When I mentioned that I was blogging a series on the Swellendam Winter School I really meant it. Today I am writing about the one course that I spent an entire day on… Kos, Lekker Kos presented by Jamie Le Roe & Lawrence Scheepers .
About This Course
Thinking of a typically long lazy meal in the great outdoors, prepping and feasting and chatting with friends… for hours and hours and hours. Is there really a better way to spend a day. We learnt about typically Cape Cuisine… celebrating the comfort food of locals, and certainly food I grew up on, but had never learnt to make myself. Not to mention cooking over a fire, which is really the best kind of cooking.
We were welcomed with coffee and sweet gifts… and a book of recipes to take with us and keep.
Let’s meet our teachers… Lawrence and Jamie, who were incredibly patient the entire time, they showed us how to follow the steps in each recipe, they had everything so well prepared… ingredients were measured, utensils were ready. It was perfect…
Not to mention, be prepared to meet up with friends and chat all day long, friends for life.
Recipes We Tried and Tested
Starters:
To begin with we made one of our family favourites. We in fact, never have a braai without roosterkoek. All the while we were chatting away about the food we grew up with… and living in a rainbow nation with so many cultures, it always surprises me to see how much our childhood food journeys overlap.
Perfect way to cook, over an open fire…
After we prepared our roosterkoek, we went on to make a variation on the traditional Skilpaadjies (tortoises). We used chicken livers and rolled them in streaky bacon.
We added seasoning… herbs and spices…
And cooked them over the fire…
Mains:
After the starters we learned how to make rotis, which are a combination between a flat bread and a pancake – delicious however you eat them, but they are meant to be eaten with a curry, so we made a lamb curry to go with them.
First you roll them out and then you pop them in a pan…
And they pop up beautifully…
Meanwhile, all the ingredients were ready to create a curry…
The ingredients started going in to the pot…
All the spices…
And then all that was required was patience…
And a feast was ready to be enjoyed in a very lazy mid-afternoon kind of a way!!!
Deserts:
For dessert we made koesisters. Koesisters, are a version of koeksisters that you dip and roll in coconut, just after you put them in syrup. We started with the dough…
That was left to rise in a warm spot…
Rolling them into balls…
Ready to fry…
Once they are golden brown, they are soaked in a sugary syrup…
And then rolled in coconut ice.
And finally you are ready for tea.
The Venue – The Bontebok National Park
One of the special features of the Swellendam Winter School are the venues. They have carefully chosen outstanding venues for their courses. Each venue will give you a taste of the area… The cooking course was held at the Bontebok National Park… and proved to be an absolutely exquisite venue.
We spent the day on a shady stoep, overlooking the Breede River… it was a hot, hot Autumn day and we were very grateful for the stoep.
Wintery days in the Langeberg can be can be warm, and the stoep will be lovely… but the mornings and evenings can be really chilly, they have a perfect shelter with a fireplace to keep you warm and cosy.
Beautiful surroundings, with friends and food… this course was really the most relaxing day in a long, long time… literally, a holiday in one day. I do have to say, that the day flew past so fast that I didn’t realise that, apart from a Nature Reserve more… and so I will have to go back there.
Gallery
All the photographs from the course, Kos Lekker Kos at the Swellendam Winter School, can be found by clicking the image below.
The Swellendam Winter School Series
- Swellendam Winter School – Put That on the Map
- A Visit to the Kwetu Guest Farm in Swellendam
- Accommodation in Swellendam… And My Stay at Cypress Cottage
- Kos, Lekker Kos… A Swellendam Winter School Course.
- An Evening Cruise at Umshanti…
- Eating Out in Swellendam
- Our visit to the Zinc Gallery…
I would really like to thank the Swellendam Winter School and the Winter School Community for hosting myself and the media team for a wonderful couple of days. This is not a sponsored post, and the opinions expressed are as usual entirely my own.