Meet South Africa’s Young Chefs on the rise…

The South African Mushrooms Farmers’ Association (SAMFA) with the South African Chefs’ Association (SACA) invited all young South African student chefs to provide recipes that would illustrate to enthusiastic homeCOOKS how they could become brilliant homeCHEFS by simply adding the magic of homegrown mushrooms!

Five finalists were selected by accredited SACA judges from a host of entries and the winner was decided at a live cook off at the Capsicum Culinary Studio in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

Ross Richardson, Chairperson of SAMFA was thrilled with the quality of entries received and it was a tough job to decide on the 5 finalists. All the young chefs made magical dishes,” said Ross and “fresh, delicious and flavoursome mushrooms were the key to their success! 

The winner of this delicious Make Every Day Gourmet with the Magic of Mushrooms competition, was Johann Neethling from the Prue Leith Culinary Institute in Pretoria. Hot on his heels in 2^nd place was Leroy Mguni (HTA  School of Culinary Art), followed  by Jerome Sadiq (Capsicum Culinary Studio) in 3^rd place, Oratile Ramutloa (International Hotel School) in 4^th place and Karabo Mahoko (Capsicum Culinary Studio) in 5^th place.

“Each finalist’s recipe had a certain magic to it and all the judges were massively impressed with the quality of the entries,” commented Senior SACA Competition Judge, Stuart McClarty. “The unique way in which each finalist added the magic of mushrooms to their  favourite everyday recipe really illustrated the ability of every day versatile mushrooms to magically take an ordinary dish to a gourmet Michelin star creation! It also showcased the wonderful talent of each finalist”

We also know that each of our finalists are winners in their own right and we look forward to watching them achieving further success in their careers in South Africa’s hospitality industry.  “With such talent, concluded Richardson, “South Africa’s restaurants are in for extraordinary culinary treats!”

In addition to the accolades on the day the top three young chefs also walked away with magnificent cash prizes to the total value of R20000!

Button Mushroom Oxtail

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Recipe by Johann Neethling Course: MainCuisine: South AfricanDifficulty: Moderate

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Total time

1

hour 

30

minutes

A sensational meal with a delicate balance of flavours, created by Johann Neethling that can be recreated at home in 90 minutes.

Ingredients

• OXTAIL

• 2 tablespoons 2 olive oil

• 1.2 – 1.5 kg 1.2 – 1.5 oxtail

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 1 1 onion, sliced

• 4 4 garlic cloves, roughly minced

• 3 tablespoons 3 tomato paste

• 2 tablespoons 2 soy sauce

• 2 2 bay leaves

• 3 3 cloves

• handful thyme sprigs

• 1 cup 1 beef stock

• 3 3 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

• 1 tin 1 butter beans, rinsed and drained

• MUSHROOMS

• 1 tablespoon 1 olive oil

• 1 tablespoon 1 butter

• 250 g 250 white button mushrooms, sliced in half

• 2 2 cloves garlic, minced

• salt and pepper, to taste

Method

• OXTAIL
• Set pressure cooker to sauté function and wait for it to warm up.
• Rub oxtail with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
• Brown the oxtail in batches on all sides until golden brown. (You can also do this step in a 220˚C oven on a large baking tray.)
• Remove oxtail from inner pot and set aside.
• Add in sliced onions and sautée until soft. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• Add tomato paste, soy sauce, bay leaves, cloves and thyme. Cook for a few minutes until the tomato paste smells sweet. Add in the beef stock and make sure to deglaze the bottom of the pot very well so nothing is stuck to the inner pot.
• Return the browned oxtail to the inner pot. Ensure the pieces are partially submerged in the liquid. Finally, layer the carrots on top.
• Seal the pressure cooker and make sure the venting knob is in the sealing position.
• Pressure cook on ‘High’ for 40 minutes and then natural release for 20 minutes.
• Release any remaining pressure manually and open the lid.
• Very gently and carefully remove the oxtail and carrots with a slotted spoon and set aside.
  Discard the thyme sprigs.
• Put the pot back on sauté mode and bring the sauce to a simmer.
• Add in the butter beans and allow the sauce to reduce.
• MUSHROOMS
• In the meantime, cook the mushrooms.
• Heat a large frying pan on high heat. Add the olive oil and butter and sauté the mushrooms until golden brown. Just before finishing add the garlic and then season well.
• Carefully place the oxtail and carrots back in the sauce and beans to keep them hot.
  Top with the golden brown mushrooms.
• Scatter everything with fresh thyme and serve on steamed white rice.

Notes

• Serve with white rice & fresh thyme sprigs

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Should you require more information or if you’d like to interview the young chefs, please contact Gina McLoughlin at Gina@rgcom.co.za or call her on 082 413 7538. Interested in more recipes from The South African Mushrooms Farmers’ Association (SAMFA)? View them here.