Boerekos

The best place for a Sunday lunch

is around your own table.

Ideally, you should start Saturday evening, by putting the lamb in the oven for an 

overnight slow bake, top and tail the green beans, and peel and chunk the pumpkin.

My little desktop oven has a timer switch of one hour only, so that means either staying up very

late or doing your baking in batches.

So, this was my Saturday night prep:

Only notice now that it looks as if something has taken a big bite out of the leg! hahaha maybe a wolf?

Lay the leg down on a bed of Provençal herbs

Lavender, Rosemary and Thyme.

Stuff the leg with slivers of fresh garlic.

To enhance the Mediterranean flavours, add  a bay leaf or two,

and, if you were thinking ahead, some preserved lemons.

Mine came out perfectly this time, and retained their sunny colour amazingly.

I also added a sprinkling of my own home-made lavender-infused olive oil

My two new baby Maidenhair Ferns needed to be moved to the kitchen

window for today.   

I warned them Sat eve, so I hope they enjoyed their brief day on the window sill.

Tonight I will move them back to their spotlight position.

The bright orange Japanese pumpkins are so fresh and young, with delicate skins.

I didn't even bother peeling them, just scooped out the seeds, cut in chunks and in they went, 

with lashings of butter, sugar and 4 giant scrolls of cinnamon, from Indonesia.

Snake Beans are delicious cooked the Chinese way.

Today, however, I gave them the boere treatment with a touch of garlic,

diced onion and potato cubes.   And lots of salt and blac pepper.

Kept peeling to a minimum today, and decided to do the potatoes a la Bacar,

Spanish Tapas Restaurant in Soho.

Skins on, parboiled, then cut into wedges.

The topping is Peppadew and Garlic Seasoning, from Pick n Pay, South Africa.

Nothing Spanish about that, but I did add magnificent fresh Rosemary that I 

bought in South Africa during Easter, dried in the sun, and brought back to 

Hong Kong in a zip locked bag.

The smell of the roasting meat drove me crazy, and I hope my neighbours too!

The cook's prerogative,

or like we say in Afrikaans,

die ophangbeentjie vleisietjie vir die kok.

Cauliflower with melted cheddar cheese
and a Rocket salad with tomatoes,cucumber, green pepper, peppadews and Fairview feta cheese
completed the picture.

Then there was no more time for photo taking, 

but just  eating like a princess, according to Rennie.

I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, but as usual the potatoes are all gone!