For 12 friends and a sugar-craving donkey…
Herby cream cheese and pistachio pasta salad
You’ll need:
For the dough:
- 1 cup of milk, warmed
- 2 teaspoons of dried yeast
- 60 ml castor sugar
- 500 g white bread flour
- 10 ml salt
- 100 ml butter, melted
- 5 ml vanilla essence
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- sunflower oil
For the filling:
- 60 ml butter, melted
- 1 slab of white chocolate, chopped
- 1 slab of milk chocolate, chopped
- 150 g almonds, bashed
For the glaze:
- 45 ml honey, mixed with a drop of hot water
juice of about 2 lemons
375 ml icing sugar, sifted
Method:
Warm the milk slightly and gently whisk in the yeast and sugar. Set aside for about ten to 15 minutes or until frothy. Next, sift the flour into a large bowl, add salt and stir through the yeast mixture, melted butter, vanilla essence and whisked egg. Mix until you have a rough dough, then turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 15 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Lightly grease the ball of dough with sunflower oil, put it in a large bowl, cover it, put it in a warm spot and leave it to double in size – for about an hour.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a large rectangular shape, about 2 cm thick. Brush with half the melted butter and scatter all the chocolate and half the nuts.
Now roll the longer side of the rectangular dough into a cigar / sausage shape. Cut into 12 equal pieces. Turn each piece on its side and arrange in a butter-greased, flat-bottomed potjie, leaving a little space between each spiral roll. Cover and leave to rise for another hour (Caro’s code for: go sit under a tree and have a drink). After about an hour (or two tall drinks) the rolls should be puffy and have squeezed together.
Brush with the remaining melted butter and honey (loosened with a little hot water) and scatter the leftover nuts on top. Cover with the potjie lid, top with a few coals and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes over medium to cool coals (think 180 °C) until golden and cooked through. Take it off the heat, let the buns cool slightly then mix lemon juice and sifted icing sugar together. Drizzle over the buns before serving. Go get a picnic blanket, find a spot in the sun, make some good coffee and grab your friends. This is the perfect way to end a lazy winter’s afternoon.
If you’re at Malealea Lodge, watch out for the donkey! His name is Chester and he’s got a serious sweet tooth!
Recipe from The Ultimate Braai Master: Roads Less Travelled by Justin Bonello with Bertus Basson and Marthinus Ferreira, written by Helena Lombard.
Photo by Louis Hiemstra and Dominique Little.
