A trio of award-winning chefs and their special moms this Mother's Day

CHEF JOHANNES RICHTER

The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate, Pinetown, KZN

Eat Out Woolworths Chef of the Year 

My mother, Christine Richter is the founder of Summerhill Guest Estate — it's also where we grew up. She has had a huge influence on my love for cooking: she really facilitated a lot of travel in my life and always supported my passion for visiting local markets and farms, and for gaining a deeper understanding of produce. On the other hand, though she was never a housewife, one non-negotiable when it came to eating at home was that everything was always freshly cooked. There was always fresh produce involved, never any convenience food. That was something that deeply interested me from early on, and it's something that is core to how we cook at The LivingRoom, where we only cook with fresh, unprocessed foods (NOVA Category 1).

And of course, my gran also played a significant role in shaping my life. I spent a lot of time with her, cooking alongside her and watching how she, too, would prepare meals using fresh ingredients. One phrase that's always stood out to me — and I think you can see its influence in our cooking at Summerhill — is something my mum and gran used to say: “Anyone can cook with cream.” Not using it much was almost a kind of benchmark for them, a way of testing and refining their skills.

Lunchboxes at school were a bit tricky for me. My favourite subject at school was break time — I was always busy then and didn't have much time to eat, so my lunchbox was usually quite neglected. I only really ate once I got home. That's actually how I started cooking: I’d get home from school, start cooking, and use it as a way to wind down. Those were my first real solo experiences in the kitchen.

After studying — rather unsuccessfully — my mother gave me one of the greatest luxuries in life: the opportunity to pursue my passion rather than follow the conventional route I was on — studying statistics. She recognised my growing passion and the increasing amount of time I was spending in the guest house kitchen, and she gave me the nudge I needed. She told me that if I was serious about this, I couldn't just keep doing what I was doing at the guest house; I needed to take it further and pursue a proper qualification. That encouragement led to me leaving South Africa to begin my apprenticeship in Germany, just 10km from the French border. And honestly, that remains one of the most valuable things that ever happened to me in my career — besides, of course, meeting my wife Johanna.

Two dishes of my mum's cooking really stand out for me. One is a classic: her beef stroganoff, which she used to make for us often. The other is less conventional, but it speaks to her heritage — she didn't come from a wealthy background — a stew made from chicken hearts, served with mashed potatoes. To this day, it remains one of my absolute favourite meals. Another is salads, and they still are, to this day. We used to have an array of light, textured, crisp salads at home, and that's something I still really enjoy preparing. We're very textured eaters, and we've always liked raw ingredients. 

Given the nature of our work on days like Mother's Day what we usually do is enjoy a big, beautiful breakfast with the whole family. We're also quite lucky in that our family all lives together on Summerhill Estate. My mother lives in the same house as my wife Johanna and business partner, the children, and me, and my sister lives on a neighbouring property with her children and partner. It's really special to be able to gather everyone for a proper breakfast spread. After that, we get on with the day — and focus on spoiling our guests.

How has the perspective on Mother's Day changed as I've grown up and become a parent myself? Looking back, I don't think I fully appreciated just how strong and supportive my mother was while I was growing up. She left no stone unturned to ensure we — her children — had the best possible start in life. She was a single mother for most of our upbringing; my father passed away when I was nine, and I'm the eldest of four children. At the same time as raising us, she was also running — and building — a business. Despite everything she had on her plate, she always had time for us. She was patient, attentive and always up for a party with us. To this day, we share a very special bond. We spend a lot of time together both in the business and in our personal lives, and we really enjoy the multigenerational household we're fortunate enough to live in.

One of my mothers' favourite meals, and something we treat ourselves to about once a month, is a braai. When we're at home, we almost exclusively cook over the fire. She loves pork neck slices, nicely grilled, served with marinated onions and red peppers. We usually pair that with a traditional German potato salad and some crisp butter lettuce. It's a simple, hearty meal — and definitely one of her favourites.

Christine’s Beef Stroganoff with Johannes's version with Pappardelle and Pickled Sides

Of course, something like a creamy mushroom sauce has its place every now and then, but generally speaking, they believed in letting butter — and technique — carry the flavour, rather than relying on heavy cream.

That philosophy definitely shaped the way I approach sauces today: light, elegant, clean and focused.

600g beef fillet, sliced into strips

30ml (2 tbsp) vegetable oil

1 large onion, diced

300g mushrooms, sliced (porcini preferred)

40g butter

30ml (2 tbsp) flour

250ml (1 cup) beef broth, preferably homemade or low-sodium

150ml gherkin pickling juice

45ml (3 tbsp) Dijon mustard

200ml sour cream

250g pappardelle or tagliatelle, pickled beetroot, gherkins, chopped chives

Salt and pepper, to taste

To Serve:

1. Slice the beef fillet into thin strips and sear in vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat. Sear the beef strips until medium-rare, working in batches if necessary. Remove and set aside.

2. In the same pan, sauté the mushrooms until golden, then add the diced onions and cook until soft. Remove and set aside with the beef.

3. Make the roux by lowering the heat, add the butter to the pan and, once melted, whisk in the flour to form a roux. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Gradually add the warm beef broth and gherkin pickling juice to the roux, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the Dijon mustard and sour cream until the sauce is smooth and emulsified.

4. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pappardelle or tagliatelle until al dente. Drain. Return the beef, mushrooms and onions to the sauce. Gently bring to a simmer, then immediately remove from heat to avoid overcooking the beef. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.

5. To serve, plate the pasta and spoon the stroganoff over the top. Garnish with chopped chives. Serve with pickled beetroot and gherkins on the side for an acidic counterpoint.

CHARNé SAMPSON

Head Chef, Epice Restaurant, Franschhoek

Eat Out Callebaut Dessert Award 

I grew up in Cape Town, southern suburbs and was the recipient of a scholarship, Students for a Better Future, for high school and when asked to write a list of where we would like to study, my mom encouraged me to write Silwood cooking school to see if anything would come of it. I was so lucky the scholarship was extended to carry through to my tertiary education and could study to be a chef. And as they say the rest is history. 

My mother used to run a little coffee shop at our local church when I was still at school. I would bake cupcakes and savouries for the coffee shop and seeing the satisfaction of how everyone absolutely loved the simple things is where my passion for my career as a chef started. My mom also helped me when I would make novelty cakes and cupcakes for the shop while I was in school and if I needed help with doing the numbers she would also be on hand to help.

As the chef behind that winning dessert what dessert it was my mother's Custard Delight dessert where I think my passion started. It is so very simple but my absolute favourite, a combination of tennis biscuits, homemade custard, condensed milk set as a fridge tart, and topped with whipped cream and flake crumbled on top. As a little girl I always remember having to almost fight my brothers to lick out the bowl with the custard and get every last bit.

In celebrating my mother on Mother's Day I know she loves a curry. I know she would enjoy a family lunch with either a lamb knuckle or butter chicken curry with roti and sambals. And we'd finish off with her favourites a carrot cake and a trifle, without jelly, and lots of nuts.

Has my perspective on Mother’s Day changed as you’ve grown up and become a parent yourself? Mother's Day is a day of celebration and appreciation to show all mothers, not just one own biological mom but those who have influenced your life as well. I've just recently became a mother myself and what an experience it has been so far and the wonderful thing about a Mother's Day is how it brings families together .

One of the valuable things my mother taught me was to clean as you go in the kitchen so you don't have a huge mess once you’re done in the kitchen. Another tip I learnt from her is to keep tasting your food as you go as if it doesn't taste good for you why would anyone else enjoy eating it.

Desserts have always been special in our family. In creating the winning dessert, a Tonka Parfait with Caramel Cocoa Nib Crumb Banana Cake with Spiced Mousse Caramelia Cremeux took many hours and said. It was finding a special mould which created the gap we needed for creativity. All good things take time and it became a merry-go-round of discovering the very best flavours. The idea was not to create something that just solely tasted of banana but a dessert featuring different flavours and textures throughout. I do love lemon meringue and banoffee pies and how the flavours come through and this became the foundation of seeking out that banana flavour in a unique dessert.

NINA DU TOIT

Head Chef Salsify at The Roundhouse, Camps Bay, Cape Town

Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant of the Year

I grew up in Johannesburg with my mother Lea Holtz and two siblings, I'm the eldest child. My mom has always made delicious food. We grew up eating very healthy, organic food and my mother has a gift for cooking vegetables and making them taste amazing. After school I wanted to do something practical and my mom asked me what I love doing, it was ultimately cooking and making food for others where I was always happiest. 

There are many food memories growing up. My mom always made us lunch when we came home from school, and we all sat together and enjoyed dinner together too. In summer she would make us “fruit soup” which was a fruit salad basically with polenta which she cooked and pressed and then cut into squares. It was all served together in a fruit juice... this was an interesting stand out dish she made, we loved it! But jokes aside she makes a delicious organic chicken soup (all ingredients must be organic otherwise it’s not right) and to this day we ask her to make it. 

My mom would wake up at 5am every morning before us and make us school sandwiches. Always on rye or homemade bread. I was fussy and couldn’t eat unroasted bread so mine was always toasted first. Every day was different: lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, gherkins you name it. They were amazing. We did trade them some days at school though for the other children’s white bread because that was not allowed in our house.

Celebrating Mother's Day together is tricky now that I live in Cape Town and work in a busy restaurant where our patrons come and celebrate their mothers with us. I always send my mother a meal from a restaurant she loves and always include a care package or a spa voucher because she’s still my biggest supporter in all I do. When she visits, she still cooks and looks after everyone about her and the topic of conversation about the table is always food. She’s always enthusiastic and excited to make dinner together and I love how food always brings people together. I am lucky to have grown up with the best organic food and today I try to find the best produce because I know how good it is for you and I can taste the difference.

Anything I make my mom loves. I made her gnocchi once — we make for one of our dishes at Salsify — and she was blown away at how light and delicious they were. She is an excellent baker and we often share recipes with each other and different flours and ingredients we’ve used. She always made us a birthday cakes which were always exceptional. She’s always experimenting with new health products, and she has a little shop in Johannesburg where she sells organic vegetable and health products. Nowadays she makes gluten free, sugar free cakes for her cafe and they are really delicious... you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s not the real deal. Her banana bread is awesome.

LEA'S GLUTEN FREE BANANA BREAD

My mother Lea Holtz runs the Collaborative Healing Centre in Johannesburg offering alternative healing and sells organic vegetables, gluten free cakes and biodynamically made compost. It’s inspiring to see my mother's dream become a reality.

Makes one loaf

5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda

4 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork

125ml (1/2 cup) butter or oil

125ml (1/2 cup) sugar at most

3 eggs

5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence 

500ml (2 cups) gluten free flours, buckwheat, spelt, rice or cassava, well sifted

2.5ml (1/2 tsp) baking powder

Pinch of salt

125ml (1/2 cup) walnuts, roughly chopped

1. Mix the bicarbonate of soda into the banana mix. Melt the butter and let it cool a bit before beating in the sugar, eggs and vanilla.

3. Sift the gluten free flours well and add baking powder, pinch of salt and roughly ground or chopped walnuts. Pour into a greased medium loaf pan and bake at 180 deg C for 40 — 50 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.