December 2013 No. 2

Food@Home and the SA Blog Awards

Time flies and Food@Home is already nearly one month old! This week sees the close of voting for the SA Blog Awards, so go and have a look at their site and, if you have not already done so, please don’t forget to…

Vote for Food@Home by the 13th December 2013!


Featured Recipe ~ Smoked Chilli Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Slow cooked, smokey lamb shanks braised in a bottle of red wine with plenty of herbs and spices. Wonderful comfort food served on a bed of rice or with mashed potato. Even though it may be a typical winter dish, I love an excuse to eat meltingly tender, delicious lamb shanks at any time of the year! Read the recipe….

Featured Ingredient ~ Chillies
Chillies originated in Central and South America and belong to the Capsicum family as do sweet peppers. Today, India is the world’s largest producer of chillies. There are many different types, all with varying degrees of heat and, as a general rule of thumb, the smaller the chilli the hotter it is. Read more about this delightful ingredient here. Add a new dimension with a flavoursome kick to some of your best-loved dishes or try out the Smoked Chilli Lamb Shanks, my Asian-inspired Mince or my Spicy Chicken!

Kitchen Tips ~ Let’s go back to basics
This week I’m focusing on a delicious, Gluten-free Soda Bread. This bread has great taste and texture ~ perfect freshly baked, warm and lightly buttered. Very yummy! It takes minutes to make and is ready in under an hour. It’s a good basic recipe to which you can add a variety of ingredients such as golden sultanas, freshly chopped herbs, toasted sunflower seeds or some caraway seeds, depending on what takes your fancy. Best eaten on the day it’s made, this bread makes delicious toast the following morning and if there are any left-overs, whiz in the food processor to have breadcrumbs on hand when needed.

Interesting discussions on the food front ~ this week have a look at the article
“Gluten intolerance and GMOs” as well as What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?. These two articles are very interesting and I have provided quite a few links if you are interested in exploring these subjects further. Please share your thoughts and comments and do let me know if you there are any specific topics you’d like to discuss.