BARRY CLARKE OF THE BAREFOOT GOURMET

It has been such a wonderful pleasure for us to have a caterer for our event with such deeply-felt connections to the cuisine of Southern Africa. Barry’s food is a highlight of the evening for us, and we are touched by his enthusiastic support for our work—our connection to Barry is something we cherish!

Barry Clarke was born in Mbeya, Tanzania and was raised – mostly barefoot – near the port city of Durban in the province of KwaZulu/Natal on the east coast of South Africa.

His interest in foods started at a young age…catching fish and octopus in the tidal pools of Ballito Bay on the north coast, picking mussels and other shellfish and steaming them right away, or cooking them on a fire on the beach.

Barry’s family life revolved around the bounty of foods in this sub-tropical region of South Africa – bananas, mangoes, lychees, pineapples, pawpaws, guavas, avocados, passion fruit, prawns, crayfish, line fish, squid, range-fed poultry, beef and pork, and the best lamb in the world from the Karoo in the Cape province.

Barry has ever-so-generously agreed to share one of his recipes from home with us!

Try this one at home, and for further adventures, get in touch with Barry about his weekly pick-up meals program: every week he makes available two choices of dinner for four, with a new menu of DELICIOUS dishes to choose from each week! 

To join the fun, email Barry!

Peri Peri Sauce –perfect for Prawns and Chicken

This Portuguese way of cooking was born in Mozambique and is now ubiquitous in Southern Africa – including Zimbabwe.  I was first introduced to it when I was about 14.  My brother Chris was sugar farming in Mhlume, Swaziland and we went across the border to Namahash in Mozambique.  We had peri peri prawns, fresh bread and Blue Nun wine.  It was a stupendous lunch!

Ingredients

1 stick of butter or 8 tbs peanut oil*

1 tbs cayenne pepper (About as close as you’ll get to the actual birds eye pepper used in southern Africa.)

2 cloves of garlic crushed

1 tsp sea salt

1 lemon, juiced

Melt the butter and mix in the other ingredients.  If you are cooking prawns, do this in a big skillet and toss in them in as soon as the butter starts to sputter.  Stir fry until they turn pink and serve immediately.

For chicken, baste this sauce on the chicken (halved or quartered) periodically while roasting or BBQing.

*In April 2007, we did Peri Peri chicken wings on a charcoal fire at Tanda and Justin’s house in Portland, OR…but used a very coarse and aromatic peanut oil.  It made them delicious on a whole different level!