The French Affair: Tables of Love, by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen.

The French Affair: Tables of Love, by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen. Random House Struik Lifestyle. Cape Town, South Africa 2013. ISBN 9781432301972 / ISBN 978-1-4323-0197-2

Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen is a South African chef du cuisine, stylist and photographer for this beautiful book, The French Affair: Tables of Love. Though the title reflects his love of France and most of the images are indeed taken there, a significant portion of the recipes are family specialities from the rural North of South Africa.

Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen  

Meatballs wrapped in cabbage with an apple and sweet chilli sauce

Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time 30 min
Cooking time: 1 hr 30 min.

There is such a depth of flavour in these meatballs and the crunchy cabbage they are gently wrapped in makes them my all-time childhood favourite. Here my grandmother (Ouma Hessie) shares her recipe.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Mix the beef mince, white bread and balsamic vinegar together and season with salt and pepper. Shape into balls and roll in Hour, shaking off the excess before placing into a buttered baking dish. Bake the meatballs for 25-30 minutes. Blanch the cabbage leaves for 30 seconds in boiling water and set aside to cool. Saute the masala in the olive oil, then add the apple, onion and peppers and saute until soft. Add the beef stock and reduce until thick. If the apple sauce is a little too thin, thicken with 1 tablespoon flour. Wrap the cooked meatballs in the cabbage leaves and place in an ovenproof dish. Pour the apple sauce, chutney and sweet chilli sauce over and bake for 45 minutes at 180 °C.

1 kg lean beef mince
3 slices white bread, soaked in 1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Salt and freshly ground black
pepper Cake jlourfor dusting 500 g cabbage leaves, washed 1 tablespoon masala spice 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 apple, peeled and cut into small
cubes 1 onion, chopped V2 green, red and yellow peppers,
cut into small cubes 1 cup beef stock 1 tablespoon peach chutney
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

Almond and Blueberry Tart

Difficulty: Medium
Preparation time: 15 min
Baking time: 45-50 min.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a tart pan with the pâté brisée and refrigerate. Seat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in the almonds, eggs and almond extract. Mix in half the blueberries.

1 batch Pàté Brisée (see page 293)
85 g butter; softened
175 g castor sugar
175 g ground almonds
2 eggs, beaten
Few drops almond extract
2 x 125 g punnets blueberries
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
Icing sugar for dusting

Spoon the filling into the pastry case. Smooth the top using the back of a metal spoon, then scatter over the remaining blueberries, pressing them in lightly. Scatter the chopped thyme over the top of the filling and bake for 45 50 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden. Also make sure the filling feels firm to the touch. Cool the tart for at least 15 minutes in the pan, then lift onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.

This is an excerpt from the cookbook: The French Affair: Tables of Love, by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen.

Title: The French Affair
Subtitle: Tables of Love
Author: Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Lifestyle
Cape Town, South Africa 2013
ISBN 9781432301972 / ISBN 978-1-4323-0197-2
Hardcover with dustjacket, 22 x 27 cm, 304 pages, 40 vintage illustrations