Eating local in Prince Albert.

We spent the weekend at Bid Huisie in Prince Albert. It is one of the most charming towns I have visited.  I try to be a locavore whenever possible and buy things to cook that are made or grown within the area that I’m eating them. It was easy to do with this dish, inspired by a lunch we had at Bradley Bordis.

The black pepper feta came from Gay’s Dairy while the olives and the olive oil came from Prince Albert Olives. I brought the fennel along with me from Cape Town.

Here’s how I made it:

I marinated the feta and pitted olives in olive oil along with a fist full of oregano for about 30 minutes but longer would do no harm. I cut the fronds from the fennel bulbs and then sliced them into quarters before poaching for 10 minutes in boiling water.

When Bradley cooked this for us, and I suggest you do the same, he grilled them in the oven until the edges started to burn. I couldn’t rely on the oven so I popped them into a pan over high heat with a bit of olive oil until they started to sizzle.

The hot fennel gets tossed with the marinating feta and olives and then onto greens which wilt slightly from the heat. It makes a great first course or salad option.

I’m not trying to limit my fat intake any longer but if you are, slicing cheese with a vegetable peeler is a good way of creating the look of abundance without as many calories as cutting cheese into wedges.

I bought a kind of pepper – looks like a bell pepper but is much smaller and a little fiery although nothing close to as hot as chili peppers, from the Saturday market in Prince Albert. They added vibrancy in colour and in flavour to this simple dish of blanched broccoli topped with Gay’s Dairy’s Prince Albert Regal, a sharpish cheddar-style cheese made from Guernsey milk.

These dishes work well if you are following a low carb high fat plan.