Saturday, January 23, 2010

Open cheese sandwiches

It has to be yellow cheddar. In other words, 'wrong' cheese. The bread has to be heavy,slightly moist brown bread, the kind found in almost deli, supermarket or cafe (the equivalent of a corner bodega). Butter on the bread, and then there has to be chutney. We had no Mrs Balls in the house, and my heart sank. But Mrs Viljoen had made many pots of Cape Chutney, heavy on the apricots, which is delicious. So that was lunch.

The glasses are Afrikaner kitsch, politically incorrect relics of the Border War into which my brothers were conscripted. Ondangwa is in northern Namibia, then South West Africa. South Africa did her best to keep the rightful rulers of SWA out of it, by maintaining and exercising a massive military presence on the border of Angola.

The beer, I'm very sorry to say, is Millers. It should be Castle. And I like Millers. It was what was in the fridge. Someone with more knowledge of beer culture can tell me what that says about me.

8 comments:

  1. Heerlik.

    Ek is 'n Black Lable fan, nugter weet wat dit van my se.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now if those open sandwiches were popped under a hot grill, I'd be first in line for them. Nice plate in the foreground too.
    Would Mrs Viljoen (how to pronounce that?) be willing to part with her chutney recipe? Heavy on the apricots sounds good!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is unfamiliar to me- cheese with chutney. But it sounds deelish and I will try it soon. I think we still have ONE bottle of Mrs Ball's chutney in the pantry from our last trip to CT, though we have had to have a lot of self control to make it last this long.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, after seeing this picture and reading the explanation before my own breakfast, ....... I think I will stick with tofu today. Ha, ha!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cheese and chutney - breakfast of champions!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, wow!!! I love cheddar cheese and chutney sandwiches ... We used to make them at a restaurant I worked at in a past life. They tasted best when made with my Nana's mango chutney. Good times!

    Happy to see your SA pictures ... they make me feel warm and happy, which is good because we've had snow and rain and power outages for the past two weeks!

    Keli'i

    ReplyDelete
  7. Arcadia - ek het daarvan vergeet. Ek het ook baie van BL gehou. Ek het gisteraand oor jou en jhvdh gedroom. Julle was in London.

    Rachel - yes, good for a Sunday supper when Monday threatens...

    Pam - somehow it works, if it is a fruity-spicy chutney.

    Ms Thyme, it's LUNCH not breakfast. Jeepers :-)

    Hi Jeanne - see above. When in March will you be here?

    Keli'i - you're always ready with surprizes! I thought it was a Safrican thing. Promise to post more pics - just need some time to process them, shrink them and leap onto the Internet for the split second that it connects!

    ReplyDelete
  8. For Rachel -
    Cape chutney. This is traditionally made with fresh apricots. It is also a little runnier than regular chutney, but still thick enough not to be mistaken for a sauce. You will need 2kg fresh apricots, cut into pieces; 2 cups (400g) sugar; 1Tsp cayenne pepper (I used a little less); 1 large onion chopped; 1tsp salt; a piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped; 3 cloves garlic finely chopped; 1 Tsp dry mustard; 1 & 1/2 cups (375ml)vinegar. Mix all together. Cook over low heat until it thickens, stirring from time to time. Bottle and seal. Keep for a couple of weeks to mature.
    Taken from "A Farm in My Heart" by Emilia le Roux and Francois Smuts.
    Marie, after tasting, said who needs Mrs Balls ?..........

    ReplyDelete

Comments on posts older than 48 hours are moderated (for spam control) . Yours will be seen! Unless you are a troll. Serial trollers are banned.