LEMON, COCONUT & POPPY SEED RUSKS
1kg cake flour 30ml (2 tbsp) baking powder 5ml (1 tsp) salt 350g butter, cut into blocks and slightly softened 200g (1 cup) sugar or more to taste Finely grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon 2 extra-large eggs 500ml (2 cups) buttermilk 150ml water 250ml (1 cup) poppy seeds 250ml (1 cup) desiccated coconut, lightly toasted ne of the nicest things about my new home is the olive “grove” in the garden. It may be years before my five little trees bear fruit, and I hold out even less hope for a harvest from the gnarled old vine providing shade next to the braai, but my little corner of the Mediterranean magically transports me out of suburbia every time I sit outside with a glass of wine.
A bigger Mediterranean corner of the Cape is the Swartland, a wheatproducing area now famous for wines made by some of SA’s most passionate winemakers. Olives are also on the map of the Sanlam Swartland Wine & Olive Route.
Incorporating the towns of Malmesbury, Piketberg and Porterville as well as the twin villages Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips till the flour looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and lemon rind. In a separate bowl, combine the lemon juice, eggs, buttermilk and water and add to the dry ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Stir in the poppy seeds and coconut and press dough into a 40x30x5cm deep oven pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 180°C for 50-60 minutes. Cool and cut into pieces. Return to a baking tray without overlapping and return to the oven at 70°C to dry out for 4-5 hours or overnight. Cool and store in an airtight container. of Riebeek Kasteel and Riebeek West, this is a large and geographically diverse area. Unirrigated and lowyielding bush vines planted on ancient schist, granite and clay soils first attracted visionary Charles Back of Fairview, then his protégé Eben Sadie — widely regarded as SA’s first cult winemaker — and other selfdescribed “revolutionaries” including Adi Badenhorst, Marc Kent and Andrea and Chris Mullineux.
What many of these winemakers had in common was a supply of grapes from the Dreyer family at Leeuwenkuil Family Vineyards. In 2012, however, the Dreyers decided to launch their own range of wines — and they’re walking tall among giants following a 92-point rating in UK wine magazine Decanter for their Leeuwenkuil Shiraz 2013.
The Decanter panelists loved its “delicate violet nose … bright red fruit, fine peppered tannins and crunchy acidity”. I love its freshness, ripe cherry and raspberry fruit, clovelike spice — and its incredible retail price of around R45 a bottle.