Try this delicious recipe for chicken with sorrel and lemon. Not only is it perfect for winter, but it is more than 300 years old! It comes from a cookbook titled De Verstandige Kock (ca. 1668) and has basically stayed unchanged. If you are an experienced cook, you can try to preserve lemons yourself. The...

Every year, La Motte participates in the Bastille Festival with a programme celebrating our Huguenot heritage and passion for food, wine and classical music. 2014 Programme Friday, 11 July 19:00 French-inspired fine dining (For reservations, please contact us at +27(0)21 876 8800 or pierneef@la-motte.co.za) Saturday, 12 July & Sunday, 13 July 12:00 – 17:00 Join...

Apple Tart Recipe (Page 211 of the Cape Winelands Cuisine Cookbook) Good-quality tarts didn’t need raising agents and, as with the Netherlands, the Cape was famous for its fresh and dried fruit tarts. In the Netherlands, apple tart was the favourite, but at the Cape apricot jam tarts and melktert (milk tart) became popular. There...

Pierneef à La Motte restaurant’s recently appointed Chef de Cuisine, Michelle Theron, kicked off her new challenge with a culinary visit to Europe. For ten days, she cooked in Michelin Star restaurants in the Netherlands such as Chapeau!, De Bokkedoorns and De Vrienden van Jacob and joined the chefs of Specktakel restaurant in cooking for...

According to the old Dutch cookbook De Verstandige Kock (1668), warmoes is a variety of stewed or cooked vegetable leaves. Jan van Riebeeck and later C. Louis Leipoldt referred to warmoes in their writings, and the latter was of the opinion that beetroot leaves added something special to this stew. During Jan van Riebeeck’s time,...

Join us for a Talk on the versatility and unique characteristics of venison followed by a four-course dinner of venison dishes by Chef Michelle Theron, beautifully paired with exclusive older vintages from the La Motte Vinoteque, presented by Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche. La Motte wines from our Vinoteque will be exclusively available for purchasing. Bring your...

Getting back to basics – it is the food trend for 2014. Join us from 13 to 15 June and get down to the fundamentals of cooking at this year’s Cook Franschhoek. Cook Franschhoek is an annual event that celebrates the Franschhoek lifestyle and love for food. Whether you are a novice in the kitchen...

Pierneef à La Motte Restaurant has appointed a new Chef de Cuisine. On 1 May 2014, Michelle Theron, who has been part of the restaurant since it opened its doors in 2010, took over the reigns as Executive Chef from Chris Erasmus who has resigned to pursue the dream of his own restaurant. Passionate about...

In the last decade La Motte has been very focused on creating a specific style of wine with which the brand can be associated. With the exceptional quality of Shiraz grapes available and both CEO Hein Koegelenberg and Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche passionate about this variety, Shiraz has become a strong focus of La Motte, with...

The history of the development of mayonnaise is uncertain. Anne Willan gives a plausible explanation for the origins of mayonnaise in her book, Great Cooks and Their Recipes, where she reasons that it originated in France as the name could have come from the Old French for egg yolk (moyeu). Homemade mayonnaise is delicious and...