Billy don’t be a hero

That song was playing over and over in my mind last Sunday evening as I scrambled to pull dinner together. Alice and I were just back from Sydney where we’d done a market and caught up with family. We were tired, the cupboards were almost bare and our gorgeous neighbours were coming over for an early Sunday dinner. I began to panic about how to rev up the trusty globe of iceberg lettuce, tray of venison steaks and four sweet potatoes that were rolling around the pantry/fridge then said to myself – Sophie don’t be a hero.

I love cooking all kinds of sauces, chutneys and even mustards from scratch. I really do. But hardly ever have time to do any of the above anymore. So am more than happy to call in some back up and pop a jar on the table, especially when it’s a pretty Beerenberg one!

I’ve been doing a little work with Beerenberg recently, developing new recipes for their gorgeous new website; so we have a fabulous and comprehensive stash of sauces, chutneys, marinades and mustards chez Hansen.

In the end our early dinner really was delicious, albeit hectic. While the table may have been strewn with toys and the table manners not always perfect (not even close), we all managed to catch up properly and every plate came back to the kitchen clean. That’s all you want out of an early Sunday dinner isn’t it?

Venison steaks with sweet potato chips, beans and iceberg salad

This is so easy it’s hardly a recipe. Serves 4-6

For the steaks
Fire up the barbecue (on high), rub four to six venison leg steaks with olive oil and season to taste. Cook on high for 1 1/2 minutes on each side then let rest under a tent of foil. I adore these steaks with the Peppercorn Sauce or Worcerstershire Chutney.Of course, if you can’t source venison, please substitute with your favourite barbecue meat or vegetables.

For the sweet potato chips
Preheat oven to 200C. Peel sweet potatoes and slice into chip-sized batons, toss with 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and a tablespoon of lemon thyme leaves. Toss into a baking tray and roast for 35 minutes or until chips are tender inside and crunchy on the outside. 

For the iceberg salad
Cut your iceberg lettuce into wedges and arrange on a platter. Slice up an avocado or two and scatter with finely sliced green onions. Drizzle with Beerenberg’s Ranch Dressing and serve

For the beans
Trim 250g green beans and blanch in boiling water until just tender, drain then toss straight in a big bowl, add half a finely diced red onion and 3 tbsp Beerenberg red wine and garlic mustard and toss to combine.

Commercial disclaimer – I do a little recipe development work with Beerenberg and every now and then will be writing about their products and posting new recipes featuring them here on my blog. Beerenberg is an Australian family business, like ours (though we are considerably smaller), and uses only Australian products in their jams, preserves, chutneys and sauces, some from their own farm.