River Cottage has become synonymous in Britain for food with conscience. Here they practise the art of growing fruit and vegetables as naturally as possible. Mark Diacono leads the Garden Team at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage – running the garden courses, giving talks, hosting events at River Cottage HQ and appearing in the River Cottage TV series. Mark is known for his commitment to sustainable, ethically produced food. As well as having a unique take on growing food, Mark champions climate change growing, an approach to producing food that takes sustainable advantage of the new weather conditions. Diacono’s sense of humour is a rare gem in books like this, and his passion and enthusiasm come through in these two books that he authored in the River Cottage Handbook series:

Veg Patch: River Cottage Handbook No.4

Named as the Practical Book of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards 2009, this book draws directly from Mark’s experience as an acclaimed climate-change gardener, and of setting up a kitchen garden from scratch for River Cottage.

Mark explains the practical aspects of organic growing, introduces the reader to a whole world of vegetables they may not have previously considered, and does away with alienating gardening jargon. He begins with a catalogue of vegetables, explaining each of their benefits, what varieties to go for, dos and don’ts, and popular culinary uses.

Next, he explains how to turn this diversity of vegetables into a coherent kitchen garden plan appropriate for your space, whether it be a patch of acidic soil, a roof-top garden or an allotment.

Included in the book is a section showing how to look after nutrients in the soil, how to resist pests and diseases, and how to make the garden sustainable and organic. Learn about seed trays, supporting plants with climbing structures, mulching, composting, companion planting, irrigation and promoting pollination

About thirty recipes finish the book.

Fruit: River Cottage Handbook No.9

Growing fruit at home is a delicious and altogether more enjoyable alternative to buying it in the shops. Mark offers a practical and accessible guide to making the most of your garden and what it has to offer. The first part of the book is an A-Z of the different varieties of fruit, with old favourites like apples, cherries, plums, blackcurrants, white currants, redcurrants, strawberries, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries and rhubarb as well as more exotic species like figs, grapes, cranberries, Japanese wine berries and apricots. Each is accompanied by a photograph, with detailed advice on when and how to grow and harvest.

In the second part of the book, Mark gives straightforward guidelines on techniques like pruning and training, as well as how to deal with problems or pests. There is a section dedicated to growing under covers and in containers. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and with 30 delicious recipes, beautiful, full-colour photographs and a directory of useful addresses, this is the ideal reference for any aspiring fruit grower.

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 R236.80 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R296)!  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 R59.

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.

Every once in awhile a really absorbing book crosses our desk.  One such book is Mark Diacono’s A Taste of the Unexpected . He quite rightly believes that it is a waste of time and effort growing the usual fruit and veg available on the supermarket shelves, they are usually cheap to buy and don’t taste that much different to what’s available at the shops.

In A Taste of the Unexpected Mark discusses growing  the more unusual fruit and vegetables – Tree Fruit, Nuts, Soft Fruit, Herbs & Spices, Beans & Greens, Leaves & Flowers and Buried Treasures. He reveals that it is no harder to grow the unusual and utterly delicious than it is the entirely ordinary.

Each chapter gives fundamental advice on conditions each plant thrives on, varieties available, growing methods and process of harvesting. In addition he includes a number of mouthwatering recipes for all of the crops featured.

The book is winner of the Guild of Food Writers Food Book of the Year Award 2011.  Author, Mark Diacono, is head gardener at River Cottage and owner of Otter Farm, which has become known as the ‘Climate Change Farm.’ On his farm in Devon, Mark grows gourmet delights such as gojiberries, Egyptian walking onions, kai lan, salsify, Chilean guava, day lilies and Szechuan pepper.

Exciting and inspirational, A Taste of the Unexpected will redefine your approach to growing your own food. As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage puts it “…I believe that this is a book that will, if you let it, if you really use it, change how and what you grow, what you cook and how you eat, forever and for the better.”

It is a book that we will definitely be using as a constant source of reference at Wickedfood Earth.

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 R369 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R410)!  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 R332.10, a total saving of R77,90.

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.

The whoopie pie (alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, bob, or “BFO” for Big Fat Oreo) is an American baked good that may be considered either a cookie, pie, or cake. It is made of two round mound-shaped pieces of cake, with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched between them, something like an over sized macaroon.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we had never heard of them before we opened our copy of  The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days. After the success of their first cookbook, last year, this is there second cookbook on baking.

The hummingbird bakery has brought their mouth-watering yet easy-to-make cupcakes to kitchens everywhere and this time they show readers how to bake delicious cakes and other sweet delights. This beautifully designed, lavishly photographed book takes you through the year, offering simple baking recipes suited to favourite seasonal events and celebrations – Valentine’s Day, Spring Weekend Bakes, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Easter, Summer afternoon Tea, Birthdays and Celebrations, Rainy Day Treats, and Christmas. There are many inspired recipes that will encourage you into the kitchen even if there is no special occasion!

The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days includes over 100 easy recipes for everything from classic layer cakes and cookies, to cheesecakes and pies. For cupcakes alone there are over 40 recipes, including red velvet, lemon meringue, sticky toffee, strawberry daiquiri and earl grey tea.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we will use this book for inspiration when developing future baking 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 R270 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R300)! 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%.

For recipes by Hummingbird Bakery, click here

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.

Raymond Blanc is one of those rare individuals who, more then any other chef, put the British culinary scene on the map, long before celebrity chefs were around.  As Marco Pierre White puts it  ‘Only a few great chefs are produced every century. Raymond Blanc is one of those great chefs‘.

Over the years he himself has become a celebrity chef, most notably as the host of  “Restaurant UK“. He knows more about food and cooking than pretty much anyone else. His cooking has been described as “an extraordinary process of creativity, passion, subtlety, indeed genius.” His life and career to date have been utterly dedicated to the search for culinary perfection – see A Taste Of My Life.

Raymond is once again on television, in the BBC Series – Kitchen Secrets – a second part of this series has just been released. He has been filmed in the kitchens of his beloved Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, and out and about around the country, meeting many who share his passion and love of good food and good ingredients. And to complement the series he’s just released Kitchen Secrets, containing recipes from both series of Kitchen Secrets and more.

In it he shares some of his classic recipes all achievable in the home kitchen. Over the years he has refined the recipes to perfection. Every recipe includes explanations and hints to ensure that the cooks results are consist. Dishes that once seemed plain, or impossibly complex, suddenly become simple and elegant.

The book is divided into 16 chapters, including Shellfish,  Lamb, Puddings, Cakes & Pastries, and chocolate. Recipes include classics like watercress soup, chicory and Roquefort salad, chicken liver parfait, confit salmon, moules marniere, grilled dover sole, home cured ham, pot au feu, lambs liver persillade, roast wild duck, lamb cutlets, galette des Rois, cherry clafoutis and Maman Blanc’s own chocolate mousse.

The book is extremely user friendly.  Each recipe gives an approximate preparation and cooking time, any special equipment needed and tips on how to plan ahead for the dish.  In addition at the end of each recipe are a variety of further tips to ensure that the recipe is a success.

At Wickedfood Cookery School we use his various books as a constant source of reference when we look for authentic French recipes for our French cookery classes. Kitchen Secrets is  a must-have for anybody with a love of French cuisine and finesse.

For a few recipes from Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets, see our recipe of the week, or click here

Interested in buying this book? For the next 2 weeks Red Pepper Books is offering a special discounted price for Kitchen Secrets. Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, they are able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and the deliver to your door.

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.

Darina Allen runs the world-renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. While teaching students, she discovered that as a society, we have lost kitchen skills that our grandmothers had known.

She set about developing a series of  “forgotten skills” classes,  including “How to Keep a Few Chickens in the Garden,” “How to Cure a Pig in a Day,” “How to Build a Smoker and Smoke your own Food,” and others on foraging, gardening, dairy, and topics on eating what one grew. (She’s a bit like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – with good hair). If you’re so inclined, you can sign up for one of her demonstration classes at around €115, excluding flights and accommodation.

Or you can acquire her latest book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking. She has spun her courses into one book, with 700 recipes in 600 pages – it is not the type of book you would like to pass the time with in a meeting hall, but rather something to devour snuggled up in your most comfortable favourite chair. It’s one of those books that should stand as the sole cookbook for those who want only one book on food. For those drawn by the rural allure of sustainability and being more in control of the food that comes to your table, this book is even more of a gem.

The delicious recipes show you how to use your homegrown produce to its best, and include ideas for using forgotten cuts of meat, baking bread and making yoghurt. The vegetables and herbs chapter is stuffed with growing tips to satisfy even those with the smallest garden, and there are plenty of suggestions for using gluts of vegetables, making your own preserves, pickles and jams.

As Nigel Slater put it, when writing a review on the book for The Observer – ‘There’s not much this gourmet grande dame doesn’t know’

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, they are able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for.

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.