The Restory Retreat Centre

We are constantly on the lookout for easy and tasty recipes to serve during retreats. The criteria are strict but simple: it has to be comforting and wholesome and often need to meet dietary requirements such as being suitable for vegetarians or diabetics. This lovely dish ticks all the boxes and even meat lovers find nothing amiss. Sebastien takes a shortcut with the lentils that works like a charm: he doesn't cook the lentils beforehand as the original recipe advises, but he pours boiling water over the lentils and let them soak while he prepares the aubergine slices. By the time the dish is assembled, he merely drains the lentils and add them to the pot. They have a lovely texture that way. Serve this moussaka simply piping hot with a crisp salad on the side. And if possible safe some for the next day. It tastes even better then. Picture by Matilda Angus Ingredients: 400g Aubergine (sliced thinly in rounds) 50ml olive oil salt and black pepper 1 red onio...

Gluten-free pumpkin and coconut fritters with homemade fig preserve. Photo by Matilda Angus Trying to follow a gluten-free diet is not easy. Mainly because we are so used to having staples like bread and pasta, and not to mention snacks like cookies, rusks and muffins! As any serious dieter will tell you, the secret to sticking to the regime is to avoid feeling deprived. The fact that problems with blood sugar levels and colon are a thing of the past, makes up for a lot of what have to be sacrificed, but yet, by now I know the look in George's face that says "I will swim the mighty Apies river for a brownie or a slice of lemon meringue pie." We are lucky. The gluten-free revolution have brought along huge advances and variety in products that are easy to use, if rather expensive. For a special treat (or an emergency), I keep a packet of gluten-free cake flour in the pantry. Today I tried my hand at pumpkin fritters which is a very traditional South African co...

Home made fresh cheese and yogurt. Photo by Matilda We never realized that we would meet more cattle than cars on the dirt road to any of our closest towns! This is one of many luxuries we enjoy that we never imagined or consciously asked for when we decided to swop city life for living in deep country. To others this may sound trivial, but it forms part of a greater whole which is altogether as wholesome and soulsome as freshly baked bread with butter. We cannot get over the wonderful views from most any window, the quiet, the incredible night sky, the friendly neighbours, the lush growth, fresh air, sunsets, seasonal color scapes, bird life and unhurried tempo. To then also have the advantage of stepping out any morning, walking down to the milk shed and returning with a jug frothing with warm-from-the-udder cow's  milk, feels like a true luxury, especially since we don't need to keep our own cows, but freely share in the bounty of our benevolent landlord. With many...

Bounty of first crop figs from our kindly landlady I tried my hand at Green fig preserve and I am rather pleased with the result. It being fig season in the Southern hemisphere, I share my recipe with you. It is a combination of recipes sourced from recipe books and the internet and adapted to the availability of ingredients in my pantry.  Ingredients: 2 kg green figs, nicely swollen but not hollow. Also it is suggested that figs from the first crop be used as it gets too ripe and bitter later on in the season.  2,5 kg sugar 2 liters of water 40 ml lemon juice 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger root, peeled 6 young fig leaves, rinsed(it enhances the fig flavor if boiled with the figs) Method: Wash figs and prick all over. Soak overnight in a solution of 30 ml bicarbonate of soda to 3 liters of water. Next day, rinse the figs well and bring to boil 3 liters of water. Add figs and boil for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain. Bring the water, s...

A view of the "Rocks", the "Ruins" and the Vegetable and Herb garden.  Ever since we arrived here, I knew I would regret not journaling more diligently about our settling-in days. But most evenings found us dead beat. So much had to be done, so much happened! I am sorry I didn’t journal each and every day. But here we are on the evening of Day 77 at Barrowfield. Better late than never. On Day 75 our landlady, whom we had met only briefly once before, paid us a surprise visit. She arrived just as we discovered that our water tank had at last filled to overflowing. (See the post  Finally! ) I was trying to take a picture of this momentous occasion and George suggested that he stand under the overflow with an umbrella to demonstrate the marvel. So there we were, standing in the veld, he, clad in his blue worker’s overalls and holding a large umbrella, and I, sporting gumboots and camera. I’m not sure what she thought of this spectacle, but we cut short the ph...

While Eylene was living in Nieu Zealand, we stayed in contact through the internet and many long phone calls. The distance between us being literally halfway around the globe felt immense and I often had an incredible longing to be able to just give her a hug.        What gave unexpected comfort, was sharing recipes. We both enjoy cooking and baking and she would often ask for a family recipe to counter the attacks of loneliness. There's nothing as soothing as the familiar fragrance of a leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic roasting in your foreign kitchen, she would say.        She sent me this recipe of a Chocolate mud cake. It is totally decadent and incredibly rich, so it goes a long way in small portions, but if you need a little extra loving care from yourself, this is it.          I baked it recently for my friend Ralie's birthday tea. I decorated it with fresh jasmine blossoms and tiny violets from my garde...

Still on the feel-good yellow theme, I baked a batch of Beskuit this morning. This is a traditional pantry favourite in South Africa: a hard, dry type of biscuit also known as Rusks which had been baked twice and gets dunked into a hot beverage such as coffee or tea before eating. If ever I compile a recipe book, it would go under the section: Comfort food.     The origin of this confectionery is uncertain, but it also strongly resembles what is known to Italians as Biscotti. The French word "biscuit" meaning "twice baked" casts some explanation as to where our Beskuit got its name.     There are as many recipes for Beskuit as there are families, it seems, and in some instances these recipes are guarded as family secrets, along with recipes for the best koeksisters and biltong and all such things proudly South African.     Some prefer it made from white, sifted cake flour, flavoured with anise or buttermilk, sometimes studded with raisins, some leaven...

Bounty from the farm: Two crates of  freshly picked, plump passion fruit Irresistible insides!  Passion preserved. In South Africa we call them granadillas. But I prefer the name passion fruit, like they are also known widely. This name is derived from an analogy drawn centuries ago by Spanish Missionaries to South America between the flower's anatomy and Christ's Crucifixion. They called it Flor de las cinco lagas (flower of the five wounds) .  Hence the name passion fruit.  But for me it has more to do with a sensation bordering on bliss when I take a mouthful of fragrant pulp. It is near impossible to describe the taste: a tantalizing tartness combined with something like a flowery perfume fills your mouth and overwhelms your tastebuds before it slips down your throat with a silky coolness. I can never get enough of passion fruit. So it felt like Christmas when Leon gifted me with two huge crates filled with passion fruit that didn't make the ...

I always try to choose the menu for lunch on Quiet days carefully. I have to be able to prepare it in advance to allow myself to also enjoy the quiet. It has to be something that can wait patiently on the table for retreatants to eat at will, without wilting, drying out, or, heaven forbid, going bad. For yesterday's Quiet Day I prepared an old favourite, Butternut and Leek Quiche, the recipe of which I got from my friend Anita, who is one of the best cooks I know. It bursts with flavour and is not for the lactose intolerant among us, containing cheddar and feta cheese as well as cream (I use double thick yoghurt as substitute). Also, the crust is the best and easiest I have ever made! The only real effort goes into cutting the butternut into chunks, but I scrub and wash it well and use it unpeeled. The skins goes soft and just slightly chewy which gives it an interesting texture, while also keeping the cubes from cooking to a pulp. Perfect fair for the holidays and lovely se...

I’ve never been snowed in. In South Africa this will be a newsworthy event, especially if it happened in Pretoria, where the lowest temperatures in winter resemble summer days in Vancouver. But a little more than a week ago, on Monday, the 20 th day of February, I had a snowbound day.  I awoke to the sound of gentle rain patting on the leaves of the mulberry tree outside my window. Late February and already the days are getting noticably shorter. Far away the hadidas were proclaiming the day in a most ungraceful way. I lay quietly for a moment, recouping on the weekend and contemplating the week ahead. For one, I won't be driving anywhere today, I thought: my car’s battery pack had simply passed away after starting with just a little sluggish behaviour late last week.  The previous evening though, when I turned the key in the ignition, I found it dead. No need to go anywhere! With a very good reason not to go anywhere! It gave me such a delicious, indulgant ...

I love trying new recipes. Especially those that call for unusual ingredients or combinations of ingredients. And so I buy limes because they have exactly that –a hint of otherness. They seem somehow loftier than their relatives- oranges and lemons being so ordinary. Not l imes. Their subtle taste and fragrance satisfies my yearning for the unusual, the exceptional. I find it exhilarating that there exists such a thing as a lime.      I put them in a pretty bowl and pass by them day by day thinking that I must use them for something special. Simply juicing it like some common orange and drinking the fresh juice just won’t do. And so a week passes, and then two. And the limes in my bowl become withered and dry while the apples and bananas come and go in quick succession to nourish me at breakfast time.      Why do I do this? I seem to have a tendency to treat anything special this way. Fresh cherries, strawberries or gooseberries. Tender asparagus ...