The Franschhoek Bastille Festival is an annual highlight celebrating the beautiful Franschhoek Valley’s joie de vivre and the love for food and wine we inherited from the French Huguenots who settled here many years ago. Unfortunately, as with so many of the things we enjoy, Covid is preventing the normal festivities this year, but that does not prevent us...

This delicious cake with quince and honey will bring some sunshine to any winter's day.  Serve with a delicious glass of La Motte Straw Wine. Poached Quinces In season, poach some fresh quince, otherwise use preserved quince and skip this step altogether. Just keep the liquid! 1 Lemon 100 g Honey 200 g White Sugar...

For the fish cakes 500 g Hake 500 g Milk 1 Bay leave A few gratings of nutmeg 500 g Cooked floury potato 1 Tbs Anchovies, chopped 1 Lemon, zested 15 g Chopped parsley 15 g Chopped dill 15 g Chopped chives 2 Tbs Whole grain mustard Salt and white pepper to taste Preheat oven...

For the braised lentils and barley 100 g Pearl Barley 100 g Black lentils 1 lt water 100 g butter 200 ml lamb stock, the more gelatinous the better 10 g parsley, just disciplined with a sharp knife. 10 g mint, same treatment as the parsley 20 g Parmesan cheese Wash grains separately. Place in...

Salads have found a new lease on life. No longer are they only iceberg lettuce tossed with tomato and cucumber! No, today's salads contain anything from raw to cooked, vegetable to fruit, meat, dairy and lovely textures in the form of croutons or nuts. With their delicious complexity of flavours, salads have their own demands when...

Coq au vin pie The iconic French chicken stew, coq au vin, is a delightful chicken dish with red wine, mushrooms and onions. Inspired by the 2018 La Motte Millennium, The Food Fox, Ilse van der Merwe turned this traditional French stew into a scrumptious (boneless) pie with a royal homemade sour cream pie crust. ...

GRAPE FOCACCIA Ingredients Dough mix 290 g  Bread Flour 290 g Cake flour 15 g Salt 400 g Water 10 g Instant yeast 20 g Olive oil 1 tsp Chopped rosemary Grape wine mix 120 g red grapes 70 g Sugar 100 ml Red wine Toppings 150 g Grapes Flaked salt Olive oil Rosemary leaves Method...

  Makes 14 - 16 dumplings Ingredients 2 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes 200 g coarsely chopped pork loin or skinless belly (or substitute with pork mince) 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger 1 spring onion, the white part, thinly sliced 1 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp rice wine (or...

SWISS CHARD TART (TOURTE DE BLETTES) For the dough: 325 g flour 65 g sugar 1½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 80 ml olive oil 2 large eggs For the filling: 1 kg Swiss chard leaves 80 g dried grapes (raisins) 20 ml brandy 50 g macadamia, toasted ½ tsp ground cinnamon 50 g...

Harvest Chicken  1 Large free range Chicken 250 g Chicken stock 100 ml Olive oil 200 ml La Motte Chardonnay  80 g Raisins 60 White grapes Stuffing 6 Bacon slices 60 ml Olive oil 1 Garlic clove, minced 1 Lemon zest, grated 150 g Onion, chopped 8 Sage leaves chopped 20 g Flat leave parsley 50...