Now, after four years, Yummi has grown so much that it’s time to move out my mother’s garage and into a bigger premises at Bosman’s crossing in Stellenbosch. From now on, all orders can be picked up from the bakery Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am to 4.30pm. Or, if an unexpected Yummi-craving grabs you, pop in to see what we have in stock! When the bakery opens, it will be announced on the Yummi Facebook page.

One of the first entries on our list was Le Quartier Français – The Tasting Room to be specific. Rated as the second best restaurant in South Africa by the Eat Out Magazine, the Tasting Room offers an African-inspired eight course tasting menu which changes seasonally. The dining experience was unparalleled and a definite must for every foodie. Here are some photos of the eight courses, as well as some small nibbles before and after the eight courses (as if eight isn’t enough!).

If you have something less formal in mind, be sure to visit The Common Room, also at Le Quartier Francais. Their African-inspired tapas menu is also something not to be missed.

Recently, when asked for an interview, I expected a normal interview. However, it turned out to be much more interesting than that. This was not just an ordinary interview; it also led to her first Love My Cupboard blog post, which was very true and inspirational. Be sure to read it.

Over  a cup of Häzz coffee, we discussed at which restaurants we have been, and which we  would still like to visit. I must say, I cannot wait to tackle it, and to blog about it.

Häzz offers some of the best coffee I have had and is a must for anyone that loves coffee. A bonus is that you can get your favourite Yummi Brownies and Macaroons here as well. The Roasted Macadamia Nut Brownie is a huge hit paired with a double cappuccino.

More good news is that Eat Out released a list of the top Macaroon producers in the country, which you can view here.

I will be back soon for more dining and coffee hot spots in the Western Cape.

Plating in the Tokara kitchen

A few months after I had worked in the Tokara kitchen, we returned for a dinner there. As usual it was an amazing experience. Something caught my eye on the menu, although nobody at our table ordered it. It was Richard Carsten’s take on malva pudding. As usual it only had a short description of the different components. A few days later I had some friends over for dinner at my house. The malva pudding shot up in my mind, so I decided on doing my own interpretation of what I saw on the Tokara menu. Malva pudding with Amarula ice cream, apricot and Riesling coulis, hazelnut struesel and a crème anglaise foam.

Malva Pudding

I baked malva pudding in small spherical moulds taking the internal temperature of the miniature puddings to check when they are cooked (cooking time decreases significantly). As soon as they were cooked I immediately turned them out of the moulds into a large Pyrex container. While the small puddings were still warm I poured the hot cream syrup over them.

To make the Riesling and apricot coulis, I steeped apricots in Riesling wine over a low heat until the apricots were soft and then pureed them, adding more Riesling until the consistency was perfect. The hazelnut struesel is the same as used in my Chocolate Fondant dessert. Some pretty addictive stuff. To make the crème anglaise foam, I just prepared a traditional crème anglaise and added 1 sheet of gelatin for every 200ml of crème anglaise while it was still warm. You then pour it into a ici siphon gun, and leave it to cool. Once cooled, charge the siphon gun with 2 carbon dioxide cannisters and refrigerate for a few hours. For the Amarula ice cream I used a slightly less traditional recipe that calls for fat free milk powder to bump up the protein content. This assists in the separation of fat globules (stops them from aggregating) and thus improves the structure built around the air bubbles in the ice cream. This way you get a higher over run (more air incorporated) in the ice cream. It also uses some monosaccharide sugars (glucose, fructose etc. instead of sucrose which is a disaccharides) to lower the freezing point of the ice cream.

The contrast in textures of the dessert was very good. The light foam and the crispy hazelnut struesel. There is also some contrast in temperature between the warm malva pudding and the cold ice cream.

I leave you with some pictures of the Tokara dishes we had, just to make you drool a bit…

Click to enlarge;-)

White Chocolate Nougat with cranberries, macadamia nuts and lemon zest

Making nougat is really not that complicated, and creativity has no limit. All you need to do is measure accurately, work accurately and be organised.

• 300g Caster Sugar
• 120g Water
• 330g Glucose Syrup
• 30g Egg Whites
• 30g Glucose Syrup
• 60g Milk Powder
• 20g Icing Sugar

• 200g Roasted Macadamia Nuts
• Zest of one lemon
• 200g dried cranberries
• Rice Paper Sheets

160g Couverture White Chocolate (Couverture means the chocolate has a higher cocoa butter content than normal. Usually a minimum of 36% of the chocolate per weight)

Make sure all your ingredients have been weighed off before you start. Melt the couverture in a bowl set on top of a saucepan of simmering water. Once it has melted set aside.

Place the first glucose (330g), water and sugar to 125C (I use a digital thermometer to measure this as they are cheaper and more accurate than traditional sugar thermometers). When the sugar syrup reaches 118C start whisking the egg whites and second glucose(30g) at high speed. As soon as the syrup reaches 125C pour it into the whisking egg whites in a thin stream. Add the melted couverture, and then the milk powder and icing sugar.

Sugar Syrup

The nougat will now start to set, so work quickly. Add The macadamia nuts, lemon zest and cranberries. Spread on a rice paper sheet. Flatten the top as much as possible. Place another sheet of rice paper on top. Let stand at room temperature for an hour or two. Cut into portions. Enjoy.

Grilled Angelfish, Sweet Corn Velouté with asparagus, roasted hazelnut and rocket salad.

For the Sweet Corn Velouté:

• 35g butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• corn kernels, frozen or fresh
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• handful of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 500ml milk

Heat the butter and olive oil in a saucepan. Add the thyme leaves and shortly after the corn kernels. Heat until the kernels are cooked. Add the vegetable stock and milk. Bring to the boil and add the salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Pulverize until smooth and pass trough a sieve to get rid of the skins. Pour back into a saucepan and heat to 75C. Keep the temperature at 75C until ready to serve. Just before serving, blitz the velouté with a stick blender or in a smoothie maker/ blender, incorporating as much air as possible. Velouté should be very creamy and frothy.

For the Asparagus, Roasted Hazelnut and Rocket salad:

• 50 g roasted hazelnuts
• handful of rocket leaves
• bunch of asparagus
• lemon juice
• olive oil

Roughly chop the roasted hazelnuts. Cut the asparagus into three (Tips, stem in half, and discard the woody ends). Steam the asparagus until just cooked but still crispy (About 2 – 3 minutes, depending on thickness of the asparagus). Combine the hazelnuts, rocket and asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Place in the middle of the plate.

For the Grilled Angelfish:

• One Angelfish fillet per person
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• fresh thyme
• sea salt

Heat the oven grill. Heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan. Finely chop the fresh thyme and rub the Angelfish fillets with it. Place the fillets in the frying pan until it starts to become slightly brown underneath. Transfer the Angelfish to the oven until it is just cooked. Season with salt. Please do not overcook Angelfish as it becomes really dry… like eating cardboard. Not very appealing. Place the Angelfish on the salad and spoon the velouté around it.

A dessert that never fails to impress is chocolate fondant. There are countless flavour pairings to complement the chocolate fondant. Pistachio ice cream has proved to be really popular. This time I wanted to take it up a notch: Chocolate fondant, Salted butter caramel ice cream, pear foam, hazelnut streusel and coffee caramel.

Chocolate Fondant

Chocolate Fondant:

• 150g Dark chocolate
• 150g Butter
• 60g Castor sugar
• 3 Egg yolks
• 15ml espresso coffee
• 3 Eggs
• 60g Flour

Melt the chocolate in a bowl set on top of a saucepan of simmering water. Mix in the softened butter until smooth. Whisk the egg yolks, eggs, castor sugar and coffee until thick. Fold this into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour and pour into 6 dariole moulds. Chill in the fridge for an hour. Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 200°C (the centre should still be soft). The time depends on your oven, altitude and sugar content of the chocolate you use. Do a test first. Make sure you have 2 extra fondants. Place one in the oven for 12 minutes. If it is over baked, decrease the time. If the sides of the fondant breaks when you turn them out, increase by a minute or two. This takes some experimenting to get right. Turn the fondants out gently on top of the hazelnut streusel.

Hazelnut Streusel:

• 50g Butter
• 50g Castor Sugar
• 50g Cake Flour
• 50g Hazelnuts, roasted in a 180C oven for 12-15 minutes

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulverise until a fine dough forms. Spead this out on a lined and greased baking sheet or on a Silpat. Bake at 180C for 15minutes until golden brown. When it has cooled, pulverise again until it resembles a sand like texture. Place this in a thin strip on the plate.

Coffee Caramel

• 250g Cream
• 250g Sugar
• 25g Honey
• 100g Glucose
• 5g Freeze Dried Coffee
• 13g butter

Boil all the ingredients except the butter together until it reaches 118C. Take off the heat and add the butter. Cool. Do some plate decoration. Be creative.

Pear Foam

• 8 Medium sized Pears, pealed and cored
• Stock Syrup (50% sugar and 50% water, by weight, brought to the boil and cooled)
• 5 sheets Gelatine, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes
• Siphon gun and 2 carbon dioxide bombs

In a food processor, pulverise the pears until smooth. With the food processor running slowly add the stock syrup until the mixture becomes a thick fluid similar to a runny custard. Add a pinch of citric acid to prevent browning.

Weigh 500 grams of this mixture in a saucepan. Heat to 65C and  add the gelatine. Whisk until dissolved. Strain the mixture trough a sieve. Pour into a siphon gun and charge with carbon dioxide bombs. Chill in a refrigerator for a few hours. Just before serving, dispense some foam in a bowl and scoop a bit on top of the fondant.

Salted butter caramel ice cream (David Lebovitz)

• 500g whole milk, divided 250g and 250g
• 300 gr sugar
• 60 gr salted butter
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 250 g heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the ice cream, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl about a third full with ice cubes and adding a bit of water so they’re floating. Nest a smaller metal bowl (at least 2 litres) over the ice, pour 250g of the milk into the inner bowl, and rest a mesh strainer on top of it.

Spread 300 g sugar in the saucepan in an even layer. Cook over moderate heat, until caramelized.

Once caramelized, remove from heat and stir in the butter and salt, until butter is melted, then gradually whisk in the cream, stirring as you go.

The caramel may harden, but return it to the heat and continue to stir over low heat until any hard caramel is melted. Stir in 250g of the milk.

Whisk the yolks in a small bowl and gradually pour some of the warm caramel mixture over the yolks, stirring constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook the custard, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 78C.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the milk set over the ice bath, add the vanilla, then stir frequently until the mixture is cooled down. Refrigerate at least 8 hours for the fat to recrystallise.

Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker. Transfer to a freezer for the ice cream to firm up.

Make small scoops or quinnels and place on the hazelnut streusel.

A little teaser:)

Tokara Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert