Cooking at home with Michael Broughton
“If I had a wish list for my home it would include a Thermomix,” says chef Michael Broughton at his Somerset West kitchen counter. “It’s a jug with a blade. It can go to 3000rpm. The velocity of that blade is part of the secret. But the base is a heating plate, so you can boil and steam in there. You can even make risotto in the damn thing. There’s only one problem: it’s R2 000 excluding VAT.” Having a domestic kitchen equipped with dream gadgets, gas hobs, suitable extraction and practical work surfaces is something many foodies yearn for. We don’t all get what we’d like.
At least Michael has the opportunity to play with a Thermomix in the Terroir kitchen on Kleine Zalze wine estate, not far from Stellenbosch. Many of his chef peers use them, too. His home kitchen certainly isn’t lacking though, from a KitchenAid Artisan mixer to an ice-cream machine used frequently in summer – whenever his kids Sarah and Elijah twist his arm to make seasonal fruit sorbets or caramel creamy delights.
It’s a warm summer day and Michael is kneading pasta by hand on his Oregonpine kitchen countertop. Pistachio green cupboards and black granite form a backdrop. “We did our kitchen about a year ago as we’ve been doing the house in stages. We just finished the skirtings the other day,” he says, pointing out aspects. “We’ll add a better stove and some extraction with serious gas when we can.”
The pasta is destined to become agnolotti parcels filled with pumpkin. “This is something we would typically eat as a family. We love pasta and eat it often. My family doesn’t enjoy rich food, but give them a filled pasta, a bit of sauce and grated Parmesan and they love it.” Although Michael works long kitchen hours, he takes comfort in spending a free Sunday feeding his family at home.
An Italian relative called Nino Valenti fostered this love of Italian food – and has also been Michael’s harshest critic over the years. “Nino lives in Italy now and runs a pizzeria in a 150-year-old building, but he used to live in Joburg. I once served him what I believed to be tagliatelle amatriciana. He moaned at me: ‘Firstly, your spelling is wrong. Secondly, your sauce recipe is wrong. But the pasta, it’s not too bad.’”
Unsurprisingly, Terroir always has homemade pasta on the menu. Michael believes a homemade, filled pasta shows a certain level of skill in a restaurant kitchen. “People tell you that French food is the be-all and end-all. But Italian food is underrated – think of all the work that goes into handmade pasta.”
Michael spent five years building a name in Gauteng with his own restaurant Broughton’s, before moving to Mount Grace in the Magaliesberg. Seven years ago, he joined Terroir as a shareholder and chef. Tables on the tranquil patio are consistently booked out, and the restaurant has retained its place among South Africa’s top 10.
Michael provides useful tips as he works dough through the rollers, and then later fills the pasta with pumpkin and prepares the various elements of the dish. “It’s about having the pasta thin enough so you can see your hand through it. But not thin enough to read a book through,” he demonstrates. “Most of my guys in the Terroir kitchen grew up with ysterpampoen at home, so when I was discussing this filled pasta they reminisced about their mothers cooking their pumpkin Boland style with butter, sugar and ground ginger. In Durban I always had Hubbard squash as a child. I tried their pumpkin with my recipe and loved the outcome.”
Would he typically use pricey porcini in a pasta dish at home? The answer is yes. Skimping on quality ingredients is not an option in the Broughton household. It helps that Michael’s children are enthusiastic eaters. In beverages family splurging extends to Pinot Noir and occasionally single-malt whisky. Unwooded Chardonnay or Chenin is an everyday preference. To accompany the agnolotti Michael selects Kleine Zalze’s barrel-fermented Chenin for having a “broader mid palate” and for complementing the pumpkin sweetness. It does. All the elements of the pasta, brown butter sauce, sage and porcini combine to add a comforting flavour note here, a smooth or crunchy texture there.
The chef has finished off a delicious orange-accented boozy honey sauce to accompany a simple almond cake. The sticky honey sauce counteracts the almond dryness, with zingy freshness from the citrus fruit. A Muratie dessert wine partners without being cloying. “As you can see, at home our food is always easy, not cheffy. Although my wife Jane will probably tell you otherwise,” Michael laughs. Typical summer Sunday meals are fillet on the braai with salads, or a jointed chicken marinated in blitzed olive oil, garlic and lime-zest base with fresh coriander, basil and mint leaves. If time is an issue, a batch of Michael’s famous bolognese red sauce is hauled from the freezer. Winter favourites include onepot wonders such as lamb knuckle or a hastily assembled chicken pie. “We stick to basic food with a good glass of wine,” he concludes. A simple philosophy that cannot be faulted.
YSTERPAMPOEN AGNOLOTTI WITH SAGE AND BURNT BUTTER
PUMPKIN FILLING
4kg squash, peeled and cut into
2cm cubes
2 T olive oil
½ t salt
1 t sugar
½ t four-spice powder (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper)
2 T butter
4 T finely grated Parmesan
6 slices crustless white bread
100g streaky bacon, sliced
1. Toss pumpkin cubes with salt, sugar and olive oil in a roasting tin, cover with foil and bake at 180ºC for 20 to 30 minutes until soft but not browned.
2. Once cooked, press out excess pumpkin moisture in a sieve. Blitz together with butter, Parmesan, bread and four-spice until very smooth, like stiff porridge. Add the bacon, transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate.
PASTA DOUGH
250g Italian ‘00’ flour or Italian semolina pasta flour
6 large egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1 T olive oil
1 T milk
pinch of salt
1g saffron strands soaked overnight in 30ml hot water
1. If making pasta by hand, make a well in the . our and salt. Add the egg yolks, oil and strained saffron water (discard the stems). Use your fingers as dough hooks to slowly incorporate the flour in circular motions until a rough ball forms. If too stiff, gradually add a little extra water. On a floured surface knead until smooth and elastic – about 10 minutes of active kneading – so the dough is moist but not sticky. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If making dough in a food processor, add the strained saffron liquid and remaining ingredients. Pulse until a smooth ball runs around the bowl. Continue with remaining steps but knead for only five minutes on a floured surface so the dough is moist but not sticky.
2. Working with one third of the dough at a time, roll the dough on the pasta machine’s widest setting. Keep rolling until halfway along the settings. Fold the pasta in half, re-set to the thickest setting and roll again. Repeat five times until the dough has a satin texture. Now roll the pasta dough through the thinnest setting. Once complete, cover the strips of pasta with a damp cloth until you’re ready to proceed.
3. Lay a strip of pasta on a floured surface and eggwash the edges. Pipe teaspoons of pumpkin evenly along one edge. Roll the remaining part over to cover the filling. Pinch the dough to seal the filling parcels. Fold over again and pinch to completely enclose it. Cut into pieces with a fluted roller.
PORCINI AND PARMA GARNISH
50g Parma ham, thinly sliced
3 T canola oil
125g fresh porcini (or portabellini)
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 sprigs thyme
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
salt and black pepper
1 t chopped parsley
juice of half a lemon
1. Heat the canola oil in a pan and fry the ham until golden. Set aside.
2. Slice the mushrooms into one-centimetre cubes. Heat the olive oil and butter until foaming. Add the mushrooms, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Fry at high heat until brown. Remove from the heat and deglaze with lemon juice. Stir in the parsley and check the seasoning. Drain on a paper towel.
SAGE AND BROWN BUTTER SAUCE
60g unsalted butter
25 sage leaves
350ml crème fraiche (or cream)
salt and pepper
1. Brown the butter in a pan until nutty and beginning to smoke. Place the base in a bowl of iced water to stop cooking. In the same pan, gently heat the crème fraiche with the cooled butter.
2. Blanche the sage leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds, refresh in ice water and dry. Blitz the leaves with the brown butter and crème fraiche until smooth, then strain. Season and keep warm.
3. Fry the remaining leaves until crisp and reserve for garnish.
Poach the agnolotti in boiling salted water for three to four minutes. Divide equally between four plates, pour over the butter sauce and garnish with the porcini, sage and ham. (Serves four.)
SERVE WITH KLEINE ZALZE VINEYARD SELECTION CHENIN BLANC 2010
LEMON AND ALMOND CAKE WITH HONEY AND GRAND MARNIER
170g butter
120g caster sugar
2 eggs
180g flour
50g ground almonds
½ t baking powder
½ t salt
½ t bicarbonate of soda
finely grated zest of one lemon
1. Beat softened butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the sieved dry ingredients and almonds. Pour into a buttered, floured 25cm cake pan.
2. Bake at 175ºC for about 35 minutes. When cool, turn out gently and cut out a few rounds with a cookie cutter.
HONEY AND GRAND MARNIER SAUCE
120g honey
1 stick cinnamon
500ml freshly squeezed orange juice
60ml Grand Marnier (or Cointreau)
zest of 1 orange
icing sugar
grape fruit and orange segments
(about six per serving)
1. Cook the honey at high heat until it caramelises. Add the orange juice, cinnamon and cook until syrupy.
2. Off the heat, stir in the Grand Marnier and the zest and cover. Infuse for 15 minutes then strain.
3. Pool the sauce on the serving plate. Alternate the orange and grape fruit segments in a row. Top with the cake dusted with icing sugar. Serve with ice cream or crème fraiche.
SERVE WITH MURATIE AMBER FOREVER MUSCAT D’ALEXANDRIE 2008
MICHAEL'S FOOD WEAKNESSES
Truffle oil
I can have it at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Homemade bread and butter
“I struggle to eat supermarket bread, so we often make a country-style loaf.”
MICHAEL'S KITCHEN MUST-HAVES
KitchenAid Artisan mixer
Cuisine Magimix 5200 food processor
Simac Il Gelataio ice-cream maker
Stainless-steel pasta machine
Braun hand blender
