To prepare live rock lobster/grayfish

The best and kindest method to prepare live crayfish is to place them in fresh water, in which they will drown.

Prepare a large saucepan of boiling salt water or a court bouillon. Add the crayfish to the boiling pot and cook for 6-10 min (20 min if the crayfish is frozen). Removed the cooked crayfish with a slotted spoon and drop them briefly into a bowl of cold water. You can now cut the shell to remove the flesh without scaling you hands. Place the crayfish on its back and cut the sides of the tail using a serrated knife. Remove the tail meat. Or place the crayfish on its belly and cut it in half from head to tail. Remove the alimentary canal.

Crayfish may also be steamed in a little sea water in a large pot which is well covered. The cooking time should remain the same.

This unusual recipe is based on the old Cape way of serving snoek and utilizes the contrasting flavours of moskonfyt and chillies. As soon as chillies are added, it is known as sambal.

500 g smoked snoek, flaked

250 g cream cheese

2 onions, finely chopped

 3 t butter

2 fresh green chillies, seeded and chopped

3 t moskonfyt, or more, if desired

Lemon wedges to garnish

Fry the onions in the butter until soft.

Cream all the above ingredients together in a bowl and add the fried onions. Taste for sweetness, adding a little more moskonfyt and chillies, if necessary.

Place the mixture into small ramekins and serve with toast

Spread the snoek mixture on toast and top with a dollop of moskonfyt. If desired, squeeze on a little lemon juice.

 Curry Sauce

4 large onions cut into rings
1cup Sugar
5 t curry powder
2 t tumeric
1/2 t Salt
2 t red chilli powder
1 bottle vinegar (750 ml)
5 bay leaves
10 whole allspice
1 t coriander seeds
3 cm choped root ginger
                                                                 4 cloves crushed garlic

3kg kingklip, filleted and cut into portions and sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper.
Pan-fry the portions of fish in a quarter cup of oil until they are medium brown on both sides. Remove the pieces and drain.
Mix ingredients and boil for 25 min. Place a layer of fried fish in a deep sterilized glass pickling jar. Pour a little of the hot sauce over the fish and cover. Continue layering the fish and sauce until all the fish covered. Allow the fish to cool.
Cover and refrigerate.
Leave for 3 days before serving to allow the fish to absorb the flavours fully.

(No salt added)

300 g hake fillets, skinned

12 cleaned mussels in the shell

2 t olive oil

1 sliced onion

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 stick celery, chopped

2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 t tomato paste

¼ cup dry white wine

½ cup boiling water

A few saffron threads

                                                                  ½ t dry thyme, crushed

                                                                  1 bay leaf

Place the saffron in ½ cup of boiling water and allow to draw. Cut the fish fillets into 7 cm strips. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add onions. Cook the onions until they are soft and then add the garlic. Stir the onions and garlic and cook for a further min. Add the remaining ingredients except for the mussels and the fish. Bring to the boil for about 5 min. Add the mussels and the fish, cover pan and simmer for another 5 min until they are tender.