Woolworths_Taste_July_2017

EDITOR'S LETTER
MY TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
10
For me, food and memory are always
entwined, and sometimes I’ll find
myself making a dish at home with a
simple ingredient that sparks a happy
recollection, which is what happened last
night while cooking dinner. After
picking up a bag of the season’s first
parsnips, I decided to make a pot of
creamy parsnip mash using lashings
of butter and cream and a sprinkling of
freshly ground nutmeg. It’s so simple and
always top of my winter comfort-food list
south in my old ’hood in Jozi for the
“Pass the peri-peri” food and Portuguese
community story on page 80. Back in
the day at Forest High in Forest Hill,
I used to choose my friends based on
the quality of the chorizo they ate for
lunch after school – we’d take turns
going to each other’s houses and
I absolutely loved eating fried chorizo
with scrambled egg on the side. I could
never have guessed that, all these years
later, the same shop where their parents
stocked up – Rio Douro Fisheries –
would still be going strong!
Walking into Bembom on this trip
was also a revelation. Just one look at
their legendary pastéis de nata – egg
custard nestled in crispy pastry – and
I knew I had to order a box to cradle
on my lap on the flight back to Cape
Town. I also couldn’t resist stuffing
a bag of real-deal Portuguese rolls into
my hand luggage, so that I could relive
my down-south memories with my
family. That night I made a big pot of
cavolo nero and told my husband and
sons that, while kale might be trendy
now, it was simple playground fare
when I grew up – I used to swap my
cheese-and-tomato sarmies for the
other incredible game-changers in the
local restaurant biz (page 86).
While I’m feeling nostalgic about
the past this month, I’m also feeling
sentimental about the future following
the birth of Kate’s baby girl, Holly. Kate
will be at home spending time with her
daughter for the next few months and,
on behalf of the TASTE team, I’d like
to congratulate her and the famous Salad
Dodger. Wishing you so much happiness
(and boa comida, always!)
Follow me
on Instagram
@donnellyabi
“IF I WASN’T EATING CHORIZO AT
SOMEONE’S HOUSE, I WAS PLAYING PAC-MAN
AT THE CORNER CAFÉ WHILE WAITING FOR
A PERI-PERI PREGO ROLL”
because it brings back fond childhood
memories of my gran, who would add
parsnips to all sorts of mouthwatering
stews she conjured up in her pressure
cooker. I absolutely loved them for their
sweet robustness, but the same definitely
didn’t apply to my brother, who used to
hunt them down between the potatoes
and turnips and place them in a neat
circle around his plate.
As you can tell, I get really sentimental
about the past, and working on this
issue of TASTE gave me plenty of time
to do just that when I spent time down
garlicky-oniony kale my friends brought
in their lunchboxes (once a foodie,
always a foodie!). And no trip down my
memory lane would be complete without
revisiting one of my first (and very
special) fine-dining experiences, which
took place at The Three Ships upstairs
in the Carlton Centre when I was 16. It
was the first time I ate duck l’orange and,
oh, the novelty of seeing a Caesar salad
tossed right in front of me! It will always
be an iconic restaurant to those who were
lucky enough to dine there, which is why
we’ve paid tribute to it along with some
ABI’S PERI-PERI SAUCE
When I wasn’t eating chorizo at
someone’s house, I was playing Pac-
Man at the corner café while waiting
for a peri-peri prego roll. This is my best
version of that sauce: slightly sweet, sour
and a touch salty. Eat it with chicken
livers or with minute steaks packed into
the softest Portuguese rolls you can find.
Blend 1 cup oil, 6 chopped garlic
cloves, the juice of 2 lemons, 12
chopped red chillies (bird’s-eye are
best), 2 T smoked paprika,1 t salt,
¼ cup red wine vinegar, 1 roast onion
and 2 roast red peppers until smooth.
PORTRAIT JAN RAS FOOD PHOTOGRAPH GALLO IMAGES/GETTYIMAGES.COM