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Women in food: Ina Paarman

August 8, 2023

Ina Paarman left her position as Senior Lecturer at the Cape Technicon to start a cookery school. During this time, she was also the food editor of Die Burger and Femina, and won both the Mondi and Galliova awards for excellence in journalism. Ina had her own regular TV cookery slot and has to date written 8 cookery books.

She formulated a small range of gourmet dressings, sauces and seasonings on customer demand.

The fortunes of the condiment business took a dramatic turn when the Paarman’s youngest son, Graham, joined the business in 1990. He expanded the product range, manufacturing facility and selling infrastructure. Thanks to these efforts, Ina Paarman has become a household name and one of the few living brand names.

Ina will always be a teacher at heart and she and her team take great pride in the credible culinary information they provide on their website, www.paarman.co.za , featuring teaching videos, menus and thoroughly tested recipes. She keeps in touch with a monthly newsletter. This is her way to make healthy home cooking easy and enjoyable.

Print Recipe

Spinach Mince Cake

An unusual way to extend and dress up mince!

Ingredients

Spinach
1 bunch swiss chard (whole leaves)
½ t (2.5 ml) bicarbonate of soda
boiling water
Mince mixture
1 T (15 ml) olive or canola oil
125 g streaky bacon, cut into 1 x 1 cm dice
1 large onion, chopped
Ina Paarman’s Green Onion Seasoning
1 x 100 g Ina Paarman’s Poultry Stuffing Mix
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman’s Beef Flavour Stock Powder
1 x 125 g Ina Paarman’s Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
500 g lean beef mince
oil for drizzling

Instructions

Boil a kettle of water.

Place the spinach in a large mixing bowl, add bicarbonate of soda to preserve green colour and pour boiling water over. Leave to stand while preparing mince mixture.

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 180°C.

Butter the bottom and sides of a 26 cm pie dish really well.

Warm a heavy based frying pan, add the oil and fry the bacon until crisp. Remove from pan and keep on one side, add the onion, seasoned with Green Onion Seasoning to the same pan.

Stir-fry until the onion is nicely browned.

Remove pan from the heat and add cooked bacon, Stuffing Mix, Beef Stock Powder, Tomato Pesto and mince. Stir to mix.

Remove spinach leaves from hot water and transfer to a clean, dry kitchen towel.

Put the best spinach leaf upside down in the buttered dish.

Line the dish with more leaves on top of one another and overhanging the pie dish, aim for ± 2 – 3 layers of leaves, reserve the rest for covering the top.

Spoon the mince mixture into the spinach lined dish.

Cover the top with the remaining leaves and neaten the edges.

Drizzle oil over the pie.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. To unmold, invert a serving plate over the pie dish, flip the plate and dish, and then remove the pie dish.

Serve, sliced with our Pepper or Mushroom Sauce.