MKRSA mom and daughter launch cooking getaways on their Karoo farm

There was a time, a few years ago, when I quite fancied being a farmer’s wife one day.

Spending time in the Karoo, covering stories that took me to sheep and angora goat farms, instilled in me a love for the area and for life on the farm.

Never mind that I had this romanticised idea of what farm life entailed. In my version, I would wake up, send off the family after a hearty farmstyle breakfast, then spend my day either preparing meals for the rest of the day or freelancing for Farmer’s Weekly.

I recently got to play farmer housewife, albeit just for weekend and minus the farmer husband and the actual hard work that goes into maintaining a farm, thanks to My Kitchen Rules SA (MKRSA) mom-and-daughter team Elanie (or Lani as everyone calls her) Lombard and Louzel Lombard Steyn.

The two – who made it all the way to the semifinals – are offering Farm to Table lifestyle experiences on the Waterval family farm outside Cradock starting this weekend.

But first, they invited me and a few other Karoo foodies to be their guinea pigs for what they call “an immersive farm to table food experience”.

And so it was, on a Friday afternoon last November, that my food-loving cousin Leizel and I set off for Cradock.

We arrived just as the finishing touches were being added to the G&T Bar at Lani’s True Living in the town’s main street.

A delightful coffee shop complete with a cosy courtyard and a shop that sells handmade items, such as crocheted placemats and coasters, this was our first stop.

Gin cocktails expertly prepared by Louzel’s husband, Louis Steyn, in hand, we sat in the courtyard, enjoying light snacks and chatting ahead of dinner.

Of course, the conversation soon steered towards MKRSA, but – try as we might to pry anything out of them – Lani and Louzel would not divulge any information about the reality TV cooking show.

In the weeks just before our visit, the two had impressed the judges with their mushroom and bone marrow sauce so that this was an obvious choice for me with steak.

They recreated the sauce for us, a decadent blend of exotic mushrooms, brandy, cream and bone marrow.

We ate and chatted until well into the night before heading back in the direction of Port Elizabeth where the family farm is nestled between the mountains about an hour’s drive from Cradock. (We would only see on our return in daylight just how high up we were.)

The next morning we were up early, excited about baking bread, beating butter for brunch and prepping carpaccio for our post-nap afternoon snack.

First up was the bread.

Lani had set up stations for us around the workspace in the centre of the family kitchen, right in front of a mint green AGA stove.

First, we mixed yeast in water before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Then came the next step.

“You don’t need bread,” Lanie said.

I could not believe what I had just heard. I felt like I looked like the big-eyed shocked emoji.

Who was this person? And why would she say something so terrible?

“You don’t knead bread. You fold it until it’s elastic. The dough will tell you when it doesn’t want to stretch anymore,” she said.

Soon, after proving twice, our artisanal breads were in the oven and we moved on to the butter.

It’s as easy as beating up some cream until it separates and forms curds and buttermilk (this can be kept for making rusks), rinsing the butter until the water runs clean, adding salt, and then beating it with a wooden spoon to extract as much water as possible.

Bread baked and butter beaten, it was time for brunch – our fresh bread and butter accompanied by an assortment of cheese, poached eggs and fruity preserves.

Our next mission was trekking along to the cold room where two springbok – shot on the farm just two days before – awaited Lani and her knife.

She moved swiftly and with accuracy, removing the legs and a strip from the neck that would be used for our afternoon snacks and supper – biltong, carpaccio and venison pie.

Fearing the knife more than the springbok, I nervously removed one leg as Lani reminded us that the meat, like the bread, would guide us and that all we need was slight pressure with the knife. No need to hack or saw.

We headed back to the kitchen where we cut the legs into sections for biltong – there’s more to making biltong than just hacking up a good piece of meat – and prepared a few other pieces of the venison for carpaccio which we would have as an afternoon snack.

“Take the best cuts and eat that first. That’s why we are doing carpaccio first,” Louzel said, caressing the slab of meat in front of her.

She has been doing this since she was 10.

“Use the prime cuts for what it’s meant for. It’s so good, especially if it’s just been shot.”

Later that afternoon, we took a walk to what is arguably Lani’s pride and joy – her vegetable garden – to gather carrots, beetroot, radishes, lettuce and herbs for supper that evening.

We kuiered around the kitchen centre as we spooned the venison pie filling Lani had prepared earlier into ramekins and topped the pies with homemade pastry.

We sat around the family dining table as the Lombards told us stories, dad Wentzel proving to be a very animated raconteur who had us in stitches with his version of a family hiking trip.

The next morning he took us on a drive around the family farm ending, finally, at a dry river bed on the property where Lani, Louzel and Louis were preparing breakfast – wors and braaibroodjies using up all our leftovers from the weekend on the fire.

Looking around, at what was truly a family effort to provide an authentic farm stay, I was reminded of what Louzel had said at supper the night before: “This is sharing with you what a normal day is for us because really, we take apart a buck.

“Our entire lives revolve around food and eating and we want to promote family life.

RECIPE | Lani's Artisanal Bread

Ingredients:

500g white bread flour

425g water

8g yeast

10g salt

Method:

Mix the yeast with water.

Mix together all remaining ingredients.

Fold until elastic.

Do not overmix.

In a warm area, proof dough for at least 45 minutes.

Fold again and shape into loaves.

Allow to proof for another 45 minutes, or until dough has double in size.

Brush with olive oil if desired.

Bake at 220°C until done, about 30 minutes more.

● The Farm to Table experience includes farm accommodation for two nights, cooking classes and demos and food and wine pairing. Lani and Louzel are hosting the next weekend on May 1 and 2.

For more information, go to their Facebook page www.facebook.com/lanilouzel