At Wickedfood Cooking School we teach students how to make this dish in our quick and easy meals cooking class. Lemon lovers will savor the citrus sauce that enhances this moist chicken. The hint of garlic and saltiness of the capers adds to this dishes appeal. Substitute chicken with fish fillets.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts,

Salt and pepper to taste

2T grapeseed oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup water or fruity off-dry white wine

1/2 chicken stock cube dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water

1 – 2T  lemon juice (to taste)

1t cornstarch dissolved in a little water

1-2t sugar to taste

3T  capers in vinegar, drained

1T  butter

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. In a large frying pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and cook over medium heat for 1 minute.
3. Add the seasoned chicken and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side or until just cooked through. Remove and keep warm.
4. Add the water/wine, chicken stock, lemon juice, cornstarch and sugar to the pan, and bring to boil, scraping the pan to loosen any bits that may have formed when cooking the chicken. Cook  for ±2 minutes or until thickened.
5. Stir in the capers and butter. Adjust the flavour with salt, lemon juice and sugar. Return chicken to pan; turn to coat. Serve chicken with sauce.

Serves 4.

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.

Q: My son had a blue cheese sauce on his steak at a restaurant.  He wants me to find a recipe for this as he would like me to make it for him.  Can you help please?

A: Blue cheese sauce is not only very easy to make, it is also extremely versatile.  We make a version of it in our Pasta cooking class at Wickedfood Cooking School. Apart  from serving on steak, it is also delicious with pork chops, over baked potato, as a filling for crepes, or a classic gnocchi sauce.  Toss it with some quick fried chicken fillets strips as a sauce for pasta.

1/4 cup butter
6 spring onions, finely chopped
1T sweet sherry or port
1t Worcestershire sauce
150g blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup double cream
Pepper to taste

Every day during the Football World Cup Delia Smith will add a recipe that reflects the cuisine of one of the teams playing. This is her take on the braai. The sauce is suitable for all meats – lamb cutlets, pork ribs or chicken drumsticks. The quantity is enough to glaze six of each, which makes a nice mixture of meats to serve to six people. One important point is that drumsticks need pre-baking in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 180°C, for 15 minutes just before braaiing. This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Summer Collection.

6 chicken drumsticks

6  lamb cutlets

6 pork ribs

For the apricot barbecue glaze:

6 dried apricots

2 T dark brown sugar

Few drops Tabasco sauce

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup light soy sauce

1T grated fresh ginger

1T ground ginger

2T tomato purée

1 clove garlic, minced

For the apricot barbecue glaze:

1. Begin by placing the apricots in a small saucepan with just enough water to cover them, then bring them up to simmering point and simmer for 5 minutes. Place them, with the leftover liquid,  in a blender or food processor together with all the other glaze ingredients. Whiz everything to a purée and the sauce is ready.
2. All you need to do now is arrange the meat in a shallow dish, pour the glaze over them – turning the pieces of meat so that each one gets a good coating – then cover and leave in a cool place until you’re ready to cook, preferably overnight. When you light the fire, pre-cook the chicken drumsticks as above, then cook with the other meat.
3. Scrape any sauce that’s left in the dish into a small saucepan, add a glass of white wine to it and bring it all up to simmering point to give some extra sauce.
4. Serve with oven-roasted potatoes, a crisp salad and some very robust red wine!

Serves 6

For more Fifa World Cup recipes from Delia Smith, … click here

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@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.

This delicious pasta sauce is quick and easy to make.  It is a firm favourite in Wickedfood Cooking School’s pasta cooking classes.   Do not overcook the pasta and serve immediately once cooked.  If the sauce seems to thick, add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water, to thin the sauce down.

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely sliced

4 sausages,  Italian, beef or pork, skinned

250g mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup port or sweet sherry

250g thick cream

100g pecorino cheese, freshly grated

500g tagliatelle or Farfalle

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil. Fry the onion and sausage until golden, breaking up the sausage as you cook it.
2. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook for approximately three minutes.
3. Add the port and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Add the cream and heat through.
4. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.
5. Drain the pasta, add to the sauce and mix well.
6. Serve immediately with some freshly grated pecorino on top.

Serves 4-6

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@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.

A roux is a slow-cooked mixture of flour and fat that’s used to thicken and flavour a soup, stew, or sauce. It is the foundation of many Cajun dishes that we teach at Wickedfood Cooking School Cajun cooking classes, including gumbo and  étouffée. Depending on how long you cook it, a roux can be light brown and faintly nutty in taste to dark chocolate brown with an intense, almost chicory-like flavour.

Many cooks have a certain pot and a certain wooden spoon to make their roux. Fat and flour are very meager ingredients, but if you take the time to nurture them and understand what you’re doing, then you’re creating something truly incredible. 

Chicken, duck, and pork fat all give good flavour, or you can use canola oil as it has a high smoke point and is neutral in flavour.