Ox tongue is a traditional favourite during the South African summer holidays and Festive season. Although often prepared with a mustard sauce, this Cape Winelands Cuisine recipe is for a sauce with anchovy and capers and makes out part of our series on Old Sauces of the Cape. Fresh, salted smoked and sweet-and-sour ox tongue...

The smell of ginger is so warming and welcoming and in winter it is tempting to add some to your cooking. Try our recipe for ginger cake - it is such a sophisticated dessert! Recipe for Ginger Cake Ingredients 1 cup (250 ml) brown sugar 180 g butter 2 eggs 1 cup (250 ml) golden syrup 3...

One cannot discuss the Old Sauces of the Cape, without sharing a recipe for that piquant sauce used in the traditional cooked onion salad called slaphakskeentjies. (The direct translation for slaphakskeentjies is small floppy heels, but one explanation for this peculiar name is from the original Dutch where “slap hakke” means without energy or spunk,...

Have you noticed the trend for all things “caramel”? Christmas decorations, magazine covers and recipes of late focuses on the rich golden hues of caramel, whether in its original form, as the very trendy salted caramel or even as the warm and welcoming colour on a roasted chicken or pan-full of sinful potatoes. We thought...

Over the next week we will share a few recipes for sauces traditionally made in the Cape Winelands. From a sour sauce for slaphakskeentjies to a sauce for Crayfish and an interesting anchovy and caper sauce to serve with pickled ox tongue. This week, we share a meat sauce made with almonds and ginger. With...

Accompaniments play an important role when it comes to food and wine matching. Your choice of a Béarnaise sauce or red wine jus with your fillet will impact on your choice of wine in quite a serious way! Sauce might go by a variety of names – from the humble gravy to the posh velouté...

In October La Motte’s rose garden is a spectacular sight and this year we will open the private garden to the public during the weekend of Franschhoek Open Gardens. To celebrate the beauty of this special flower, we have also arranged a Talk by South African authority on roses, Ludwig Taschner of Ludwig’s Roses. Join...

Carbonade is the French term for meat quickly grilled in a pan or over the coals and served medium–rare. In 1710, the granddaughter of Jan Van Riebeeck mentioned the Cape karmoenade she enjoyed and, in 1797, Johanna Duminy wrote about the carmonaade prepared for lunch from two legs of lamb, on their arrival at the...

It is beetroot season in the Winelands and day after day the most glorious bright bulbs are making their way from the garden to the kitchen. True to our traditional affinity for combining sweet and sour tastes, in South Africa, beetroot was generally pickled in a sugar and vinegar dressing and served as a refreshing...

Now is that awkward time of year when you feel like summer and eating lighter, but the weather is not always playing along. Treat yourself tonight to our lighter in style, but comforting and delicious Cape Vegetable Soup. Lighter than the hearty winter soups, but still comforting. From our Cape Winelands Cuisine Recipe Book. (Page...