Sweet Potato Fish Cakes and Asian Cabbage Salad

See the dainty spoon also from Korea!

It feels like I am either getting onto a plane or exiting a plane as I am again preparing for a work trip away for a week, away from my precious Cape Town-UUURGGHH. Away for work once a month or more means at least 24 flights a year without any personal travelling, not funny let me tell you.I would definitely not make a very good air hostess, or any other hostess come to think of it!

out of the suitcase!

What with the loot I brought home from my travels in December, I could not wait to start using the food isle worth of products that came out of my suitcase. I fell in love with the simplicity of the finely shredded cabbage salad, garnished with micro greens and with a light green mayonaise dressing or also served with an Asian soy dressing in most of the Korean restaurants. I could not figure out what was in the light green dressing to make it light green but saw in the food shops that they sell the dressing with a picture of kiwi fruit on the lable, which I bought but it tasted too sweet and not like the good stuff in the restaurants-will need to google to try and find out more about this.

Round pears!

I took this photo in Korea as whilst there, I already started making the salad, but just see the massive ROUND pears you get there, biggest I have seen in my life and although slightly different in taste from our normal pear shaped pears, also very delicious and juicy. Which makes me think I want to make a pear and blue cheese salad tonight, have to have blue cheese after reading 2 blog posts this morning featuring the blues!

Sweet potato fish cakes

But back to the current post. I ” needed” fish cakes with the Asian cabbage salad ( with pineapple added) and I prefer a decent sized fish cake and not these dainty little things served as a starter in the restaurants here. I wish they would put fish cakes on the menu’s as a mains and not only as a taster/starter as is the way here in our “hood”.

Use own quantities of the following for the fish cakes (sorry but I do not measure-therefore I rarely bake…..)

Boiled and roughly mashed sweet potato

Deboned and skinless hake and salmon, poach in milk and dill until soft and flaky

Finely grated carrots and flash fry it just to take the moist out

Chopped chives, spring onions and parsley

Fish spice, salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs( ore more to bind the mixture depending on your quantities)

Flour to roll in

Dried bread crumbs to coat

Oil for frying

The process is easy, mix the ingredients and spice to taste. Roll in decent size balls and roll in the flower, dip into beaten egg and roll into the bread crumbs.

If you have time, place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set. Press lightly into warm shallow oil to flatten the ball into a round fish cake shape and fry until golden brown.

It went well with a green salad with pomegranate, grapes and lemon wedges followed by lemon coconut cream desert posted here (any excuse to use my new spoons!).

Coconut lemon cream

Random photo of the day:

late afternoon Paternoster

Paternoster

A holiday needs to end, I suppose. Back to the grrrrrind for me tomorrow and no better way to end the holiday than with a short road trip up the West Coast of the Western Cape. My friend Karin and I decided to leave the husbands behind (someone needs to work!) and went on the 400 km round trip with lots of laughing and eating (shopping…) along the way.The first stop was a farm stall for some sustenance and parrot watching. Amazing what one can find on these road trips.

Farm Stall, Yzerfontein

Over night in the coastal town of Paternoster consisted of eating fresh fish, browsing, snoozing on soft beds and a walk on the beach followed by more seafood! I went totally overboard with all the battered and deep fried everything, hake, prawns and calamari, end of holiday binge. Tomorrow we shall concentrate again.

Paternoster, fish on the beach

Paternoster means “Our Father” as a prayer by and for the many a sailor meeting their end on the ships passing and hitting the Cape of Storms, for which our seas are very much known.

Voorstrand Restaurant, Paternoster

From there we went inland to the Riebeeck Valley Wine Region and tasted olives in every shape and form.

Tasting room, Kloovenburg Riebeeck Valley

When the car boot was full of wine and olive products we returned to glorious Cape Town. Home sweet home!

Kloovenburg Wine and Olive Estate, Riebeeck Valley

At least my head is clear for the year ahead, will work on the body soonest, promise.

Home at last and Cheese Please!

I do not want to be in anything with wheels or wings soon. Back at home at last after 36 hours of continuous travel, which to say the least, was nauseating. Very. I am still dazed and confused or just more so than usual.

Seoul Airport- leg 2 of 4

Morning coffee. Home sweet home!

Morning Cape Town!

Unpacking the suitcases took me two days, what with dragging an entire food isle worth of sauces, bits and bobs, Asian products and cool kitchen stuffs with me and even 2 liters of shower gel…., I liked the smell and it was on a special. What can I say, I have problems!

In my still sleepless state and a day and night body clock on the blink, I at least have time to catch up with blog reading, obsess about the recipes I am reading and put coal to the fire of my cheese craving, cheese of any kind! The South Koreans are not big on cheese and I need to catch up on my cheese backlog.

Chef Mimi posted her Easy Baked Brie recipe and I intended making it and eating it, the whole thing, even if it killed me. Full details here:http://chefmimiblog.com/2014/01/01/easy-baked-brie/

I used for the topping:

Honey and nuts with dried cranberries and cinnamon.

Tasted it and then decided that it was too sweet and added carrot and lemon chutney/ marmalade courtesy of my sister’s preserving skills.

It of course then need a punch and I added chili sauce- kid you not it all worked well!

I placed the cheese in the oven just like Chef Mimi said I should in an old and trusted glass dish that has seen better days, my sister visited and I forgot about my precious cheese!

Disaster, the dish cracked, the over-baked cheese burst open and the cheese and pieces of glass oozed and dripped all over the place. Unholy mess and I did not have another brie. But I did have a local soft blue cheese, yes I did.

Not baked blue cheese with topping

The topping mixture went on top of the unbaked( of course) soft blue cheese and ooh it was nice! I almost forgot to take a photo(dazed) and these are the only two I have( half eaten). I do have manners, shared the cheese with the family in the end, just.

Not cheese challenge excellence but I decided to enter it anyway in the http://fromagehomage.co.uk/cheese-please-recipe-challenge/, which by the way is one of my favourite blogs, not only the cheese bits, but the whole thing.

Nice to be back home. New year, new experiences.

Mist rolling in late afternoon Cape Town, fog horn blaring.

Late afternoon mist Cape Town