Whole Beef fillet steak
Slice the fillet down the centre but not quite through
Stuff with chopped garlic and combo of fresh or dried herbs
And some sliced mushrooms
Season to taste
Close and wrap the whole fillet in bacon
This seals in the flavors and keeps it moist
Wrap in foil until ¾ cooked then discard foil and brown on coals
Turning until browned all over
Serve with creamed garlic potato bake and tossed salad
Creamed potato bake
Slice potatoes approx. 1cm. Thick
Season and put a knob of butter on each layer as you place in a flat dish
Mix a tub of cream with a cup of ideal milk
Add 1tble spoon crushed garlic
Pour over potatoes and bake in moderate oven until soft
“Enjoy”
Two weeks later it was time for my monthly business trip up the north coast of Natal to visit some of my customers.
As usual I left at around 5.30 am as my first client was a considerable distance away.
I stopped off for light breakfast of a bacon and egg roll and coffee at a Wimpy Café (a well known eatery chain in SA) and arrived at my destination at about 10.30am
It was a coal mine and the company I worked for kept a consignment stock of oil at the client.
After a visit to the engineers to discuss some technical matters, I proceeded to the main store to pay a courtesy call to the chief storekeeper who put most of the orders through to us.
He was quite a character, a very large man and a devotee to rugby, which we had to discuss at length at every visit, and a delivery of his “cough medicine “ as he called it ( a bottle of scotch whiskey) this was done periodically as a gesture of thanks for the business, and everybody was happy !!
On completion of my visit it was time to head to my next for client who was a mere 180 kilometres away, this was an interesting drive as I always took a short cut through the Umfolozi Game reserve, by doing this, I shortened the trip by a further round journey of 200 ks.
When I first started taking the short cut I was in awe of all the wild life I encountered and took a lot of photos as I pasted, but after doing it for the past couple of years I became quite blasé and just wanted to get through and to my next call of business.
By the time I reached my next customer at the Sugar mill it was mid afternoon and had just enough time to complete my business.
25ks later I arrived at my accommodation for the night a place called Lake st. Lucia a famous fishing destination for folk all around South Africa.
Instead of staying at a hotel I preferred to take a cabana, much more comfortable than a tiny room and half the price. And a good variety of restaurants to choose from.
After a good Garlic steak for dinner at a place called Captains Cabin, I took a drive down to the estuary where the Umfolozi river meets the sea and watched some of the fishing boats come in. I parked my car at the top of the slipway and wondered down to the waters edge.