Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

Asian cooking is extremely popular at Wickedfood Cooking School, especially our Thai and Indian cooking classes.  In July we’ll be offering both an Indian and Thai cooking class for individuals, and in anticipation of these classes, we have listed some of our favourite Asian cookbooks in this week’s blog.  Happy reading.

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 programmes for the next two months are up on the internet, click the relevant month for the  July and August programmes.

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 03 July at 4pm – Sweet Treats – working with Chocolate (R390pp). Learn the secrets of working with chocolate in this chocolate cooking class, including decadent chocolate cake, chocolate truffles, brownies, choc chip cookies and layered chocolate mousse.
• Monday 04 July at 6pm – Gordon Ramsay – Cooking for Friends (R390 pp). This Gordon Ramsay cooking class is based on his book Cooking for Friends. Love him or hate him, he certainly knows his food. In this book, we see a very different side of him, more relaxed, cooking some best-loved versions of classic British dishes for family and friends, including Shropshire Summer soup, Farfalle with bacon, peas and sage, Braised chicken thighs.
• Monday 11 July at 6pm – Thai classics (R370pp). Thai cooking is very different to modern western cooking but internationally famous. In this Thai cooking class we teach you how to balance the 5 flavours of this cuisine in the following dishes, which include fish cakes chicken and coconut milk soup, spicy grilled squid salad and Thai-fried rice.
• Sunday 17 July at 4pm – 30 minute meals (R380pp). A cooking class for the housewife, the executive, the newly single and the I’m-too-busy-to-cooks out there. Come learn 6 healthy, quick and easy 30 minute meals which include a vegetarian stir-fry, red chicken curry, pepper steak, sun-dried tomato pesto, fish with almonds, and pizza
• Monday 18 July at 6pm - Indian delights (R370pp). Indian cuisine is distinguished by its sophisticated use of spices and herbs which differ according to community, region, and state. Join us in discovering the exotic flavours of authentic Indian cooking in this spicy Indian cooking class. Dishes include lamb kofta, fish in a yoghurt sauce, vegetarian biryani, parrathas and carrot halva.

Cookbook of the week

Great Asian Cookbooks

Asian cooking classes are our most popular genre at Wickedfood Cooking School. We get numerous requests for recommendations of good Asian cookbooks.   Click Here for reviews of some of our favourite Asian Cookbooks.

Food quote of the week

“There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who love chocolate, and communists”. - Leslie Moak Murray in “Murray’s Law“

Recipes of the week:

Stir Fried Pork and Tofu with Soy Chilli Dressing

One of Neil Perry’s favourite Asian dishes, from his book Simply Asian - a book that is the base of one of the Asian cooking classes at Wickedfood Cooking School. In his version of Ma Po Tofu, the tofu is kept in cubes rather than being chopped up with the pork mince – this way you can enjoy the jelly-like texture of the silken tofu. Serve as a lunch or light dinner for two, with rice. . ….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.

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

Once again we have a shorter week, with a public holiday on Thursday and many people making a long weekend out of it, again, an ideal opportunity to get into the kitchen with the family and cook. Did you know that our blog is jam packed with close on 200 delicious recipes. What’s more, they have been meticulously categorized for easy reference.  Happy cooking.

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 programmes for the next two months are up on the internet, click the relevant month for the  June and July programmes.

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 19 June at 4pm – 30 Minute Meals (R380pp).  In this cooking class we show you how to prepare 6 nutritious quick and easy dishes which include Thai vegetable curry, chicken breast with feta and pasta, chilli steak wraps, penne with a rich tomato vodka cream sauce, fried fish with oven chips and homemade burgers.
• Monday 20 June at 6pm – Classic Italian dishes (R360pp). Italian cuisine is one of the most well-loved cuisines available all around the world. In this Italian cooking class learn to cook 6 hearty dishes, which include chicken liver crostinis, zucchini frittata, pasta with a clam sauce, Osso Buca, polenta and pannacotta.
• Monday 27 June at 6pm – Delicious Winter Entertaining (R370pp). Cooking class to equip you with the skills to host a ‘No fuss dinner party for six’, perfect for winter entertaining, including roast tomato gazpacho soup, ricotta ravioli, grilled fish fillets and warm lemon pudding.
• Sunday 03 July at 4pm – Sweet Treats – working with Chocolate (R390pp). Learn the secrets of working with chocolate in this chocolate cooking class, including decadent chocolate cake, chocolate truffles, brownies, choc chip cookies and layered chocolate mousse.

Cookbook of the week

Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume

In Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume Bulgarian-born chef and food writer Silvena Rowe explores the food of her upbringing – her father is half Turkish.  It is a scrumptious collection of recipes from the rich multi-cultural Ottoman empire.  Her combinations of sweet and sour, fresh and dried, and rose and orange flower waters give a whiff of the exotic. While many of the recipes show influences from the Ottoman Empire, others are contemporary Turkish, Syrian, Jordanian and Lebanese. Intertwined with the recipes she weaves in timeless folk stories, excerpts detailing the region’s history, personal travel tales and even some poetry. … Click Here for the full story.

Food quote of the week

“I bake all the time, but I don’t like to eat the cookies when they’re done. I just like the dough.” – Sharon Stone

Recipes of the week:

Baklava

Baklava is one of the most famous of all Middle-Eastern sweets (and is the ancestor of strudel, brought to Hungary by Turkish invaders in the 16th century). Traditionally there were 40 layers of pastry, 20 below and 20 above symbolising the 40 days of Lent. This dessert was classically eaten on Easter Sunday to break the Lenten fast. This recipe is based on a Wickedfood Cooking School recipe from our Middle Eastern cooking class. ….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.

This Nigel Slater chocolate and chestnut terrine  is a seriously rich recipe to be enjoyed in thin slices, perfect as a decadent Easter treat, with chestnuts just coming into season. You will get a good 8 to 10 portions from the cake. This cake is very similar to one that we make at Wickedfood Cooking School in our chocolate cooking class. Chestnut purée is available from specialist delicatessens.

Photo: Jonathan Lovekin

Cake

250g butter
225g golden caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
2t baking powder
30g cocoa powder
4 eggs
80ml milk
3T hot espresso coffee

Chestnut and chocolate filling

250g dark chocolate (79 per cent cocoa solids)
125g butter
400g chestnut purée
2T caster sugar

To finish

10–12 cooked or candied chestnuts
250g dark chocolate

Cake

• You will need a 20cm sq cake tin lined with baking parchment, and a 20 x 9cm loaf tin or similar for shaping the cake (measurements are taken across the bottom of the tins).
• Set the oven at 160°C. Cut the butter into small pieces and put into a food mixer with the caster sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder (don’t miss this step; it is really important that the dry ingredients are well mixed).
• Crack the eggs into a small bowl, beat them briefly to mix, then stir in the milk.
• Introduce the flour mixture and the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar, adding a little of each at a time, with the mixer going constantly till you have a smooth mixture. Finally mix in the coffee.
• Spoon the mixture into the lined square cake tin and smooth the top, then bake for 45-50 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch. Test with a metal skewer. If it comes out moist but clean, without any raw cake mixture stuck to it, then it is ready. Remove from the oven, leave to settle for 15 minutes, then run a palette knife around the edges and gently turn out on to a cooling rack. Peel off the baking parchment.

Chestnut and chocolate filling

• Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a glass or china bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Do not stir, other than to push any unmelted chocolate down into the liquid chocolate. Turn the heat off as soon as the chocolate has melted.
• Cut the butter into small pieces and stir it gently into the chocolate until it has melted.
• Beat the chestnut purée with the sugar until well mixed, then fold gently into the melted chocolate and butter. Try not to over-mix. Set aside.
• Cut the cake in half to make two long pieces. Slice each half in two horizontally and trim to fit the loaf tin. Place a piece of cake in the base of the tin, add half the chocolate chestnut cream and smooth the top. Place a second piece of sponge on top, followed by the rest of the chestnut cream.
• Place a third and final piece of cake on top. (You will be left with one remaining piece, which I suggest you freeze for later or nibble at will.)
• Wrap the entire loaf tin in clingfilm, pressing down firmly to encourage the layers to stick together. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

To finish

• Remove the clingfilm, loosen the cake from the sides of the tin and turn it out on to a wire rack. Place the chestnuts along the top.
• Melt the chocolate as before, then pour it over the top of the cake, smoothing it over the sides. Leave to set before serving, sprinkled with cocoa powder if desired.

Makes 10 slices

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.

These moreish chocolate truffles are extremely easy to make.  Once you have mastered the art of making them,  try your hand at some of the more complicated ones in the link at the end of the recipe, or in our book of the week  – Chocolates and Confections.  Alternatively, contact Wickedfood cooking school to find out about our chocolate cooking class.

300g assorted chocolate bars, including dark chocolate, milk chocolate and raisin and nut chocolate, broken into pieces

30g  unsalted butter

250ml  double cream

pinch salt (and chili, if desired)

100g  chopped mixed nuts, such as pecan nuts, roasted hazelnuts and almonds

1. Bring a little water to a simmer in a pot that will hold a large bowl over the water without touching the water. Place the chocolate and butter the bowl, then set the bowl over the simmering water. Stir until melted and glossy.Heat the cream in a separate saucepan until almost boiling (but do not allow the cream to reach boiling point).
2. Pour the hot cream over the melted chocolate and mix together until smooth and well combined. Stir in a pinch of salt (and chili, if desired).
3. Line a roasting tray with greaseproof paper and pour in the melted chocolate. Set aside to cool, then chill in the fridge until set.
4. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled and set, mix the chopped nuts together and sprinkle onto a baking tray.
5. Quickly, so as not to allow chopped two melt,  roll the chilled chocolate mixture into small balls using your hands, then roll each ball in the chopped nuts until completely coated. Place the truffles onto a baking tray or plate and chill until ready to serve.

For more delicious chocolate truffle recipe ideas, 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.

Working with chocolates is undergoing a renaissance.  Specialist chocolate shops are springing up and at Wickedfood cooking school, chocolate cooking classes are extremely popular.  So it was, with great anticipation that we received Peter  Greweling’s monumental book – Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner

Master confectioner Peter Greweling of The Culinary Institute of America has at last produced the bible of artisan confectionery—a comprehensive guide to the ingredients, theory, techniques, and formulas needed to create every kind of Chocolates and Confection.

This comprehensive book combines artisan confectionery techniques with accessible explanations of the theory and science as well as formulas for use in production. Fundamental information for the confectioner includes ingredient function and use, chocolate processing, and artisan production techniques. The book contains 140 formulas and variations for beautiful confections, including dairy-based centers, crystalline and noncrystalline sugar confectionery, jellies, and nut center and aerated confections.

Illustrated throughout with nearly 200 striking full-color photographs and illustrations, Chocolates and Confections provides  illustrated step-by-step guidance on technique, from tempering chocolate to candying fruit. It also includes helpful charts that pinpoint common candy-making pitfalls and how to avoid them, guides to the best quality chocolate and other all-natural confectionery ingredients, as well as information on packaging and storage.

Chocolates and Confections features chapters on every confectionery type—cream ganache, butter ganache, non-crystalline sugar confections, crystalline sugar confections, jellies, aerated confections, and nut centers.

This book is a must for anyone serious about making chocolates and confectionery, highly recommended by Wickedfood cooking school .

For a few delicious candy recipes, click here. See also a recipe of the week for a decadent chocolate truffle recipe

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.