Zanele Van Zyl takes on new culinary chapter from local flavours to French flair

Zanele van Zyl will broaden her culinary portfolio with a new adventure in French cuisine, while maintaining her flair for local flavours.

After the success of her third cookbook, Senidlile Kodwa? , the celebrated chef plans to relocate to France next year.   

“I’m going to work in France for a few months and learn French cuisine and I’ll approach it as a student or apprentice. However, right now I'm still ironing out the details,” she says. 

The 45-year-old began her culinary career nine years ago when she was on maternity leave. She was an IT technician at the time. 

“I stopped working when I was pregnant with my little one, and we [ husband and I] agreed that I was going to raise her until she was five, then I could go back to work. That’s when I made the decision not to go back to corporate. I desired to do something that I always wanted to do, which was cooking,” she says. 

Before long she was studying to obtain her culinary degree at Capsicum Culinary Studios.

“It wasn't easy. I had to leave my little one, go to school from eight to five, followed by my industry training from six to ten in the evening. Having people who supported me, especially my husband, encouraged me to go for it, it was a blessing.”

Today, one of Van Zyl's passions is creating new tasty dishes using her pantry staples and elevating their flavour profile with delicious tweaks.

“In my cooking, I use pantry items that are often overlooked. The other day, I made boerewors soup. Boerewors is an SA staple, and people always think that with boerewors you can just fry it,” she says. 

“I boiled the wors and I crumbled it. Then, sautéed onions and added vegetable stock with cayenne pepper. It is my crumbled wors and cream soup and it was amazing.”

“I enjoy elevating our South African dishes. It could be anything from umfino [wild spinach] from the garden or pap and I would make crumbled pap bowls. I love making sure that our dishes don't die and that the next generation still gets to taste our food.”

To warm up her winter dishes, her latest obsession is the addition of cayenne pepper as part of her seasoning arsenal to add oomph and heat to loved local dishes.

“I read somewhere about cayenne pepper and how much it helps fight off colds, it's good for the throat, and the stomach, even though I'm not a dietitian so don’t take my word for it,” says Van Zyl.

“Since adding a little cayenne pepper to my dishes, it gives them a nice spicy kick and a rich beautiful colour.”

Growing up with six siblings in Bergville, northern KwaZulu-Natal, Van Zyl hardly cooked until she met her husband. 

“I met my husband, and after we got married, I realised cooking is what I loved doing because my husband used to cook for me restaurant-looking food when we started dating. He used to take cooking classes when he worked overseas so he learnt how to make French dishes and sauces. I saw a challenge from this guy, and this is how I got inspired to love cooking,” she says

Creamy spinach stuffed salmon

Ingredients

• 8 pieces of salmon fillets 
• 1 tub of cream cheese 
• 1kg packet of spinach 
• A handful of chopped peppadews 
• 4 crushed garlic cloves 
• 15ml Aromat 
• 60ml butter 

Method 

• Melt the butter.
• Add garlic then stir for a few minutes, then add spinach and peppadews. Let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add cream cheese and season with Aromat.
• Put aside to cool down. 
• Place salmon on a flat surface. 
• Season both sides with salt and pepper.
• Cut a slit or a pocket about ¾ quarter of the way through.
• Fill the salmon “pockets” with spinach mixture.
• Heat butter, then fry salmon until golden brown for about 6 to 7 minutes or till cooked.