Inside The Lucky Kitchen

WHEN laundry folded, coffee percolated, and years later, it cooked up a book of decadent recipes called The Lucky Kitchen.

About 15 years ago, content creator and photographer Angie Batis Durrant, her husband Shane, and a friend were shooting the breeze at their flat in Ilovo, lamenting the lack of a great coffee hangout. 

Across the road, they noticed a laundromat had closed, and after a casual “why not,” Angie and Shane decided to espresso their desire by opening a coffee shop.

That caffeine shot led to a few more eateries, all with quirky names. “We had four altogether at one point. It was Wolves, The Good Luck Club, Father Coffee and Mr. Big Stuff,” said Angie.

After years of early mornings in the kitchen, flour-dusted and bopping to music from Shane’s band, Desmond and the Tutus, they are no longer in the food business. Instead, there’s now a book with all their favourite recipes.

Angie says she wanted the book to pay homage to her Greek heritage and give her two children something to cherish. It was also a tribute to her yiayia (grandmother), who spent all her waking hours cooking.

“I have such fond memories of her cooking and baking. I just wanted to pay tribute to her and to my heritage. My kids don’t speak Greek, and I don’t really have a lot of Greek friends. I thought it was a nice nod to my Greek heritage to have those sorts of recipes in the book, seeing as I don’t have it in my own personal life.”

The Lucky Kitchen contains 84 delicious recipes, ranging from Loukoumades (Greek doughnuts) to Pastitsio, described as “a traditional Greek (pasta) dish made with love and served heavy-handed by Greek mothers around the world.”

The Good Luck Club, Angie and Shane’s dim sum and noodle bar in Ilovo, was renowned for its crispy twice-fried beef with basil — hands down the most ordered dish on their menu. That is the starter recipe in the book, which she hopes will become “your home’s most requested, most loved dish too.”

Angie grew up in a “very loud” big fat Greek family, where food was served in big portions, now replicated in her recipes.

The Lucky Kitchen has something for every taste bud: cauliflower and sweet potato coconut curry, beef potato onion gravy pie, as well as a dish with an unforgettable name: “Shut Your Face Because My Mom’s Mac and Cheese is Better Than Your Mom’s Mac and Cheese.” But it’s the sweet treats that will blow your mind. There’s Gina King’s top-secret fudge recipe, upside-down honeyed pecan cupcakes, lemon possets, baked white chocolate and peach cheesecake, and braided Nutella bread.

The pièce de résistance is Wolves’ original red velvet cake. Angie says it was once her “best-kept” secret recipe at that eatery and attracted cake fans from South Africa and beyond when it was served in their café. A picture of it even made its way onto the New York Times website.

If you have a sweet tooth, this is the book you need. Angie is a self-confessed cake snob and says it’s baking, more than cooking, that feeds her soul. She fell in love with the art when she tasted a recipe now in her handwritten cookbook — Joe's Friend's Chocolate Cake.

“It was so good, and that actually made me really fall in love with baking. I’m quite a cake snob. I don’t like cakes that have been kept in fridges, and I love a homemade cake, something that tastes like somebody has made it in their kitchen at home, and that was that chocolate cake.”

While Angie does most of the cooking and baking, she is measured and precise in the kitchen, and she envies Shane’s spontaneity. He even has a recipe in the book.

“I am not chaotic. My husband is one of those people, and I often envy him, I’m not going to lie. He can open the fridge and go, ‘what have we got in here? I’m just going to chuck a few things together and make something,’ and it turns out amazing.”

The Lucky Kitchen is perfect if you want to get the whole family involved. Several recipes are designed for children to enjoy making and eating, like peanut butter and chocolate spider cookies, as well as cheesecake Santas made with strawberries, cream cheese, and chocolate chips.

Angie says she hopes readers take this away from the book: “When you think of Greek food, for me, it’s about big portions and sharing. A lot of the recipes are nice to share with people when having friends over, having parties, celebrating — that sort of thing. In a Greek household, you’re always being offered seconds or thirds or even fourths. It’s about community and bringing people together.”

The Lucky Kitchen retails for R390 and is available at all good bookshops. You can follow Angie Batis Durrant on Instagram @miss_luckypony (50.7k followers) or visit her blog at luckypony.co.za

Here are a few of the winning recipes: 

Yiayia’s yemista

Greek stuffed tomatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients 

Olive oil for frying 

1 medium onion, chopped  

500g minced beef  

20ml Worcestershire sauce  

30ml (2 tbsp) chutney  

salt and pepper to taste  

50g (3 tbsp) tomato paste  

1 x 410 g tin chopped tomatoes  

250ml (1 cup) uncooked white rice  

250ml (1 cup) water

4 gem squash, seeds removed  

2 red or yellow peppers, hollowed out  

4 medium tomatoes, hollowed out, pulp reserved

For the sauce: 500ml (2 cups) water, 50g (3 tbsp) tomato paste, 1 chicken stock pot/cube, 5ml (1 tsp) sugar, 15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil , salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat,add a glug of olive oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 3-4 minutes. Increase the heat, then add the mince, Worcestershire sauce and chutney, and season to taste. Fry until the mince is brown, about 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the tomato paste and tinned tomatoes. Give it a quick mix, then pour it into the mince mixture. Stir everything together.

Scatter the rice over the surface of the mince, then add the water then mix. Pop the saucepan lid on and let this simmer until cooked, about 15 minutes.

To make the sauce, in a pot combine the water, reserved tomato pulp, tomato paste, chicken stock cube, sugar, olive oil, and seasoning to taste. Stir, then simmer for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.  

Place the hollowed-out vegetables in a roasting pan, open sides up. Spoon the mince mixture into each vegetable until they are full. Pour the sauce over the stuffed veggies. Cover with foil and roast in the oven for about 1 hour.

Remove the foil and continue roasting until the veggies are soft and have a slight golden colour,

about 1⁄2 hour. Serve nice and hot.

Lucky monster cookies

These cookies must sit in the freezer for a good hour before you pop them in the oven. Chilling the batter prevents the cookies from spreading too much.

Makes 12 cookies

115g unsalted butter at room temperature

200g (1 cup) brown sugar

130g (1⁄2 cup) smooth peanut butter

2 eggs at room temperature

10ml (2 tsp) vanilla essence

 210g (11⁄2 cups) cake flour

 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda

 2.5ml (1⁄2 tsp) baking powder

 2.5ml (1⁄2 tsp) ground cinnamon

1 pinch (1⁄4 tsp) salt

100g (1 cup) rolled oats

1⁄2 cup Astros, Smarties, Speckled Eggs or M&Ms

100 g (heaped 1⁄2 cup) dark or milk chocolate chips

Method

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and peanut butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about two and a half minutes.Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then, on low speed, add the eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla essence and mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonateof soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and oats. Mix with a fork. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until everything is just combined and you have a nice dough. Don’t overmix.

Using a spatula, fold in the Astros (or whichever chocolate candy you’re using) and chocolate chips. Using an ice-cream scoop or a 1⁄4 cup measuring cup, arrange the cookies on a tray or wooden board. Ensure that a few Astros and chocolate chips are sticking out for extra eye candy. Place in the freezer and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Transfer the cookies to the baking tray, leaving a 4cm gap between them. Bake until light golden-brown around the edges, about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and use an egg lifter to carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. Leave to cool completely – they will firm up as they cool.

Fried lemon feta and homemade yoghurt hummus platter

Serves 4-5

2 1⁄2 x 410 g tins chickpeas, drained, but 45-60 ml (3-4 tbsp) liquid reserved

1 garlic clove

2.5ml (1⁄2 tsp) ground cumin

60ml (1⁄4 cup) fresh lemon juice

80ml (1∕3 cup) tahini paste

45ml (3 tbsp) olive oil

125ml (1⁄2 cup) double-cream yoghurt

salt and pepper to taste

5ml (1 tsp) paprika

15ml (1 tbsp) salted butter

6 rounds of feta

Juice of 1 small lemon

4-5 chicken or beef kebabs*

1 x 40 g packet rocket

6 big pita breads, cut into small triangles

* I buy mine, precooked, from my local deli

Method

To make the hummus, place just over half the chickpeas, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, tahini, 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil, yoghurt and salt in a food processor. Blend until very smooth, adding the reserved chickpea liquid as needed to reach your desired consistency. Set aside.

To make the fried chickpeas, season the remaining chickpeas with salt, pepper and paprika, and toss them in 15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil. Add them to an air fryer, set the temperature to 180°C, and air fry until crispy, about 10 minutes. Alternatively, roast them in the oven on a baking tray at 180°C for 45 minutes.

To make the fried lemon feta, add the butter to a frying pan over medium heat. When sizzling, add the feta rounds and fry until golden-brown on both sides, 4-5 minutes per side. Squeeze some lemon juice over them and set aside.

To serve, add big dollops of the yoghurt hummus to a platter, then spread it out. Add the kebabs, rocket, feta rounds and pita bread, then scatter the roasted chickpeas over everything. Enjoy Greek style – sharing is caring