Southern Flavours in the Western Cape

Summer Lunch

The big clean-up of the vegetable garden has started. On Saturday we cleaned four beds of underperforming vegetables and harvested those that were overdue for harvesting. After filling compost bins with leaves and cuttings, I took a Bakkie-load of garden refuse to the municipal dump.

Baby Beetroot

Keith harvested the carrots and now we have to think of creative ways of preserving them. I could harvest the first batch of baby beetroot for lunch.  The Mexican black beans were ready for harvesting and it was my first experience of harvesting dried beans. I satisfied my curiosity by tasting and inspecting the fresh beans earlier before they dried. The beans are an amazing purple colour in the pod and turn black as they dry on the stalk.

Oven Roasted Lamb and Mexican Black Bean Stew

I decided to make a Mexican black bean and oven roasted lamb stew with corn bread. Our friend Susan introduced us to corn bread and the way she spoke of the black beans made me curious enough to try them.

On a hot Sunday we could enjoy lunch in the shade of the big oak on the lawn.  We refreshed our palates with mint and cucumber water and enjoyed the black bean stew with traditional Southern (USA) cornbread and Weltevrede Malbec. Desert was the simply delicious chilled Hanepoot grapes that burns ones throat with their sweetness. 

Organic Hanepoot from the garden

For my first try at making corn bread I went looking for a traditional Southern corn bread recipe. I believe cooking is like dancing. You first have to master the classic steps before you can improvise and make the dance your own. Trying to find a traditional corn bread recipe was basically impossible. There are several recipes claiming to be traditional but which all had different ingredients. So I looked at several recipes and used the core ingredients I could find most commonly in most of them and omitted the ingredients that were listed as optional.

Cornbread

I decided to make the corn bread in a cast iron skillet; but in my case, a cast iron dutch oven or black pot without the lid. My first attempt at Southern food was quite good, even if I have to say so myself. But I will definitely have to practice more before I serve it to our American friends.

In the American Home Cookbook by an American Lady, New York: 1854 the following corn bread recipe is provided:

“1 quart of milk, 4 eggs, tablespoon of sugar, 1 of butter, tea-spoonful of salt, some nutmeg, a large tea-spoonful of soda, and 2 of cream of tartar; stir in the meal until it makes a thick batter and bake in buttered tins in a quick oven.”

I decided not to try this one and rather use one with clearer quantities for the ingredients. I trust my version of a corn bread was fairly traditional. It was fun to explore the history of a dish that is clearly American vernacular.

Thanks to our American friends we have been exposed to new flavours and dishes. On a hot summers day we could enjoy Southern flavours in the Western Cape.