Celebrating Valentine\u2019s Day is usually so simple – book a table at a fancy restaurant, a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, and you\u2019re good to go. Now, due to the pandemic, making these arrangements won\u2019t be so simple. But that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t celebrate the month of love. If you don\u2019t have plans yet, have no fear. The chefs at Granny Mouse Country House and Spa share culinary recipes you can try at home, that are sure to impress that special someone in your life. Or even better, book in and be rest assured we have taken all Covid-19 precautions.<\/p>\n
Smoked Salmon and Bacon Risotto<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ingredients:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 200g Smoked Salmon, cut into fine cubes Method:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Pour the oil into a heavy based sauce pan. Add the onions, turmeric and bacon, and saut\u00e9 on low heat until they become translucent. In a separate pan, gently heat the stock. Do not allow to boil, it must just be hot.<\/p>\n To the onions, add the garlic and rice. Continue to saut\u00e9 for a further 3 minutes on low heat until the garlic gets soft. Pour in the wine, and increase the heat to max. Once the wine starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium. Pour in half the chopped salmon.<\/p>\n Once the wine has reduced by half, begin to add the stock, one ladle at a time, making sure that the liquid does not drown the rice, and stir occasionally. This process should take between 10 and 13 minutes. By now the rice should have swollen, but still be a little hard to the bite. If so, add the butter 1tsp at a time and stir occasionally. When the rice has cooked, remove it from the heat. Add the salmon, chopped fennel and season with salt and pepper to taste.<\/p>\n Sprinkle the parmesan cheese when plated. Serves 2<\/p>\n Crispy Pork Belly, Red Onion Jam & Whole Grain Mash<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ingredients<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Pork <\/strong><\/p>\n 500g Pork Belly, bone removed Onion Jam<\/strong><\/p>\n 4 large Red Onions, sliced Mash<\/strong><\/p>\n 4 large Potatoes, chopped and boiled Method<\/strong><\/p>\n Place the pork belly skin side up. Sprinkle the carrots, onions and celery. Pour the stock over this and cover with foil paper. Place in an oven preheated to 140\u00b0C for 3 \u00bd hours. Transfer the belly onto another tray, place a heavy weight on it and cool overnight in the fridge.<\/p>\n Once ready, trim the edges of the pork belly so as to have either a perfect square or rectangle. Divide this by two so that you have two equal pieces. Add a little oil to a heavy based frying pan. Begin to seal the outer sides of the belly starting with the skin side. Once all sides are golden brown and the skin crispy, place in the 180\u00b0C pre-heated oven for 5 minutes.<\/p>\n For the red onion jam<\/em><\/p>\n Saut\u00e9 the onions in a pot on medium heat for about 3 minutes, add the wine and turn up the heat to high. Continue to cook on high heat until the wine has reduced by half. Once reduced, pour in the vinegar. When the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to a light simmer. Pour in the sugar and continue to cook until the liquid becomes thick and syrupy.<\/p>\n For the mash<\/em><\/p>\n Drain the boiled potatoes. Pass them through a potato masher while they are still hot. In a medium sauce pan, add butter and melt on medium heat. Add the potato and fold with a spatula breaking any lumps along the way. Once the mash is smooth and has completely combined with the butter, add the mustard and continue to fold until combined and smooth. Season with salt and pepper for taste.<\/p>\n In a frying pan, saut\u00e9 the chorizo and mushrooms until the mushrooms are cooked through. Serves two.<\/p>\n Deconstructed Banoffee Pie<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ingredients<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 1 tin Caramel Treat Base<\/strong><\/p>\n 20g Butter softened Banana Parfait<\/strong><\/p>\n 250g Banana Puree Method<\/strong><\/p>\n For the parfait. <\/em><\/p>\n Add the sugar and water to a pan and bring to 118\u00b0C. Semi whip the cream and vanilla essence until almost at soft peak stage.<\/p>\n Add the eggs to an upright electric mixer and whisk at high speed until the egg yolks become light and creamy in appearance. Once the sugar mixture has reached temperature, gradually pour it into the eggs at a steady stream. Continue to whisk at high speed until the mixture has cooled and doubled in size.<\/p>\n Once cool, gently fold in the cream followed by the banana puree. Pour into moulds and freeze for about 12 hours.<\/p>\n For the biscuit<\/em><\/p>\n Mix the crushed biscuits with the butter until they are combined and resemble a paste. Press into a mould and bake in an oven at 180\u00b0C for 5 minutes, or until it has become semi solid. Remove and cool.<\/p>\n For the cream<\/em><\/p>\n Whip the cream, vanilla essence and icing sugar together with an upright electric whisk until it forms semi hard peaks. Transfer to a piping bag.<\/p>\n To plate<\/em><\/p>\n Transfer the caramel treat into a piping bag and pipe a spiral at the centre of the plate. Slice the parfait and place just off the centre of the plate. Roughly break the biscuit and arrange randomly on the plate. Pipe the cream haphazardly alongside the parfait. Place the banana slices so that they lean on the whipped cream. Serves 4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Celebrating Valentine\u2019s Day is usually so simple – book a table at a fancy restaurant, a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, and you\u2019re good to go. Now, due to the pandemic, making these arrangements won\u2019t be so simple. But that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t celebrate the month of love. If you don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3127,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126\/revisions\/3127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goldfishcommunications.co.za\/a\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n50g Smoked Streaky Bacon
\n150g Arborio Rice
\n100ml Ros\u00e8 or White Wine
\n300ml Chicken Stock
\n\u00bd Onion, Finely Chopped
\n2 Cloves Garlic, Chopped
\n1tbsp Fennel Flowers
\n1tsp Turmeric
\n50g Butter
\n100g Parmesan Cheese
\n50ml Oil<\/p>\n
\n2 Onions, roughly chopped
\n2 Carrots, roughly chopped
\n2 Sticks of Celery, roughly chopped
\n2 Bay Leaves
\n1tsp Black Peppercorns
\n1L Chicken Stock<\/p>\n
\n100ml Red Wine
\n100ml Balsamic Vinegar
\n200g White Sugar<\/p>\n
\n3Tbsp Whole Grain Mustard
\n100g Butter
\n50g Chorizo, chopped
\n30g Broccoli Tender Stems or Florets
\n50g Pistachio Nuts
\n6 Portabellini or Button Mushrooms, cut into quarters<\/p>\n
\n1 large Banana sliced
\n500ml Double Cream
\n1tsp Vanilla Essence
\n1tsp Icing Sugar<\/p>\n
\n100g Tennis Biscuits crushed<\/p>\n
\n112g Sugar
\n75ml Water
\n185ml Double Cream
\n1tsp Vanilla Essence
\n4 Egg Yolks<\/p>\n