lifestyle

Chicken liver pate is a classic South African starter. Typically made with chicken livers, chillies, spices, a little wine and butter and/or cream it’s a restaurant staple. This is a slightly posher version of that staple that incorporates brandy and raisins for sweetness. This is an ideal breakfast or starter dish for a New Year’s […]

Port, Clementine and Five-spice Ham This is the ultimate party ham – and you can save the ham cooking liquid to make a pea and ham soup. For many, a ham is the ultimate New Year’s Eve dish… possibly hearkening back to the pig being a lucky animal in many cultures. Prep time: 20 mins/Cook

These are a slight posher upgrade on the traditional devilled eggs; ideal for serving as New Year’s Eve finger food or as part of a buffet. Prep time 20 minutes/Cook time 10 minutes/makes 16 Ingredients: 8 large eggs 25g (1 oz) smoked salmon 4 sprigs of fresh dill, plus extra for serving pinch of cayenne

Here are recipes for five easy to prepare nibbles that you can serve for your New Year’s Eve parties. Prep time 60 minutes/Cook time 30 minutes/serves 20 Ingredients: For the Mango and Prawn Skewers: 3 limes 1 tbsp grated ginger 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 red chilli, chopped (de-seed and remove the membranes for a

This is my husband’s recipe, where South African blaesbok (venison) replaces the more typical beef (this also works with red deer venison). It’s a truly classic and quite spectacular New Year’s Eve dish, served with mashed potatoes, mashed yam, mashed sweet potatoes and red wine gravy (we tend to make a mixed mash of potatoes,

The ancient Romans would gift a leather bag of the legumes, in hopes that they would turn into gold coins. Even today Italians often eat lentils as part of the New Year’s Eve dinner for luck in the coming year. This elegant dish cooks spatchcocked poussin (baby hens) and serves them on a bed of

A selection of New Year’s Eve recipes would not be complete without a curry. This is not a Durban curry, but a Keralan fish curry that’s adapted as an easy to make traybake. This means that it’s easy to cook and very easy to serve whether you’re having a sit-down meal or a buffet-type affair.

This festive take on the Italian classic makes and excellent treat with tea or coffee or can be served as a rich nibble at New Year parties (it goes well with champagne and coffee). Wrapped in greaseproof (waxed) paper and tied with a bowl, small pieces make an excellent gift; whether you want to give

baked-salmon-fillet-pickled-cranberries-parsley-pistachios.png Salmon is our normal stand-by for New Year’s Eve. This year, we had family and friends visiting, so this this festive side of salmon became the centrepiece for the feast. There was even enough left-over for some dishes on New Year’s Day. Not only do the pickled cranberries look wonderful, they also help balance

Salmon is our normal stand-by for New Year’s Eve. This year, we had family and friends visiting, so this this festive side of salmon became the centrepiece for the feast. There was even enough left-over for some dishes on New Year’s Day. Not only do the pickled cranberries look wonderful, they also help balance out

This is an excellent way of converting Christmas leftovers into delicious party food. They freeze well, so you can make them before hand and keep them for your New Year’s Eve party (alternatively freeze your leftover turkey and cranberry sauce then make fresh on the day). These are also great made with duck, lamb, fish

This is a classic black eyed peas recipe from the American south. It’s often cooked for New Year’s Day for good luck. You can see the African influence both in the ingredients and in the method of cooking. Typically, it’s served with Akara (bean fritters) or cornbread, but would also work well with Nigerian moin-moin

Butter chicken is one of those classic Indian recipes that is a hit all over the world. This version, however, is adapted to use-up your leftover Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey. The recipe presented here is adapted from that used in Indian Restaurants (as in restaurants in India). The secret to this extra-creamy version being the

Limonana is an Israeli variant of lemonade that combines lemons with that middle-Eastern classic, spearmint. This is quite possibly, one of the most refreshing drinks you can make and is great during the South African (or any other) summer. Just make sure you have plenty of ice on hand! I think this is a great

malva-pudding-amarula-sauce.png Malva pudding is a South African classic, a sponge pudding made lighter by the addition of vinegar (which helps activate the raising agents) and flavoured with apricot jam. Whilst most malva puddings are dark, this exact colour will depend on the sugar used; you can use anything from golden caster sugar to very dark

ONE PINK CANDLE HONEY CINNAMON POWDER PIN TAKE THE PICK CANDLE, USE THE PIN TO WRITE BOTH OF YOUR NAME ON THE CANDLE, USE THE HONEY TO RUB THE CANDLE VERY WELL, SPRINKLES THE CINNAMON POWDER ON IT AS YOU ARE DOING IT, BE SAYING ALL YOUR HEART DESIRES, LIGHT THE CANDLE, ALL IT TO