Q: Hi, I’m looking for a simple basil pesto recipe. All the recipes I’ve found so far seem to call for pine nuts – where does one buy pine nuts from?

A: Most of your larger store’s should stock pine nuts, if you have no luck there try a health specialist shop or deli. At a push, you can use peeled almonds, but the flavour and texture is not quite the same.

In our cooking classes at Wickedfood Cooking School have found that the best recipe for Basil Pesto is one that is kept fresh, simple and to a minimum so that the flavours can really come through on their own. The most common pestos are probably Pesto alla genovese (basil), Pesto alla siciliana (tomato and less basil), Pesto alla calabrese (grilled bell peppers and black pepper) and Arugula (rocket, black olives, lemon peel and coriander).

In a recent individual cookery class at Wickedfood Cooking School we used this recipe which came out as a firm favourite:

• 4 cups basil roughly torn (soft stalks can be added)
• 1-2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup toasted pine nuts
• ±1t sea salt
• ¼ cup Parmesan
• ±1 cup olive oil

1. Place the basil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a mortar and pound until a smooth paste is reached.
2. Add the cheese and mix in well.
3. Slowly pour in the olive oil and mix until the desired consistency is reached.
4. Season with salt and pepper and store in an air-tight container for ±1 week.

Serve with fresh pastas for best results.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: Is “sharon” fruit skin really edible which I read this weekend? If so why do we peel it?

A: The skin of the Persimmon or sharon fruit, like that of a apple, can be tough, and therefor is often removed, before eating. Like an apple though, the skin can be eaten.

Persimmon have been enjoyed as a fruit for a long time, known to the ancient Greeks as “the fruit of the gods“. They are light yellow-orange to dark red-orange in colour. The calyx often remains attached to the fruit after harvesting, but becomes easier to remove as it ripens. They are high in glucose and possess various medicinal uses. It is a true berry by definition. Persimmons, especially the Israeli variety, contain very high levels of soluble tannins and are unpalatable if eaten before softening. These tannins disappear with ripening.

Israeli horticulturalists from the Sharon Valley transformed one variety of the fruit to one with commercial value and renamed it Sharon Fruit after the valley.

The Japanese Persimmon is the most widely cultivated species. Known as the sweet persimmon, it is ready to eat even when it’s firm as an apple. It ripens to varying degrees of softness, until it becomes transparent and jelly-like, making an excellent dessert mousse when mixed with cream.

Persimmon Recipes

Baked Persimmon Pudding

Poached Persimmons

Persimmon Cheesecake

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built
cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a
week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for
corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes,
birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in
the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not
only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests.
For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are
a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: When baking a dish using a bain marie – what should the temp of the water be? Boiling, just hot or are there instances where cold water should be used?

A: A bain-marie (also known as a water bath) is used for cooking to heat food gently and gradually to fixed temperatures (or to keep materials warm over a period of time). Custards are cooked in a bain marie to keep a crust from forming on the outside of the custard before the interior is fully cooked, therefore creating evenly cooked finished product. The colder the surrounding water it is when it is placed in the oven, the slower it will cook and get up to the required temperature.  In cooking classes at Wickedfood cooking school, we  usually use water at body temperature when we cook with a bain-marie in the oven for cream caramels.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.