Well this past weekend was the Franschhoek Uncorked Festival where 20 of the Franschhoek wine farms dazzled and amazed with their top varietals, vintages and a host of sundry activities.

On the spur of the moment we decided to pack up for the night and head over to the village (our first night away from home since our little mans birth). Sadly we didn’t take in any of the activities, but did enjoy a lovely outing in what is my 2nd home (my parents have lived there for years).

We met up with my Mom for lunch and enjoyed a lovely spread of cold meats and salads with divine bread from the new ‘Cafe des art’, whose owner Chris is ex-Olympia Cafe. My Mom grows many of her own herbs and her minted potato salad is to die for!

After a fabulous lunch we took our little man for a wander in the village before heading over to my Father’s place down the road between Franschhoek & Paarl, where we spent the night.

The deal was that in keeping with my need to complete all these recipes was that I’d cook them dinner and decided to make the ‘Brilliant beef stroganoff’ recipe.

I took most of the ingredients along with us and brought some fresh meat in the village that afternoon.

As with many of recipes it was fairly simple to prepare, I made a few tweaks and changes, swapping out the white lemon zested basmati rice for a healthy brown variant, much to the appreciation of my wife.

What really adds an interesting texture and taste to this dish is the inclusion of pickled gerkins/cucumbers, giving the dish a tart edge, balanced off the flavorsome paprika coated meat.

Overall a quick and easy meal to prepare and I can see it becoming a household staple.

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