The Roasted Dad’s Recipes

I am an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw my business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep me sane. To keep track of my recipes, and encourage friends and families to join me, I started my instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim I (encouraged by my wife) enter MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when I get selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, I decide to go all in. Leaving my 7-month-pregnant wife to look after our then three and one-year-old children, I battled it out and came back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in my pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, and then entering -and winning- MasterChef. But The Roasted Dad is so much more now. I now host Private Dinner Parties, Restaurant Take-Overs and Pop-Ups and Cook-with-Me Demos, and am a Key Note Speaker at events. I share recipes on my website and regularly post accommodation and restaurant reviews too. This is a glimpse into the wild and wonderful life I lead with my wife Lianne, and our three children Aiden (8), Olivia (6) and Harvey (4).

After winning MasterChef South Africa, I started sharing recipes on this blog. They are easy to produce at home, using basic cooking techniques with ingredients found at your local grocery store.

Recipe Index

Poultry Recipes

Red Meat Recipes

Seafood Recipes

Vegetarian Recipes

Salad Recipes

Dessert Recipes

Outdoor cooking

Braai blik mac ‘n cheese cannelloni
Shawn Godfrey Shawn Godfrey

Braai blik mac ‘n cheese cannelloni

During the week, supper time is always a rush. I love cooking a few larger meals on the weekend that we can have on the evenings when we don’t have time to prepare something from scratch. This dish is a South African variation on the classic mac ’n cheese.

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Yummy South African pap (maize meal) arancini recipe
Shawn Godfrey Shawn Godfrey

Yummy South African pap (maize meal) arancini recipe

Pap (or maize) arancini is a South African variation of the Italian dish. Swopping traditional risotto for the with stywe pap (stiff maize porridge), the balls are oven-baked. Served on a tomato base and covered with cheese, this dish pairs well with boerewors.

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Rare T-Bone Steak Ciabatta with Caramelised Onion, Smokey Herb Mayo & Pickles
Shawn Godfrey Shawn Godfrey

Rare T-Bone Steak Ciabatta with Caramelised Onion, Smokey Herb Mayo & Pickles

I make a steak sandwich quite regularly as it’s easy to put together, especially if you have some steak leftovers from a braai. I recently got a set of soshida knives and there is no better way to use them (and show them off) than creating a new Roasted Dad recipe.

I love cooking outdoors and the nice thing about this recipe is that everything can be prepared outside. Of course I cooked the T-bone on the fire, but I also used a cast iron skillet frying pan to caramelise the onions and I toasted the inside of the ciabatta bread on the grid.

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S’more Christmas trees
Shawn Godfrey Shawn Godfrey

S’more Christmas trees

This December, we made these s’more Christmas Trees with the kids and they loved getting involved, breaking the tennis biscuits up and separating out the red and green smarties. Of course the best part was tasting the end result.

Once you try these Christmas trees, you’ll want s’more!

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Slow-Cooked Chilli Tomato Brisket (in the oven)
brisket Shawn Godfrey brisket Shawn Godfrey

Slow-Cooked Chilli Tomato Brisket (in the oven)

You can’t conquer hills on an empty tank! So, after we saw the South African rugby team beat Italy, we got down to the serious business of carbo-loading. This dish is everything you want: delicious, comforting, and packed with the right kind of fuel.

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