Q: Do you have a simple, yet delicious recipe for fresh Kingklip Fillets?

A: Kingklip (actually a member of the eel family) is certainly one of the favorite South African fish, especially at the top end of the market where it appears on many restaurants menus. Unfortunately kingklip has been over exploited in the past and has become both relatively expensive and scarce, therefore placing it on Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (Sassi) orange list (click here for more information).  A great alternative however for kingklip is gurnard. In addition a closely related but separate species called ling is increasingly being imported into South Africa from New Zealand and Australia, where it is being sold in restaurants around the country as Kingklip. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with Ling, it is as as delicious and more sustainable.  It has pink to white flesh which is firm and forms dense, large flakes when cooked. Excellent fried, baked, poached, steamed or grilled. here is a recipe for Kingklip is simply pan-fried:

Q: Do you by any chance have a recipe for mint jelly that you put with lamb

A: Yes we do – mint jelly is not really green? It’s golden coloured in its natural state. That green stuff you see in the stores is just food coloring. Here’s a straightforward recipe for making your own, using the pectin (is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants ) from fresh tart apples as a jelling base, The tarter the apples, the more pectin they will usually have, smaller apples will have proportionally more pectin as well.

1.8kg of tart apples (e.g. Granny Smith), unpeeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores – this is where most of the natural pectin is.
1 1/2 cups of fresh mint, chopped
2 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
3 1/2 cups sugar (±14T for each cup of juice)

1. Combine apple pieces with water and mint in a large pan. Bring water to a boil then reduce heat and cook 20 minutes, until the apples are soft.
2. Add the vinegar, return to boil and Simmer covered for 5 minutes.
3. Use a potato masher to mash up the apple pieces to the consistency of thin apple sauce.
4. Spoon the apple pulp into a muslin cloth (or a couple layers of cheesecloth) or a large, fine mesh sieve, suspended over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours. Do not squeeze – if your mash is too thick, you can add 1/2 a cup to a cup more of water to it. You should have 4 to 5 cups of resulting juice.
5. Measure the juice, then pour into a large pot. Add the sugar (±12T for each cup of juice). Heat gently, stirring to make sure the sugar gets dissolved and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. Bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 minutes, using a metal spoon to skim off the surface scum. Continue to boil until a candy thermometer shows that the temperature has reached ±106°C, depending on the amount of water, sugar, and apple pectin in the mix.
7. Candy thermometers aren’t always the most reliable indicators of whether or not a jelly is done. Another way to test is put a half teaspoonful of the jelly on a chilled (in the freezer) plate. Allow the jelly to cool a few seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles up, it’s ready.
8. Pour into sterilized jars to within 2cm from the top and seal.

Makes approximately 4-250g jars

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Wickedfood Cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studios. Cookery 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 cooking lessons 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 events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

It’s hard to look at a plastic container of cinnamon on the supermarket shelf and understand how valuable the stuff once was, but in premodern times, it was more than just a flavoring; it was a perfume fit for prayer or seduction, it was medicine, and, as Tom Standage notes in An Edible History of Humanity (Walker & Company, 2009), spices like it were “thought to be splinters of paradise that had found their way into the ordinary world.” Both cinnamon and cassia were known in Europe throughout antiquity, though their sources were long kept secret. Contrary to Herodotus’s fifth-century B.C. account—probably passed along by Arab spice traders jealously guarding their hold on the market—the spices were not stolen from the nests of giant birds or harvested from a lake infested with batlike monsters, but they did make extraordinary journeys to the West even so, sailing with the trade winds across the Indian Ocean or trekking overland across Asia.

Christopher Columbus, after reaching the islands of the Caribbean, wrote to his patrons in the Spanish court, “I believe I have discovered rhubarb and cinnamon.” This was no small matter, as it was the demand for spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper, above all else, that prompted 15th-century Europeans to launch their ships toward the New World. The adventurers who followed in Columbus’s wake never found cinnamon or cassia in the Americas (the spices are native to Asia), but the far-reaching trade networks they mapped out ultimately made the spices both essential and easy to come by in kitchens around the world.

True cinnamon comes from a Sri Lankan tree of the species Cinnamomum verum (also called Cinnamomum zeylanicum) or, more precisely, from its oil-rich bark, which is hand harvested, scraped clean of its woody outer layer, and dried in delicate, multilayered quills whole or ground, it has a mellow flavor, warm and sweet all at once. Cassia comes from several species of tree also belonging to the Cinnamomum genus, with significant harvests in Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and the Indian Subcontinent . Its bark is thicker than cinnamon’s, making for stiffer, sturdier quills. Cassia is sharper in taste, with a pronounced heat. It can also have a bitter edge and for that reason is often knocked as inferior to cinnamon. In truth, each spice offers its own advantages.

True cinnamon lends itself to slow stewing and steeping, as well as to sweet applications; its round, clean flavor never comes on too strong. Think of a pot of rice pudding with a couple of cinnamon sticks in it: the heat of the milk coaxes out the spice’s lilting perfume. Mulled wines, sweet-toned Mexican moles, aromatic North African tagines, and chocolate desserts all benefit from the soft nuzzle of true cinnamon.

Cassia works well when you’re looking to give a dish a bit of backbone or to offset sweetness with a good, spicy kick: in chutneys, Southeast Asian curries, and snickerdoodle cookies, to name a few. I take care not to overuse or overcook cassia, lest a dish develop the tannic bitterness that is the hallmark of bad cinnamon buns everywhere. To explore the character of both spices, make cinnamon toast with each one: both cassia and cinnamon have fat-soluble flavor compounds (notably, hot cinnamaldehyde and sweet eugenol) that bloom in the warm butter, but the toast topped with cassia will prickle with mild heat and pleasing bitterness, while the gentle taste of true cinnamon will linger quietly and sweetly on the palate.

Article taken from Saveur.

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 events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: Would you be able to give me some recipes on vegetables and fruits that will stimulate my taste buds and introduce me to a new combination of taste?
A: take a look at our blog out for some interesting recipe ideas for doing various vegetarian dishes, i have also included a recipe that we had in our individual this week and it was a firm favourite, Once you find a veg dish you like start experimenting with it – try different vegetables, try a mix of vegetables. What will also work well is find a good thai curry recipe and instead of using chicken replace it with a mix of your favourite Vegetables.

This dish is extremely versatile and the cooking technique can be used for any seasonal vegetables. For a more complex dish, add a bit of green and red capsicum and sliced onion. The dish can be served hot or cold.

500g eggplant, preferably long thin ones
3 cups oil for deep frying

3 cloves garlic, minced
2cm young ginger, minced
6 spring onions, sliced to 1cm
1T chilli oil

¼ cup hot bean paste
2T light soy sauce
2T dark soy sauce
2T Chinese rice wine
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup crushed yellow rock sugar

½t Szechuan peppercorns, roasted and ground

1. Top and tail the eggplants and cut in half lengthwise (if using more bulbous eggplants, cut in quarters or eighths lengthwise).
2. Heat the oil in a wok until just smoking, and fry the eggplants in batches until golden. Draining on paper towel, once cooked.
3. Drain most of the oil, keeping back about a ¼ cup. Heat the oil again until smoking, add the garlic, ginger, spring onions and chilli oil and fry until fragrant.
4. Add the bean paste, soy sauces, rice wine, vinegar and sugar. Bring to the boil and boil for two minutes.
5. Add the eggplant and cook for a further 2 minutes, mashing slightly so that they absorb the flavours of the sauce.
6. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with the ground peppercorns.

Serves 4 to 6

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Wickedfood cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studios. Cookery 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 cooking lessons 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 events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: I often have trouble getting my mash potato light and fluffy, What do you think the problem could be? I often buy pre-made mash and its always lovely and creamy.

A: Once you learn how to make mash the right way you will only ever make it and you will never want to buy store bought mash. As far as store bought mash they will often use creamers and who knows what else and thats how they make it so smooth, Below is a easy to follow recipe that we at Wickedfod Cooking School use in our kitchen skills class.

4 large or 6 medium potatoes
1t salt
2T olive oil or butter
1/2 cup milk
1 clove garlic, crushed to a paste (optional)
1/2 cup pecorino cheese, finely grated (optional)
Chives (optional)

1. Peel potatoes and quarter (even sized pieces) and put into a bowl of cold water.
2. Place in a pot, cover with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes (until a clean toothpick passes smoothly through). Take care not to overcook.
3. Drain in a colander for a few minutes, return to the pot and mash.
4. Add the oil or butter and mix in well. Gradually add the milk, ensuring that the mixture does not become too sloppy. Add garlic, chives, cheese and salt to taste.

Serves 4

Serving ideas:
- stews
- spread over mince to make cottage pie, or over fish for fish pie.
- tablespoons of potato can also be rolled into balls or cylindrical shapes,
dusted with flour and rolled in breadcrumbs and deep-fried.

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Wickedfood Cooking school runs Johannesburg cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Cooking lessons 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 cookery 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 events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.