Sat & Sun

[alisonb]

Took a small break to a friends game farm not far from where I stay. The weather was foul so we spent most of our time around the camp fire cooking and chatting. On Saturday we made an ' ox-potjie' (three legged cast iron pot) with an assortment of veggies. I took a couple of pics when the veggies were added but it started drizzling so put camera away. The fire place consists of an old wheelbarrow that has no wheel :lol: so if it rains you have had it. We were lucky it only drizzled.

Here is a pic of the potjie, you won't see the meat as that goes in first and simmers for an hour or two(depending on the meat used), then veggies are added and cooked a little further - no stirring really allowed until at the end.

A pot bread(nearly got burnt)

And an inquisitive ostrich

Quizzy Wilde bees

Sunday lunch - Snoek basted with garlic, lemon juice, apricot jam, turmeric & butter. We smoked some as well, see 'little' smoker in background :lol:

And the inquisitive ostrich again.

The buck mostly stayed on the other side of the property, the spring buck and bless buck made their rounds late afternoon but I did not manage to get pics. That was a beautiful sight. Only a few pics of food and hardly any of the game but they were flighty.

It was all great except for the cold weather :shock:, there was a nasty wind blowing and we weren't quite prepared for it.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

nice pics... food looks good,, hard to beat that cast iron cooking :cowboy:

 

[hillsdown]

That looks like fantastic meal Alison ,bet it was a lot of fun preparing it too !!!

What a great way to spend a holiday weekend . :wave:

 

[Workinonit Farm]

All those veggies in that pot, so colorful and looks like it would be really tasty.

Not very often I see a pic of a wildebeast! Nice pics!!

Katherine

 

[Anonymous]

What's it like to camp upside down on the other side of the world? Doesn't your food spill out of the wheel barrow

 

[3waycross]

Looks like a lot of fun Ali. Thanks for sharing. :clap:

 

[lynnmcmahan]

The reason the bucks were flighty is they didn't want to be next in your pot.
What is snoek? Looks like fish.

 

[alisonb]

It really was fun preparing the meals, each couple was given a meal to make but could delegate chores to the rest of the group, my boyfriend and I had to make Sunday breakfast :lol: we hardly had to do anything.
Katherine - The baby potatoes and carrots were popped in the pot a while before the veggies you see in the pic as the take a little longer to cook as you well know, the ideal is to have quite chunky firm veggies that don't 'mush' up near the end when you make a sauce and need to stir a bit.
Hook - ROFLMAO
Lynnmcmahan - A game 'potjie' is amazing ;-) . Below is a short description of the Snoek for you.

Thanks for the nice comments all, next time I promise to take more pics . Here is the fire that kept away a little of the cold.

CAPE SNOEK: (Thyrsites atun) OTHER NAMES: Snoek, Barracouta
DESCRIPTION: A long bright silver fish with a formidable set of jaws armed with razor sharp, triangular teeth. The back is a dark gray / blue or green colour while the underside is a bright silvery-white. The fins are black and include a long first dorsal fin and finlets to the forked caudal fin. The lateral line is pronounced. The traditional fish fare of the local communities the Snoek makes excellent eating either pan fried, grilled, smoked, dried or on a traditional South African braai (barbeque).

RANGE: Snoek prefer temperate coastal and offshore waters. Abundant off the Cape west coast and also found off Southern Australia and New Zealand. Predominantly a winter fish off the Cape it is readily abundant throughout the year. The massive shoals arrive in July and remain until October.

SIZES: Shoals are generally of similar sized fish ranging in common size from 5 to 15lb. although fish exceeding this are caught every year.

FISHING TECHNIQUES: The shoals are located by observing the sea birds, shoals breaking the surface and monitoring the echo-sounder on the boat. Snoek can also be located by trolling lures of various shapes, styles and sizes including diving plugs, plastic lures and metal head lures. Once located they can be raised to the boat by chumming and spinning. They will take readily on drifted baits, "dollies" and spoons or jigs. Although the traditional Cape way of catching Snoek is with a heavy hand line, these fish are great fighters on a rod and reel. Snoek make an outstanding target for fly fishermen as they will readily take the fly and action can be fast and consistent.

FIGHTING ABILITIES: The Snoek offer some of the most exhilarating and hectic sport as they travel in vast shoals often eating baits and lures as fast as they can be thrown in the water. A fine light tackle gamefish attacking a bait or lure with ferocious aggression and speeding off into the depths once hooked. An extremely agile fish, the Snoek can change direction at full speed and often when it misses the lure on the first attack it will turn immediately and hit it with deadly accuracy. On the fly these fish are outstanding sport and the angler must be vigilant to ensure the line is not snagged as it is ripped out through the guides.

 

[melking]

Over here in my neck of the woods, we call them snook and they are the best eating fish ever. AB, what are the purple things in the first picture?

 

[ga.prime]

You need some fried okra to eat with that snoek!

 

[Jogeephus]

I want to go camping with ya'll. :nod:

 

[alisonb]

Melking - Those 'purple things' are olives
Ga.prime - I will give it a try next time, Snoek is usually accompanied with something sweet like sweet potatoes or fresh white bread with apricot jam - must say I prefer savory. You gave me an idea for the next potjie though, I think Okra will do just perfectly ;-)
Jo - I'm sure they will all more than welcome you.

 

[melking]

I thought they might be Ab but I couldn't really tell. I love olives but I wouldn't have thought of putting them into a stew.

 

[alisonb]

Me neither Melking, I got that tip from our Recipes & Cooking board, just can't remember who posted it cause I'd love to thank them

 

[chrisy]

Ab that soup looked delicious, except for the olives I don't like them, unless there oil. Do you use yam instead of potatoe?, I made stew yesterday using yam as it doesn't seem to go in to mush like pots.

We also have snook, I like it BBQ'd with crusty bread and butter.

ps I envy you being able to go outside and see such animals it would mean a very expensive holiday or a day trip to the Safari Park to see such things. :mrgreen: the only wild life we see is Roe Deer, Forest Ponies, and foxes.

 

[alisonb]

Thanks Chrisy. We use baby potatoes but then just don't allow them to cook too much, it's all in the timing . The Snook you refer to is not the same species as the Snoek which occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, perhaps you would like to google it.

Thanks for reminding me to never take my surroundings for granted.

 

[slick4591]

Interesting.

http://youtu.be/VkTs73arlM8

[youtube]VkTs73arlM8[/youtube]

 

[chrisy]

Thanks Chrisy. We use baby potatoes but then just don't allow them to cook too much, it's all in the timing . The Snook you refer to is not the same species as the Snoek which occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, perhaps you would like to google it.

Thanks for reminding me to never take my surroundings for granted.

The Snook or Snoek I had was imported from Australia, would that be the same...but I know what you mean as a lot of people call 'Pike' snook, perhaps not quite the same thing.