Marieke's Art of Living

For your delectation I am happy to provide a range of original recipes that were developed over many pleasurable years of teaching classes and preparing meals for shared tables of family and friends. Recipes will change on a regular basis. Their success will not only depend on your cooking skills but also on your determination to seek out and patronise suppliers who are proud of their produce and its quality. Be inspired by the seasons and make a commitment to purchase organic ingredinets whenever available.

Bon Apetit and Happy Cooking!

Autumn Inspirations

I recently embrased two interesting new books: Prof Lun Wong's Food for the Seasons and Healing with Wholefoods by Paul Pitchford.
Rather than learn how to prepare food with a Pacojet, it seems more inspirational to demonstrate that produce of the seasons mostly harvested from organic gardens nearby can be made into sumptuously delicious dishes that also benfit health, nutrition and digestion..

Pitchford’s book is a fascinating overview of oriental traditions made relevant for contemporary society. Wong’s is an explanation of Traditional Chinese medicine principles of eating well and correctly for health, dictated by the seasons.
For anyone already in tune with their bodies and committed to the variety and diversity of seasonal produce, instinctively you will have already been drawn to an abundance of foods such as quinces, kale, figs, apples, and the pleasures of longer and slower cooked food. But it is fascinating to have this confirmed from an additional perspective where the lungs are the dominant organ requiring care in autumn and the need to expunge dampness.
Utilising these principles we designed our first Peninsula autumn class, that made use of sweet onions cooked into a red wine compote with cassis, chinese cabbage cooked with mustard seeds and curry leaves, beetroots roasted and dressed with sumac, five crown apples cut into 40 slices and steamed in vanilla caramel, figs served with whipped goat cheese and parsley and also poached with aniseed and wrapped with spiced walnut paste into phyllo in the style of a beggar’s purse, baby turnips roasted with honey and butter, sardines cured overnight in spiced sugar…in fact the majority of highly recommended food stuffs that can be found on the list.

The LIBRARY for Spring + Summer Inspirations