Saturday, July 5, 2008

What I wanted

...was a chopped red pepper salad. Not sure why. This one didn't quite hit the mark; I should have used fresh chiles. And I wanted it to be a bit sloppier. If I'd had them I would have added tomatoes.

So, one red pepper, half a red onion, one fresh garlic clove (these were still new, unpapery, crisp), a few slices of baguette, torn up; red wine vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper, chiles to taste. Parsley.

Method: Donder the pepper. That's a South African expression. In other words, chop the bleep out of it. Same with onion. Put in a bowl with the torn-up bread, shake over a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, add salt, sugar and pepper to taste, and mix. Add the chopped fresh chile. Then the parsley. Taste all the way. You need spicy/burny but balanced by salty/sweet. Slosh over a little olive oil. Think of it as solid gazpacho...

Or if you're in Cape Town just head to Anatoli on Napier Street - they still make a good one, to be eaten with the sublime ekmek: long bread puffed up with steam in its pocket, piping hot from the oven, carried gingerly in a napkin to the table.


It's good with this.

Oh, I also had a lamb, but that's another story.

5 comments:

  1. Anatoli's is steadily rising to the top of the 'must do again' list!

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  2. Yes...I was loathe to return for a long time, but had a reunion of sorts early this year with good friends from archaeology class days, and my new friend Marijke. It was not the old Anatoli, but a lot of it was very good. It suffers from the comparison but if one forgets the old, it is worth a night out. Tayfun's hospitality is warm and charming, and that is half the battle won, so often.

    http://www.anatoli.co.za/

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  3. Your salad reminds me of the Lebanese tabouleh....(which is heavier on the parsely and sometimes added couscous).

    It still looks delicious. I notice that all of your photographs of wine/champagne are particularly beautiful...the composition and the colours. A while ago you had some pics from a dinner with friends and the photos of the champagne were so rosy/blushy...

    You have a gift for it, and they look even better than the fab pics in our LCBO magazine.

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  4. Why thank you, ma'am, :-)

    I think it's because I am so drawn to the subject!

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  5. Yes, not the old Anatoli - but a friend held a big party there about a year ago and a very fine time was had!

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