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ROUSES.COM
33
SOUTH AFRICA
Bobotie
Serves 8
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
3
tablespoons butter
2
tablespoons Rouses vegetable oil
2
onions, chopped
½ teaspoon crushed garlic
1
tablespoon curry powder
1
teaspoon ground turmeric
1
pound minced lamb or minced beef
½ cup bread crumbs
¼ cup Rouses whole milk
4
tablespoons lemon juice
1
tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
1
egg
1
teaspoon Rouses salt
1
teaspoon Rouses black pepper
3
ounces dried apricots, chopped
1
Granny Smith apple peeled, cored and chopped
¼ cup golden raisins
1½ ounces slivered almonds, toasted in a dry frying pan
6
bay leaves
TOPPING
1
cup Rouses whole milk
2
eggs
½ teaspoon Rouses salt
HOW TO PREP
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Use 1 tablespoon butter to grease a large casserole.
Heat remaining butter and oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry onion and garlic
until translucent and fragrant, stir in the curry powder and turmeric. Remove skillet
from the heat and add the minced meat, stirring to coat.
In a medium size bowl, mix together the crumbs, milk, lemon rind and juice, egg,
salt, pepper, apricots, apple, raisins and almonds.
Place minced meat in the casserole using a fork or spoon to level the top. Make a
second layer with milk and fruit mixture. Roll up the bay leaves and bury them at
regular intervals. Cover casserole with foil and bake for 75 minutes.
Raised oven temperature to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together milk,
eggs and salt. Pour over casserole. Bake uncovered until lightly browned, about 15
minutes. Serve with rice or grits.
outside of Capetown, through the hills and valley and
wine farms of Stellenbosch, where Mulderbosh and
Neil Ellis are made, Franschhoek, and Paarl (where
Man Vintners, Nederburg and Fairview are produced).
Along with the above, Rouses carries also carries Protea
(named after South Africa’s national flower), Grinder
Pinotage (a South African crossing of Pinot Noir and
Cinsault), Fairview, Rib Shack, and Beach House (one
of the biggest selling South African wines in the United
States).
Lunch was at Babylonstoren, one of the oldest Cape
Dutch farms. There are eight plus acres of vegetable,
fruit and flower gardens from which the chef at Babel
selects her ingredients (flowers were featured in many
of the dishes). Babel is an example of true farm-to-
table cooking, and the menu changes by season, specials
by day. I picked up a great idea to make salads more
interesting: arrange them by color. I chose the yellow
salad that day, made with pineapple, gooseberries,
granadillas, yellow tomatoes and apricots (the other
salads were red and green). Main courses were lamb,
chicken, beef and fish (there was a vegetarian version
as well). Desserts were divided by flavor — sweet, sour,
spicy, bittersweet and sweet-and-sour. After lunch and
a stroll through the gardens, we piled back in the bus
for a return trip to Capetown. The next morning it was
back to the States.
South Africa was exotic, but I felt right at home,
from the pap and sausages and seafood we ate, to
the friendliness of the people, to the cacophony of
languages and accents (I live in New Orleans, where
people speak Uptown, Metairie, and Kenner
brah
, and
I work with Cajun in Thibodaux and Lafayette, and
drawlers in Denham Springs, Mississippi and Lower
Alabama, so I’m used to it). I can’t wait to go back.