Come Dine With Me South Africa 9: Episode 9 recipes

Written by TVSA Team from the blog BBC Lifestyle on 19 Jan 2024
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We were in Brackenfell, Cape Town for the ninth episode of Come Dine With Me SA last week, with one host who was touched by magic and another who wasn't.

Magician and smut poet John knew what he was doing with his magic abilities and meals, pulling out tricks with each serving.

It was a different story for strange hairdresser Stephanie who confessed that she can't pull off magic at her salon when people want to look like Pamela Anderson. Fair enough. Could you make someone look like this?...

John and Stephanie made up a fun foursome with former schmodel Johnathan and photographer and kindess junkie Melissa, who wanted everyone to be copacetic.

None of them could compete with John's magic though and he revealed his hand in the score card:

These were everyone's recipes:

Stephanie Heaney

Pics of each of Stephanie's dishes, followed by her recipes all in one:

Oven Baked, Fully Loaded Mushrooms

Pan Fried Salmon

Citrus Splash Fridge Tart

Stephanie's recipes:

Johnathan Dednam

Pics of each of Jonathon's dishes, followed by his recipes all in one:

Ravioli Di Funghi with Sage Browned Butter

Mumbai in Minutes with Homemade Roti

Boujee Lemon-Posset with Crumble & Jelly

Johnathan's recipes:

John O'Toole

NAME OF DISH	"Twilight Serenade" Roasted Garlic and Cream Cheese Crostini with a baby spinach salad
MENU PREP SEQUENCE (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd)	Starter
RECIPE SERVES (no of people)	4
PREPERATION TIME	30 mins
INGREDIENTS	Quantity & unit	Ingredient
	1	French loaf
	250ml	Cream cheese or cottage cheese
	1	Head of Garlick
	1 tub	Cherry tomatoes
	1 sprig	Fresh Rosemary
	500ml	Olive oil
	100ml	Balsamic vinegar
	1	Red onion
	500ml	White vinegar
	250g	Mixed seeds – sunflower, pumpkin
	2 tsp	Basil Pesto
	1 head	Baby spinach
	100g	Hard Italian cheese
	To taste	Salt
	To taste	Black Pepper
METHOD	1. Cook the Garlick, Rosemary and cherry tomatoes with 400ml olive oil in a pot until the Garlick turns a light brown colour. Let the contents cool down to room temperature.
	2. Toast the mixed seeds in a pan until they start turning a brown colour. (Don’t toast them further than that) Let them cool down to room temperature.
	3. Make the salad dressing mixing 100ml olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pesto together. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
	4. Bring the white vinegar to a boil in a pot.
	5. Cut the red onion into fine slivers and put them into a container that is heat safe with a lid.
	6. Pour the boiling vinegar onto the red onions, making sure the onions are submerged. Close the container and let cool down to room temperature.
	7. Crush the cooked (room temp) Garlick cloves into a rough paste using a fork.
	8. Mix the Garlick and cream cheese or cottage cheese. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
	9. Cut the baby spinach into smaller pieces and mix with the dressing, seeds, a few pickled red onion slivers and some grated hard Italian cheese.
	10. Once you are almost ready to serve, cut the French loaf into thin slices and pan fry (toast) them in some of the Garlick infused Olive oil until golden brown.
	11. Plate up as follows: Place 1 piece of toast per plate. Top with a big dollop of cream cheese mixture. Garnish with a few slivers of the pickled red onion. Each plate gets some of the salad next to the crostini, topped with a few cooked cherry tomatoes. Drizzle some of the Garlick infused olive oil onto the plate.
NOTES	Don’t overcook the Garlick and cherry tomatoes. Don’t let the seeds burn. Ensure the salad you plate up is coated in the dressing and not dripping, else your crostini will be vinegary.

NAME OF DISH	"Heartwarming Embrace" Oxtail and Focaccia
MENU PREP SEQUENCE (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd)	Main
RECIPE SERVES (no of people)	4
PREPERATION TIME	2 hour 30 mins
INGREDIENTS	Quantity & unit	Ingredient
	2	Whole oxtails
	2	white onions
	2	Garlick cloves
	250ml	Olive oil
	15ml	Worchester sauce spice (Barbecue spice can be substituted)
	½ tsp	Mild curry powder
	25ml	Balsamic vinegar
	1 bunch	Fresh Coriander
	1 packet	Peeled baby potatoes
	1 packet	peeled baby carrots
	40g	Maizina (thickener)
	30g	Sugar
	To taste	Salt & black pepper
	3 cups	White flour
	2 cups	Luke warm water
	1 packet	Bread yeast
	25g	Mixed dried herbs
METHOD	1. Fry the oxtail pieces in a little of the olive oil in a big enough pressure cooker until all sides of every piece are golden brown.
	2. After some frying, a “fond” will develop on the bottom of the pot. It’s the brown stuff coating the bottom of the pot. Don’t let that burn or get too dark. It’s good practise to deglaze the pot with some water and continue frying until the fond looks like it will start burning. Repeat the deglazing process.
	3. Cut the white onions into small pieces.
	4. Remove the oxtail from the pot and fry the white onion pieces until they start to become a brown colour, deglazing as before.
	5. Add the oxtail back to the pot.
	6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
	7. Add Worchester spice, 10 ml mixed herbs, finely chopped Garlick, sugar and curry to the pot.
	8. Cover the contents with water.
	9. Pressure cook on high for 30 mins.
	10. Open the pot carefully and test the oxtail with a fork for tenderness. It needs to start turning tender, but not falling off the bone tender. If it’s still tough, close the pot and cook for another 10 minutes on high pressure.
	11. If there’s a lot of oil floating on top of the oxtail, carefully remove it with a ladle.
	12. Once the oxtail is just about to become tender, add the potatoes and carrots.
	13. Cook using high pressure for 10 minutes.
	14. Open the pot carefully and add the balsamic vinegar and coriander to taste.
	15. Test your seasoning at this point and adjust.
	16. Thicken the gravy with the thickener, dissolved into some water, as thick as you want it.
	The Focaccia:
	Mix the flour, salt to taste, yeast and sugar together.
	Start adding lukewarm water, a little bit at a time.
	Mix until you get a soft, sticky dough. If you accidentally added too much water, just add a little more flour and mix until you reach the desired consistency.
	Cover the mixing bowl with a damp cloth and leave to rise for 1 hour.
	After 1 hour, wet your hands and fold the dough onto itself in the bowl a few times.
	Repeat this rising and folding process 2 to 3 times.
	After the third folding process, take the dough out of the bowl and place it onto an oven baking tray, lined with baking paper.
	Flatten the dough with your hands into your desired shape of +- 4-5 cm high.
	Use your fingers to poke holes into the dough. Pour some of the olive oil over the dough to make this easier. Don’t hold back on the olive oil.
	Loosely sprinkle some mixed herbs, salt and pepper over the dough. Drizzle more olive oil over the dough.
	Bake in a preheated oven at 200 Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
	You can test whether the bread is fully cooked by sticking a sharp knife blade into the thickest part of the bread. It should come out dry and clean.
	Remove from the oven, let the bread rest and cool down before serving.
	Plating: Serve the oxtail, vegetables and gravy in a deep dish with the Focaccia cut into pieces on the side to mop up the gravy.
NOTES	Don’t be scared of fat on the oxtail. Fat is flavour. If you don’t like the fat, trim as much as you like to taste. Don’t fry too many oxtail pieces at any one time. Ensure some space between each piece. The fond is the key to this dish. Don’t burn it or skip that step. Not everyone likes coriander, so add to taste. Try not to overcook the vegetables. They need to hold their shape when you plate up, whilst still being tender. The focaccia’s dough shouldn’t be too dense or too sloppy. It should be wet to the touch but foldable. Use lukewarm water to create the dough. That will speed up the rise of the dough. Place the bowl in a warm place e.g. an oven set on it’s lowest temperature. Leaving the dough in the fridge overnight will result in a more flavourful focaccia.

NAME OF DISH	"Sweet Sunset" Toffee Dumpling Pudding with Custard
MENU PREP SEQUENCE (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd)	Dessert
RECIPE SERVES (no of people)	4
PREPERATION TIME	1 hour 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS	Quantity & unit	Ingredient
	2 cups	Cake flour
	1 tsp	Ginger powder or fresh ginger
	2 cups	White sugar
	4 tbsp	Apricot jam or golden syrup
	2 tbsp	Butter or margarine
	2 tsp	Baking Soda
	1 pinch	Salt
	6 cups	Water
METHOD	Mix 6 cups water & 1.5 cups of sugar in a deep pot and bring to a boil.
	Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and ginger together.
	Add half cup sugar to flour mixture and mix well.
	Add jam and butter to 1 cup boiling water, melt and mix well. Let this cool a little.
	Mix the jam and butter water and flour ingredients forming a sloppy dough.
	Once syrup starts boiling, turn the power of the stove to medium to low, then ladle dollops of the dough into the syrup.
	Cook with the lid on for 1 hour.
	Serve with custard.
NOTES	When ladling the dough into the syrup, do not ladle dollops on top of each other. Monitor constantly so the dough doesn’t burn. DO NOT open the lid for at least 40 minutes. This will result in lighter dumplings.