“A Soufflé (French: [su.fle]) is a baked egg-based dish that originated in the early eighteenth century in France. It is made with egg-yolks and beaten egg-whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler,...

Although most of us will remember our grandmother’s recipe, rice and sago puddings are still made today. These desserts were often served with moskonfyt (must jam), honey or sugarbush syrup, but most of the time, as it is the case today, they were served with custard. Try this recipe from our Cape Winelands Cuisine Cookbook...

With food and wine pairings at the order of the day on blog posts and as an activity on wine estates and in restaurants, many of us know that finding the perfect food and wine combination is about more than white wine with fish and red wine with steak. The way the dish is cooked,...

Chef Michelle Theron and Ricardo Slawers from the Pierneef à La Motte bakery share a recipe for a delicious harvest-inspired focaccia – perfect for this time of year! A firm favourite of guests to the estate, this Italian-style flatbread is ideal on its own or when dipped into olive oil. Quite easy to make, it...

Looking for an original way to treat your loved one on Valentine’s Day? Play an old-fashioned tune, dish up some sugar and spice and add some sophistication with a beautiful glass of well-chilled La Motte Straw Wine! It is as easy as one, two, three: 1. Get the La Motte Straw Wine from our Tasting...

Pastry chefs traditionally love using meringue when creating their delicate sweet bakes. In the Cape Winelands, meringues are often used as the sweet and airy ingredient in Macaroons and Floating Islands and has become a part of our culinary heritage. The art of making meringue probably came to the Cape with the French Huguenots, as...

Shortly after Van Riebeeck’s landing, large numbers of fruit trees were planted and soon housewives at the Cape became well known for their fruit tarts delicately layered with seasonal fruit on top of a pastry base. After the settlement of the French Huguenots, fruit trees were in abundance in the then Olifantshoek area (today, the...

The Festive Season is synonymous with family, friends, food and wine. To help you make the most of this special time of year, the Pierneef à La Motte team has designed a three course menu with traditional recipes from the Cape Winelands, perfect for your Festive Table. From the freshest seafood and fennel salad, to...

Seafood was regularly collected by the indigenous people and when the first European pioneers arrived at the Cape, they too were fortunate in being able to catch an abundance of fish in the seas along the Cape coast. Bountiful catches of steenbras, kingklip, harder (mullet), elf (shad), mackerel and snoek were recorded by Jan van...

In the days of the old Cape, fowl of any shape and size was popular on the menu, from Muscovy duck to guinea fowl, partridge and wild peacock. While chicken is the most popular bird for cooking today, duck offers that something extra for a special occasion. The ideal meat for sweet flavours and scented...