Latest Newss from La Motte

La Motte is very pleased to share six of the J.H. Pierneef paintings from the La Motte Museum Collection as part of the current retrospective exhibition A Space for Landscape, the work of JH Pierneef at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg. The curator of the the exhibition, Wilhelm van Rensburg suggests that “public awareness...

Sweet potatoes were planted by Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape and were usually baked or cooked whole, mashed or cut up and stewed with sugar, cinnamon or naartjie peel and butter. A humble vegetable that makes a beautiful accompaniment to the traditional winter-time snoek in the Cape. Sweet Potatoes Serves 4 Ingredients 4 medium...

Winter is citrus season in the Western Cape and it is the ideal time to use the lovely sweet and sour flavour combinations in the kitchen. This original recipe for the Citron Tart in our Cape Winelands Cuisine Cookbook used cake flour or eggs as thickening agents, but we have adapted it for today’s modern...

Braised (gesmoorde) snoek is an inexpensive, traditional dish that makes a regular appearance at the table during the cold Cape winters. The most well-known method for preparing this dish is as follows: Sauté onions in lots of butter together with pepper, salt, fresh ginger, lemon zest and juice, and a pinch of fresh chilli. then...

Carbohydrates have fallen from grace. Regardless of their nutritive value, affordability or ability to keep, admitting to eating, preparing or heavens forbid enjoying anything containing carbohydrates is almost social suicide in certain circles. A staple food in many countries however, carbohydrates are served in various forms all over the world, but most notably in a...

La Motte has always been committed to the preservation of our heritage, culture and art. To further this focus, a series of very interesting talks and tastings has been introduced. The upcoming programme includes: An Evening of Vintage Wine & Venison Thursday, 20 August 2015, 18:30 Join La Motte Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche and Chef de...

During the coming months, La Motte Estate in the Franschhoek Valley will be hosting a series of Classical Music Concerts. La Petite 5ymphonie: Cardea Wind Quintet Saturday, 26 September 2015, 19:00 (Join us for a glass of wine from 18:30) La Petite 5ymphonie features well known music originally written for symphony orchestra that has been...

Although the popular story goes that Marco Polo introduced Europe to pasta when he first brought it from China, there are evidence of pasta long before his travels. And while the jury is still out on whether it was the Chinese or Persians who first made pasta, what we do know is that it is...

Pies date from the middle ages, when, with the limited ovens and equipment of the times, perfecting a pie required exceptional skill. Pies were therefore often used to impress and to showcase technique. (Just think of the nursery rhyme: ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ where Four and twenty black birds were baked in a pie!)...

This traditional, hearty Barley soup is an economical but delicious dish – ideal for a wintery weekend. Although Barley today is often simplified to only consist of ingredients such as meat bones, barley, onions, carrots, salt and pepper, in the days of the Old Cape, meat and fish were often used together in a recipe,...