What's Cooking in Our Quarantine Kitchen

During the current coronavirus quarantine measures taking place across South Africa (and indeed much of the world) a small team of Old Mac Daddy staff members has been locked down at the resort, making sure everything is kept in perfect condition to welcome everyone back... as soon as it's safe for us to do so of course!

While tending to necessary the maintenance and upkeep, the team has also been having LOADS of fun in the kitchen, whipping up some tantalizing treats and dishes many of which have included ingredients we've sourced right here in our veggie garden.

Here are 4 fine dishes out of Old Mac Daddy's Quarantine Kitchen:

Homemade chicken and spinach pie with fresh-from-the-garden spinach stem starter

 

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. ' . This lockdown is really bringing out the creative culinary flair in our management, who’re currently quarantining at Old Mac Daddy ‍ . Here Hulandi, our assistant GM, shows us how she made a chicken and spinach pie with a beer-battered spinach stem starter, using the spinach that was freshly picked from our veggie garden earlier today . . For the starter, keep the stems from the spinach leaves that are often just chucked in the bin . Then prepare a batter and cook as follows: . Mix 2 cups flour with your fave veggie spice . Then add half a beer or as much as is needed to create a pancake consistency batter . Dust the spinach stems with flour, dunk them in the batter and let rest for about 15 minutes... this is a great opportunity to enjoy a glass of your favourite Elgin Valley vino . Then take the battered stems and fry at high temperature until browned to perfection . Serve with a mayonnaise or any dip you like . . For the chicken pie: Take any recipe, add your fresh spinach and lots of love . . And for a vegan option omit the chicken but retain ALL the love . . We highly recommend you try this at home.. If you do make a spinach dish inspired by Hulandi’s please share and tag us @old_mac_daddy . . We’d love to see what you’re getting up to in your quarantine kitchen

A post shared by Old Mac Daddy (@old_mac_daddy) on Mar 31, 2020 at 10:40am PDT

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Smoked brisket with homemade Jack Daniels barbecue sauce

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. ' . Our lockdown crew at Old Mac Daddy have continued to express their culinary skills with another delicious dish, this time pipin' hot directly from the Barn smoker: . Brisket with homemade Jack Daniels barbecue sauce. . If you'd like to try something like this out for yourself during quarantine, here's chef Roy's recipe for the oh-so-smaaklik sauce: . ✅ ½ cup Jack Daniels ✅ 4 x cloves chopped fresh garlic ✅ ½ cup freshly chopped onion ✅ 2 x cups tomato sauce ✅ 1/3 cup white vinegar ✅ ¾ cup molasses ✅ ½ cup brown sugar ✅ 3 x tbsp Worcestershire sauce ✅ ½ x tbsp black pepper ✅ 1 x tsp salt . . And here's how you get your sauce going: . . Lightly fry onion and garlic for a couple of minutes. Then add the rest of ingredients. . Bring all to the boil and simmer for around 30 mins until it's all saucy and lekker. . That's it. Your homemade barbecue sauce is ready to smother atop your favourite meat, meat substitute or whatever else you'd like to try it with.. It goes with almost anything, it's just good! . . FYI: Smoked brisket regularly available at Old Mac Daddy, so if that's something you'd like to enjoy, be sure to pop on in to the Barn restaurant once we're back up and running. . . Photos and recipe by @roy_r_moore

A post shared by Old Mac Daddy (@old_mac_daddy) on Apr 14, 2020 at 6:53am PDT

Oh-so-comforting butternut soup with homemade bread

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. ' The culinary adventures in Old Mac Daddy's quarantine kitchen continue. Today our lockdown crew take us through how they prepared this hearty, wholesome and heavenly roasted butternut soup with homemade bread. . . For the soup you'll need: . ✅ Some sauteed onions in a little butter (or dairy free alternative) . ✅ 2 chopped butternuts, roasted . ✅ ½ teaspoon curry (if you like curry, if you don't just leave it out) . ✅ 300 ml chicken or veggie stock . ✅ 250 ml cream (or non-dairy alternative) . . This recipe is super simple. Literally just roast the butternut and once that's ready, chuck all the ingredients in a blender, whizz it up and daarsy ‍♂️ . . Feel free to fancy it up with some freshly chopped parsley and cream as garnish. . And here's how you make the bread: . Make sure you have the following ingredients: . ✅ 4 cups brown bread flour . ✅ 1½ packets yeast . ✅ Dash of salt . ✅ 2 tablespoons sugar . ✅ 50 ml oil . ✅ 300ml (or more) lukewarm water . Then: . ✅ Mix yeast with the 300ml luke warm water . ✅ Mix all ingredients and add lukewarm yeast-water mixture little by little to form a dough . ✅ Knead the dough about 3 to 4 minutes (dough should not be too sticky) . ✅ You do not have to use all the water . ✅ Leave to rest for about 30 minutes . ✅ Punch it down (this is a really satisfying part of the process - ENJOY!) . ✅ Then add to lightly oiled bread pan and leave to rest again for about 20 minutes . ✅ Finally put in oven for. 40 minutes at 180 degrees . . For extra flavour once you remove from oven, you can rub the top of the bread with a dash of butter or vegan alternative. . . Now for the most important part: Eat.. and enjoy! . . . Photos by @roy_r_moore

A post shared by Old Mac Daddy (@old_mac_daddy) on Apr 16, 2020 at 4:57am PDT

Apple season-celebratory Old Mac apple pie

 

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. ' # Old Mac Daddy's located right in the heart of apple country, literally surrounded by apple orchards on almost all sides. It’s therefore always exciting for us when the trees start bearing fruit… as is currently the situation . To celebrate the arrival of the sweet beauties in our Elgin valley home, our quarantine kitchen has created a special Old Mac Daddy Apple Pie recipe for you to try at home. . And we want to see your culinary creations. So, if you make an Old Mac Apple Pie please share an image or video clip of it with us & use # – Our quarantine kitchen crew will choose their favourite & the winner will win a Barn restaurant voucher to the value of R500 to be redeemed at our onsite restaurant as soon as it’s safe for us to re-open ️ . We’ll announce the winner on 30th April ‍♂️ . SO, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to the important bits. . For the pie filling: . ✅ 4 cups apples, peeled & diced . ✅ 3 cups water . ✅ 1 cup sugar . ✅ 1/3 cup corn starch . ✅ Cinnamon & nutmeg (to taste) . ✅ Pinch salt . ✅ 1 tbsp butter (or dairy-free alternative) . . When ready to begin here’s what to do: . ✅ Bring all the ingredients to a boil, by slowly adding the diced apples into the mix . ✅ Let simmer for about 40 mins, or until the apples are soft, but not mushy! . ✅ Once ready, let the appley deliciousness cool down to room temperature before putting in the fridge to marinate in its mouth-watering molecules . . Once the apple mix has finished doing its deliciousy thing here’s how to whip up that prize-winning pie: . ✅ Take some puff pastry & roll it out real good . ✅ Then put the pasty in the muffin pan & fill with pie filling . ✅ Brush with egg wash (or for a vegan alternative use 2 tbsp almond milk whisked with 1 tsp agave/maple syrup) . ✅ Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 25 mins . . En daarsy, there you have your Old Mac Apple Pie! Enjoy while they stil nicely warm with some ice cream or custard or simply grab one by the hand & munch as is

A post shared by Old Mac Daddy (@old_mac_daddy) on Apr 20, 2020 at 5:04am PDT

What's next? Old Mac Daddy cookbook perhaps!