Thai Paella | Tomato, 3 Bean & Spinach Soup | Hot & Sour Prawn Risotto (Tom Yum Goong Risotto)
Rooibos Smoked Trout Ravioli | Tomato Bruschetta with Brandy Flambéd Spade Steak

Thai Paella

Paella takes it’s name from the large two handled shallow pan, ‘the paellera,’ but you can use any shallow pan with equal success. It’s also a dish that you can bake in the oven, on your gas stove or cook on the open fire while drinking wino and shooting the hoop and I really love my version thereof for its fusion of traditional Spanish with Thai flavours. I’ll do my best to give you quantities, but with this Paella (come to think of it the same applies to all my recipes) I do a lot of the quantities by feel and the first time I made this dish it was for 30 friends and 20 odd backpackers at the Wildside in Buffalo Bay and I was cooking off the seat of my pants.

What’s in it and how I make it. Got It.

40 small Clams steamed for 5 minutes in 2 or 3 tablespoons of Sake, and then reserved. (Sake’s a Japanese Rice Wine that’s drunk warm and after a while – makes you feel like nothing “maakie saak nie,” Afrikaans English for makes a difference but is slang for on your ear.

Two dozen large prawns, de-veined and marinated in ginger, garlic, chillie and sesame oil and then sealed on the grill or fire until they change from translucent to red. Mind you, not too long because they’re still going to cook for a little while when you add them to the Paella.

• 2 kilograms of Basmati rice
• Olive oil (enough to coat the rice)
• Loads of garlic
• Hot as hell chillies
• Lemon grass
• Ginger (don’t be shy.)
• Splash of light soya sauce
• More or less a liter of home made fish stock (you can use chicken if you really have to)
• Large pinch of Saffron
• 2 liters of coconut milk (Tinned will do. Promise.)

In the Paella Pan, fry the Basmati rice on medium heat with Olive Oil, Garlic, Chilies, Lemon Grass and Ginger, stirring occasionally, until the rice goes translucent (it’s a similar process to a Risotto, except the heat is fiercer), Then add ¾ of the Fish Stock and put the saffron in the balance (of the Fish Stock) and bring that to a boil (you just want to infuse the flavours). Add the clams (incl. the juice) and ¾ of the Coconut Milk and give everything a gentle final stir.

• 2 of each Red, yellow and green Peppers (red gold and green) sliced thinly
• Saffron fish stock from above
• 2 pannets Brown mushrooms sliced
• 3 Leeks sliced into rounds
• About a kilogram of cubed and de-boned fresh white fish flash fried in sesame oil
• Pinch or two of salt
• 2 pannets of hand crushed Oyster Mushrooms
• Grilled Prawns from above
• 200 grams of Sprouts
• Whole Chinese cabbage (or two) separated into leaves
• Whack of Beans / Mange Tout
• Couple of handfuls of cashew nuts
• Large dollop of Red Thai curry Paste mixed with the balance of coconut milk

Right. Add everything above (from the peppers onwards) in the same sequence, seal the whole dish with tin foil, and let it bake for about 15 to 20 minutes on low heat. You can peek every now and then, and taste as well. Once the rice is cooked give every thing a good turn and serve immediately.

Enough for 30 to 50 people, depending on how hungry they are.

PS. Please follow your packet instructions with regards to rice vs liquid quantities. I’ve used 1 cup of rice to 1 ½ of liquid, but it may differ from the rice you use. Oh, I also used 5 dishes when I made this Paella, so you might need to as well or you can just reduce quantities proportionately. Love Ya – Justin…

Recipe courtesy of Justin Bonello

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Tomato, 3 Bean and Spinach Soup

This soup is spicy enough to warm you up in the midst of Cape Town Winter (You know the one: Black South Easter ripping up tree’s outside, rip roaring fire surrounded by friends inside). Any case, it’s really simple to make and I always have the ingredients on hand incase I need to throw something together for friends who just drop in. (That seems to happen a lot.)

What’s innit:

• 2 sliced onions
• 2 chopped up cloves garlic (LARGE)
• 1 whole head of garlic
• Blob of Butter
• 4 or 5 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 level teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
• 1 level teaspoon of Paprika
• 2 tins of whole peeled tomatoes
• 8 washed ripe tomatoes roughly chopped up (skin and all)
• 1 tin of Chick Peas
• 1 tin of Butter Beans
• 1 tin of Speckled Sugar Beans
• 6 or 7 spinach leaves with the white bitter tasting vein cut out, rolled up and shredded
• Finely grated Pecorino cheese
• Couple of fresh sweet basil leaves ( roughly chopped up)
• Toasted slices of Ciabatta

In a deep pot, sauté everything up to and including the Paprika until the onions go soft and translucent. Then throw in the 2 tins of whole peeled tomatoes, the roughly chopped fresh tomatoes and the juice from the 3 tins of beans. Let it all simmer until the fresh tomatoes disintegrate into small chunks and the skins curl off (probably 20 or so minutes with an occasional stir)

Then add the Chick Peas. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, then add the Butter Beans and the Speckled Sugar beans (I add these last as they are quite soft and I don’t want them to become all mushy and disappear.) Simmer for further 5 minutes and switch off the gas.

TO SERVE

In the bottom of your soup bowls put a layer of the shredded spinach then ladle over the hot soup, making sure to you get all the goodies at the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle the freshly chopped basil and Pecorino cheese over the top. Break apart the head of garlic and squeeze cloves onto the Ciabatta. Serve

Enough for 6 to 8 depending on how hungry everyone is.

Recipe courtesy of Justin Bonello

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Friend Rating of ****½
Mindblowing.

What’s in it and how I make it. Got It.

• Lots of hot chillies
• Knob of ginger, skinned and grated
• Peeled stalk of lemon grass (discard the hard outer leaves)
• 2 or so Lime leaves
• 2 or so Kaffir Leaves
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• Tablespoon or two of Palm oil
• Tablespoon Fish Sauce
• Tablespoon Soy sauce
• Juice from a lime
• Tablespoon sugar

Grind and mash and mix and blend all of the above together until you have a thick ‘hot as hell’ sour paste (or you can just buy the stock cubes from your local Thai supply shop and be done with it).

Throw paste (or 2 x stock cubes) in pot. Add a liter and a ½ of water, a punnet of finely sliced brown mushrooms (you should use straw mushrooms but I can never get them here.), bruised stalk of lemon grass, 4 or so sliced spring onions, 2 x sliced chillies (HOT) and bring to the boil.

18 x nice size de-veined and skinned prawns.

Now, once stock begins to boil, throw in the prawns and cook until just done (about 3 or 4 minutes). Remove prawns and stalk of lemon grass, and put to the side and take stock off the heat.

• 2 cups of Risotto rice (the best you can afford, cause here, quality does matter)
• Large knob of butter
• 2 tablespoons of Sesame oil

In a nice sized pot, throw in the Risotto, butter and sesame oil and gently fry the rice until all the grains are coated in the butter and sesame oil. Then, while stirring, add the stock a ladle at a time, letting the liquid be absorbed each time before adding more stock. Keep tasting the rice as you cook until it tastes like it’s al dente and looks glossy and sticks together like thick porridge (about half an hour).

Then add a final knob of butter and give it a vigorous but gentle stir.

To serve, sprinkle portions with fresh coriander and finely sliced spring onions and place prawns on your risotto mound. Serve immediately.

Enough for 4 to 6 friends, depending on how hungry they are.

PS. Please follow your packet instructions with regards to rice vs liquid quantities. I used more or less 1 cup of rice to 1½ of liquid, but it may differ from the rice you use, so check out your packet instructions. Love Ya – Justin….

Recipe courtesy of Justin Bonello

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Rooibos Smoked Trout Ravioli with a burnt garlic and Tequila sauce.

What’s in it and how I make it.

• 1 x bottle of Agave Gold Tequila, cold
• 1 x shot glass

For the Ravioli…

Pour one tot of tequila into shot glass. Drink.

• Smoking Dish
• Side of medium sized trout, de-boned
• 4 teabags worth of rooibos tea
• tablespoon of honey
• pinch or two of maldon salt
• fist ball sized block of ricotta cheese
• As many sheets of home made pasta as you can make with Jamie Oliver’s recipe in Return of the Naked Chef, pg 97 and 98
• Head of garlic peeled and sliced roughly
• 2 large knobs of butter
• 3 shot glasses of tequila
• Matches, (preferably long ones)
• Tablespoon of Cayenne pepper
• Tablespoon of Paprika
• 6 large tablespoons of Honey
• ½ a liter of Cream
• Tablespoon of salt

Sprinkle Rooibos evenly over bottom of a smoker. (You can make one quite easily with a baking tray, a piece of wire grid and then close with some tinfoil.) Sprinkle salt and drizzle honey all over trout. Place skin side down on smoking grid. Close up and smoke over hot coals for approx. 7-13 minutes, depending on the thickness of the trout. Take off heat and fleck trout into dish, add ricotta and mash roughly.

Cut sheets of pasta into squares 3 fingers wide. Place small mounds of trout and riccota mixture into centre. Fold into triangle. Starting from the corner, and using your fingers, gently push pasta edges down easing out any air pockets. Pinch edges with a fork to make sure ravioli doesn’t explode into soggy watery mess when you cook them later, and put to one side.

For the Sauce…

Offer everyone else in the kitchen a tequila, then reward yourself. Melt the butter in a non-stick heavy based pan, add garlic and fry until crispy, but not burnt. Add honey, Cayenne pepper and Paprika, stirring gently while increasing the heat to max, then leaning away from pan, add tequila and use a long match to light. Burn off all alcohol (the huge flame will eventually disappear). Remove from the heat. Add the cream, put back on the stove and increase the heat while stirring until the sauce is hot, but not boiling (otherwise the cream will separate).

Bring pot of water to boil, add salt and then drop ravioli into boiling water gently. Cook until al dente ( roughly for 3 to 5 minutes). Drain and put straight into the pan of sauce.

Serve ravioli immediately swimming in sauce in a shallow bowl.

Enough for 4 to 6 friends, depending on how hungry they are.

Recipe courtesy of Justin Bonello

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When I made this in the series, we couldn’t get a lot of the ingredients I wanted so I had to do a lot of improvisations on the day.

What’s in it and how I make it.

• Springbok fillet, cooked on a spade on an open fire and flambéd with brandy and cut into thin slices
• Stale Beer bread (or a stale loaf of bruschetta ), cut into slices
• 2 or 3 very ripe tomatoes
• olive oil
• chunky slices of mozzarella cheese
• Port sauce (butter and a little port, boiled and reduced until it’s a sticky mess)

Toast bread until crunchy. Smear on olive oil and then squash tomatoes into bread and rub in so that the juice and seeds are spread over the whole surface of the bread. Lay the slices of mozzarella and springbok fillet on the bread. Drizzle on port sauce

Serve and eat immediately.

Enough for 6 to 10 friends, depending on how hungry they are.

Recipe courtesy of Justin Bonello

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