Saturday lunch outdoors, soccer woes and musical highs

The weatherman must have read my last post (which would make two whole readers, if you count my husband?), because it was a truly glorious Spring Day. Cape Town was out in all her leg bearing splendour and while the hipsters were browsing the stalls at the Labia Market (if you didn’t know that the Labia is a popular, if not a little kitch, old-style movie theatre screening art house films, I won’t blame you for wincing at the name. It is so Biology lessons circa Standard 8, trying not to erupt into shameful giggles) and the other half of the cool kid squad were most likely sipping R60 cocktails along the Camps Bay promenade. I, on the other hand, after a lazy lie in watching Lady Spring stream sunshine into our bedroom, spent the better part of the early afternoon at the shopping mall, stocking up on essentials. I was particularly endeared by the lack of sighing and eye-rolling on the part of my husband. This could do with the fact that NO clothing or shoe stores were visited. This, my friends is a true story. Sad, but true.

Late Lunch

I did mention in The First Supper that I have been craving greens. Quite fitting for the change of season. I haven’t yet blitzed the buggers into waist shrinking (and potentially life changing) elixirs, but lunch today was an Ode to Spring.

The quantities you use in this and all recipes here will depend on the number of mouths you’re feeding. Naturally. Where possible, I will specify how many my meals were aiming to feed. This meal was for two.

Zingy Prawn, Asparagus and Red Onion Salad



Photo property of foodandthefabulous.com

Ingredients

150g prawns, shelled, deveined, tails on

1 punnet asparagus tips

baby spinach or greens of your choice, a few handfuls.

2-3 ultra finely sliced red onion rings. A good knife, that you cleverly remembered to sharpen will be your best friend at this point.

2 heaped tsp Oded’s Roast Garlic and Ginger paste (use pounded fresh garlic in splash of olive oil if you like or 1/4 teaspoon conventional ground ginger and garlic)

1/2 tsp Wasabi Sauce or powder diluted with water to runny consistency

Salt to taste

For the Dressing

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tsp Dijon mustard (this and the lemon are the ‘zing’)

Wasabi sauce, or powder diluted to a runny consistency- 1/2 a tsp is sufficient (this is the bam. Lord knows we all need some of that!)

30ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

Truly could not be easier or quicker (note the trend in the meals I prepare?)

Splash prawns with garlic & ginger paste and wasabi sauce and mix to coat. Leave to marinate.

Steam asparagus in the microwave. Two minutes was sufficient in mine. Refresh in iced water, drain when cold and set aside.

Slice onion rings and arrange baby spinach on a platter.

I’d make the dressing now- also a painless task. In a small mixing jug add the lemon juice (if you didn’t squeeze directly into the jug like I did) mustard and wasabi. Whisk. Pour the oil in slowly as you whisk to emulsify. Season to taste. It’s done in 30 seconds so unfortunately this task has a negligible amount of calories burned. Making your own mayonnaise on the other hand, will burn significantly more.

Heat pan to a highish heat, add olive oil and fry. You want the heat to be high enough so that the prawns cook and brown, but don’t burn. Turn. 2-3 minutes and you’re good to go.

Add prawns, asparagus and onion rings to the baby spinach, dress and serve.

Zucchini Fritters, with lemon and spicy yoghurt dip



these fritters are the property of foodandthefabulous.com

This recipe was adapted from one featured in the September issue (what is it with me and the September issues!) of Women’s Health South Africa. Mine, however look drastically different due to a slight customisation in quantities. I will spare you the reasons as I’m afraid the workings of my chaotic mind may just scare you off food blogs forever. I also added 1/4 finely chopped chilli and 20cm finely diced spring onion to the mix. Mine where, shall we say, a more comforting fritter. Taste-wise they were delicious and very spring-like in their green glory! Here’s a link to the original courgette fritters recipe.

I followed their simple recipe for the cumin infused yoghurt dip to the letter, save for substituting the greek yoghurt with the low fat Bulgarian variety that I had on hand. Serve with lemon wedges.



Somewhere in this bowl, a healthy fritter was made into a yummy fritter!

Photo property of foodandthefabulous.com

Dessert

I made James Martin’s nougat semi-freddo, that I lusted after the other day and tweeted about with shameless abandon. Damn that sexy Yorkshire accent. It makes me want to yell out “Look at that!” all the time! Oh right, we’re talking about the semi-frodo…

After Barcelona’s 2-0 defeat at home, to Hercules Alicante (I kid you not ) we headed off to Thriller Live, a tribute to Micheal Jackson’s greatest hits. Had it not been such an uplifting and overall superbly executed production, I would still be a very grumpy Cule. No time to eat dessert. Did I just type that? Anyway, its true.

I am looking forward to Sunday lunch …I suspect one wicked little semi-freddo will make its much anticipated debut!

(If a semi-freddo means “half cold”, I wonder if sitting in the freezer overnight would be a bad thing? Perhaps I should have a quick look/taste…)