GUEST FOOD BLOG: BRINGING SUN-SHINE TO THE KITCHEN
- O&A Team
- March 21, 2024
- Features
- Chef Georgina Hill, Chef Ofentse Morake, The Maslow Sandton, Vegan recipe, Vegetarian food, Wild Coast Sun
- 0 Comments
Sun International chefs Georgina Hill and Ofentse Morake share some recipes with Out & About
COOKING ON THE WILD SIDE
Upon meeting Wild Coast Sun’s Executive Chef, Georgina Hill, one immediately gets the impression that she rules her kitchen brigade with a firm hand while inviting a sense of collaboration.
“You can’t achieve anything alone – I need my team beside me,” she says of the five senior chefs and 30 commis chefs with whom she manages five outlets at the resort – Chico’s, Calypso, Country Club, Salon Privé and banqueting.
She started at Wild Coast Sun last year after more than 10 years as Executive Chef at fellow Sun International property, Golden Valley, in Worcester.
“I did 20,000 steps on my first day at Wild Coast Sun – this property is just huge, but it is absolutely beautiful. If you’re stressed you step outside and take in the ocean. It’s a different world,” Hill enthused about her work location on the border of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The 43-year-old chef has had a love of food since she first drove along gravel roads on her quad bike at 4am, aged 15, to her weekend job at a Polokwane hotel. “I had expensive taste so my parents told me to get a job. I started working in the kitchen and soon realised how much fun it was. I never saw myself working in an office.”
After school, Hill accepted an offer to work in hospitality on the Isle of Man and later completed a diploma in gourmet cooking and catering while working at a pub. She and husband Jackie relocated back to South Africa after the birth of their first child. “Jackie was working in hospitality but he switched to real estate which gives him more time at home with our three kids while I work late nights and weekends.”
A practising vegetarian, Hill is fully on-board with vegan and gluten-free dietary requirements, although she says she has tried all types of meat and is perfectly comfortable cooking everything from a slow braised lamb shank to a mutton curry. “It is challenging to cook with ingredients you don’t eat, because how can you cook it if you don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like – so I try everything at least once.”
Diners can expect to see more vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan dishes popping up on the resort’s buffet and menus – although Wild Coast Sun is frequented by many regulars who also love their curries and meat. “We have been refining the menus slowly and changing things up. Many of the chefs have been here a long time so I am focused on upskilling the team. We try to use what is locally produced so that ingredients don’t have to be brought in from Johannesburg.”
Golfers have been enjoying a refresh at the Country Club, with the introduction of salads for lighter fare, a mutton burger and solid meals like Gatsby’s and bunny chows to cure hunger pangs after 18-holes of golf. “Bacon and egg rolls remain a popular staple, so these have been kept but we improved the plating – because we eat with our eyes first.”
If she’s cooking for her family, Hill makes a crock pot lasagne, and for guests, vegan French toast which she says “tastes amazing and you don’t even realise it contains no eggs”.
Airfryer enthusiasts will be relieved to hear that one of her favourite kitchen gadgets at home is this ubiquitous machine, and at work, she values proper knives.
“As a chef you are never too old to learn – so keep trying new things – sometimes they flop but almost everything can be rescued. Make sure you have fun cooking because you can taste the love in the food.”
Chef Georgina’s Favourite Vegan Curry Recipe
I like different textures and flavours – and having had the privilege of spending a couple of years overseas – there is so many variations of this fabulous and flavoursome dish.
The main component of the dish is my butternut and chickpea coconut curry, which can be served in your bunny chow or other side dish.
BUTTTERNUT AND CHICKPEA COCONUT CURRY
INGREDIENTS
100g Onion – chunky chopped
1 Tbsp Garlic – Crushed
1 Tbsp Ginger – Crushed
100g Red Pepper – chunky chopped
3 Red Chillis
Whole Butternut peeled and cubed.
Carrot peeled and finely diced.
Potato Peeled and chunky chopped.
1 can Chickpeas – drained
1 Tbsp tomato paste
* 1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
* Star Anise
* Cinnamon sticks
* ½ Tbsp Paprika
* 1 Tbsp Harissa Paste
1 Tbsp Curry Powder – your favourite blend (heaped)
* 1 tsp Turmeric
* 10 Black Peppercorns
* 1 Tbsp Veggie Stock powder (or Cube)
* 1 Can Coconut Cream
* Salt to season
* 2 Tbsp Oil
I cut the butternut into bite size cubes and then toss in oil with cumin seeds, chilli powder, paprika, salt and roast until just soft.
Then I make my curry sauce – sweating the onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, red pepper and spices.
Add 1 cup of water (with the veggie stock added) and the potatoes. Cook until soft before adding the coconut cream.
I leave it to cook slowly – until lightly bubbling finally adding the chickpeas and butternut before serving.
This dish can be served with whatever you fancy – rice, caulirice, roti, naan bread or as a bunny.
BRINGING ITALY TO AFRICA
Executive Chef Ofentse Morake brings passion and mentorship to The Maslow’s kitchen brigade
Food has always been intrinsically linked to family and friends for Ofentse Morake, The Maslow, Sandton’s new executive chef who plans to carry this ethos of gathering around a table for a meal into the four-star Sun International hotel’s operations.
The 35-year-old’s curiosity for cooking was ignited by his six aunts and, after a short stint in the United Kingdom after school and a false start at the University of Johannesburg, he decided to turn his passion for food into a career. He studied an International Professional Chefs Diploma through Capsicum Culinary Studio and hasn’t looked back since.
“I was able to do an internship at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida, that turned into a commis chef role for just over a year,” Morake says.
It was here that he worked under the chef he credits as being his first mentor, Dan Vargo, who taught him to be dedicated and detail-orientated, and to always carry something with which to take notes.
He joined The Maslow on August 1 from his previous role as cluster executive chef for two four-star hotels in Johannesburg, and three years as Consulting Head Chef at a five-star luxury lodge in Tanzania. One of the proudest moments in his career was when the Johannesburg restaurant he co-owned was named in the Eat Out Top 100 Restaurants.
His approach to food is to source the freshest and most seasonal ingredients and prepare them in clever and interesting ways. “A good meal must engage the senses – from the eyes to the smell and taste.”
Maslow guests can expect changes to the menu of the Lacuna Bistro and Bar to include more sharing aspects with a Modern Mediterranean style of food – possibly inspired by his fourth trip to Italy last year. “They can take something as simple as a piece of toasted crostini, rub it with garlic and pair it with fresh basil, tomato and buffalo mozzarella and it is just phenomenal.”
He joined The Maslow on August 1 from his previous role as cluster executive chef for two four-star hotels in Johannesburg, and three years as Consulting Head Chef at a five-star luxury lodge in Tanzania. One of the proudest moments in his career was when the Johannesburg restaurant he co-owned was named in the Eat Out Top 100 Restaurants.
The menu he has in his head features “great dishes, with simple ingredients and slow cooking elements which showcase the brilliance of comfort food that shines and is uniquely The Maslow”. Morake’s three most essential ingredients for flavour are garlic, onions, and chilli, or what he calls “the holy trinity of the kitchen”, but he avoids cooking anything more exotic than warthog. “No lion or crocodile for me, please.”
His first task as Executive Chef has been to update the staff canteen menus. “This has a trickle-down effect for service levels in the hotel – happy staff take better care of our guests.”
If Johannesburg Metro Police had to pull Morake over on his way home from work, they’d be surprised to find a full set of knives in his boot. “My chef’s knives are like my children and my mind is most at ease when I know exactly where they are. I once found them being used to open tins – that person quickly found out not to do that again,” he laughs.
A self-confessed fire addict, Morake loves grilling over hot coals, and if you find him at home, with a game of Manchester United on the TV, he could be seasoning a Tomahawk steak with BBQ spice and a touch of curry powder or preparing a tilapia with a fresh salsa verde or chimichurri.
BEETROOT AND APPLE SOUP
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
3-4 medium beetroot (about 500-600g) choped into small dice
1 Granny smith apple (cored and peeled)
1 Clove garlic, chopped roughly.
1 English cucumber, peeled and finely chopped.
2 Tbsp olive oil
200ml/16½fl oz good light veg stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp each of toasted cumin, coriander, chilli flakes, fennel seed
100ml cloudy apple juice, fresh squeezed
½ Lemon
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Place the beets, olive oil, spices and a drizzle of honey in an ovenproof dish.
Throw over the garlic and drizzle over half the olive oil.
Roast for 25-30 minutes in the oven until soft and pulpy and allow to cool
Transfer the beets to a blender and add the apples, stock, juice and cucumber
Season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper and blend into a smooth and creamy consistency is reached. Check seasoning and adjust if need be before adding a squeeze of lemon juice and serving cold in a bowl.
Note: Serve topped with a dollop of lavender yoghurt and garnished with fresh mint.
ROSEMARY FOCCACIA
4 cups (512 g) Bread flour
2 teaspoons (10 g) Table salt
2 teaspoons (8 g) Instant yeast
2 cups (455 g) Lukewarm water, made by combining 1/2 cup boiling water with 1 1/2 cups cold water
Butter for greasing
4 tablespoons Olive oil
Maldon flaky sea salt
1 to 2 teaspoons Picked rosemary leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed, and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball.
Rub the surface of the dough lightly with olive oil.
Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerate preferably overnight but for minimum 3 hours
NOTE: It is important the dough really be well lubricated with olive oil especially if you are using a cloth as opposed to plastic wrap or a hard lid. If you are using a cloth, consider securing it with a rubber band to make a more airtight cover. If you do not lubricate the dough with enough oil, you risk the dough drying out and forming a crust.
Grease a baking dish (stainless steel) with butter.
Pour a tablespoon of oil into the centre of the pan.
Using your hands, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl in quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.
Press the dough into the greased baking dish and rest for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature
Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 220°F.
Sprinkle rosemary leaves over the dough.
Pour a tablespoon of olive oil over the dough.
Rub your hands lightly in the oil to coat, then, using all your fingers, press straight down to create deep dimples. If necessary, gently stretch the dough as you dimple to allow the dough to fill the pan. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt all over.
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the underside is golden and crisp.
Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the focaccia to a cooling rack. Let it cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving; let it cool completely if you are halving it with the intention of making a sandwich.
