Taste of Cape Town Giveaway - The Winners!

Ah! Oh heavens, I just realised that my giveaway ended yesterday, and I totally forgot about it!

{Image Source: Cape Town Daily Photo}
Reading through your comments really made me laugh, so much so that I begged the lovely people at Taste of Cape Town to give me a few more tickets to give away, and they did!! I now have 4 sets of double standard tickets to give to 4 of you lucky people!

Ok the winners are... *drumroll please*
Marisa - yes, you get brownie points for being the first to comment! and I sympathise with you having to audit
Ashci - That was just too hilarious! You and your Ginger need to experience Ginja to believe it! And I do believe that they would enjoy a real Ginger in the stall!
Lady Raven - The sheer determination you show to try Nobu needs to be rewarded! See you there!
Anonymous - To make up for all the toast and cereal weekends, I pick you!

To my other entrants, thank you So much for entering, it was such a pleasure reading all the comments! Will the winners drop me a DM on Twitter (I'm @polkadotcupcake) or otherwise contact me, with your email addresses, so I can inform you of the collection procedure.

Thanks again, and keep following! I'm going to try and organise another giveaway soon, this was so much FUN!!

Four Cheese Tortellini with Bacon and Peas

So I think I hit a winner with this one! When I went to look for images (I don't have a camera, so I can't take my own pictures), I saw cheese tortellini with bacon and peas all over the place! In fact, I may even have taken inspiration for this from someone on my blogroll, but it went into my head and came out without a reference.

I made this without a recipe, so let's just say it's mine, with inspiration from the blogs I read, alright? Thanks.

Ah, cheese. What would I do without you? Cheese and I go way back, we've always loved each other, and cheese will still be there for me when all other things wither and fade away. Cheese, how I love you. Four cheese tortellini?! Yes please!! 

I've been dying to try the Pick n Pay fresh pastas, but was worried about making a sauce that would complement, not drown, them. So, with inspiration from the blogs, I came up with this.

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Four Cheese Tortellini with Bacon and Peas

Ingredients

1 package Four Cheese Tortellini (at ±R35 from Pnp, it's on the pricey side, but SO worth it)

5 rashers bacon (whatever cut you like, I use back bacon)

100-200g peas (depending what you like, I scatter them over until it looks enough)

6 medium size mushrooms, any kind (any kind, I used button, but portobellini would be great)

125ml cream

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Method:

1. Fry the garlic in a little butter until aromatic, and lightly coloured, but not burnt.
2. Fry the bacon until cooked, and set aside to cool.
3. Fry the mushrooms with the garlic, until the water starts to draw.
4. Put the pasta on to cook. The fresh pasta will take under 5 minutes. Drain and set aside when cooked.
5. When the bacon is cool, chop into pieces, and add back to the pan with the mushrooms and garlic.
6. Scoop out about a cup (±250ml) of the pasta water, and put into the pan with the fried mushrooms, garlic and bacon.
7. Simmer for a few minutes to reduce the liquid.
8. Add the cream, a bit at a time, and allow it to come to a simmer.
9. Pour frozen peas over the sauce.
10. Simmer until slightly thickened.
11. Toss the sauce with the pasta, and toss with some chopped parsley

This is tasty, fast and easy, a great quick week night meal!
Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Baby Potatoes

These are also known as little bites of heaven.

Now, this is the first recipe I have ever posted that I haven't made myself, but I think you need to know about this before I FINALLY get around to making it, whenever that may be. These delicious little bites of heaven will make you happy, they will make your children, your husband, any friends you choose to bless with them happy. In fact, if you like bacon, you will be happy. So brace yourself.

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Bacon Wrapped Baby Potatoes
(yes, every word needs capitalising, they are that important.)

Ingredients
Bag of baby potatoes
Packet of streaky bacon
Olive oil
Garlic
Green herbs (thyme, oreganum, parsley)
Black pepper
Salt

Method

1. Boil potatoes in water with salt, until just cooked. Remove from the water, drain and put into a dish big enough to hold them, and some liquid. Cover the potatoes in a mixture of olive oil, garlic and herbs, and grind black pepper and a little sea salt over them, bearing in mind that bacon is salty in itself.
2. Leave for 30 minutes.
3. Remove marinaded potatoes from liquid. Wrap a strip of bacon around each potato, securing the end with a toothpick. Place in a large cookie tray, and when they're all done, pop them under the preheated grill until the bacon starts to get crispy, but not burnt.
4. Serve warm to your adoring audience, and revel in the delightfulness! These were served at a party I went to on the weekend, and were the first thing to go! Delicious! I'll be making these for my next party!

PS. I imagine that these would also be beautiful marinaded in a olive oil and rosemary, and then just before you put them into the oven, pour a teaspoon of brown sugar onto each one. That would probably turn them into sticky delights!

Have fun with these!