Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Meat
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos

Waiter, there’s something in my… melktert!

by Jeanne Horak on November 27, 2007 25 Comments in Baking (sweet), Dessert, NaBloPoMo 2007, Recipes, South African, South African products, Waiter, there's something in my...

milk-tart

Do you know the feeling when you know something is part of your heritage and you know you should like it… but you just don’t?  Like my father growing up in the Afrikaner heartland of the Orange Free State province, but not liking braais.  Or a Scotsman who can’t stand haggis.  Or me, growing up in an Afrikaner household in South Africa and not really caring for melktert.

And I have to say, I could have picked something easier to avoid.

Melktert (literally “milk tart”) is one of those baked items (like koeksusters) that you really struggle to get away from in South Africa.  Every school cake sale featured milk tarts, every home industry bakery is full of them, and everybody’s mom/sister/aunty/gran had their own secret recipe.  But when a friend of my mom’s would come round for tea and say she had brough milk tart, my heart would sink.  I wanted coconut tart, apple tart, fridge tart – just something with some taste!  You see, milk tart is basically a baked custard tart and I’ve never been a fan of custard – just too bland for me.  So my relationship with milk tart was kind of doomed from the start.

Melktert is one of the dishes that we inherited from the Dutch settlers who colonised the Cape in the 1600s.  I had initially wondered whether melktert was not borrowed from the Portuguese who were the first Europeans to land at the Cape and continue to be a thriving community in South Africa, because the Portuguese pastel de nata is very similar to a mini melktert. But greater minds than mine seem to disagree and insist that the melktert we still eat today is inherited from the Mediaeval Dutch cuisine.

The first mention of a similar dish in Dutch cuisine is in fact in the first cookbook published in Dutch by Thomas Van der Noot in 1510.  Apparently, the Mediaeval diet in Europe was heavily influenced by religious restrictions.  The church stipulated that feast days should alternate with fast days and so in most of Europe Wednesdays, Fridays and sometimes Saturdays (as well as days such as Lent and Advent) were fast days.  On fast days, meat and animal products like milk, cheese and eggs were not allowed.  To comply with these rules but still manage to have dessert, a porridge would be made on feast days consisting of almond milk, oil, cake flour, rice flour, ginger and cinnamon.  Later, when the fast day rules were relaxed, milk and eggs were substituted for the almond milk (almond essence was added to compensate for the loss of flavour).  Van der Noot apparently also included a “modern” recipe for melktert which included extra eggs and very little flour, bringing it almost entirely in line with the recipe we know today.

The one I never liked.

But then something happened.  On my visit to Johannesburg earlier this year, I got together with friends for a braai and Bronwyn volunteered to bring a milk tart.  She stressed that she would not be slaving over a hot stove making it, but did mention that she had found a shop that does excellent milk tarts.  Hmmm.  Unconvinced.  So after dinner, the milk tart was brought out and I cut myself a small piece, not exactly filled with hope.  But… what’s this?  Firstly, the custard filling was actually wobbly, like a pannacotta, rather than like the foam mattress-texture that I recall from my youth.  And the crust wasn’t the stodgy shortcrust I remembered, but puff pastry!  And far from being a disappointment, the taste merely confirmed what my eyes had already told me – a delicate wobbly custard filling in a featherlight crust with a generous dusting of cinnamon.  Perfect!  And so I began a thaw in my attitude towards milk tart.

Given this month’s saucy WTSIM theme of topless tarts, I really had no other option than to try my hand at milk tart to see if I could recreate milk tart as-the-universe-originally-intended.  The traditional flavouring is cinnamon, but I figured if we were infusing the milk, we might as well make things a bit more interesting and add some cardamom.  And besides – who hasn’t yearned to spice up a staid family dessert into a sexy topless tart?!

 

Other blogger recipes featuring custard include:

  • Meeta’s Greek-style creamy custard phyllo pie
  • Michelle’s Cornish saffron custard tarts
  • Margot’s Polish custard slices 

 

20071127_milktartdetailoptimised20071127_milktartsliceoptimised

MELKTERT (serves 8)

Ingredients

about 200g of ready rolled puff pastry
1.5 cups milk
1 tsp butter
a pinch of salt
1 cinnamon stick
1 green cardamom pod
1 tsp custard powder
1.5 tsp cournflour (cornstarch)
1.5 tsp cake flour
1 Tbsp cold milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp almond essence (optional)
sugar mixed with a little ground cinnamon

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.  Line a 20cm diameter fluted pie dish with the puff pastry, leaving the edges raggedy and hanging over the edge of the dish.

Bring the milk to a slow boil in a medium saucepan, then add the butter, salt, cinnamon stick and cardamom pod.

Combine the custard powder, cornflour and cake flour.  Add the cold milk and make a paste.  Stir a little of the hot milk into the paste to thin it, then stir the custard paste into the hot milk in the saucepan.  Make sure there are no lumps in the paste – and don’t panic too much if there are some lumps in the saucepan once you’ve added the custard – just make sure you stir vigorously and continuously to get them to dissolve.  Add 2 Tbsp of the sugar and stir continuously.  (I cheated a little and whisked the custard with a wire whisk to keep it smooth!)  When the custard thickens, remove it from the heat and discard the cinnamon and cardamom.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the remaining sugar gradually and set aside.  Beat the yolks slightly and then add about 2 Tbsp of the warm custard mix to the yolks and mix well.

Stir the yolk mix into the custard saucepan and add the almond essence (if using).  Gently fold in the egg whites.

Pour into the prepared pie dish, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake at 200C for 10 minutes.  Then turn the heat down to 175C and bake for a further 10-15 mins, until puffed up and golden.

Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve in slices with coffee.

NOTES:  After much thought and some reading, I decided that the milk tart I had in Johannesburg was probably made by baking the pastry shell blind, making the custard in a separate put, and then scooping the thickened custard into the shell – no baking.  But seeing as I could not find a recipe for this method and I’m not confident of my custard-making skills, I opted for the recipe above which was adapted from a couple I found on RecipZaar. 

What attracted me to it was the whipped egg-whites – no way could it be stodgy with all that egg white in it – and I was right.  It’s not a difficult recipe at all, but takes a bit of time as each constituent part needs to be worked on – and it does dirty a lot of bowls/pots!  The addition of the cardamom was an inspiration, even if I say so myself, and I will definitely be repeating this as the taste is marvellous.  I also loved the taste of the custard before I added the eggs.  The flavour of the spices came through very strongly, and I would happily make flavoured custard like this to have with fruit desserts in future. 

The finished product not only looked lovely and puffed up in the oven like a souffle (see below!), but retained that lovely eggy wobbliness even after it had sunk down to normal proportions.  It is light and very moreish and deliciously spiced.  Definitely a keeper!

20071127_milktartinoven

Follow me every day in November as I complete National Blog Posting Month – a post a day, every day, for 30 days! Here are all my NaBloPoMo ’07 posts so far.

More deliciousness for you!

  • South African melktert (milk tart) revisitedSouth African melktert (milk tart) revisited
  • Souskluitjies (cinnamon dumplings) revisitedSouskluitjies (cinnamon dumplings) revisited
  • Souskluitjies (South African cinnamon dumplings) for IMBB #7Souskluitjies (South African cinnamon dumplings) for IMBB #7
  • Mamma’s coconut tart (klappertert)Mamma’s coconut tart (klappertert)

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« NaBloPoMo, WTSIM, the best laid plans – and some gratuitous chile pics
Spicy slow-roast lamb – or why I love Nigel Slater »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Syrie says

    November 28, 2007 at 12:57 am

    Jeanne, this looks heavenly and I love the addition of cardamon.

    Reply
  2. A scientist in the kitchen says

    November 28, 2007 at 3:38 am

    The tart looks gorgeous, Jeanne.
    Gay

    Reply
  3. Charlotte says

    November 28, 2007 at 5:43 am

    Now, I love bland custard desserts. I’ve tried Kit’s crustless melktert, but I think this one’s on the agenda now too. I LOVE the idea of adding cardamom. Clever Jeanne!

    Reply
  4. abby says

    November 28, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    oh jeanne, you’ve bought back many memories of my childhood in malawi, thank you!

    Reply
  5. Gill says

    November 28, 2007 at 1:54 pm

    Sjoe, you had me worried there for a minute – a South African that doesn’t like milk tart? The recipe you posted is very similar to the one I use and it IS nice. I confess I can’t handle those powdery, floury affairs that call themselves milk tart either!

    Reply
  6. Patricia Scarpin says

    November 28, 2007 at 3:44 pm

    I think you have really taken this recipe to a whole new – and wonderful – level, Jeanne!
    Love the addition of cardamom.

    Reply
  7. Inne says

    November 28, 2007 at 5:39 pm

    Never heard of melktaart (I’m Flemish, not Dutch) but I love Portuguese nata. Your spiced-up version looks absolutely amazing Jeanne, I will certainly try it sometime. There’s a similar custard-based tart from Delia I absolutely love (deep lemon tart) and it’s easy to play around with (I’ve done coconut milk+mango and other versions).
    The medieval cookbook has me intrigued…
    Inne (de-lurking for the first time – we met briefly at Clotilde’s lecture in London a few months ago)

    Reply
  8. african vanielje says

    November 28, 2007 at 8:44 pm

    gorgeous Jeanne. This is very similar to my mom’s milktart recipe, and I have to agree that the souffle wobliness is the best part, as is the gently infused spiced custard. We do still use shortcrust though, albeit a very SHORT crust. I will have to try it with cardamom. I often add star anise as this is my favourite spice.

    Reply
  9. Robert says

    November 28, 2007 at 9:26 pm

    Great to see new life breathed into an old favourite! I agree that your addition of the cardamon is inspired. Will definitely give this a go come Christmas.

    Reply
  10. James says

    November 28, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    Never been a fan of custard tarts ever for the same ‘bland’ reason – cheesecake neither. But know cheese cake seems to have made a revival and everyone loves them, so I have to keep making them, and have been working on creating the perfect one. The secret, as in you milk tart is probably the same – you need to eat it warm – when it’s been kept cool over night, especially if you put it in the fridge it goes rock solid and just awful. Still slightly warm and they are both comfort food.

    Reply
  11. Eva says

    November 29, 2007 at 12:36 am

    I think for a homey milk tart, yours definitely looks sexy! Lovely photos! I’m so looking forward to the round-up!

    Reply
  12. ejm says

    November 29, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Wobbly? I have to confess that I would have difficulty even trying this. It looks like it falls into the “shudders on the plate” category of food. However, I have finally seen the light with creme brulee so this would probably surprise me too.
    What a good idea to add the cardamom!
    -Elizabeth

    Reply
  13. Robyn Vickers says

    November 29, 2007 at 5:58 pm

    Okay, NOW you’re talking my language. And I don’t mean the bit about you not liking custard (really??) but that melktert looks so gorgeous. I’m just going to have to nick it for a tea time here. I’ve never made one and we didn’t really have them foisted on us at home (probably why i love them, non?) but we did do our fair share of custard, even though it was always from custard powder. I’ve been kind of craving one of these for a while. Canadians don’t really do, or understand, custard. What do you mean there’s no UltraMel? 🙂 What I’d give for a tub of Woolies’ fresh custard…
    Jeanne, could you tell me where in Johannesburg your friend got her melktert? I’d love to tell my Mother-in-law about it…

    Reply
  14. myfrenchkitchen says

    November 29, 2007 at 6:30 pm

    I have just decided, we have a lot in common. I don’t(didn’t) like melktert either and like you, I completely skip the custard…nothing whatsoever interesting about it! I still feel the same way about custard and I only eat my own melktert, which I make with puff pastry too and it doesn’t bounce(overuse of eggs) when I put my teeth to it! I’ll give yours a go too..if it tastes anywhere near as good as your beautufl pics…!We just HAVE to have a “family melktert recipe”…it is part of being south African, like you say.
    Ronell

    Reply
  15. Tartelette says

    November 30, 2007 at 6:24 am

    I love everything about this tart, especially since I don’t like eating custard on its own. Great choice of entry!

    Reply
  16. Evelin says

    December 2, 2007 at 1:20 pm

    You silly woman!:)I can tell I’d love it.

    Reply
  17. Nikki says

    December 2, 2007 at 4:59 pm

    When I knew I would be moving to the US, I also knew I had to find a melktert recipe that I could take with me. And as I am adamantly addicted to the poured custard version, and I don’t like the baked custard, soufflé-type melkterts, it was quite a search. A friend of my mom’s passed on a recipe, and I’ve since converted several Americans (including my husband) to the delights of cooled custard in a prebaked pastry. Start off with a pastry crust baked blind (puff pastry sounds wonderful, but I normally cheat and just use the standard supermarket pastry crusts).
    For the filling:
    1 pint (approx 2 cups) milk
    1/3 cup sugar
    2 eggs
    3 Tablespoon maizena (corn starch/corn flour)
    1 Tablespoon butter
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
    Heat the milk and sugar until near boiling. Beat the eggs and maizena together until smooth. Temper the eggs with a little of the hot milk. Add eggy mixture to milk. Stir continuously and boil until it thickens. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla essence. Pour through a sieve into pie dish and allow to cool. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving.
    I’m going to have to experiment with cardamom, that sounds intriguing.

    Reply
  18. Jeanne says

    December 2, 2007 at 6:15 pm

    Hi Syrie
    The cardamom flavour really was great – don’t know why it hasn’t been part of the recipe for years!
    Hi Gay
    Thanks – it’s well worth making as the reward:effort ratio is really high 🙂
    Hi Charlotte
    If you love custard, I sincerely recommend that you make the custart that I used for this recipe. The cinnamon/cardamom flavour meant it was the first custard that I ever wanted to sit down and eat with a spoon, straight out of the pot!
    Hi Abby
    Glad I brought back some memories. You never quite leave Africa behind…
    Hi Gill
    I know, I know, hard to believe hey! But as you say, there are some things out there calling themselves milk tarts that serve purely to blacken the name of milk tarts around the world :o)
    Hi Patricia
    I have to agree with you (even if I say so myself!!). It’s amazing what a difference playing with subtle flavours and textures can make in a recipe.
    Hi Inne
    So it was you that I met that night!! I know you mentioned your blog’s name when we met but I never wrote it down and the next morning I wracked my brains but could not remember it! Thanks for delurking… I wonder whether the almond milk dessert referred to in the medieval book (and its successor) wasn’t called something else altogether. Either way, I love trying to find the roots of recipes like this that have travelled and metamorphosised!
    Hi Inge
    I think I’d like to try it with my own homemade SHORT crust pastry too. I know I have a great recipe tucked away somewhere that my mom used for klappertert – might give that a whirl next time.
    Hi Robert
    I was amazed at the difference that a subtle flavour can make – it just lifted the whole tart! Now it’s among my new favourite recipes…
    Hi James
    You are so right about eating it straight out of the oven! But then what baked item isn’t improved by eating it still fresh and warm… Although I have to say that, given the volume of eggs in this recipe, even after I had kept it in the fridge overnight, it still retained an appealing lightness.
    Hi Eva
    I had to say, I didn’t think it was possible to have a sexy-looking milk tart. But I did it 🙂 Glad you liked the photos.
    Hi Elizabeth
    No, don’t worry – this is probably less wobbly than you’d think – it’s just delighfully wobbly compared to the milk tarts I remember from childhood – terrifyingly solid! If you can manage creme brulee, you’ll be fine with this 🙂
    Hi Robyn
    Yes really… But having said that, I have always liked the Woolies fresh custard! Maybe it’s the custard powder version I didn’t like?? Who knows. It just never got me excited the way Bar-One sauce could 🙂 The melktert that changed my life was bought from the Weltevreden Park Spar in Jozi. It’s made by a company called Ouma se Spens, so probably also available in other branches of Spar and possibly other stores. Hope your ma-in-law finds it!
    Hi Ronell
    Great minds (and tastebuds!) think alike! There really is little worse than those milk tarts so dense they bounced, and that stodgy, stodgy pastry. This recipe is definitely going to become my family melktert recipe! I have my mom’s recipe too but that called for Ideal milk (and the measurements are still in ounces, which is Greek to me!) which I didn’t have, so I went with this one instead. It’s a winner!
    Hi Tartelette
    Glad you liked the tart! And if a non-custard-fan like myself could love it, so will you 🙂
    Hi Evelin
    Who would have thought it was a case of “you just haven’t met the right tart”! :o) Do yourself a favour and try it – too delicious!
    Hi Nikki
    Thanks for that recipe! I really do think that’s the way the milk tart was made that I tasted in Joburg, but I culd not find a recipe on the net. This sounds exactly right! And I’m pretty sure you could do the cardamom trick with this recipe too – just add the pod to the milk when you heat it and remember to fish it out later.

    Reply
  19. Nikki says

    December 2, 2007 at 11:51 pm

    Thanks Jeanne! I forgot to mention that the 1/3 cup of sugar is a little on the sweet side for my tastes. If you do attempt this version, you may wish to experiment a little with how much sugar to add.

    Reply
  20. Sarah Pipillini says

    December 4, 2007 at 6:06 pm

    Hello Mon Glace Cherie!!!
    FYI, if you are looking for your Melktert, the one you so cunningly hid behind the green veggie packets in the blue covered tart plate under the big round thingie; Don’t. It’s gone! All of it. I found it.
    Let that be a lesson for you!!!

    Reply
  21. Dayna says

    December 4, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    Topless? I’d run naked for this one!

    Reply
  22. John von Bonde says

    December 12, 2007 at 9:04 am

    Hi Jeanne
    I was fascinated by your historical narrative on the derivation of the melktert. The final version you give is definitely the real thing: I also have childhood memories on the subject, namely of my mother and grandmother referring slightingly to relatives and acquaintances who had the temerity to refer to “custard tarts” (i e short crusted versions of the real thing) as “melktert”! As for the unbaked fridge tarts masquerading as melkterte, well, words suitable to ladylike lips just didn’t suffice to describe those affronts to die ware tradisie (the true tradition, for the POMS). I remember a childhood winter holiday with my grandmother in Oudtshoorn where the predominant topic of conversation for an entire week was who made the most authentic melktert; funny how it acquired almost cult status in Afrikaans circles, isn’t it?
    J

    Reply
  23. Elvis says

    November 27, 2008 at 8:40 pm

    Hello Jeanne,
    Is cardomom the only difference between your recipe and Bronwyn’s Mom’s recipe? I’m looking for the old wobbly melktert from my childhood, but all I’ve found so far as re foam mattress type, lol! Willing to give the cardomom a shot…but…definitely want to try without too.
    Nikki, I’m trying your recipe for the thanksgiving dessert today. Thank you for posting that!

    Reply
  24. Mike Hughes says

    April 27, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    I have been making melktert for years with all sorts of results. Your recipe sounds fab, ad no “foam mattress. May I suugest that when boiling the milk you might add a cinnamon stick to be removed later?

    Reply
  25. Valerie says

    July 27, 2010 at 3:55 am

    Jeanne! You’re making me miss Cape Town horribly! I remember having my first milk tart in Cape Town and writing it off as a custard pie like back home which I was never too fond of. Then I had a home made one that changed my mind. Love the addition of cardamom in your recipe, that sounds amazing! I’m gonna have to try making my own sexy, spicy topless tart!

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Enter your address to subscribe via e-mail

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with chorizo & hazelnuts
  • Myristica Grenadian supperclub
  • 8 favourite Singapore food experiences
  • Sticky spiced plum upside-down cake and 16 years of blogging
  • IT restaurant
  • Plum and peach flapjack crumble [GF]
  • The White Horse Inn, Sutton
  • Patron Cave a Manger (Review)

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
Roosterkoek - a South African braai essential
Beef, broccoli and udon noodle stir fry from "The Japanese Larder" by Luiz Hara
How to sautée Brussels sprouts

Featured on

Also available on

cooksister

Jeanne | Stylish food & travel


Are you a cook... or a baker?
I fall firmly into

Are you a cook... or a baker? 
I fall firmly into the "cook" category. Baking is too precise, too fiddly - and best left to those with an affinity for it, I always say! But every now and then, only a cake will do. Say, for example... when you celebrate your blog's SIXTEENTH birthday!! 🎉🍾 Yes, last month Cooksister.com turned sweet sixteen, and to celebrate I baked this sticky spiced plum upside down cake. It's a very forgiving recipe and it's worth every single calorie 😁. Click on the link in my profile to see the recipe or save this post so you can find it later: https://www.cooksister.com/2020/06/sticky-spiced-plum-upside-down-cake.html

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappoint
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Anybody else got Lockdown Itchy Feet Syndrome...?? If it isn't an official disorder,  it certainly should be!

I have always been a dreamer, a planner, an explorer. Few things excite me more than stepping onto the soil of a country I have not visited before. When I am going through tough personal times, my go-to self-help therapy has always been to arrange a trip - to throw off the metaphorical bow lines and sail away to a new adventure. 
But then... Corona 😞  I can honestly say that I am enjoying working from home; enjoying having the time to run every day; enjoying cooking proper meals; enjoying my own company; enjoying the lack of FOMO. But OH MAN, I miss travel. 
This image was taken 2 years ago in St George's, Grenada - my first visit to the Caribbean but  certainly not my last. This photo has me dreaming of the day I can throw off those bow lines and travel again... How are you dealing with the lack of travel during this time?

Am I the only one feeling faintly sad at all the S
Am I the only one feeling faintly sad at all the Spring bulbs that were planted last year that have been flowering in parks and public gardens with nobody (or fewer people, anyway...) around to admire them? Spare a thought for the gardeners at Holland's famous Keukenhof who planted SEVEN MILLION bulbs last winter in preparation for the garden's annual 2-month opening... but because of Covid-19 Keukenhof did not open at all in 2020. 
But the good news is that for the first time in its history, Keukenhof was virtually open this year, meaning you can enjoy the best of the Spring flowers virtually, from the comfort of your armchair.  Keukenhof posted an amazing series of videos to their YouTube channel featuring magnificent 360 degree tours of the 2020 flowering bulbs; a run-down of the best photo spots; talks by various Keukenhof gardeners; and even a visit from Spongebob Squarepants!  You can check out their YouTube channel here https://bit.ly/2WWkahW. Or you can visit my blog  https://bit.ly/2zMgrLL  to see more of my Keukenhof images like this one of a river of tulips from when I visited a few years ago.

Have you visited Keukenhof?  What were your favourite Spring flowers? ⚘⚘⚘

When people tell me they don't like Brussels spro
When  people tell me they don't like Brussels sprouts, my inner voice always cries out the same response: oh honey, you're just doing it wrong! Sesame ginger sprouts are nutty, zingy and delicious - the opposite of the overcooked grey stinky sprouts of your youth, and so easy to make! 🔖 Remember to save this post so you can make the recipe later! The recipe is also on my blog - click the live link in my profile. 
For 4 people you need:
500 g Brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved and cooked (I roast mine in a hot oven)
1 x 2cm piece of ginger cut into fine matchsticks
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Salt & pepper 
Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the ginger till fragrant. Add the sprouts, mix well and heat through. Remove from heat, add the sesame oil, season and serve topped with toasted sesame seeds.

Did you know that 6 February is Waitangi Day, the
Did you know that 6 February is Waitangi Day, the national day of New Zealand? .

I am marking the occasion with this photo was taken just over 3 years ago on the shores of beautiful Lake Pukaki on the South Island, looking across at Mt Aoraki.  I loved my visit and planned the trip completely independently – here are some tips for anybody thinking of visiting the South Island. .
🔖Click “save” to bookmark these tips for later! ➡️ 1) Take more time than you think you need. In a week you will barely scratch the surface of the South Island - I would say 2 weeks is a comfortable amount of time. ➡️ 2) Don’t assume that summer means hot weather! Even in December (the height of summer) temperatures peak at about 21C in Christchurch. Pack layers. ➡️ 3) Do spend time in Queenstown. It is stunning and one of my favourite places I have ever visited – great for hiking in summer, skiing in winter, sailing on the lake, adventure sports and a base for many surrounding natural attractions. ➡️ 4) Take day trips from Queenstown to Milford Sound and the Franz Josef glacier (but be aware that the weather is often not great). ➡️ 5) Take a road trip! The roads are excellent and generally empty – and it means you get to pose in places like the shore of Lake Pukaki 😊 .
Have you visited New Zealand’s South Island?  Would you like to?  Let me know in the comments!

"Don't just stand there, let's get to it: strike a
"Don't just stand there, let's get to it: strike a pose there's nothing to it!" (Madonna)

Nicole Kidman's is both hands on hips. Meryl Streep's is only left hand on hip. Victoria Beckham's is right hip out, left foot forward (and no smile!). Mine started as a joke many years ago - the earliest evidence I have is from 2005 😎 Do YOU have a signature pose? Tell me in the comments or DM me a pic!

This particular pose was struck on the @chateaulhospitalet estate in the Languedoc, looking out over @gerardbertrandwines vineyards all the way to the Mediterranean. You can read all about my stay there now on the blog - click on the live link in my profile

Even if you are not a French speaker as such, you
Even if you are not a French speaker as such, you may be surprised by the number of French words you already know: rendezvous, entrepreneur, souvenir and ricochet need no introduction. All have been adopted into English wholesale, with their original French meaning and spelling. Perhaps they should apply for settled status post-Brexit... But sometimes a word’s literal translation in French bears no resemblance to what the word has come to mean, such as canape. Although we know the word as meaning a small piece of pastry or bread with a savoury topping served at drinks receptions, the literal translation is a decorative antique sofa. When a clever chef first came up with the idea, the topping was thought to sit on the bread or pastry like a person reclining on a sofa, and the snacks came to be known half-jokingly as canapes. Fact! 
I enjoyed these very elegant canapes (LOVED the lacy little potato lattices!) with Code Rouge sparkling wine before a jazz dinner at Gerard Bertrand’s flagship wine estate Chateau L’Hospitalet in the Languedoc.  The dinner was as  spectacular as the canapes and you can read all about it on my blog now – click the live link in my profile above.

The Christmas decorations may be long gone, but Ol
The Christmas decorations may be long gone, but Old Spitalfields Market where this photo was taken is very much open and is one of my favourite London markets. Here are my top tips for visiting Old Spitalfields:

1.  The closest station is Liverpool Street which is only a 5 minute walk from the market.
2. It's open daily, with over a hundred stalls, but on Wednesday the focus is on fashion & on Thursday the focus is on antiques & vintage.
3. The busiest day is Sunday - get there early to beat the crowds!
4. Make sure you sample some of the excellent street food on offer - I love the 8-hour pulled pork bagels from Dirty Bagel, topped with cheese melted by blowtorch in front of your eyes; or the traditional raclette at Abondance.
5. Don't forget to check out the amazing Shoreditch street art in the area around the market, either on a tour or self-guided walk.
6. The Truman Brewery just east of Spitalfields hosts a massive collection of vintage clothes stalls, and more street food - don't miss it!

Thanks @meetakwolff for the 📸

"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Yo
"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so... get on your way!" (Dr Seuss)

How are you starting the new decade? Staring at the mountains ahead, worrying about how hard they will be to climb and whether your shoes will be comfortable and whether it is going to rain along the way? Or striding confidently towards the mountains ahead, looking forward to the fresh air filling your lungs and the sense of purpose as your legs carry you ever higher, and relishing the prospect of an amazing view from the top?

There is no finer metaphor for life than a walk in the mountains and I have already made my choice as to how I plan to tackle the mountains of 2020. What's your choice? 
Wishing you all a very happy new year and amazing views from the top of every personal and professional mountain that you climb!

This particular mountain is in the Austrian Alps where I hiked last summer. Thanks to @thepassionatecook for the 📸!


Follow me on Instagram


This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Cooksister

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs

See my Recipes at Feastie

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Brussels sprouts with chorizo & hazelnuts
Plum upside down cake
plum flapjack crumble
Sesame ginger Brussels sprouts
Jersey-royals-salmon-salad2 © Jeanne Horak 2019
Beef-Udon-noodle-stir-fry-title
P2PIrelandRhubarb © J Horak-Druiff 2013
Blood-orange-halloumi-salad-title

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2021 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2021 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.