Family ties

When TASTE’s Abigail Donnelly and her family get together over the weekend, the food is simple, but always totally delicious. Pantry and freezer staples star in recipes so good, you’ll want to double up for the week ahead

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Now more than ever, retreating from the world to spend precious time with her family is important to TASTE food director Abigail Donnelly. She shares her home in Glencairn, Cape Town, with husband Terry and their two teenage sons, Matthew (13) and Jack (18).

Happily, Terry’s dad Michael now lives not far down the road in Simon’s Town. A photographer and videographer, Michael’s return to South Africa 18 months ago, after having lived in New York for 25 years, has been a great gift to the family – and an opportunity for them all to share their love of cooking at regular family meals.

Get-togethers, either at Michael’s home or at Abi and Terry’s, take place most weekends – when life permits. And they are as fuss-free as you can get … or at least as fuss-free as a gathering of five people who love to cook and eat great food will ever be.

“When we’re at Mike’s place he does all the cooking, and Terry and I do everything when we’re at our house,” says Abigail. “Mike really loves a braai – when he lived in New York he’d regularly braai over gas out on his deck, but now that he’s back in South Africa it’s a wood fire all the way. The way it should be!”