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Two biltong recipes to impress your father-in-law

The delicacy is air-dried and marinated with a traditional recipe of rock salt, pepper, coarsely ground coriander and vinegar. Can it be added to your favourite meals though? Yes!
Let’s take a look.

Honeybush-poached pear-and-biltong salad

  • 2 tbsps wholegrain mustard.
  • 1 cup olive oil.
  • 5 tbsps balsamic vinegar.
  • 70g soft brown sugar.
  • 200g moist biltong, thinly sliced.

For the poached pears:

  • 3 cups white wine.
  • 2 honey-bush teabags.
  • 200g sugar.
  • 1 star anise (dried, star-shaped fruit with a sweet liquorice-like flavour).
  • 1 cinnamon stick.
  • 10 peppercorns.
  • 5 cloves.
  • 4 pears, peeled.
  • 60g walnuts, crushed.
  • 1 tbsp biltong powder.
  • 120g Gorgonzola cheese.
  • 1 tbsp castor sugar.

For the salad:

  • 20g baby spinach leaves, shredded.
  • 60g walnuts, roasted and salted.
  • 20g microgreens.
  • 1 tbsp biltong powder, to garnish.

Method:

  • Place the mustard, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and soft brown sugar in a jar with a lid and shake well. Pour over the biltong and set aside until ready to use.
  • To poach the pears, place the wine, teabags, sugar, spices and pears in a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove the pears from the saucepan and increase the heat to reduce the liquid to a light syrup. Once it has reduced, return the pears to the syrup. Cool and store in the fridge. Use a melon baller to core the pears from the bottom so that they can be filled with the Gorgonzola cheese.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix the crushed walnuts with the biltong powder. Fill the poached pears with Gorgonzola and create a “stopper” at the bottom of each with the walnut-and-biltong mixture.
  • Place the filled pears on a non-stick oven tray and bake until heated through and the cheese starts to melt, for about 15–20 minutes. Remove the pears from the oven, sprinkle with castor sugar and use a kitchen blowtorch to caramelise.
  • Assemble the salad by arranging the marinated biltong, baby spinach, walnuts and microgreens on a platter. Dress with four tablespoons of the biltong marinade. Place the pears on top of the salad and sprinkle with the biltong powder.

Traditional biltong stew

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp peanut oil.
  • 300g biltong.
  • 1 onion (chopped).
  • 2 cloves garlic.
  • 1 tsp ginger (freshly grated).
  • 2 tbsps tomato concentrated puree.
  • 2 tbsps peanut butter.
  • 2 tomatoes (chopped).
  • Cayenne pepper (optional).
  • ½ cup water.

Method

  • Fry the chopped onions, garlic and ginger in the oil for a couple of minutes or until translucent.
  • Add the biltong and stir around for a few seconds. Now add the tomato puree and peanut butter and stir to coat the biltong.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for five minutes until slightly reduced. Pour in the water and simmer for 10 minutes until the stew has reduced to a very thick sauce.

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