Portugal and South Africa are strongly linked both through history and a mutual passion for food and wine. As our Portuguese community prepares to join in the worldwide Portugal Day celebrations on Tuesday 10 June, Allesverloren asked Kyknet Kokkedoor judge and long-time chef Nic van Wyk to develop Portuguese recipes with a distinct South African twist; recipes which complement the renowned range of Portuguese varietals from the Swartland’s oldest wine estate.
“The famed Portuguese wine region of Douro is 5-6°C warmer than the Swartland, which is itself a warm region,” says Allesverloren fifth generation winemaker Danie Malan. “The varietals present in Douro have adapted. The slightly cooler climate here has resulted in the fruit being far more concentrated.”
The wines chosen for food pairings include Allesverloren Tinta Barocca Rose 2013, Allesverloren Tinta Barocca 2012 and Allesverloren 2009 Vintage Port, and the recipes had to match the style and characteristics of each.
Van Wyk, who has a classical cooking and fine dining background but is passionate about rustic country cooking, went back to the Portuguese classics he knows and enjoys best for the Allesverloren brief. “I love the Portuguese way with food,” he said. “It’s a simple style of cooking with a warm and gutsy flavour profile, infused with robust spices like cumin, coriander and smoked paprika.”
Classically trained at the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch, van Wyk co-founded Terroir in 2006, which was voted Eat Out Best Restaurant during his tenure. He also spent several years at La Colombe with Franck Dangereux, and travelled overseas before returning to Kleine Zalze Lodge and later, opening Diemersdal Eatery in an old converted barn at the Durbanville wine estate. These days, he’s busy consulting and travelling the country for Afrikaans reality cooking show Kokkedoor, on the hunt for South Africa’s most nostalgic cooks.
For the Allesverloren Tinta Barocca Rose 2013, Van Wyk created a recipe for salt cod and snoek fish cakes with aioli and tomato salad. “Salt cod, or baccala, is probably the most used product in Portugal, and I liked the idea of combining it with snoek, and pairing it with a fresh and seasonal tomato salad,” he said.
A twist on the classic Trinchado, made with springbok rather than beef, pairs perfectly with Allesverloren Tinta Barocca 2012. “The first time I had this dish was in Pretoria, and I’ve been trying to come up with something just as good ever since. The sauce is so wonderful that you need something to mop up every last drop, so I thought that Roosterkoek, which is thoroughly South African, would do the job perfectly.” Van Wyk suggests that the combination is most enjoyable when the wine is slightly chilled.
Port is the best known of Portugal’s wines, and Allesveloren has been producing fortified Portuguese varietals in South Africa for many years. To complement the velvety texture and fruity flavour of Allesverloren 2009 Vintage Port, Van Wyk turned his attention to one of Portugal’s most popular pastries, Pasteis de Nata. To give it South African flair, the chef infuses the custard filling with rooibos, and serves it with a drizzling of fynbos honey, green figs and grated fudge.
Portugal Day falls on Dia de Portugal, a national holiday in Portugal, which commemorates the death of Luis de Camões, the country’s national poet, whose mastery of verse is often compared to literary greats like Shakespeare, Homer and Virgil. Camões was the author of Os Lusíadas, the national epic poem that describes Vasco de Gama’s discovery of the sea route to India, and it is a work that celebrates Portugal’s important role in the discovery of the New World.
Salt cod and snoek fish cakes with aioli and tomato salad
Recipe by Chef Nic van Wyk
Serves 4 as a starter
Wine pairing: Allesverloren Tinta Barocca Rose 2013
Salt cod is one of the staple ingredients in Portuguese cooking. Adding snoek gives these fish cakes a unique South African spin. Aioli is easy to make at home and takes this dish to the next level. A fresh tomato salad rounds it all off.
Ingredients:
For the fish cakes
500 ml milk
250 g salt cod
250 g hot smoked snoek
Pinch of cumin
50 g chopped parsley
50 ml olive oil
1 large potato peeled and cooked, keep warm
1 cup cake flour
1 cup bread crumbs
3 eggs, whipped
Canola oil or sunflower oil for frying
For the aioli
½ tsp Dijon mustard
3 egg yolks
30 ml lemon juice
350 ml canola oil
2 garlic gloves, finely grated
Chives (optional)
Salt
For the tomato salad
1 punnet rosa or cherry tomatoes – around 6 per person
Sherry vinegar to dress
Olive oil to dress
Smoked Maldon salt to season
Method
For the fish cakes, heat the milk and cook the salt cod in the milk until soft. The fish is cured, cooking it in the milk will draw out some of the salt. Retain the milk cooking liquid.
Blend the cod, snoek, cumin, parsley and potato in a food processor, pulse to combine. Add the olive oil slowly as well as a bit of the remaining milk from cooking the cod. The mixture should be stiff so that it can be shaped into small rounds.
Place the mixture in the fridge to cool down.
Shape the fish cakes in your hands to form 4cm rounds. Roll the fish cake in flour, coat in the egg mixture, then cover well with bread crumbs. Deep fry until golden brown.
For the aioli, whisk the mustard and egg yolks with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice until white and fluffy. Add the oil in a thin steady stream until incorporated. Add the remaining lemon juice and garlic and mix well. Add the chives if you are using them. Season to taste with salt.
For the tomato salad, cut the tomatoes in half, drizzle with olive oil and sherry vinegar. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Springbok trinchado with ‘roosterkoek’ and roasted garlic
Recipe by Nic van Wyk
Serves 4
Wine pairing: Allesverloren Tinta Barocca 2012 (can be chilled)
This is the first Portuguese dish I ate with my uncle, in a small bar in Pretoria. I don’t think I’ve had a better version since: tender cubes of beef fillet in a spicy tomato, red wine and vinegar sauce, with chunks of bread to mop up the left over sauce. To give this dish South African flair, beef is replaced with springbok loin and to soak up all those juices, fresh ‘roosterkoek’. The roasted garlic adds a softness to the spicy sauce.
Ingredients:
For the roasted garlic
Wrap 16 large garlic cloves in foil and sprinkle with olive oil. Bake at 100ºC for 3 hours or until the garlic is soft. Keep warm in the foil and set aside.
For the sauce
1 large onion, diced
½ cup olive oil
1 cup red wine
2 red chillies, finely chopped
2 very ripe tomatoes peeled, deseeded and cubed
2 garlic gloves, grated
50 g brown sugar
1 cup beef/venison or brown chicken stock
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
½ cup red wine vinegar
A pinch of smoked paprika
For the venison
800g Springbok loin or any other loin or fillet of South African venison (200g per person)
Salt and pepper to season
Canola oil or sunflower oil for frying
For the ‘roosterkoek’
Makes about 20
1 kg bread flour
10 g instant yeast
15 g salt
15 g sugar
500 ml water
To serve
Spring onions, freshly chopped
Method:
For the sauce, sweat the onion with one tablespoon olive oil until soft. Add the red wine and cook until all the alcohol has evaporated. Add the chillies, tomato, garlic, brown sugar and red wine vinegar and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Add the stock, remaining olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and the paprika. Cook for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and blend thoroughly with a hand mixer. This can be made in advance and the sauce is even better after a day or two. (refrigerate)
For the venison, cut into 3cm by 3cm cubes. Season with salt and pepper and fry in small batches in a hot pan until medium rare. Add the venison to the sauce. (If made the day before, re-heat before adding.)
For the ‘roosterkoek’ mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl with a mixer. With the paddle attachment on low speed, pour the water in gradually. When all the water is incorporated, increase the mixer speed to medium and continue to mix for 5 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl into a ball. On floured surface, with your hands, shape into roughly 8cm x 8cm squares. Place on a floured baking tray, cover loosely with floured tea towel and let rise till roughly double in size. Dust generously with flour and cook/braai on medium coals or a griddle pan, for approximately 4 minutes on each side.
Serve the trinchado and ‘roosterkoek’ with the soft roasted garlic heads and spring onions.
Rooibos infused pasteis de nata
Recipe by Chef Nic van Wyk
Makes 12 tarts
Allesverloren 2009 vintage Port
You will find these little custard tarts all over Portugal. The rooibos tea and fynbos honey make it unmistakably South African.
Ingredients:
500 ml milk
2 rooibos tea bags
250 g sugar
12 egg yolks
500 ml cream
1 roll puff pastry
Fynbos honey to serve
Fudge to serve
Preheat oven to 180ºC. In a saucepan, bring milk to the boil, remove from heat, and add rooibos teabags to the hot milk to infuse for 2 minutes. Remove tea bags. In a bowl, beat the sugar and egg yolks till white and fluffy. Slowly pour the hot milk into the bowl of egg yolk mixture. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and set aside.
Roll out the puff pastry and line a 12-cup medium-sized muffin pan with the pastry. Now blind bake the dough to ‘seal’ the dough and prevent the filling making it soggy: top each pastry cup with baking paper cut to size; then fill to the brim with rice or dried beans. Bake for about 10 minutes till cooked (the dough should be lightly browned and dry). Turn the oven down to 120ºC. Pour the rooibos custard mixture into the pastry cups and bake at for 30 minutes until set. Remove and allow to cool.
Serve with green figs, fynbos honey and grated fudge.
Allesverloren wines are available nationally at various outlets including Tops Spar, Checkers and Pick n Pay.
