Truffle Salt Risotto

I was never very good at physics, in fact I was shocking (no pun intended). Even if I memorised the rhymes till I turned blue in the face, when it came down to a test or making something work I didn't know my positives from my negatives and failed every time. On the other hand, when it came to chemistry I was "Queen of the Lab", I loved the way things worked and how 1+1 did not always =2. Unfortunately at my school we just had "science" as a subject and so, although my chemistry scores were FANTASTIC, my physics scores were so flat I had to drop "science" as a subject.

Planet restaurant - out of this world (what can I say, queen of cheese)

All images courtesy of Mount Nelson Hotel

Lets for a moment talk "Portion size". When were you last at a place where the portions were just right? Where you could comfortably make your way through three courses without feeling the need to deflate at the end? I can tell you that that was a small but very important part of what made my dinner at Planet so wonderful, but I am skipping ahead to the end and that's not fair for anyone. Especially not you.

It starts with having a brilliant sister, who wows enough staff members into giving her a well-deserved "You make a difference" award, the "Employee of the month" accolade at The Mount Nelson Hotel. The next step for this is a plan for two sisters, whose relationship is a lot like dark chocolate: on a good day smooth and rich and on other days a little too bitter. With age the palette matures and dark chocolate becomes more of a pleasure than anything else. Days like those lead to plans like these. Both on the same page, equally in need of some comfort and pampering, we decided to use The Sister's reward of a "A night at the Nellie".

Luxury in the bedroom, luxury in the bathroom and to crown the whole occasion, luxury on the tongue as we headed downstairs for dinner at the Planet. A short wait for the rest of the guests, Mr Entertainment, Mr Fabulous and Ms Chatty, in Planet Bar with my virgin cocktail and some yummy nibbly things (oh, the maturity in my words often pains me). Final guest arrives and we wonder off down the passage of mirrors, star signs twinkling in the background as Mr Entertainment declares "That's my star-sign!" "You're Aries?" "No! Tauro" and with that the tone was set for the night

Champagne was served (a nice vintage of Appletiser for me) and a beautiful little plate of amuse-bouche delights was placed on the table. Tiny tastes from popovers to springrolls and our tastebuds were jerking the reins to get going. Looking through the menu only served to send their nostrils flaring as we diligently chose a range of dishes so that allowed us to taste as much of the menu as possible. I was intrigued and delighted to see an entirely vegan journey option as well as many vegan dishes to chose from. It's not often that fine dining and ethical eating meet in such spectacular ways.

From terrines to salads everybody shared, well except for The Sister, who held on tight to her collection of bite size morsels each one with salmon as their star ingredients. The brightest star in the starters was most definitely the crumbed and feta stuffed pepperdews that came with the smoked crocodile salad. My choice, the lentil salad, was surprisingly light and very refreshing. For a legume known for it's meatiness the salad turned out to be the perfect prelude to my main.

There too, with Liezl expertly guiding our galloping tastebuds in the right direction, we each picked a dish we could share. Blown away by the presentation and care that was taken to make each dish not only beautiful to the eye but colourful on the tongue. We were delighted by the potato foam served with the fillet, a cloud of comfort, tasting like home but with the texture of heaven. My star for this course had to be my very own kudu pie, how such a petite parcel could carry so much flavour without exploding was beyond comprehension. My kudu steak, butternut mash and the bean salad that came with it all served only to make the dish even brighter.

On to dessert and on most occasions this is the point where the tastebuds have come to a comfortable trot, the sky-carriage heavy from over indulgence, slowing down to an almost intangible pace. Not this time, flanks glistening from excitement at the thought of more delights in store, decision time came again and this time the good of the group was forgotten. The favourite pretasting was "The Nutty one" but having had it at Taste of Cape Town I was too curious, too intrigued by all the creatively named dessert on the menu to have the same thing again and so "Chocolate..." and it's description (chocolate souffle, chocolate mouse, salted caramel, chocolate bellinis...) won me over. The star, however, in this galaxy was by far The Sister's choice "Whiter shades of pale" Meringue, white chocolate, heaven, cream, magic...all on one plate.

Good chats, raucous laughter and great company were our companions on this journey, friendly and attentive service our guides and every moment was savoured and enjoyed. 

The winter menu has now been launched, with the dishes I described saying farewell as the seasons change and with them the produce changes only to be replaced by what I can only believe will be equally inspiring dishes. 

At R300 pp for a 6 course Journey menu, it is really worth every penny, the only part you will be disappointed by is, that at some point, you will have to land.

Hot water crust pie

Pie, I think there is a version in almost every culture. Short crust, puff or none at all the crust vary and some are easier then others. I have always used store bought *ashamed* and sometimes, for sweet pies I made short crust. I was about to pop some puff pastry out the fridge for a chicken pie when my sister gave me a "look". See the whole family is on a health drive and well, puff pastry if full of that heavenly evil "butter". 

We both concluded that if I made my own pastry, even if it had butter in it, it would have a lot less than the store bought puff pastry. 

I remembered seeing, on one of those in between sections on Food Network, something about "Hot water crust pasty" and googled around till I found a recipe I was happy to work from and then promptly changed it completely. Those that bake will know, changing a recipe before even trying it is like playing with fire but I figured what the hell. I had a really tasty filling and back-up puff pastry in the fridge. 

Hot water crust pastry (makes 2 pies)

What you need:225g Whole brown bread flour
225g Whole rye flour
2 tsp salt (the stone ground flours need a little more salt then regular flour I find)
200g butter
225ml chicken stock (My filling was made with shredded chicken which I boiled so I used the stock from that)

What to do:In a mixing bowl whisk the flours and salt together (whisking adds air that you would normally get from sifting, but since I used whole flours sifting wasn't an option). Make a well in the centre. Melt the butter in the stock. Pour into the well and mix immediatly until combined. Knead the dough a little. 

From this point use however you want. The hot water crust pastry is worked with warm, unlike shortcrust that must be chilled. 

Note: Any fat can be used where the butter is used so you can replace it with margarine to create an equally great vegan crust.

Guest Post - Nina Timm - My Easy Cooking

Greater then the sum of the words, that's how I would describe my next guest. When I sat in Marlene van der Westhuizen's cooking studio and waited for other Food24 bloggers to arrive I remember wondering what everyone would be like. Most of the bloggers were exactly how I pictured them, Nina, now from My Easy Cooking, however was not. She was just so much more then I expected and I really enjoyed her company that day.

I believe she should be big in the foodie world. Mouth watering recipes, food styling top class magazines should kill for but you judge for yourself:

I feel so honored to be a guest here on Add to Taste. Hila and I met about a year ago at a cheese cook-a-long and it was my first meeting with other foodies here in Cape Town.  Since then much has happened on the blogger scene here, so this is really just another facet or extension of blogging and that is why this is special to me. The recipe that I am sharing with you today is perfect for a light supper, to serve with drinks or just a quick winter warmer. Classically a Spanish recipe, but you can twist and teak as much as you like. You can read the story behind this recipe here: http://www.my-easy-cooking.com/2008/11/patatas-bravaslets-have-tapas.html

Patatas Bravas features on our menu regularly and I am sure it will soon be a favorite in your house to. Smoked paprika is the secret here, so if you do not have any, hop in at your nearest Woolies and get some…

Links to Recipes on my site:

 http://www.my-easy-cooking.com/2009/09/sausage-recipes-patatas-bravas-with.html

Patatas Bravas

Ingredients

about 1 large potato per person - peeled and cut into big chunks

1 medium onion - peeled, but keep it whole

1 onion - sliced

5 whole cloves

1-2 tsp smoked paprika

3 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp tomato paste

fresh thyme

salt and pepper

1 chopped chili - optional.

Press the cloves into 1 onion and place the onion, potatoes and salt in a pot with some water. Cook the potatoes until soft, but not mushy. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and paprika.

Fry until onion is soft and add potatoes. Lower the heat and let the potatoes caramelize. Finally add the tomato paste and season well. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and enjoy as a light meal or add slices of smoked pork fillet.