Cooking with Siba – Episode 9

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Gift

This week Siba shows Gift how to perfect a good ‘Spag Bol’ old school style, ending off with divine, sticky and hearty Chocolate Brownies.

Idols finalist Gift Gwe likes a traditional Greek salad and a not-so-traditional spaghetti bolognaise.

Fruit and veg kebabs
Gift hardly cooks and the most he does when cooking is scrambled eggs. He would like learn how to entertain friends for his when hosting them. Siba’s twist: we made a fruit and veg kebabs – same ingredients as you would for a salad but without the leaves in just skewer on a stick – easy and different.

Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 5 min
Serves: 6

You will need:
Salad skewers
1 pineapple, peeled and cubed
½ cucumber, thickly sliced
125 ml (½ cup) cherry tomatoes, washed
250 ml (1 cup) strawberries, halved
60 ml (¼ cup) black olives, pits removed
100 g goat’s cheese balls
Sauce
60 ml (4 tbsp) pineapple juice
2 fresh granadillas pulps or 115g (1 tin) granadilla pulp
10 ml (2 tsp) red wine vinegar or granadilla juice
45 ml (3 tbsp) castor sugar
Mint leaves to garnish with

Method
1. Kebabs: skewer the fruit and veg on kebab sticks in whatever variation you would like.
2. Sauce: combine all the sauce ingredients together in a saucepan and boil until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened, stirring continuously.
3. Serve the skewers on a platter and drizzle with the sauce. Scatter with mint leaves

Tip
Use can use a mix of whatever ingredients you like. For instance, use substitutes the soft goat’s cheese ball with blocks of Mozzarella cheese.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 35 min
Serves: 4-6

You will need:
Pasta
250 g (½ packet) spaghetti
Water
Pinch of salt
Bolognaise sauce
500 g lean beef mince
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
30 ml (3 tbsp) grated parmesan cheese
5 ml (1 tsp) thyme, chopped
Salt
15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
Sauce
200 g streaky bacon, finely sliced
2 carrots, finely chopped
15 ml (1 tbsp) tomato paste
250 ml (1 cup) tomato puree
250 ml (1 cup) beef or chicken stock
Top with
Parmesan cheese shavings

Method
1. Pasta: Cook the spaghetti in boing water with a pinch of salt in a large saucepan for about 10 minutes. Check the package instructions for the exact time. Set aside until sauce is done.
2. Mince balls: Mix a quarter of the mince with a quarter of the onion, grated cheese with salt and theme. Mix together and shape into small balls. Heat the oil and the mince balls until browned and set aside.
3. Sauce: In the same pan add fry the bacon, add the rest of the mince in batches stirring in continuously with the carrots, onion, garlic and stir until.
4. Stir in the tomato paste followed by puree and the stock and reduce the heat to simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the cooked mince balls with the rest of the thyme and stir. Serve with the cooked spaghetti with Parmesan cheese shavings

Tips
• Don’t add too much stock to the mixture or you’ll end up with a watery, weak tasting sauce
• This is a great filling meal. If you don’t have parmesan cheese then use matured Cheddar cheese.

Double chocolate brownies
This is a once in a life time treat as it is very rich but really easy to make and worth a treat.

Preparation time: 10 min
Baking time: 5 min
Makes: about 24 squares.

You will need
250 g (2 ½ slabs) dark chocolate
240 g butter
375 ml (1½ cups) cake flour
125 ml (½ cup) self-rising flour
3 eggs
375 ml (1½ cups) castor sugar
375 ml (1½ cup) white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180º C and lightly grease and line with baking paper a 23 cm square cake tin. Place the butter and dark chocolate in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth – this is called the double boiler.
2. Sift the flours together into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, beat together the eggs and add the sugar a little at a time until light and thick.  Fold the sifted flours to the egg mixture and add the melted chocolate mixture.
3. Stir in the chopped white chocolate – be careful not to over stir or totally dissolve the white chocolate in the mixture.
4. Pour into the prepared baking tin and bake for 30 minutes or until set. Allow to cool, then cut into slices and serve, dusted with icing sugar if you like.

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