soup

using spinach grown on the farm by our landlord Phil, we are warming you up for starters with a lovely spinach soup. they started harvesting last week and have produced a crop for some top supermarkets which is of exceptional quality. Yum!

starter

our freshly baked bread will probably be something crusty to go with camembert and Huguenot cheeses from our friends at Dalewood. to add a more continental twist, Jason is marinating some olives that he’s getting in from Willowcreek in Robertson. they are absolutely delicious and a real treat with the cheese.

main

this is what all the excitement is about – Camilla is making her fabulous boeuf bourguignon in big Le Creuset pots. the dish takes hours to make, but it is well worth the effort, cooked with baby onions, mushrooms and some cabernet franc from the cellar next door. roughly smashed potatoes are the perfect accompaniment, along with a dish of roasted root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, turnips and betroots. the season is also perfect for broccoli, and if one of our suppliers has gorgeous stuff, then steamed broccoli will come out with the boeuf.

dessert

Jason’s been waiting for the right menu so he can do his crepes. as soon as he heard boeuf bourguinon, he put his hand up for orange crepes with a rich chocolate ice cream. as usual, we’ll be making our ice cream using the rich, locally produced 72% dark chocolate from Chocolate by Tomes. beat that for a lazy weekend lunch.

gorgeous blondes all over the lawn

we love having parties. it’s amazing to fill the restaurant with a bunch of people all having a great time – makes the place feel  so warm and real. one of the best parties we’ve ever had was Curt Lestrup’s 60th birthday celebration at the end of February this year. we haven’t hosted a big party in a while, and chatting about it with Camilla reminded me that I should blog about it before the end of the year.

Curt is the brother of Tomas Lestrup who is both a regular at the restaurant (with his wife Michaela), and a friend. He suggested the venue to his brother, whose lovely wife Elisabeth stepped in to direct matters while Michaela put all the fine points on the arrangements. basically what the day consisted of was 30-odd Swedish people from an extended family and group of friends descending on our picturesque lawn for a round of games, eating, laughing, chatting and relaxation.

anyone fancy a game of Jenga?

having rented transport to ensure their safety, the crowd arrived at lunchtime, all dressed up and looking like the cast of some high-end movie involving blonde people with interesting accents. I’ve never seen our lawn look so distinguished. we set up a table – groaning with drinks and glasses – under one of the trees, and everyone just floated over there and helped themselves. once all had tried their hand at a game of croquet, boulle, or the giant Jenga set that Michaela had organised, it was time to interrupt the revelries and herd them inside for lunch.

chatter was generally brisker near the drinks table

thanks to my trusty and very talented young assistant Sarah-Kate, there are great images of the day. she was hired to act as official photographer for the party, and documented the whole thing. it does help to have a scenic spot draped with gorgeous people when you are expected to produce top images of an event, but natural skill does play a big part.

what a joy a full, noisy dining room can be

lunch in the restaurant was a festive affair, and it was loud. when you have one unified party occupying the space – even though they were at 4 different 8-seater tables – conversation tends to flow around the room. instead of quiet, sometimes whispered conversation between neighbours, you get boisterous and happy chatter between tables. the room feels so amazing when it’s like this. platters came out of the kitchen quickly, and party Lentrup just tucked in and made merry. to make Curt’s birthday memorable, and with a little inside info from Tomas, we served whole roast fillet of beef with sauce bearnaise. with potatoes and seasonal veggies, it all went down like the proverbial homesick mole.

fillet of beef, bearnaise and seasonal vegetables get a party rocking

after lunch, as people began to drift outside again, there was much commentary on the amount of food we had served and claims from individuals that they would never eat again. be this as it may, a finger supper had been organised for later so that everyone could enjoy the afternoon and the coming African sunset without having to dash home for dinner. the post-lunch buzz was also fantastic as we got to have some great chats with some of the really incredible guests who had been gathered for this event.

a little after-lunch snooze anyone?

the table under the tree was replenished with wine, beer and jugs of cordial. those who had the energy tried their hands and lawn games as well, but mostly, the calls went up for blankets and cushions so some of the Northern Europeans could have a little snooze in the gentle afternoon sun. somewhere amid all of this getting settled and chilling in Africa, there were some speeches and a bit of singing to mark the happy occasion of the birthday boy’s 60th.

later,to the sound of satisfied murmurs and a few groans, we put out a finger super at around 6pm. despite the claims of over-eating from lunch, the first platters were demolished quickly and had to be replenished hastily. we put out a selection of locally sourced cold cuts, cheese and salads as well as some more of our freshly baked bread.

waiting for some more food perhaps?

a sneaky little bottle of Aquavit – spirit of choice for Scandinavians – also miraculously appeared with supper. my friend Roger Jorgensen, the distiller of fine spirits, had slipped me a bottle from an experimental cask when he heard we were hosting a party of Swedes. (the generosity of friends is another of the wonderful by-products of hosting big happy parties at The Table.) needless to say, the aquavit didn’t last very long either, by the time the replenished dinner platters were decimated, someone was disconsolately peering into the neck of the empty bottle.

getting everyone fed was also the prelude to their exodus. to the sound of happy goodbyes and loads of friendly kisses, party Lestrup began to board their mini-buses for the journey back to Cape Town. we all gathered to say and wave goodbye and as they headed for the gates, there was a lot of beaming going on among the crew. we really love having parties, and to host such a happy, successful on is just such a pleasure – it just adds so much to the already enjoyable task of running a restaurant. party Lestrup, if you’re reading this, come back any time, we loved having you to visit.

who can resist the allure of a rolling lawn?

get yourself a proper butcher today

my grandfather always used to say that you need to cultivate a good relationship with your butcher. of course I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about years ago, but it’s finally sunk in now. the old man was the scourge of local butchers, very exacting about what cuts he wanted and how things should be done. he even critiqued butcher’s paper and twine and the way in which various cuts were wrapped.

this tyranny resulted from his knowledge of the craft, drawn from a brief course he attended as a young merchant navy cadet before going t0 sea as a young man in the early 1930′s. another, more happy, upshot of this course is that he had an incredible understanding of meat and could carve any type or cut you cared to put before him to absolute perfection. this is a skill I have often wished to emulate in my own life, as it is a rare ability these days.

skill with the twine is paramount

that brings us neatly back to cultivating a relationship with a butcher. in our case this has been a vital link in running our  restaurant. certainly, his years of growing up on a self-sufficient farm have given Jason and undeniable ability with, and knowledge of, meat, but he is often just too busy to fiddle with preparation of fussy cuts. there are also certain skills which he never had call for and which we require a butcher to handle.

enter Wim van der Kooij. he’s a butcher – a proper one. just because someone works in a shop that has meat and sausages everywhere doesn’t make them a proper butcher. these days, because of the way meat is processed, it is very often delivered to the butcher shop’s back door in it’s composite pieces. a feed lot will deliver prepared cuts of fillet, sirloin, brisket and so on, saving the retailer the work. this means that a knowledge of selecting a carcass and breaking it down into it’s component parts and then using every part of the animal wisely and profitably, is no longer a prerequisite for making a living at the game.

Wim works with whole carcasses, and knows how to get the best out of every piece

this is where Wim stands out. we’d occasionally pop into his shop, Die Vleis Kombuis, in central Paarl for a chop or a sausage or a piece of dry wors, as it is directly across from our neighbourhood laundry. slowly it dawned on us that he seemed always at work cutting up this or cleaning that, and his place felt like a proper butchery like those from our childhoods. conversation started, and pretty soon we were getting him to help us source grass-fed beef and do the technical work of preparing trussed wing rib of sirloin for us.

Wim is a Dutch guy who married a local girl and settled in South Africa 12 years ago. his father owned a butchery in Holland, and Wim learned everything about being a butcher both from working in his father’s shop and from doing a diploma course to qualify as a butcher. hence when he set up shop locally, he started with the basics as he’s grown up doing. Instead of buying in bits, he selected and bought whole animals which he would break down in the shop into amazingly good looking things to display in his shopfront fridges. By using the whole animal and educating his customers in using the cheaper cuts, he kept his own skills sharp and kept a local butchery running as an authentic artisan business.

Wim's processing of the different cuts really helps us save time in the restaurant

such is his skill, that when we wanted to serve wing rib at the restaurant – basically the same cut that gives you rack of lamb – he was the man we went to to do the trimming. work like this is very time-consuming for a kitchen, so it has been incredible for us to have the skills of a good butcher close at hand. It saves time and effort that we can better spend inventing or cooking amazing meals for our customers.

dealing with Wim is not beneficial only because of the quality of meat and his technical treatment of it though. very often we source our meat from small suppliers like farmers, but having him to talk to about it is a real advantage. there’s also the benefit – in developing a good working relationship – of his offering us storage space in his cold room or simply the processing skills at his disposal to dress or process meat for presentation. Wim is also a good source of local knowledge, as he knows where we might go for organic ducks if the mood strikes us – he’s always quick with a new idea for the restaurant.

it has to be the right twine

so that oft-repeated mantra of my grandfather’s finally did sink in and I have finally cultivated a good relationship with a butcher. Lucky for Wim we don’t criticise his twine or the way he packages our meat, but then he’s a skilled butcher of the old breed, so there’s little need for us to even check on this. maybe this is a lesson to heed a few more of my grandfather’s admontions.

soup

digging around in his country cooking roots again, Jason has come up with his delicious mussel soup as a warming appetiser for the Mother’s Day menu. made with rope-grown mussels from the West Coast, this is a rich, creamy treat you don’t want to miss out on.

starter

up next is a little selection of baked chicken liver paté, our lovely babaganoush and a salad of baby leaves all served with a hearty, crusty bread fresh from the oven.

main

it’s time to get into the winter casseroles, and what better dish for the first of the season than a delicious, slow-cooked lamb casserole. this is definitely Camilla territory, and she is doing the casserole with wine, tomatoes, marjoram and garlic, using Karoo lamb sourced by our butcher Wim. to go with this, there’s her baked polenta and a selection of steamed baby marrows which are well in season and some beetroot. All of this has the makings of a wonderfully cosy, lazy lunch for the whole family, especially when you think of how toasty you will be inside with the fire going.

dessert

after a rich casserole like the one on the cards for this weekend, the kitchen crew want to offer something sumptuous but light for dessert. their candidate for the job is the wonderfully airy, yet indulgent ouefs a la niege. it’s a baked, soft meringue island in a little pool of creme anglaise. what a treat!

what a marvellous time for a romance

a few weeks ago Camilla’s brother Jason finally tied the knot with his beautiful fiancé Mariska. it was a beautiful affair with tables decked out on our lawns and bunting everywhere. De Meye was converted into a dreamy wonderland for the day, with guests wandering and chatting on the expansive lawns. the couple chose to say their vows on a remote little patch of road in amongst the vines, after Mariska made her appearance in a beautiful old Mercedes.

from the ceremony, after the tossing of handfuls of rose petals and much hilarity, guest were invited to enjoy an organic cordial while the signing of the register happened and the kitchen got geared up to feed them. true to his industrious nature, Jason had been preparing the feast for days in advance.

what's in store for hungry revellers

He had made terrines, pickles and bread for the starter, leaving a vital ingredient to his MC Hans-Terje Anonsen to bring with him from Norway. this vital ingredient was wild Norwegian salmon caught on HT’s river and smoked by hand on the property where Jason worked for HT as chef/manager for 3 seasons in Norway.

the perfect MC

HT also took the role of MC very much to heart, thoroughly entertaining guests while the kitchen was swinging into action. drinks were served on a “help-yourself” basis from tables under the trees, and as everyone relaxed into the day, we started carting out trays of starters to feed them. country paté, crunchy baguettes, rustic brown bread, pickles and unbelievable smoked salmon were just wolfed down by the merry throng. as the De Meye wines and Darling Brews started flowing, people started finding their seats, settling in for the dinner to come.

a delicious cordial to refresh the rose petal flingers

in the kitchen through all this, Camilla was busy roasting whole beef fillets and loins of pickled pork. there were potato pies to bake and a huge salad of local seasonal greens to put together. in a departure from our usual serving style of presenting platters to tables, the bridal couple had decided on serving dinner buffet-style. the restaurant, empty of patrons and tables, became a big refectory where people came in from the garden and helped themselves to a massive feast. as one party trundled off across the lawn to their places at the tables, so another bunch of gasping guests would walk in, to pile their plates a little too high and do the special dance which balances wine glass and dinner plate.

two rows of happy gobblers

once dinner was finished, speeches began. the happy couple was seated at the head of two long tables, looking out at their 65 guests. they were flanked by one of our beautiful oaks which had been decorated with miniature bottles filled with individual flowers – nice touch. it was deeply gratifying to hear the laughter and happiness rolling across the lawn as the sun sank. with sunset came the late autumn chill, so there was a quick mission to get Martin and Elton to set up braziers around the tables and get them blazing with vine wood cuttings. what atmosphere – and just the right mood to encourage people onto the dance floor. once the music got going we knew we were in for a long one, but that’s all part of the joy of the celebration.

speeches - what is a wedding without speeches

all of us at The Table wish the happy couple all the best for a beautiful, bright future together

with his background cooking in Ireland, Jason can never pass up an opportunity to cook a prawn. this week we’ve been offered excellent prawns by Gordon’s Bay Fisheries, so it looks like Jay has carte blanche. It’ll be our favourite tempura batter prawns served with wasabi mayonnaise a dash of Bloke cucumber pickle a delicate little salad of seasonal greens and some of our crusty bread.

main

for an autumn feast, there is nothing better than the rich deliciousness of pork belly. the pork is slow-roasted with fennel seeds so it is tender and succulent, but the crackling is rich and incredible. crunching through the crackling, you will need some lovely veggies to balance the richness of the meat, so we are thinking of braised red cabbage, baby fennel bulbs and whatever else we can root out of our suppliers’ gardens. balancing the crackling crunch, we are also doing hasselback potatoes – what a treat!

dessert

hurrah for gooseberries! they are properly in season at the moment and we have an amazing supply. in fact, look on the shelves for a gooseberry jam from next week on. for now though, they have to feature in a dessert, so its baked gooseberry cheesecake to follow the pork belly.

a magnificent beetroot tarte tatin will be served, in all it’s red glory, with a nice dollop of crème fraiche and some baby leaves. everyone knows that a truly great tarte tatin needs the perfect puff pastry, and we have ours made by a lovely lady called Carmen. she and Camilla know each other from when she used to work in the scullery at the confectionary company, Roses Handmade, where Camilla works as a product developer.

Main

a roast quail, de-boned and stuffed is a highlight of the menu. it will be served with gorgeous sweet potatoes and an aromatic ginger chive butter. we’re also going to feature the veggies of the day – a colourful seasonal selection of cabbage. depending on what Steve the Magic Man pulls up from his garden, it looks like we’ll have braised red cabbage, sautéed green cabbage and (hopefully), steamed baby bok choi.

Dessert

Camilla’s gran, known as Goko Julia, makes a wicked orange cake that she used to religiously serve at her Monday bridge night with the girls. we can all be grateful that Camilla has pirated the recipe off Goko, (still playing a good game of bridge at 88!), and we’re going to serve it with our homemade chocolate ice cream.

if you enjoyed lazing on the lawn after a meal at The Table, soaking up rays of sunshine, and thought that was the best way to enjoy an afternoon at the restaurant, there is much to be learnt. we’re getting our wood stove ready for chilly weather so we can all get cosy inside.

we’re thinking of baked polenta, Cassoulets (slow-cooked casseroles), whole stuffed pumpkins, potato pies, roast pork, hearty soups and malva puddings. Camilla is dreaming up scrumptious dishes with fresh local produce, and we’re looking forward to Autumnal ingredients. kale, turnips, pumpkins, carrots, citrus, broad beans, parsnips and game are just begging to be eaten.

Starter

it was such a hit the last time, we’re doing it again – a slow-cooked Spanish-style calamari stew, flavoured to perfection with peppers, garlic, tomato and parsley. nothing compliments it better than our crusty homemade bread with a generous spread of Myst Hill butter.

Main

it’s impossible to go wrong with a whole roast sirloin, and we’re doing it the traditional way, with hand-cut potato chips and a fresh garden salad. don’t forget our creamy béarnaise sauce, delicately flavoured with fresh tarragon. the French did get some things right.

Dessert 

our lemon soufflé tart is, well, tart.  and tangy and lemony and flawless. quite simply, the best possible finish to the meal. there is something so satisfying about a lemon dessert…it’s sour and sweet and refreshing and comforting all at the same time.

we’ll serve a beautiful harvest platter to start the meal off. Jason’s amazing country terrine will be served with coppa ham and toscana salami, thanks to Roberta Sa Giminez, a guitar-playing Spaniard who lives in Johannesburg and happens to be one of the most inspired charcutieres in the country. pickles and grape jam provide the finishing touches.

Main

oven roast petit poussin will be the main event this weekend. what is a roast bird, though, without some potatoes? if potatoes were ever deemed sexy, these would be the sexiest – Hasselback potatoes, roasted to perfection with bay leaves will be the accompaniment, as well as a corn, avo and radish salad with a dill yoghurt dressing on a bed of baby leaves.

Dessert

Camilla’s home baked Martin carrot cake, served with a citrus ice cream, made with love in our kitchen, is the autumnal dessert nonpareil.