Ingredients:

• 350 g pasta
• 30 ml oil
• 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
• 5 courgettes, sliced
• 1 aubergine, cubed
• 200 g baby tomatoes, halved
• 300 g broccoli florets
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 100 g (use up to 200 g) blue cheese

Method:

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan.
Add the vegetables and garlic and sauté until the vegetables are slightly soft but still crisp.
Add the pasta to the wok or pan and mix well.
Serve with crumbled blue cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

Recommended wine: Try The Welmoed Chenin Blanc with this dish.

Source: food24

Ingredients:

• 30 ml olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 250 g brown mushrooms, chopped
• 150 g smoked ham, thinly sliced
• 30 ml cake flour
• 500 ml prepared vegetable stock
• 250 ml reduced fat cream
• Salt and pepper taste
• 4 crispy round portuguese rolls or potjie rolls
• Fresh parsley

Method:

Sauté the onions and celery in the oil until soft, then add the mushrooms and fry until also softened.

Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, coating all the veggies.

Place back onto the heat and add the stock, cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes or so.

Add the cream and heat through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hollow out the bottoms of each roll and fill them with soup. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Recommended wine: The Welmoed Sauvignon Blanc will pair well with this soup.

Source: food24

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 skinless free-range chicken breast fillets – sliced thinly
• 60 ml sweet chilli sauce of your choice
• Salt to taste
• 2 pita breads
• Beetroot slaw:
• 125 ml raw beetroot – julienned or cut into strips
• 125 ml cucumber – cubed finely
• A few tablespoons plain low fat or Greek yoghurt
• The juice of half a lime
• Salt to taste

Method:

Heat a pan on medium and add the olive oil. Add the chicken strips and fry on both sides till browned.

Add sweet chilli sauce and stir through the chicken until it’s cooked. Don’t overcook – chicken will dry out.

Add salt to taste.

Mix all slaw ingredients together, or add to the pita as separate components.

Place pita breads in toaster, slice in half and stuff with chicken and beetroot slaw.

Squeeze lime juice over and serve.

Recommended wine: Try the Welmoed Chenin Blanc with this meal.

Source: food24

One of the great pities of the wine world is that somehow, some way, sparkling wines have gotten the reputation of being associated only with celebrations. Stuff and nonsense! The most probable reason is that in the past, sparkling wines were expensive and presenting them at an important event indicated the extreme in luxury.

That was then, this is now and there are many sparkling wines on the market that are of excellent quality and are extremely affordable. Sparkling wines are the perfect accompaniment to almost any meal, from filet mignon to meat loaf. Where wine can add elegance to a meal, sparkling wines will add opulence.

South African and Australian wine producers have perfected the manufacture of sparkling wines and are now producing them at very reasonable prices, making them readily available to one and all. These are wines that should be considered in place of “the usual suspects” to grace your table on all occasions.

The Welmoed Charmat Brut is a perfectly manufactured sparkling wine. It has elegant, zesty tropical fruit flavours with fresh bubbles and a clean, crisp finish. Serve well chilled as an aperitif or on its own regardless of the occasion.

Source: sun-sentinel.com

Here’s a delightfully interesting dinner idea. This whole roasted pumpkin is packed full of flavour, to pair great with a glass of Welmoed.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized pumpkin
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 2 large onions – peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic – peeled and finely chopped
• 2 Tbs fresh sage – chopped
• 500 g mixed mushrooms – thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp grated nutmeg – optional
• 200 g breadcrumbs
• 200 g Parmesan cheese – grated
• 200 g Emmental cheese – grated
• 500 g mascarpone cheese
• 2 eggs – beaten

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Wash the pumpkin and dry off, then place on a baking tray and bake for 40 -50 minutes until it is just soft enough to easily slice with a knife.

Cut off the top of the pumpkin, about a third from the top, to make a cap. Using an ice-cream scoop with a serrated edge, scrape out the seeds and strands from the pumpkin and set aside the shell.

In a large frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and add the olive oil.

Sauté the onions, garlic and sage over low heat until soft, taking care not to burn. Add the mushrooms and sauté until soft. Season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg, and remove the pan from the heat.

In a separate small frying pan, brown the breadcrumbs in the remaining butter. Set asied 1/2 cup of the toasted breadcrumbs as well as 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan.

In a bowl, mix the remaining breadcrumbs and Parmesan, and the Emmental mascarpone and eggs.

Add this to the mushroom mixture and mix well.

Fill the cavity of the pumpkin with this mixture. Sprinkle the top with some of the set-aside toasted breadcrumbs and Parmesan, and replace the pumpkin’s cap.

Return to the oven and roast for 50 – 60 minutes or until the pumpkin is very soft. Sprinkle over the remaining toasted breadcrumbs and Parmesan for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Put the whole pumpkin on the table and dish up from the ‘bowl’, making sure to include some pumpkin in every helping. Altenatively, slice generous wedges.

Recommended wine: Try the Welmoed Chardonnay with this dish.

Source: food24

Ingredients:

• 500 gram butternut, peeled and cubed
• 500 gram Fresh potato gnocchi
• 125 millilitre White wine
• 35 gram Pine nuts
• 125 millilitre Cream
• 250 millilitre Milk
• 1 sachet KNORR Alfredo Pasta Sauce
• 5 millilitre Robertsons Sage

Method:

1. Steam peeled and cubed butternut in the microwave with a little salted water for 10 minutes until soft.
2. Remove from microwave, drain and mash with a potato masher until smooth but do not add any butter or margarine.
3. Boil a pot of salted water and place gnocchi into the boiling water.
4. When the gnocchi floats up to the surface of the water it means it is cooked – this will take about 4–5 minutes.
5. Remove cooked gnocchi from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.
6. Heat a large based frying pan.
7. When hot add the white wine and pine nuts and allow the alcohol to boil off of the wine.
8. The pine nuts will start to swell and begin to infuse the wine with a nutty taste.
9. Stir in the cream, milk, sachet of KNORR Alfredo Pasta Sauce and Sage.
10. Add the mashed butternut and stir until combined with the cream sauce.
11. Add the cooked gnocchi, stir well and season with black pepper.
12. Garnish generously with parmesan shavings.

Recommended wine: Try the Welmoed Chardonnay with this dish.

Source: whatsfordinner