• The mojito has achieved fame twice in its lifetime, originally as a drink of preference (together with the daiquiri) of man’s man, writer Ernest Hemingway, and lately in the hands of large drinks conglomerates, where it provides a glamorous vehicle for rum. Hemingway, a keen game fisherman, had a home in Havana, Cuba. He also frequented a hotel bar in the city, the Bodeguita del Medio, where he became fond of a particular drink they served: a five-ingredient concoction of spearmint, rum, sugar, lime juice and soda water known as a mojito. To make a mojito, juice from a freshly…

    Serves 4 When making gnocchi rather steam your potatoes than boil them to avoid the potatoes being too watery. Use 500g potatoes and once they are cooked, mash…

    Pour enough water to reach halfway up a pot. Add 10ml vinegar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and keep the water bubbling gently. Crack the egg into a small bowl or cup as this makes it easier to control, and position the egg over the pot. Slowly tip the egg into the bubbling water and cook gently for about 1 minute without touching it. Slowly and carefully spoon a little of the water over the centre of the egg, so that the yolk also cooks. Use a slotted spoon to lift the egg from the water. Neaten…

    For committed cooks and food lovers there is an exciting immediacy about food markets. The freshness of the ingredients challenges you to use them as soon as possible…

    Nic van Wyk loves fantasising about, talking about, and working with food. Over tapas at his recently opened Barnyard Brasserie in suburban Cape Town, he was spreading the mood. By Kim Maxwell We’re meant to be talking tapas, but pigs’ ears and tails are on the menu. We’ll get round to the tapas chat – when Nic van Wyk talks food there are always culinary diversions and detours aplenty. Chatting in the open kitchen of his new restaurant in Tyger Valley, Cape Town, Barnyard Brasserie and Tapas Bar, Nic rolls dough for fried Spanish churros for the day’s tapas gathering…

    Iced Chai tea is a delicious lightly spiced beverage. This tea is homemade in India, but the South African version comes ready-mixed in a powder, and is already milky.…