AN INFUSION OF CITRUS WITH FOODIES & FRIENDS OF TANQUERAY - MEALS AND COCKTAILS TO SHARE THIS FESTIVE
Top chefs whip up citrus-infused dishes paired with fresh Tanqueray cocktails to wow your guests this Festive Season.
Summer is all about kicking back, lapping up the sun, and sipping on cocktails made with the finest ingredients. We caught up with foodies and friends of the Tanqueray brand, Luyanda Mafanya, Themba Gwejela and brand ambassador, Simtholile Mnisi for a festive feast inspired by the bespoke flavours of Tanqueray.
Food blogger, Luyanda Mafanya loves the festive season as a time to spend with family and bond over food. For her meal, Luyanda prepares crispy duck breasts with honey & orange glazed baby carrots.
Luyanda shares her top tips for preparing duck – a fatty, yet tender meat to impress your dinner guests with. “Start off with scoring the fat of the duck. Season with salt and pepper and then add your duck breast to the pan skin-side down to render down the fat. If you want, you can keep the oil for roast potatoes or for making a reduction”. After the skin starts crisping, Luyanda pops the duck breasts in the oven to finish cooking.
In the same pan that’s laced with rich duck fat, Luyanda begins the carrots. She adds butter, ginger for the aroma, a bit of garlic, and tops it off with some thyme. While adding the orange, Luyanda explains, “Orange and carrot go really well together, especially with fresh herbs. The meal will pair well with my Tanqueray cocktail, especially with the Flor de Sevilla – the notes from the bittersweet orange and the Tanqueray will be amazing with this dish”.
To finish the glaze for the carrots, add a drizzle of honey for sweetness and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Reduce until sticky and delicious. To make the dressing, combine a selection of fresh herbs, a few cloves of garlic, orange juice and olive oil. Blend until smooth. Drizzle over the crispy duck and citrus-glazed baby carrots to bring the whole dish together.
To complement the sweet citrusy flavours of the dish, Simtholile Mnisi has the perfect summer cocktail – a twist on the classic gin and tonic.
Simtholile shares his secret recipe, explaining “I decided to create a syrup made from citrus, rosemary and a little bit of balsamic. Then I add the star: Tanqueray Sevilla” – a unique distilled gin made with Sevilla orange essences with other fine botanicals. With a squeeze of some lime juice for extra acidity and balanced with a soda water or tonic, you’ve got yourself a fresh gin cocktail.
“Whenever I think of festive, I think of a really great time where the family comes together”, shares Themba Gwejela, renowned food influencer from Mr Gwej’s Kitchen. “It’s always high energy with lots of people cooking”. Coming from a big family, Themba knows how to cook up something festive with a bit of a kick, incorporating simple, fresh ingredients and a touch of citrus.
For the second dish, Themba’s spicy chicken sauce blends red onion, olive oil, dried chillies, fresh chillies, garlic, white pepper, paprika, and a little bit of sugar. Themba adds a healthy helping of basil and tops off the sauce with freshly-squeezed orange.
The sauce is drizzled over some quickly fried, golden-brown chicken and popped in the oven to cook and infuse further. As a side dish, Themba adds green veggies lathered with chunky pesto.
To complement this dish, Simtholile puts his own spin on the gin sour cocktail. He explains, “I made a shiraz syrup which is slightly infused with basil – just some flavours that will come out of the chicken as we’re having our dish”.
The cocktail incorporates a double serving of Tanqueray No. Ten gin, the shiraz and basil syrup, some lime juice, and the controversial extra ingredient, egg white.
The festive season is all about fellowship – gathering around a table with the ones we love and enjoying the simple things in life, like a beautifully prepared meal paired with the perfect cocktail.
