This dish can also be made on the stovetop, simply use a pot for the paella and fry the boerewors in a pan. 

South African almost-paella

Serves 4 

Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil 
1 onion, chopped 
3 robot peppers, sliced 
2 cloves garlic 
1 Tbsp smoked paprika 
1 tsp ground coriander 
1 ½ cups risotto rice 
3 ½ cups beef stock 
1 can (410g) corn kernels, drained 
500g boerewors 
Handful chopped fresh parsley, for serving  

Method 

1. Heat oil in a cast-iron potjie pot over hot coals and sauté onion and peppers until soft. 
2. Add garlic, spices and rice and fry for a minute to toast, stirring to coat. 
3. Pour in beef stock and corn then simmer for 20-25 minutes until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. 
4. Braai boerewors over hot coals until cooked through. Rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing into small portions. 
5. Toss wors through the paella and serve with a scattering of fresh parsley.

Compiled by: Sjaan van der Ploeg

Photography: Zhann Solomons, Fresh Living Magazine

Also read: 3 Delicious Paella Dishes to Make in Under an Hour

The post South African almost-paella recipe appeared first on MyKitchen.

Two Italian South African families give us a seat at their table to talk about their restaurants, heritage and adoration for the food philosophies that made them. 

The one thing you’ll find in almost every South African town, for better or worse, is an Italian restaurant. We have an insatiable appetite for cheesy pizza, pasta swimming in sauce and three-tiered tiramisu. So, we owe our gratitude to those restauranteurs who not only dish up the Italian food we adore, but also give us a healthy serving of their culture – and love – which makes our food scene and knowledge so much richer for it. Meet two of South Africa’s pioneering Italian South African food families, who show us how it’s done.

The Turillis

“Flat white/cortado are swear words in this caffè!!!” reads a handwritten sign above the coffee menu at Lello’s Caffè, in De Waterkant, Cape Town. Below it, a sticker of the Italian flag is proudly displayed. Please order and pay at the counter, choose a chair at a café table and wait for your single shot coffee with tempered milk, all served the traditional way. The walls are stone, the ceiling is low and there’s a minute van parked outside. As they say: when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

The Turilli siblings who own and run Lello’s Caffè, and the older Lello’s Deli right around the corner, are proud of their Roman and South African heritage. It all started with their nonno (grandfather), Lello, from the small town of Rieti just outside Rome. He taught his son, Ricky, everything he knew about not just making Italian food but also “The Italian Life”, which involves sharing food around a table with people you love.

After emigrating to South Africa after the Second World War, Lello worked as a mechanic (with his Italian chef buddies cooking up a storm in the backrooms of the garage) while Ricky started an illustrious, decades-long career as a restauranteur. His most recent restaurant, Scarpetta, was all about this Italian life. He converted an old Woodstock house into a laid-back space where the menu changed depending on the season and what Ricky, “The Big Boss”, felt like making that day. He visited all the tables personally, sharing his food philosophy and explaining the dishes with infectious passion and humour.

It’s no wonder then that his two children, food stylist and former MK food editor Chiara, and fashion photographer Danillo, followed in his footsteps. In October 2021, the siblings joined forces and opened Lello’s Deli to honour all that their nonno had taught them. They stock top quality Italian and local products, along with their homemade cold meats and paninis. The pair have made it their mission to find brilliant local artisanal products and share their finds at the deli. You can also find some of Scarpetta’s finest offerings as take-home servings and the legendary desserts made by their mom, Melissa (who’s day job is nursing).

Just two years later, the siblings opened Lello’s Caffè just around the corner to bring true Italian coffee culture to Cape Town. Here, they serve their own dark roast coffee (based off Lello’s own recipe) alongside 48-hour fermented schiacciata panini (Italian sandwiches) and cornetti (an Italian version of a croissant). The family often return to Italy to savour their heritage and constantly learn new things. They take their social media followers along for the ride, too, creating a vibrant community in the process – which is brought together at pop-up events. As nonno Lello became a fixture at Ricky’s restaurants, Ricky also became a beloved face at Lello’s Deli. A local legend was lost in 2024 when Ricky passed. Chiara and Danillo are planning to open a new place soon “in honour of our nonno Lello and now our dad, aka The Big Boss”.

“We aim to build a community through bringing food stories to life,” says Chiara. “Food nostalgia, dishes that never left your mind, vintage recipes. Bringing those fond memories to life of Sunday night dinners where famiglia and friends gather around a table of humble food.”

The Viljoens/ Treccanis

The most important ingredient in Italian food is love – followed by simple and fresh ingredients, says Chiara Viljoen. That is the kind of food she grew up eating, since three of her four grandparents hail from Italy. Her mother, Luciana, grew up there, too. As a result, she and her brother Ryan are “proudly three-quarters Italian”!

The siblings and Luciana started Café del Sol in Joburg in 2007 after realising they’d rather share “this taste of love” with clients and “touch people’s hearts through food”, rather than stay in unfulfilling jobs. Nearly two decades later, they’ve added two more restaurants and changed their local communities’ perspective on Italian food for the better. Locals now know all about risotto, artichokes and other ingredients that seemed foreign to them back in the mid-2000s. They have spread their knowledge even further afield with their cookbook, Our Italian Legacy of Love, published in 2021 (and featured in May 2023 issue of MK).

The family’s winning philosophy is to never compromise on their ingredients. “We import the best, believe in freshly handmade pasta and dishes, hormone-free and grass-fed protein where possible and sustainable fish. We strive for food that has amazing flavour and hasn’t been played with too much. Italian food should make you feel good after eating and not be heavy,” Chiara explains.

Their South African heritage plays a role in their food, too. “Being Italian South African, we are open to all food tastes from around the world. We even have a few Asian-inspired dishes on our menu. We’ve incorporated our South African Italian roots into our menu with dishes like springbok carpaccio, beautiful cuts of South African meats like fillet on the bone and milk tart panna cotta. We’ve also adjusted our pastas to the South African palate: In Italy, pasta is the star of the dish with little sauce, but in South Africa the sauce is the star,” she adds.

After 17 years, it seems they’re just getting started. Chiara, Ryan and their mother Luciana have their sights set on opening new restaurants in lifestyle estates, since the sense of community living in these areas reminds them of the Italian way of life. Cape Town and Mauritius, keep an eye out for a Café del Sol near you soon! It’s all about “serving up wholesome, Italian food made with love”.

Gather round

Some other italian tables to take note of…

ICE DREAMLAND,

Plettenberg Bay  

This is an Italian lunch as it should be: children playing, sunshine streams through vines, pizzas and salads arrive at the table just as you need to dig into another dish and there’s Italian flowing out of the kitchen window. Marco has been making coveted mozzarella, ricotta and yoghurt there for decades and, in recent years, opened a Sunday lunch pizzeria and gelateria next to his home. His whole family is involved, including his daughter Chiara – yes, the third Chiara on our list! Set aside the whole afternoon – you won’t want to leave!

REMO’S ITALIAN,

Gqeberha

Renzo and Franco Scribante started a restaurant in 2007 to honour their late brother’s boyhood dream of opening a place together. Today, fittingly, they have three spots: one in Gqeberha, Joburg and Durban.

Dine out on dishes made according  to their mother’s recipes, sip on imported Italian coffee, admire the black-and-white Scribante family pictures and browse their deli of Italian staples.

COL’TEMPO DELI,

Durban

Father and son Hylton and Paul Rabinowitz started selling their homemade dry-cured meats at Durban food markets in 2014, but soon realised they needed a bigger home for their increasingly popular Italian salamis, prosciutto, bresaola and the like.

You can visit them at their Col’tempo deli and cafe for a bite to eat and to shop their products, which now goes way beyond cold meats!

Words by: Christi Nortier
Photographs: Supplied

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These tasty, doughy pampoenkoekies, also known as fritters will transport you back to your South African school bake sales

MAKES 15–20 •  TOTAL TIME  1 hour

FOR THE PAMPOENKOEKIES

Pumpkin, cooked and mashed 250 g

Eggs 1

Nutmeg ¼ tsp

Salt 1 tsp

Milk ¼ cup

Flour 1½ cups

Baking powder 1 tsp

FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR 

Brown sugar ½ cup

Cinnamon 2 tsp

METHOD

1. Boil or steam the pumpkin until soft. Mash until smooth and cool.

2. Beat through the egg, nutmeg, salt and milk.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then add to the pumpkin and mix until combined.

4. Add a 2 cm layer of oil to a deep pan over high heat. 

5. When hot, add large spoonfuls of the batter to the pan and fry until the fritters are golden on the one side before flipping, about 30 seconds. As the fritters cook, they will start puffing up. Make sure the oil isn’t too hot as you want the inside of the fritters to cook before the outside gets too dark.

6. Combine the sugar and cinnamon on a plate. As the fritters finish frying, drain them on some paper towel, then toss on the sugar to serve.

 SERVING SUGGESTION: Serve these delicious fritters as they are or with the traditional caramel sauce.

Stylist: Jezza-Rae Larsen
Photography: Callen Jefferson/hmiages.co.za

For another great local recipe try these Mosbolletjie Muffins With Honey Butter

The post Pampoenkoekies appeared first on MyKitchen.

These mosbolletjie muffins with honey butter is a great local recipe that are sure to bring back memories and make your tastebuds go ‘mmmm’

SERVES 10 •  TOTAL TIME  2 hour 30 min

INGREDIENTS

Butter 55 g 

Milk ¾ cup

Water ¼ cup

White grape juice ½ cup

Cake flour 250 g

White bread flour 250 g

White sugar ⅓ cup

Salt 1 tsp

Active dry yeast 1 x 10 g sachet

Aniseed 2 tbsp

Smooth apricot jam 1 tbsp

TO SERVE

Butter, softened

Honey

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Generously grease a 12-hole jumbo muffin tin.

2. In a small pot, heat the butter, milk and water until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and add the grape juice, then cool until lukewarm. 

3. Whisk the flours, sugar, salt, yeast and aniseed in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.

4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix to form a shaggy dough. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

5. Place in a lightly oiled bowl; cover and proof for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

6. Knock down the dough and divide it into three. Cut each part into 10 pieces and shape into balls. Place three balls of dough in each muffin hole, cover loosely with cling wrap and proof until doubled in size, about 40 minutes.

7. Bake the mosbolletjie muffins until golden, about 25 minutes.

8. Mix the apricot jam with 1 ½ tsp boiling water to form a glaze. Brush
the glaze over the mosbolletjies as they come out of the oven. Enjoy warm with honey and butter, or serve with chunky peach preserve.

Top tip: Fennel seeds can be used in place of aniseed.

Stylist: Jezza-Rae Larsen
Photography: Callen Jefferson/hmiages.co.za

Sunday may be the worst day of the weekend because it’s the day before Monday! But when it comes to food, Sunday meals, just hit the spot.

The post Mosbolletjie Muffins With Honey Butter appeared first on MyKitchen.

A classic local dessert filled with golden buttery deliciousness, Malva pudding will always be our ultimate comfort dessert

SERVES 8–10 //  TOTAL TIME 1 hr 45 min

For the custard

Cream 2 cups

Vanilla essence 2 tsp

Caster sugar 3 tbsp

Egg yolks 4 

RECTANGULAR dish recipe:

For the malva

Sugar 1 cups

Eggs 3 

Apricot jam, heated 45 ml

Flour 1 ½ cups

Bicarbonate of soda 1 ½ tsp

Salt 1 tsp

Butter 25 g

Vinegar 7.5 ml

Milk 150 ml

Dark chocolate, roughly chopped 150 g

Oranges, zested 2

For the malva sauce

Cream 1 cups

Butter 150 g

Sugar ¾ cup

Hot water ¾ cup

ROUND dish recipe:

For the malva

Sugar 1 cup

Eggs 2

Apricot jam, heated 30 ml

Flour 1 cup

Bicarb 1 tsp

Salt ½ tsp

Butter 15 g

Vinegar 1 tsp

Milk 100 ml

Dark chocolate, roughly chopped 80 g

Orange, zested 1

For the malva sauce

Cream 1 cup

Butter 100 g

Sugar ½ cup

Hot water ½ cup

FOR THE CUSTARD

1. Place the cream and vanilla in a pot over medium heat.

2. Add the sugar and egg yolks to a bowl and whisk for 3 minutes, until pale and thick.

3. Just before the cream starts simmering, remove from the heat. 

4. While whisking the egg yolk mixture, add around ½ a cup of the hot cream and stir vigorously to mix through. Continue to add the cream bit by bit, so as to not curdle the eggs.

5. Move the custard back into the pot and place over a low heat.

6. Stir continuously for 10–15 minutes until the custard has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

7. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve to remove any bits into a jug. Place a layer of clingfilm on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until needed. Adding the clingfilm to the surface of the custard prevents a skin from forming.

FOR THE MALVA

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

2. Add the sugar and eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat well until thick, about 2 minutes. Mix through the jam.

3. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, bicarb and salt.

4. Add the butter, vinegar and milk to a bowl and microwave until the butter is just melted.

5. Add the sifted dry ingredients and the milk mixture alternately to the egg mixture. Beat well until smooth and combined. Stir through the chocolate and orange zest until evenly dispersed. Cover and bake for 45–55 minutes.

FOR THE SAUCE

1. Just before the Malva is ready, place the ingredients for the sauce in a pot over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and butter has melted.

2. Remove the Malva from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Use a skewer or knife to pierce holes all over the surface, through to the bottom of the dish.

3. Slowly pour the hot sauce over the Malva, stopping to let it absorb the liquid before adding more.

4. Serve the Malva pudding with the vanilla custard.

Top tip This dessert is packed full of golden buttery, chocolatey goodness. It’s definitely an indulgent recipe, and can be enjoyed without an accompanying custard or ice cream. Leave out the chocolate or orange zest for a more traditional flavour, or add in some alcohol for a boozy twist – we recommend bourbon or Amarula!

Stylist: Sjaan van der Ploeg;
Stylist’s assistants: Jezza-Rae Larsen & Kirsty Buchanan
Photography: Callen Jefferson/hmimages.co.za

We’ve put together 4 nostalgic dessert recipes, chocolate-chip cookies, bread pudding eclairs and chocolate pudding to make you feel right at home.

The post Chocolate & Orange Malva Pudding With Custard appeared first on MyKitchen.

This Lemon milk tart meringue pie with lemon curd drizzle is the perfect combination of two desserts and a fab twist on a local South African dessert!

SERVES 8 / PREP TIME 30 minutes + refrigeration

INGREDIENTS 
For the biscuit base
300 g lemon-flavoured Tennis biscuits
150 g butter, melted
For the milk tart filling
375 g tin condensed milk
700 g full cream milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs, separated
70 g cornflour
70 ml water
Pinch of salt
To serve
125 ml store-bought lemon curd
Store-bought meringue kisses

METHOD
For the biscuit base
1. Break biscuits into a food processor and blend to fine crumbs. Mix in the butter until well combined.
2. Press biscuit base into the base and up the sides of a 24cm springform cake tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
For the milk tart filling
1. Place the condensed milk, milk and vanilla essence into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil while whisking constantly.
2. Remove from the heat and let cool for two minutes.
3. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the cornflour, water, egg yolks and salt until smooth. 
4. Gradually add the cornflour mixture to the warm condensed milk mixture while whisking constantly. 
5. Return the pot to low heat and whisk until the mixture has thickened.
6. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. 
8. Gently fold egg whites into the hot custard. Pour the filling over the chilled biscuit base. Allow to cool completely before refrigerating for at least 2 hours. 
To serve Remove the milk tart from the cake tin. Spread lemon curd and decorate with meringue kisses

Pro tip: If your filling looks a little lumpy, pass it through a sieve before folding in the egg whites.

Recipes & styling: Marizka du Toit
Photography: Jurie Senekal

Our delicious mojito cheesecake is super easy to make, full of flavour and tastes just like a mojito itself! What more could you want on a Friday evening?

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