver and kidney were cleaned and chopped, Frikkie soaked them again while we went out and did some photos from a blind. When we got back Frikkie was ready to cook the stuffing. Frikkie did say that he doesn’t always cook the stuffing first, it depends on the thickness of the colon. Since ours was from a small springbok that McGyver got, he knew that it would cook fast on the braai.
A taste to be sure it was just right.
I wasn’t sure if I would like Liver and Kidney together. I like liver, fried in bacon grease with onions or as a pate. Kidneys, well, I wasn’t quite sure about that. I had steak and kidney pie and enjoyed it, but it tasted mostly like meat gravy and pastry.
The flavors were really complex, the vinegar cut the pastiness of the liver, and the chutney and a hint of sweetness, giving an overall sweet and sour flavor. The brown gravy brought it all together. After we determined that the stuffing was perfect, it was left to cool and we toddled off to our rooms for a nap. A wonderful, glorious nap. I slept and dreamed of snakes stuffed with liver and kidneys, basting and roasting themselves in the sun for my dinner.
After a refreshing nap by all (even though Frikkie swore he wasn’t tired, he just wanted to “rest” his eyes, Frikkie was ready to stuff our Puff Adder.
We went out to the lapa, an outdoor entertainment area where we had our braai and drinks.
Frikkie grilled our Puff Adder and Philip cooked the back strap of the copper springbok.
The meal ended the next chapter in our adventure. Like the rest of our time there, it was not just about the hunting but the hospitality, we couldn’t have felt more welcome.
I have one more post in the works, I am trying to recreate Verity’s Oepsies and I’ll share The Big Hole and Koffiefontein.
Recipe
(note, I did my best to guess the amounts used, they are all approximate)
Puff Adder by Frikkie
Fresh liver from a small animal like deer or antelope
Fresh Kidneys from a small animal like deer or antelope
Milk
1 colon from a small animal like a deer or antelope, well cleaned
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1/2 tsp. crushed garlic
1 to 2 tbsp. Dark vinegar (like malt or balsamic)
2 tbsp. Chutney
1/4 pkg. brown gravy mix or more if needed
Salt and Pepper to taste
Begin by soaking the liver and kidneys in water for at least one hour. Drain the liver and kidneys, peel off the outer skin of the kidneys and remove any veins or tenuous tissue on the liver and kidneys. Chop and then soak for another hour in milk (this helps remove some of the gamey flavor).
After the hours up, drain the liver and kidneys well. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the sliced onions and sauté until the onions are tender and translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the drained chopped liver and kidneys, cook thoroughly.
Add the vinegar, chutney and salt and pepper. Sprinkle the brown gravy mix on top, beginning with a 1/4 package. Stir and cook for 1 minute, add more gravy mix to thicken as necessary (the meat mixture should be slightly thicker then gravy).
Let cool completely before stuffing colon. Tie or make a knot at one end of the colon, using a spoon, carefully stuff the colon. Use your hands to work the filling down. Once the colon is stuffed, tie or knot the other end. Grill or braai over a medium to medium low heat, until browned evenly outside and heated all the way through, about 30 minutes.
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