Christmas greetings from Main Ingredient

The Champagne festival at Franschhoek was, as expected, great fun and a huge foodie experience for us. There was a good crowd (more than 3,000 apparently) of people, content in enjoying life, summer and very, very good bubbles.

The extreme heat was the only downside. It reached a reported 43 degrees at one point. There was a good mix of our best local bubblies like Graham Beck, Tanzanite, Pierre Jourdan, Morgenhof, Villiera and Steenberg; some new and interesting and some good French – some of the top like Gosset and Taittinger and some of the lesser known but excellent Marques like Joseph Perrier and Tribaut.

The restaurant stands were tucked in among the bubbly tables and each one had small portions of something delicious. We sampled some great gravadlax on blinis with rocket, some huge prawns with rocket, a wrap stuffed with Serrano ham, apricots, goats cheese and rocket and a fabulous white chocolate cheesecake with mixed berries from Le Quartier Français and, of course, there were oysters – some with rocket too. (We love rocket, but at the moment everyone is doing it to overkill).

We told you that we anticipated being spoiled and we were. We had been invited to stay at Rusthof Country House by the owner, Ruth McCourt, on Saturday night and it is truly beautifully decorated in a mix of modern and classical with notes of oriental, cool and comfortable and very, very close to the Festival, as it is right at the top of Huguenot Street near the Huguenot Monument.

We all went off to a cooking demonstration with Julie Parkfelt at La Chataigne farm and then ate the result for supper. We drank their delicious wines with the food. Julie is a very good cook and produced a really great meal of very Mediterranean style food. Our welcoming canapés were super artichoke bruschettas and tiny nectarine halves stuffed with goats cheese and then wrapped in ham. These were paired with Colmant MCC. She showed us how to make really good spinach gnocchi – so good we have the recipe below for you. They are baked in the oven and are quick and simple to make.

This was followed by duck breasts served on noodles with a very spicy tomato & sesame chutney. Our dessert was a Christmas-flavoured nutty semifreddo served with mixed fresh berries, covered in a white chocolate sauce, a good alternative to Christmas pud and suited to these hot days.

For our Sunday lunch, we escaped from the heat and had a lovely leisurely lunch at Reuben’s – in his courtyard (where the overhead mist sprays were very welcome). No one was having starters, they told us, because of the heat, but it was lovely to eat his very delicious honeyed quail and yellowtail on fennel ravioli. Reuben has a fantastic new book out – do check out copies in the shops but, if you go to the restaurant, you might persuade him to sign one for you.

Spinach and Ricotta “Gnocchi Verdi” with Tomato and Parmesan Cream Starter

500g Spinach
250g fresh ricotta
grating of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 egg
45g grated Parmesan
1 T flour

Wash the spinach and cook in salted water till wilted. Drain well & squeeze till absolutely dry, then place in food processor with the ricotta, seasoning and nutmeg and blend. Mix in egg, parmesan and flour. Chill, then shape into full teaspoon sized balls.

Tomato Sauce:
800g tinned tomatoes
1 T sugar
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
100 ml cream

Put all into a pan, bring to the boil and reduce for 10 minutes, then add the cream and blitz with your wand blender.

Parmesan Cream:
250ml cream
150ml finely grated parmesan.

Mix together in a jug.

Take small individual serving dishes; ladle 2–3 T of tomato sauce into each. Put in 3 to 5 (depends how large you made them!) gnocchi in each, pour over same amount of parmesan cream. Grate extra parmesan on top. Put into a preheated 180ºC oven for about 10 minutes until bubbling and the cheese starts to colour. Serve and eat at once.

Ed’s note: Main Ingredient offers gourmet foods, ingredients and fine wines. It has won Eat In guide’s Outstanding Outlet for the past three years. You can find them at: Shop 5, Nedbank Centre, 15 Kloof Rd, Sea Point 8005, Cape Town, South Africa. phone: +27 21 439 5169, or find them online.