Tuesday, June 29, 2010

South Africa: Cape Town and Cape Malay Food

Hello Foodies!

I have always said that all cuisines are fusion cuisines. Even the most classical of cooking can have its roots traced to the influences from other groups: French and Chinese techniques and spice in Vietnamese cuisine, or North African accents in the food of Southern Italy. In France alone you see the Germans in Alsace and the Italians in Provence. Much like language, food is a living, breathing and ever-evolving being that picks up the accents of the people doing both the cooking and the eating.


So when we went to South Africa this spring, I was curious to see what kinds of food and influences were cooking there, which, like the United States, is home to many cultures. The trip was a five-day whirlwind - a reconnaissance overview for Lisa, Melissa, and I to develop a Tour de Forks trip that I will be leading there in the Fall of 2010. Our time was spent in Cape Town and touring the adjacent wine country where we found many fine dining meals of world cuisine using local South African ingredients. But Cape Malay cuisine was new to me, and it provided some of the most exciting and tastiest food of the entire trip.


The Cape Malay community is an ethnic group of descendants from Indonesian and Malaysian slaves who were brought over by the Dutch East India Company to work the restocking station on the spice route between Europe and Asia. In Cape Town there is a hillside community called Bo Kaap where many Cape Malays live. The neighborhood is full of brightly colored buildings on cobblestone streets, fortunately left intact throughout the Apartheid's Group Areas Act, as it was already a segregated area where whites did not live. It was in Bo Kaap, we experienced our first taste of Cape Malay cuisine at Noon Gun Cape Malay Restaurant, a family owned restaurant with a stunning view of the Cape Town Harbour. Here we were treated to fiery little fritters, "chili bites", made with chickpeas, chilis and spinach; a traditional wedding dish made with lamb and tamarind; and finally "koeksisters", quenelle shaped donuts fragrant with cardamom, made tender by sugar syrup and topped with coconut, a common dessert for South Africans. And this was just a taste - our amuse bouches before another full lunch at a fancier spot. But even after the delicious second lunch with fantastic South African wines, I was left wanting more of that full-flavored, spicy cuisine.


Our second encounter with Cape Malay cuisine came from Cass Abrahams, dubbed "the mother of Cape Malay cuisine." Cass, like Julia Child with French cuisine, has been the first to write down and record the recipes, and has through her restaurant and various media appearances popularized the cuisine, bringing it into the mainstream of South African culture.


We were treated to a personal cooking demonstration where she prepared a chicken curry, and rack of lamb with "denningvleis" sauce, the lamb with tamarind, but here it was more nuanced and elegant in preparation than the lamb in Bo Kaap, equally but differently delicious. Again, we were only meant to sample her cooking as we had reservations at another restaurant afterwards.


By the 4th day, there was still one traditional Cape Malay dish that had eluded us, bobotie. A casserole of ground lamb and spices with a custard on top that many refer to as the national dish of South Africa. I was beginning to worry that we wouldn't have time to find a full meal of Cape Malay cuisine involving bobotie and we would leave dreaming of the few small tastes we had had, still desiring more. We had eaten so many amazing meals with incredible wine and South Africa's most famous chefs but they didn't serve bobotie in these fine dining establishments. I had high hopes for the last reservation of the trip as it supposedly showcased South African cuisine, perhaps there I would get the elusive dish.


But after a call to the restaurant, we discovered there was no bobotie to be had on the menu, and I thought I would have to wait till 2010 to return and find the bobotie. But by a bizarre turn of events, there was a mix-up with our reservation and the chef who was supposed to meet us wasn't going to be there, so we wound up next door at a tiny little restaurant serving home cooking. Finally! Bobotie! And it did not disappoint, the casserole came to the table, browned
and bubbling in spots like a moussaka. Then, the first bite: rich and creamy from the top, redolent of spices in the Malaysian food I grew up with, yet not as spicy (the heat tamed by years of Dutch rule?), and the richness was offset by the sweetness of an occasional raisin in the dish. As I ate I thought, here it is, a fusion cuisine, like much of my own cooking - western and Asian at the same time. Years of history and many people were in that dish, it tasted just like the history of South Africa.


Cheers!

Anita Lo

Saturday, June 26, 2010

The Leaning Tower of Penne

Hello Foodies,

The Forks can never stay from Italy for too long and I am just back from a lovely, lovely off-the-beaten-path trip to Tuscany. I was pleased to be hosted by the Pisa Tourist office who came to us to say “Come see, there is more to this province than the Leaning Tower.” (Which by the way, is quite a sight.) We visited the charming town of San Miniato – in the heart of the region – and famous for white truffles found it the hills. San Miniatans celebrate their prized bounty in a festival held the last three weekends in November. Stalls dispense truffled salami and pecorino and cafes serve up truffled pasta and risotto. And for dessert? The area produces a divine dessert wine, Vin Santo.

Our itinerary included a pilgrimage to Martelli Pasta in the tiny medieval hamlet of Lari (about18 miles from Pisa). The Martelli family has been producing their exquisite pasta for generations – since 1926. It is “only family” and they continue to employ artisanal methods including longer kneading and bronze dies. The over 50 hours of drying time happens on the top floor of their little factory – which sits just below a 12th century castle – and offers spectacular vistas of Tuscan hills and valleys. Bellissima. Click here to visit their website.

Lest you think truffle and pasta were all we had on our mind, we sourced some unique properties for your next Tuscan adventure: little hideaway hotels, agritourismi and old country villas transformed into idyllic resorts.

And on to Florence. Who can resist? We worked in one fabulous day there (just an hour’s train ride from Pisa) and lunched at the Trattoria Toscana Gozzi Sergio. Tucked away in the midst of the crazy-busy Piazza San Lorenzo, Da Sergio, as it’s known to its regulars, was a 17th Century wine bar and became a trattoria a hundred years later. The Gozzi family has operated it for generations. Vegetable soup, pastas, tripe, Florentine steak…wonderful fish...platters of white Tuscan beans are all on the menu, which is handwritten daily (dishes are crossed out when they are gone.) Frugal foodies take note: The bill for an utterly delicious 2 course lunch for four, including a carafe of the house red wine, some “fizzy water” and ending with a glass of rich, sweet Vin Santo served with a pile of the traditional Cantucci biscotti for dipping, was just under 100€.

You can’t beat that with, well, one of those leather belts that line the flea market stalls outside its door. Piazza San Lorenzo, 8r, Florence, 50123

Are you ready for a Tuscan adventure? Contact us to plan a special itinerary with lots of insider experiences.

Ciao,


Connie


Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Talking Turkey!

Hello Foodies,

I'm just back from Turkey and ready to sing the praises of this beguiling county and, of course its exquisite cuisine. My fellow forks, having made their own foodie pilgrimages there, are equally eager to begin the creation of our brand of uncommon epicurean adventures – Turkish style. And there is no destination more worthy of an exploration of the entwining of food, history, and culture.

Where to begin? Our muse and mentor, Turkey’s gourmet guru (guru-ess?) – Engin Akin – whose knowledge and passion for her native cuisine is awe-inspiring and contagious. Food & Wine calls her Turkey’s Julia Child – high praise indeed, and well deserved. We learned so much from Engin … how the cuisine evolved from Central Asia’s simple ingredients, followed by the fusion with other food cultures; the impact of religion, from the Sephardic Jews and Islam; and then, gloriously defined over the 600 year reign of the Ottoman Empire. And hey, she is some cook. It is no surprise that the cooking school program she created is truly special. We are pleased and excited to represent it.

Engin converted her family home, in the Aegean region’s tiny village of Ula, to a simple yet elegant B&B, called Nabiye Konak. It is the centerpiece of a lovely little walled compound which includes a separate sprawling kitchen. Personally designed by Engin, it beautifully melds old and new. Everything has been carefully chosen from the antique Turkish wok and the Russian samovar to the high-tech food processors that sit on the marble counters next to artisanal wooden spoons. Much of the produce is supplied by its own garden, supplemented by the bounty of the village market and its shops. Foodies lucky enough to participate can learn from Engin – and a coterie of village women – the art-and-science of Turkish cookery.

We chopped onions and garlic, grated eggplant, and tomatoes, stuffed swiss chard, and boreks,and ladled oodles of thick rich yogurt in to all sorts of mouthwatering concoctions. And we ate, and oohed and ah'ed – and ate some more.

In between times, we explored the village, returning to lounge in the sunny garden and drink our chai from the traditional tulip shaped glasses – and we felt, well… so Turkish.

Sound wonderful? It would surely be an integral part of any Turkish travels, and would fit nicely at either the beginning – as a loving introduction to the food, or at the end – the capstone of your adventure. We’ll have lots more information on Nabiye Konak and culinary explorations of exciting Istanbul and beyond. But we are ready now to begin planning your bespoke Turkish adventure….contact us through info@tourdeforks.com or leave a comment.

Enjoy,

Connie