Bad behaviour and a Moroccan affair (pea puree with a twist)

There's nothing quite like waking up in the morning and everything is peaceful and calm in the comfort of your bed and then BAM, it hits you. Whatever you thought was a good idea at the time the previous evening comes flooding back to you and all you want to do is rewind to the part when you just opened your eyes to a Friday morning and everything was ok. Mistake number 1) do not accept tequilas offered to you before a meal and mistake number 2) eat the bread that the waitress put on the table. Lastly, 3) realise that 3 sardines and a bit of salad is not going to absorb that tequila you had so you may as well kiss your good judgement and sobriety goodbye.

It was a hard week this week, much pressure from work and previously mentioned 'wall' so I did not hold back when it came to drinks offered on Thursday night and my deadline-packed Friday did not allow me the luxury of indulging my hangover and every time I thought about popping to the pharmacy across the road for some industrial strength painkillers, something came up. I pushed through.

Friday night came and went with the girls and I taking a couple of creatives out for dinner who were up from Cape Town to shoot an ad and they went out after for a night of debauchery. I bailed, climbed on top of my bed in my stilettos and fully glammed regalia and I woke up this morning fully clothed and in the same position. I need a holiday. I have buggered up arrangements, forgot about dinner invitations and cancelled dinner invitations this weekend to just catch my breath. So here I sit on a Saturday night in the same spot I am in day in and day out with a full day of work to look forward to tomorrow.

I'm having a full-blown dinner party on the 20th and have gone through the recesses of my brain as to what I am going to cook. I can't tell you how excited I am. I can spend the entire day cooking without worrying about work and really make it a meal to remember. The theme for the evening will be Moroccan and I will be making a lamb tagine, pea puree with a Moroccan twist, apricot and pomegranate raita (not really Moroccan) and a warm bulgar wheat salad. I am going to give you the recipes in stages and have no doubt I will give details about the evening afterwards which will most probably be my last insert for the year. I am really looking forward to it, the guest list is abundant in humour and talent and great conversation.

Below is a recipe for pea puree which is traditionally served with lamb and usually contains mint but as this is taking on a Moroccan flavour, I am going to amend the traditional combination for a more exotic taste. Should you want to go the classic route, substitute all the herbs and spices other than the garlic for plain old mint. Just an FYI - I have not included turmeric in the recipe as I don't want the yellow of the spice to take away from the bright green of the peas.

Moroccan Pea Puree (Serves 6)

500 gram packet of frozen peas
2 gloves of garlic
1/3 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 teaspoon ground coriander
1 handfull of chopped coriander
2 chicken stock cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika for garnishing

Method

Bring a pot of water to the boil and add the stock cubes and garlic and peas. Boil for about 4 minutes

Drain the peas and garlic but keep a cup of the stock for blending

Add the ground ginger, ground coriander and fresh coriander to the peas and throw into a blender with some of the leftover stock for easy blending. You do not want soup but rather a puree so watch how much stock you add

Remove from the blender and add salt and pepper to taste

Decant into a serving dish

Garnish with a smattering of paprika and some chopped coriander

Sorry, is that my ring I just dropped in your cream? Sage butter sauce for ravioli

Oops. I have managed to squander today away and I REALLY should be working seeing I will be cramming 30 days into 15 during December with shop shutting on the 15th. I have well and truly hit a wall. However, as a fellow PR colleague put it 'you can't be expected to be a machine 365 days a year'. And as I have discovered over 14 years of being in PR, I am just a glorified sales woman and I am over it at the moment.

If I were to be completely honest with you, I have not been cooking all that much of late and have been eating out way too often. This being said, I work on my own ALL day unless I have to pop into a publishing stable, a radio or telly interview and seeing people in the evening and getting out of the house is essential for my sanity and general well-being of my clients and their respective portfolios.

As it has been a couple of weeks since I cooked, I am going to take you back to a rather fun dinner party I went to a few Sundays ago. I will gloss over the fact that I dropped R1000 on a beautiful ring called '3rd time lucky' (I had to have it) on this particular evening as I chatted to the jewelry designer who lived in the cottage and get to the point of the story which is of course, food.

As I arrived, my host called me to the kitchen and said he needed my help. He showed me the fresh butternut and sage ravioli he bought and asked if he should add marinated artichokes, asparagus and pesto to the sauce. Ummmm NO!!!! When it comes to delicate flavours like sage with pasta, my motto is simple: KISS (keep it simple, stupid). He was so proud of his freshly bought pesto, bless him, all decanted and looking hand-made in a clay ramekin that I had to dig deep to tell him it wasn't really the right combination. The only sauce for this pasta that is appropriate and fitting is sage and butter, for which you will find the recipe for below.

And then came dessert. I caught Greg whipping cream for strawberries with 2 forks as I walked into the kitchen and thought it rather curious. In my slightly merry state, I told him his technique was all wrong and I would take over. Mistake. As I motioned to remove my ring to whip, I dropped it right into the middle of the bowl of cream. His face was a picture and I was a laughing hysterical mess on the kitchen floor, needless to say that the cream did not get the intended whipping it needed. I suppose you had to be there to fully appreciate the moment but I have not laughed that hard in a very long time.

So Greg, a little later than it should be, this is the sage butter sauce you should grace all over your butternut ravioli.

Sage and Butter Sauce (perfect marriage for butternut ravioli - serves 4)

3 tablespoons of salted butter
2 good handfuls of roughly chopped sage
1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt to taste

Method

Melt the butter on a medium heat till it sizzles

Add the nutmeg and chopped sage and saute until the sage is slightly brown

Pour over the ravioli and add salt to taste

Serve immediately before butter cools

Finish off with parmesan cheese

Voila - couldn't be more simple