Halloween Fizz Punch

Halloween is nearly here again folks - here are a few fab recipes for your punch bowl:

Fizz Punch - The possibilities are broad with this little recipe. Simply use half the amount of Sherbert to Soda of your choice to create a bubbling fizzing punch that looks like a science experiment. It's nice to use a hollowed out pumpkin as a punch bowl to make it feel more spooky! We like Lime Sherbert with Lemon and Lime soda to make a fab green punch.

Raspberry Ghoul - Place 2 cherries and 2 blueberries in each tall glass. Add 1 tablespoon of raspberry syrup into each. Gently pour 1 cup of lemonade over the fruit and top each glass with a scoop of ice cream.

Hot Apple - In a pot combine 1litre apple juice and 3 cinnamon sticks. Wrap 1/2 tsp allspice and 1/2 tsp cloves in a small piece of cheesecloth, and add to pot. Stir in 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and keep warm ready to serve on cold spooky nights! You can make this with Cider for the Grown-ups.

Have a spooky Halloween folks!

Home-made Pasta, Easy as you like!

Seek It Out have kindly invited me to share more of my favourite recipes with you all so here I am again, writing from the Western Cape of South Africa with my latest craze: Home-made pasta.

My other half kindly bought me a pasta machine for Christmas last year, something I've wanted to try out for the longest time.

I spent some time looking up recipes and how to make but was totally put off by the time and difficulty in making the dough by hand. It wasn't until a good friend suggested that I use a food processor to mix the dough, that I really saw the potential fun in making my own because, lets face it... spending ages kneading dough wears down your enthusiasm a bit!

So here's my quick fix pasta dough recipe: (Makes enough for 2 but very easy to double up)

1 Cup Plain Flour
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Salt
Black pepper
A dash of Olive Oil
and don't forget your apron!!

Put everything into your food processor and whizz up until it's thoroughly combined.











Turn out onto a floured board and knead until you have a smooth dough, this shouldn't take long. The dough should be soft and pliable but not sticky. Just flour your hands and keep kneading until the texture is good.

Then you can run the dough int a few batches through your pasta machine if you have one, or alternatively roll out by hand. Either way is fine but do make sure you make nice thin sheets because the pasta does puff up on cooking.

I like to use a cookie cutter to make rounds which I fill with whatever happens to be in the fridge. You can really get creative here - I like to use leftover roasted sweet potato and butternut which I blend or mash and season. If you don't have a pasta machine, it is difficult and time consuming to make spaghetti  but this ravioli is really special and is really quite easy.


You can also freeze any spare ravioli on a tray then once they are solid you can turn them out into a tupperware ready to pop into boiling water for five minutes next time you need a quick meal.
I recommend making a smallish batch the first time you try so you're not daunted by making masses of pasta.





Try it out for yourself before making for a whole dinner party!
Enjoy playing with this wonderfully creative meal - top with pesto, avocado, olives, home-made sauce or whatever you can dream up!

Tricks for later

Seasons pass so fast and often we want to create something for a special occasion but we have nothing to go on. So why not start a seasons photo library. 
Every couple of weeks simply take a snap or two of things like a newly opened flower or snowy view, things that are special to that time of year. 
Download the photo's on to the computer give each a meaningful name starting with the date so you can sort should you wish. Then when in the snowy depths of winter you decide you want to make something to give later in the year, you can seasonalise it by referring to your photo record. 

You could even make your own wonderful cards from your pictures.

Easy to do, takes very little time and will hold 1000 memories.

Bottles of Sunshine

Just some of the many grapes we pressed...

Things may be a little grim in the UK over the long nights of winter but here in South Africa they are bottling sunshine...A local wine maker gave us a glimpse into how these grapes go from being food to wine.

They are carefully picked by hand at the perfect moment for making a bottle of bubbles; then loaded by the crateful to begin their journey in becoming the drink of choice at any special event.

Wine-maker Paul in action.

It's tradition in the industry to start off the days work with 'Sabrage' a tradition that is said to be good luck. The wine maker uses a blunt Sabre to open the bottle of Champagne. The pressure inside the bottle and a weakness at the neck of the bottle means that the cork and collar get pushed off the wine bottle quite easily. This only works with a bottle of bubbles and really is best not to try at home!

I got stuck into carrying duty.

After the dramatic opening of a bottle it's time to get down to work. The harvest has to be stored in a large cold room for long enough to cool to an even temperature before they are loaded into the press. Ensuring only the best juice comes out.
Then it's all hands on deck to get the crates of grapes into the press.

First press of the juice being caught.

The first juice to come off the grapes is collected in large plastic tubs to be used to make other wine because this juice is produced from bruising rather than the juice from the best part of the ripe grapes which has to be gently pressurised by the press to extract.

Large vats for fermenting.

The sparkling wine we were helping to make only uses the juice from a gentle first pressing of the grapes to make really special bubbly. This first press gets piped into huge vats; where the juice, in time, and with the loving attention of the wine maker becomes the wine we so love to pop at weddings.

Barrels of bubbles.

Bubbles made anywhere but Champagne in France cannot actually be labelled as Champagne but sparkling wine is made beautifully right here in the Cape.

A well earned cool down.

So next time you make a toast think of the sunshine that goes into the bottle.











Please drink responsibly and within safe limits.