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Daily Maverick
04-08-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
Lekker Brekker Monday: Ratatouille scrambled eggs
Tomatoes, courgettes and onion are combined to make the base of a one-pan scramble. Ratatouille doesn't have to be as complex and 'cheffy' a thing as the plotline of the famous movie would demand. And Anton Ego isn't going to twitch his critical nose in disgust at the mere sight of this simple breakfast. And that's the point: it's easy and it's quick. And who has the time to spend an hour over making breakfast anyway. Ratatouille can have a number of ingredients in it but at its core it's about tomatoes, courgettes, onion and — if this weren't intended to be eaten at breakfast time — garlic. I generally leave garlic out of any breakfast recipe, for the obvious reason that we don't want to be breathing it over everyone we see that day who hasn't had garlic for breakfast. Leave garlic to lunch or dinner. But aubergine (brinjal) is often found in ratatouille too, and peppers (capsicum) can make an appearance. Fresh herbs are de rigueur, so I included parsley, but basil, thyme and/or oregano would all be welcome. I restricted it to the aforementioned tomato, onion and courgettes, otherwise this scramble would have been unwieldy. Tony's ratatouille scrambled eggs (Serves 2-4) Ingredients 6 XL eggs 4 Tbsp olive oil 1 medium white onion, sliced 4 small courgettes, sliced 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped ⅓ cup chopped parsley Salt and black pepper to taste Method Chop and slice your vegetables. Heat a little oil in a pan and sauté the onion until lightly golden. Remove to a side dish. Add more oil, heat, and add the sliced courgettes. Cook, stirring, until they have softened and taken on some colour. Add all the chopped tomatoes, season with salty and pepper, and continue to cook until it smells fragrant, 3 or 4 minutes, stirring. Add most of the parsley, return most of the onion to the pan, and stir to combine. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk. Add the beaten egg and cook, stirring and scraping, until the eggs have cooked. Taste, adjust seasoning if needed, and serve, with the remaining bits of onion on top and some chopped parsley to garnish. DM Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.
Daily Maverick
01-08-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
AirFryday: Cheesy stuffed mushrooms, air fryer style
There's a lovely bite to these mushrooms thanks to the red chillies in them, and they're deliciously cheesy too. Here's another mushroom recipe for the air fryer, not long after I shared this simpler one with you. The big brown fungi are in fine form right now, and when in season any fresh food is likely to be at its best, so take advantage. These are quite different though – this recipe is as much about the stuffing (and they really are stuffed, which I'll explain) as it is about the mushrooms themselves. Here's a tip: that little stem that stares at you when you turn a mushroom upside down is best removed. Its texture isn't nearly as nice as that of the cap, and – especially if you're going to stuff a mushroom – it gets in the way. So, just use a small, sharp knife to cut around the edge of it and pluck it out to be discarded. Another tip: don't just pack your ingredients in, one after the other. Chop and grate everything and put it all in a small(ish) bowl, mix it together with a fork (and season it as well in the process) and then spoon it into the mushroom. Pack it down firmly, using the pack of the spoon, and keep packing more stuffing in until it's all used up. If at this point the mushrooms are not yet full to the brim and you've run out of stuffing, grate extra cheese and pack it on until they're slightly convex at the top. Right? With an upwards curve, rather than down… a meniscus if you like. My stuffing mixture comprised a smallish red onion, grated cheese (I used a mixture of smoked Dutch cheese and Emmental, but any good melting cheese will do), chopped fresh parsley, 2 red chillies (that is, per four mushrooms), fresh garlic, salt and black pepper. I cooked them in the air fryer at just 160°C for 14 minutes, at which point they were beautifully browned on top. Tony's stuffed big brown mushrooms, air fryer style (Makes 4 stuffed mushrooms) Ingredients 4 big brown mushrooms 1 small red onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped ⅓ cup parsley, finely chopped 2 red chillies, seeded and finely chopped Salt to taste Black pepper to taste Olive oil spray 2 cups cheese, grated Method Cut the stems out of the mushroom and season the insides lightly with salt and black pepper. In a small bowl, mix all of the stuffing ingredients together, including the seasoning, and stir with a fork until properly combined. Spoon it evenly into the four mushrooms and pack it down tightly. Preheat the fryer to 160°C. Spray the bottom of the fryer with cooking oil spray. Spray some on top of the stuffed mushrooms too. Air fry at 160°C for 10 minutes, check to see if the top of the stuffing has browned to your liking, and continue cooking for 2 to 4 minutes more if you'd like them to brown some more. DM Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.
Daily Maverick
18-07-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
AirFryday: Baby gem squash, cooked in an air fryer in minutes
Somewhere along the way, somebody decided it was a good idea to pick gem squash when they've barely started developing, whereupon lots of people thought, what a good idea, let's cook these flavourless little green things and pretend we like them. Baby gem squash need help. There's not much flavour in them, and I sometimes think it's a shame to cull them so young, before they have a chance to grow up and become those lovely adult gem squash that I like to cook with parmesan and lots of butter. Their one advantage is that you can eat the whole thing, their shells being so soft that they're merely a part of the fruit itself. Yes, squash are fruit. I have a similar problem with patty pans. They have hardly any flavour to speak of, other than tasting vaguely squashy. Or squishy. Like patty pans, baby gems need to have flavour added to them if they're to be at all palatable. But, just add flavour, and that little problem is solved. I decided to give them a go in an air fryer and see how they turned out. Not bad, actually. Tony's baby gem squash cooked in an air fryer (Serves 2 as a side dish) Ingredients 6 to 8 baby gem squash 3 Tbsp Tokara premium multivarietal extra virgin olive oil, or similar 2 tsp Rozendal fynbos vinegar, or balsamic vinegar 1 tsp garlic powder 1 Tbsp oregano leaves, or 1 tsp dried oregano Salt and black pepper to taste Method Add the olive oil, fynbos vinegar, herbs and seasonings to a bowl and whisk. Slice the tops off the baby gems, slice them in half through the middle, and add them to the bowl. Toss well. Preheat the air fryer to 200°C. Cook for 15 minutes, shaking the basket after 5 and 10 minutes. If not soft enough for your liking, cook for 3 to 5 minutes more. They should be ready to serve as a side dish. DM Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.
