You know what is one of hubby and my most favourite thing to do over the weekends? You guessed it – making delicious food!
But it’s not just the fact that we make nice food that we enjoy; more importantly, it is making food that brings back memories of wonderful places we’ve visited, special memories we shared when we first had it… and then, getting to share a piece of that with our nearest and dearest, or even just for the two of us. I think what it really boils down to is that we actually love to make food with meaning.
However, we don’t always want to spend hours in the kitchen; especially if there is beautiful summer days to enjoy outside on the patio. And beautiful summer days inevitably remind me of Italy and that real ‘outdoorsy’ lifestyle that we fell in love with. And if I think of Italy I think of focaccia, cold meat, cheeses… and balmy days where lunch has to be enjoyed outside in the shade.
Beautiful Tuscany – balmy summer days, worthy of spending your time outdoors
So these chunky breadsticks really reminded me of our time in Italy. What’s great about it is that you don’t have to spend much time in the kitchen! Sure, it takes a little longer to make as the dough needs to prove, but that just gives you time to spend outside, sipping on a glass of wine! These ones are made with sundried tomatoes anchovies, but you can really add anything you like; think of olive tapenade with a sprinkling of rosemary, or even red pepper pesto with herbs and feta.
Sundried tomato and anchovy breadsticks
(makes about 24 breadsticks)
Ingredients:
Making the bread
4 cups whitebread flour
2 teaspoons salt
10g instant yeast
4 teaspoons sugar
1 ½ cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
For the filling
4 tablespoons anchovies, roughly chopped
1 cup sundried tomato pesto
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cup grated Grana Padano
A few grindings of black pepper
Poppy seeds, to garnish (optional)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
In a bowl, add the flour, salt, instant yeast and sugar. Mix well and then add the lukewarm water little by little. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough. Once you’ve reached this stage, add the tablespoon of olive oil, and knead that into the dough.
Place the dough into a large bowl. Sprinkle a little bit of oil the top to stop the dough from sticking and cover the bowl with cling film. Place the dough in a warm place and leave to prove until it has doubled in size.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out with a rolling pin unitl thin and even.
Spread the sundried tomato pesto over the dough then sprinkle anchovies, the rosemary, the Grana Padano cheese and grind over some black pepper to taste. (Be sure to spread to the edges.)
Fold the dough in half and form a rectangle.
Cut off the edges where there is no filling, and then cut the dough into one 2.5 cm strips. Give them a slight twist. (You are looking for a loose corkscrew effect.)
Place your breadsticks on a lightly floured baking tray (keep them slightly apart to leave enough room for them to rise). Brush them with water and then sprinkle over some poppy seeds.
Leave them to rise until they are twice their size.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp.
It is lovely when you serve it shortly after baking – just leave it to cool long enough so that it won’t burn your mouth! We had ours with some lovely Italian cold meats and cheese. And the wine of course!
Today was a slow day in the office. Thursday was a public holiday and many people grabbed the opportunity to make a long weekend and took today (Friday) off as well.
I’m one of the (un)fortunate few that was in the office today – fortunate in a way because traffic was great and I could actually get things done without being interrupted – but then again, getting up in the freezing cold this morning did make me second-guess my choice!
However, the day turned out to be not that bad after all. With a bit of a jovial mood in the office it was just a matter of time before someone said the magic words… “How about a braai for lunch?!” And just like that, within 20 minutes, a quick boerewors (a traditional South African sausage) braai was organised.
The fire was lit at 11:00 and with that first smell of the wood burning my tummy rumbled. By 12:00 the sausage was on the fire and the office was filled with one of the best smells in the world – a braai! (And the aroma of a braai is also one of the smells that induces the biggest cravings. Doesn’t matter what you have lined up for supper, if you smell anyone else having a braai, that is immediately what you need to have as well and nothing else will do!)
Boerewords and rolls on the coals!
Sitting there with a silly grin made me think of what other smells have the same effect on me and that also involuntarily brings a smile to my face…
So firstly there is the smell of freshly baked bread straight out of the oven. YUM! It always reminds me of my late grandmother on my dad’s side. She had this huge wood burning stove and used to bake the most gigantic breads in there. Maybe it was because I was very small, but I remember that one slice of bread was large enough to cover an entire plate! But the smell… homely, warm and inviting… best served hot with the butter melting over it, but just as nice the next day with some Marmite! I think I feel a bout of bread baking coming on this weekend!
Olive loaf I baked a while ago
Yummy olive loaf
But if I talk about bread, I have to talk about coffee. And not the smell of any coffee… moerkoffie! (Now to translate that to English is a bit tough – South Africans will tell you that ‘moer’ can have many meanings; some good and some not so good! Let’s just say that in the instance of “moer” koffie, we will go with one of the Dutch translations for “moer” which means mother, so “moer” koffie = mother’s coffee!) My grandmother on my mother’s side always made us moerkoffie when we were small. It is a ground coffee, and she made it in an enamel coffee pot on the stove. (Her secret ingredient was apparently the smallest pinch of salt!) It was strong, but delicious with milk and lots of sugar. And the smell – you just don’t get any other coffee that smells like the real thing!
Then, for someone that grew up in the Karoo (the Karoo is a semi-desert region in South Africa) there is probably no better smell than the smell of the ground after rain. I don’t know if people that have grown up with water in abundance can ever fully realise what it is like to wait for rain. Or what this smell means for the farmer that waited an entire season for it. It’s an earthy, wholesome smell, but more than the smell it is also what that smell symbolises – reprieve, hope, renewal, growth. And with such a large part of our country currently in the midst of a drought it is certainly a smell we can do with.
Flowers in Calvinia after the winter rain
But then thinking of the rain and soil, I can’t help to think of the smell of freshly cut grass – that is a smell of summer; a green smell, a smell of sunshine and warmth – and of my dad. My dad has the best lawn I have ever seen; it can rival the worlds’ best golf courses! Even now that we live in our own house, when hubby mows the lawn the first memory that comes to mind when I smell the sweet smell of cut grass is of summers and my dad meticulously tending to his lawn.
Dad’s lawn; this is during autumn. So green and not even in the prime of summer!
It is quite remarkable, the connection between smells, memories and moods. When we went to Italy a couple of years ago, hubby’s cologne of choice was 1 Million by Paco Rabanne and to this day when he wears it I have visions of Venice! And the smell of lemon blossoms – my favourite shower gel – whenever I use it I instantly feel happier! The smell just lifts my spirits. Or lavender; for me it is a smell of nostalgia – it reminds me of our trip to Provence; one of my best holidays ever.
So power to the sense of smell, to your nose and to the smell of life! What are your favourite smells? Tell me, and I’ll smell you later!
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