Over the past few years, every British celeb chef has done a Great British recipe book. Is this one any different?

Jamie’s Great Britain explores much of the makeup of what contemporary British food is today.  Through the millennia Britain has survived invasion, exploration, colonisation and immigration, all contributing to what is great about modern British food in the home today. Curry has replaced roast beef as the national dish and these trends are reflected in the book.

Jamie grew up in one of the first true British “gastropubs”, which his Mum and Dad still run today. For him, the heart and soul of real British cooking is food that puts a smile on your face. And that’s what this book is all about.

The book includes over 100 of Jamie’s favourite British recipes: some are indisputable classics, some are his versions of the classics, some may become classics with time – from scones, and Bubble and Squeak, to Yemeni lamb recipes from Wales, scallops with black pudding, roast veg vindaloo, and rabbit bolognese.

Don’t expect  just familiar comfort food like old-fashioned bangers and mash and a ultimate shepherds pie recipe, you may well be disappointed. In this book Jamie provides a new twist on the British national cuisine.

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R304 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R380)!  Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, a total saving of R65.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. 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 – teambuilding 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Born in Egypt, educated in Paris, and now based in the UK, Claudia has written several award-winning cookbooks including Arabesque, A Book of Middle Eastern Food, The Book of Jewish Food and The Food of Italy.

She is one of the foremost authorities on Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cooking, and in The Food of Spain she brings her incomparable authenticity, vision, and immense knowledge to bear on the cuisines of Spain.

Spanish cuisine is at a critical moment. Claudia claims that Spain has transformed itself into the world’s effervescent centre of gastronomic creativity. Standing on a precipice, unsure of what lies ahead, is perhaps the best time to look backward. “You have to look into the past to understand Spain’s complex gastronomic map.” This book certainly captures that flavour, and will be a constant reference at Wickedfood Cooking School, when developing new Spanish cooking classes.

Other books on Spanish cuisine that we have reviewed include:

• Seasonal Spanish Food
• MoVida Rustica
• The Book of Tapas
• Jamie Does…
• 1080 Recipes
• A Day at elBulli
• Moro
• Arabesque
• The Food of Spain

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R358.20 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R398)!  Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, and therefore pay just R312, a total saving of R86.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. 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 – teambuilding 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Not only is Greek food extremely delicious, it is also a very healthy cuisine.  In her book, My Greek Family Table, Maria Benardis, a Greek-Australian welcomes, you to her table to enjoy Greek food the way her family has always done. Did you know, that after Athens, Melbourne has one of the highest Greek populations in the world.

Maria is regarded in Australia as an expert on Greek cuisine and runs her own successful cooking school, Greekalicious cooking school.

This delicious book, offers over 100 recipes that have been passed down through generations.  Apart from such classics as  moussaka and souvlakia, there are a host of  modern adaptations to traditional dishes – spicy ouzo keftedes and filo pizza with lamb.

Apart from the recipes, the book also weaves intimate tales of family life: an aunt learning to make Greek Easter bread in war-ravaged Kalamata; a generation of relatives arriving to make a new home in Australia, their suitcases bulging with their beloved ingredients; the author as a child keeping a secret vegie garden on the island of Psara.

Written with passion and beautifully photographed, My Greek Family Table is a personal invitation to experience all the depth and flavour of Greek food and the wonderful spirit of kerasma – the offering of food to those we love.

The book has been very well received in Australia, and is now also available in South Africa.  In the Gourmand world cookbook awards of 2009 it won the award for Best Mediterranean cuisine book. At Wickedfood Cooking School, we will definitely be using the book as reference for our future Greek cooking classes.

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, are able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R301.50 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R335)! Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. 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 – teambuilding 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

With his love of vibrant flavours and uncomplicated ingredients, José Pizarro has long delighted customers with his dishes at Brindisa tapas restaurant in London, next door to Borough Market.

His cooking is based on traditional recipes, but gives a modern twist. In his book Seasonal Spanish Food, recipes are simple and easy to follow.

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, are able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R324 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R400)! Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. 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 – teambuilding 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

It seems like everywhere there is a buzz about this new vegetable cookbook.  And so it was with great anticipation that the Wickedfood Cooking School review team paged through Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest creation, Plenty. This is a book about cooking vegetables as opposed to a vegetarian cookbook trying to recreate meat substitutes.  Saying that, it certainly should appeal to vegetarians, with its lip smackingly delicious recipes, many of them complete meals-in-a-dish.

Many of the recipes appeared in different forms in Yotam’s New Vegetarian column in the Guardian’s Weekend magazine.They are daring and highly original, with fantastic photography of many of the dishes.

Yotam has established himself as one of the most exciting new talents in the world of cookery and food writing.  He is proprietor of the Ottolenghi food group, whose philosophy is very simple “…. From our little kitchens underneath the shops, using an abundance of fresh produce and an outrageous attitude to cooking, Ottolenghi offers a unique culinary experience: original food and pastries, all made daily on site“

Yotam’s food inspiration comes from his strong Mediterranean background and his unapologetic love of ingredients. Not a vegetarian himself, his approach to vegetable dishes is highly innovative, based on strong flavours and stunning, fresh combinations. With sections devoted to cooking greens, aubergines, brassicas, rice and cereals, pasta and couscous, pulses, roots, squashes, onions, fruit, mushrooms and tomatoes, the breadth of colours, tastes and textures is extraordinary.

Plenty is a must-have for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.

Click here for recipes from the book.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. 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 – teambuilding 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.