Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

Information & bookings (076) 236-2345  sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Hi all,

The end of the year is always a busy time at Wickedfood Cooking School with Christmas and end-of-year functions.  If for some reason you have been unable to organize your end of your function in time, why not consider January, when all your colleagues are freshly back from a deserved Christmas break.  Contact Cilla on (076) 236-2345 or sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za for more information.

We have one individual cooking class left for this year,  Alternative to a traditional Christmas dinner.  See the overview below.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter – just search for Wickedfood and you will find us. We update the blog on a daily basis and publish it through Facebook and Twitter.

Looking for info on food?

If you have any food-related questions, or a dish that you just can’t get right or even a certain recipe that you are looking for, but just can’t seem to find, then contact us and we will do our best to answer it as soon as possible. Click Here for more information. Hope to hear from you soon.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 as this gives everyone hands-on experience and keeps the cooking class small enough for maximum learning. These cooking classes are conducted by our senior instructors who have extensive experience in the food industry and share a variety of additional cooking tips throughout the cooking class.

We have one more individual class for this year, our annual Alternative to a traditional Christmas dinner cooking class.

• Sunday 20 November at 4pm – Alternative to a traditional Christmas dinner (R390pp). Easy stylish festive entertaining in this cooking class, an alternative to the traditional Winter Christmas food, including chicken liver pâté, sun-dried tomato soup, roasted medallions of sirloin, Waldorf salad and a Christmas pudding.

The School will be closed from 16 December 2011 and re-open in mid January 2012. January And February cooking classes for individuals will go live within the next week, with some exciting new ideas.

Book of the week

The Food of Spain

Food quote of the week

“My tongue is smiling.” – Abigail Trillin

Recipes of the week:

Almond Cake

There are almond cakes from all parts of Spain, but this one is special. Pilgrims and tourists who visit the great Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where the relics of the apostle Saint James are believed to be buried, see the cake in the windows of every pastry shop and restaurant. It is usually marked with the shape of the cross of the Order of Santiago. This deliciously moist and fragrant homey version is without a base. ….Click Here for all our recipes.

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.

This is a splendid cake, taken from our book of the week, The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden.

“I have eaten almond cakes in other parts of Spain, but this one is special. Pilgrims and tourists who visit the great Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where the relics of the apostle Saint James are believed to be buried, see the cake in the windows of every pastry shop and restaurant. It is usually marked with the shape of the cross of the Order of Santiago. I have watched the cake being made in many sizes, big and small, thin and thick, over a pastry tart base at a bakery called Capri in Pontevedra. This deliciously moist and fragrant homey version is without a base. There is sometimes a little cinnamon added, but I find that masks the delicate flavor of orange and almonds and prefer it without it.”

“When I suggested to a man associated with the tourist office in Galicia that the tarta was a Jewish Passover cake, I was dragged to a television studio to tell it to all. The hosts thought the idea made sense. The Galician city of Coruna is on the Jewish tourist route, because of its synagogue and old Jewish quarter. Jews from Andalusia, who fled from the Berber Almohads’ attempts to convert them in the 12th and 13th centuries, came to Galicia, where they planted grapevines and made wine.”

The cake is normally made in a wide cake or tart pan and so it comes out low, but it is equally good as a thicker cake. It is very similar to one we make at Wickedfood Cooking school in our Spanish cooking class in a 22cm spring form baking tin.

Picture: Jason Lowe

700g blanched whole almonds
6 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 drops almond extract
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Finely grind the almonds in a food processor.
2. With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar to a smooth, pale cream. Beat in the zests and almond extract. Add the ground almonds, and mix very well.
3. With clean beaters, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold them into the egg and almond mixture (the mixture is thick, so you will need to turn it over quite a bit into the egg whites).
4. Grease an 28cm springform pan, preferably nonstick, with butter, and dust it with flour. Pour in the cake batter, and bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 40 minutes or until it feels firm to the touch. Let cool before turning out.
5. Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with confectioners’ sugar. Or, if you like, cut a St. James cross out of paper. Place it in the middle of the cake, and dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar, then remove the paper.

Variations
• Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the egg yolk and almond mixture.
• Majorca has a similar almond cake called gato d’ametla, which is flavored with the grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and sometimes a few drops of vanilla extract.
• In Navarre, the cake is covered with apricot jam.

Serves 10

Other Wickedfood Cooking School Spanish recipes:

• Albondigas – Meatballs Tomato Sauce
• Slow roast shoulder of lamb
• Orange and almond cake

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.

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

Information & bookings (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Hi all,

Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. Part of many festivities is carving weird faces in pumpkins, what to do with the pumpkin when the festivities are over?  We have a few great ideas in this week’s recipes, see below.

According to this week’s book author, life is too short to grow unremarkable food.  Our book of the week, is an extremely absorbing book dedicated to more unusual yet delicious fruits, nuts and vegetables that can easily be grown in the average garden.

Our November class schedule is now up on our website.  included in the programme are two great classes with the festive season theme. Cooking classes for individuals for the next two weeks include  Spicy Thai, French cooking, and Jamie’s quick meals and pastas.  See the overview below for all the cooking classes for the next month. Find us on Facebook and Twitter – just search for Wickedfood and you will find us. We update the blog on a daily basis and publish it through Facebook and Twitter.

Looking for info on food?

If you have any food-related questions, or a dish that you just can’t get right or even a certain recipe that you are looking for, but just can’t seem to find, then contact us and we will do our best to answer it as soon as possible. Click Here for more information. Hope to hear from you soon.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Cooking class programme for this month is up on the internet, click the November programme. Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 as this gives everyone hands-on experience and keeps the cooking class small enough for maximum learning. These cooking classes are conducted by our senior instructors who have extensive experience in the food industry and share a variety of additional cooking tips throughout the cooking class.

• Sunday 06 November at 4pm – Spicy Thai (R380pp). Thai cuisine places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. Thai cuisine is also known for being quite spicy as well as balancing the four fundamental taste senses in each dish or the overall meal: sour, sweet, salty, and (optional) bitter. Learn how to balance these tastes in our Thai cooking class. Dishes include minced pork northern style, spicy chicken soup, deep-fried fish in a garlic sauce, sweet and sour vegetables, stir-fried noodles and sweet rice pudding
• Monday 07 November at 6pm – Classic French cooking (R370pp). This French cookery class is a perfect introduction to French cuisine, which includes cheese soufflé, potato and leek soup, coq au vin, potato gratin, and tarte tatin.
• Monday 14 November at 6pm – Jamie’s Ministry of Food – quick meals and pastas (R370pp). We consider Jamie Oliver’s latest book his best. It is a perfect book for any beginner. Learn the secrets to effortless meals in this Jamie Oliver cooking class, including spicy Moroccan stewed fish with couscous, chicken and leek stroganoff, broccoli and pesto tagliatelle, classic tomato spaghetti, macaroni cauliflower cheese bake and banana tarte tatin, with a wicked twist.
• Sunday 20 November at 6pm – Alternative to a traditional Christmas dinner (R390pp). Easy stylish festive entertaining in this cooking class, an alternative to the traditional Winter Christmas food, including chicken liver pâté, sun-dried tomato soup, roasted medallions of sirloin, waldorf salad and a Christmas pudding.
• Monday 21 November at 6pm – Entertaining with Asian undertones (R380pp). A cooking class aimed at hosting an elegant dinner party for six with an Asian taste, including duck and bean sprout springrolls, lemongrass vichysoisse, Crispy skinned fish and crème caramels.

Book of the week

A Taste of the Unexpected

Every once in awhile a really absorbing book crosses our desk.  One such book is Mark Diacono’s A Taste of the Unexpected. 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. It is a book that we will definitely be using as a constant source of reference at Wickedfood Earth. ….Click Here for reviews of all our cookbook reviews.

Food quote of the week

“Life is too short to grow unremarkable food. It’s simply not worth the time or effort and – happily- it’s no more tricky to grow the utterly delicious than it is the entirely ordinary.” – Mark Diacono, A Taste of the Unexpected

Recipes of the week:

Pumpkin Butterscotch Pie

Halloween is becoming big around the world.  One of the dilemmas is what to do with the leftover pumpkin after the party.  Flesh freezes very well as is, just cube and pop into the freezer. A wide variety of delicious dishes can be made from it. In this fun take on pumpkin pie, a little whiskey really puts the “Scotch” in butterscotch. ….Click Here for all our recipes.

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.

Halloween is becoming big around the world.  One of the dilemmas is what to do with the leftover pumpkin after the party.  Flesh freezes very well as is, just cube and pop into the freezer. A wide variety of delicious dishes can be made from it.  To prepare, ether boil without adding any water, or roast in an oven until soft.   Then use for a variety recipes as outlined in the references below. In this fun take on pumpkin pie, adapted from a Bon Appétit recipe, a little whiskey really puts the “Scotch” in butterscotch.