Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

It looks like it will be a cold weekend  for Easter.  Perfect weather to indulge in chocolate, see our delicious recipe of the week.  It is also Jerusalem artichoke time and we have a simple warming Jerusalem artichoke soup as an added quick recipe.

Because outdoor cooking is so popular in South Africa, early in May (see programme below) Wickedfood Cooking School will be running our popular outdoor cooking class, teaching students the secrets of cooking on kettlebraais. included in the class will be a recipe on how to keep chicken juicy, with a delicate smoky flavour.

To all of you going away, have a safe journey, and those staying behind, we have some delicious classes on offer, including a French cooking class and Indian cooking class.

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  April and May 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.

• Monday 25 April at 6pm – Classic French cooking (R380pp). This French cookery class is a perfect  introduction to French cuisine including cheese soufflé, potato and leek soup, coq au vin, potato gratin, and tarte tatin.
• Monday 02 May at 6pm – Indian class (R370pp). This Indian cooking class is yet another great introduction to learning the secrets of cooking authentic Indian dishes which include mild spicy tomato soup, rogan josh, lentils with spinach, chapatis and apricots in cardamom syrup.
• Sunday 8 May at 4pm - Outdoor Cooking – poultry (R390pp). In this Outdoor Cooking Class, learn the secrets of outdoor cooking on Cadac kettlebraais and gas barbecues. Dishes covered in this class include whole roasted juicy chicken, how to smoke a chicken in a kettlebraai, tangy tomato marinade, chicken kebabs, quick and easy bread pockets, grilled vegetables and bananas with a chocolate sauce.

On Food

Know your Jerusalem Artichoke

Cookbook of the week

Tender: Volume II, A cook’s guide to the fruit garden

Nigel Slater is a cook who writes, he’s no doubt one of the top food writers around at the moment. Over the years, he has produced a variety of superb cookbooks.  In Tender, his last book, Nigel focused on his vegetable patch. Now, in Tender: Volume II, A cook’s guide to the fruit garden, he turns to his fruit garden for inspiration, with around 300 recipe ideas for everything from stews and soups, to puddings and pies. … Click Here for more information.

Food quote of the week

“Like a melting snowflake, the perfectly ripe pear is a fleeting thing. Something to be caught, held tenderly, briefly marvelled at, before it is gone forever. Ripeness is all.” - Nigel Slater from his new book Tender: Volume II

Recipes of the week:

This week we once again bring you 2 delicious recipes:

• Chocolate and chestnut terrine - a seriously rich recipe to be enjoyed in thin slices, perfect as a decadent Easter treat, with chestnuts just coming into season. This cake is very similar to one that we make at Wickedfood Cooking School in our chocolate cooking class.
• Jerusalem artichoke soup -  Jerusalem artichokes are now coming into season.  To prepare, do not over season as they have a very delicate flavour.  This simple recipe, developed at Wickedfood Cooking School test kitchen could not be any easier.

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.

Grilled squid salad is always a favourite at Wickedfood Cooking School.  It is a feature in our Thai cooking class as well as our Portuguese cooking class. Raymond Blanc’s juicy and colourful summer grilled squid salad with provençal vegetables, from his new book, Kitchen Secrets, is simple, satisfying and bursting with the flavours of Provence. You will certainly be able to taste our interpretation of a grilled squid salad in a future French cooking class at Wickedfood Cooking School.

Provençale vegetables

1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthways

1 medium courgette, thinly sliced lengthways

1T extra virgin olive oil

pinch sea salt

pinch freshly ground black pepper

200g sun-dried tomatoes

Grilled squid

3 medium squid, about 200g/7oz each, cleaned

2T olive oil

1t lemon juice

2 pinches sea salt

1 red chilli, seeds and pith removed, finely chopped, preferably Snub nose or Rio Grande variety

1t grated palm sugar, or 2t brown sugar

Rocket salad

1T balsamic vinegar, preferably 8-year-old

2T extra virgin olive oil

pinch freshly ground black pepper

4 small handfuls rocket

Garnish

Parmesan shavings

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Provençale vegetables

• Heat a griddle pan and cook the fennel and courgette slices for one minute on one side, then remove from the heat.
• Drizzle over the olive oil, season with the salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.

Grilled squid

• Slice open each squid lengthways, score a criss-cross pattern on the inside and cut each into three pieces.
• Mix the squid pieces with the olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, chilli and sugar and leave in a shallow, non-reactive bowl to marinade for half an hour.
• Heat a griddle pan until it is very hot, then grill the squid pieces for 15-30 seconds on each side. (This will produce a lot of smoke so make sure your extraction is on and the kitchen is well ventilated.) It is important that the pan is extremely hot so that the squid cooks very quickly and does not boil in its own juices (or cook over the coals of a very hot braai). If it cooks for any longer than two minutes it will become tough and rubbery.

Rocket salad

• Mix together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and pepper and dress the rocket with the vinaigrette.

To serve

• Place the grilled squid and vegetables around each plate. Place the dressed rocket in the centre of the plate, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and garnish with the sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan shavings.
• Alternatively, mix the dressed rocket with the Parmesan in a large bowl and serve separately.

Serves 4

Click here to watch a video of Raymond Blanc making this salad.

For more recipes from Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets,  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.

Tags: Ballymaloe Cookery School, Cookery School, cooking class, Darina Allen, Forgotten Skills of Cooking, teambuilding, Wickedfood Cooking School

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

Wickedfood Cooking School in Sunninghill still has three mouthwatering classes for our individual clients for the remainder of this year, see below or click on to the link for details.

January and February are always popular for individuals classes.  We have some exciting new classes on offer … click here for more details.

Apart from these classes, our new school at Wickedfood Earth, out in the country, just 60km northwest of Sandton, will soon be offering relaxing full day Sunday classes, As well as morning weekday classes, watch our January newsletters for more details.

We are re-running the most popular classes of the year, so if you missed due to these classes being full, then this is a great opportunity. Book early to avoid disappointment.

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.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Cooking class programmes are up on the internet, click the relevant month for the November 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.

• Monday 22 November at 6pm – Informal festive entertaining (R380 pp). Easy stylish festive entertaining including seafood salad, orange glazed poussins, roast pork, and mini mixed fruit strudels.
• Sunday 28 November at 4pm – Sweet treats – the art of baking (R360pp). Learn the secrets of baking with confidence, in this baking cooking class including cupcakes, Black Forest chocolate cake, cheesecake, crunchies and quiche.
• Monday 29 November at 6pm – Classic French cooking (R350pp). Our French cooking class introducing classic French cuisine dishes including cheese soufflé, potato and leek soup, coq au vin, potato gratin, and tarte tatin.

Please contact the school should you wish to make a booking:

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.

On food

Radishes contain a substance also found in mustard, hence the intense taste. They make a great starter crop for vegetable patches and window boxes, indeed the Greek name “raphanos” means “quickly appearing” (or “easily reared”), which they most definitely are. As they grow very quickly, plant a few seeds every second week to have a constant supply of radishes.

Cookbook of the week

The Book of Tapas

Spanish food is quickly gaining its rightful reputation as one of the top cuisines of the world, to rival both that of France and Italy. The Book of Tapas presents over 250 easy-to-follow recipes that can be served with drinks in typical Spanish style, or combined to create a feast to share with friends.  … Click Here for more.

Food quote of the week

“A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece” – Ludwig Erhard, former German politician

Recipe of the week:

Albondigas – Meatballs Tomato Sauce

These delicious little meatballs are perfect for a tapas party, or as a pre drink snack, and fairly easy to make. They are especially good the next day so make it in advance. This is a Wickedfood Cooking School interpretation, from one of our Spanish Cooking classes.. …Click Here for the recipe.

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,

Wickedfood Cooking School has become a popular venue for end-of-year functions over the years. Although dates are filling up rapidly for the next six weeks, we still do have limited space available should your company still be looking for a venue for the end of your function.  Alternatively why not consider organizing a function in January as a welcome back function for your star staff and/or clients. For more information, click here, or contact the school.

In addition, we also have some mouthwatering classes for our individual clients. We are re-running the most popular classes of the year, so if you missed due to these classes being full, then this is a great opportunity. Book early to avoid disappointment.

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.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Cooking class programmes are up on the internet, click the relevant month for the November 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.

• Wednesday 11 November at 6pm – Classic Indian dishes (R370pp). Authentic Indian cooking class, with dishes including chicken mulligatawny, classic lamb buriyani, soya korma, spicy chick peas, naans and coconut pasties.
• Sunday 14 November at 4pm – Alternative Christmas dinner (R380pp). Our popular Xmas cooking class, with recipes ideal for a hot weather Christmas, including chicken liver mousse, sun-dried tomato soup, de-boned turkey, roasted medallions of fillet, and Christmas bombe. De-boned turkey and Christmas bombe, due to the length of the preparation, a hands-on demonstration of the preparation will be given, but the finished dish may not be sampled in the class.
• Monday 15 November at 6pm – Alfresco Italian dining (R360pp). Classic Italian cooking class with dishes from the Italian kitchen, ideal for a 6-course summer buffet dinner – stuffed tomatoes, cheese mould, potato gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce, cold sliced pork and tuna sauce, and zuccotto.
• Monday 22 November at 6pm – Informal festive entertaining (R380 pp). Easy stylish festive entertaining including seafood salad, orange glazed poussins, roast pork, and mini mixed fruit strudels.
• Sunday 28 November at 4pm – Sweet treats – the art of baking (R360pp). Learn the secrets of baking with confidence, in this baking cooking class including cupcakes, Black Forest chocolate cake, cheesecake, crunchies and quiche.
• Monday 29 November at 6pm – Classic French cooking (R350pp). Our French cooking class introducing classic French cuisine dishes including cheese soufflé, potato and leek soup, coq au vin, potato gratin, and tarte tatin.

Please contact the school should you wish to make a booking:

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.

On food

Beetroot derives from a wild seashore plant, the sea beet, native to southern Europe and North Africa. It’s thought to have been brought to Britain by the Romans. Beetroot should be boiled in their skins to prevent the purple juices from leaking out. Boil them whole with the root  and a little bit of the stem attached.  Did you know that they come in various shapes and colors.  In France that have a very interesting Beetroot, the shape of a carrot. Chioggia beetroot has purple and white concentric rings. If cooked whole, they keep their colours seperate, and look amazing sliced raw into a salad.

The leaves of the Beetroot plant are also edible, and highly nutritious. While the plant is growing, pick off the tender smaller leaves and add to salads.  When harvesting the root, the larger leaves can be cooked as you would spinach.

Cookbook of the week

The Songs of Sa Pa: Cooking Around Vietnam

This book is a personal and culinary tour through Vietnam by renowned Vietnamese chef, Luke Nguyen. He visits his family and friends, and is invited into the homes of local Vietnamese food experts and cooks, to learn more about one of the richest, most diverse cuisines in the world. Apart from the heartwarming story, the book contains more than 100 regional and family recipes and vibrant, stunning photographs bursting with colour and texture, capturing the beauty of Vietnam, her people and their deep connection to food.  … Click Here for more.

Food quote of the week

“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” – Walt Kelly

Recipe of the week:

Vietnamese chicken salad

One of the favorites at Wickedfood cooking school’s Vietnamese cooking class as well as our Asian cooking classes.  Vietnamese cuisine is considered by many as one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.  This chicken salad demonstrates that perfectly. …Click Here for the recipe.

The Wickedfood Team

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,

Over the weekend we had a very successful joint function with Slow Food, tasting five very different venison recipes and pairing them with some of the country’s top wines.  Due to its great success, we will repeat these type of functions on a quarterly basis.

Over the next two weeks, we once again have some fantastic individual classes.  Our French cooking class is always popular, so book soon.  In addition we have a class on quick and easy meals for two, as well as a cooking class on making pasta and an Indian cooking class.  Hope to see you at one of these cooking classes, see details 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.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Cooking class programmes are up on the internet, click the relevant month for the August and September 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 29 August at 4pm – Classic French cooking (R390pp). French cooking class, an introduction to French cuisine with some classic seafood dishes including quiche Lorraine, bouillabaisse, sole meunière, salad niçoise and flourless chocolate cake.
• Monday 30 August at 6pm – 30 minute meals (R370pp). In this class we will show participants how to produce quick and easy 30 minute meals that are delicious, and at the same time low in fat and well balanced.  Includes Tandoori chicken salad, penne with a tomato salsa and tuna, chilli seafood rice and apple and pear strudel.
• Monday 06 September at 6pm – Making filled pasta and accompanying sauces (R390pp). Dishes covered in this pasta making cooking class include cheese and ham ravioli with a tomato sauce, meat filled agnolotti, spinach and ricotta tortellini, cappelletti filled with sweet potatoes and ravioli with apple and pecan nut stuffing.
• Sunday 12 September at 4pm – Easy Entertaining Indian style (R380pp). Authentic Indian cooking class including bhel puri, lamb korma, potato and cauliflower curry, chicken pulao and cheese balls in syrup.

Please contact the school should you wish to make a booking:

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.

Juliet Cullinan Wine Festival

The Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank Wine Festival 2010 takes place this year on 8 and 9 September from 17h30 to 21h00 at the Wanderer’s Club, 21 North Road, Illovo, Johannesburg. Cost per ticket is R100.

With only 60 exhibitors, this small, focused festival appeals to tasters looking for old and tested, or new and innovative wines, which are not available to the general trade and not easily available in retail outlets.  Each year the management at Wickedfood Cooking School visits this show to keep abreast of new trends and cultivars available on the market, a really worthwhile outing.

On food

Is your extra virgin olive oil top grade?

A University of California study on olive oil says many of the olive oils lining supermarket shelves in the United States are not the top-grade extra virgin oils that their labels declare (and for which we’re paying good money). I’m pretty sure that the situation in South Africa is very similar, especially  with regards to the imported oils.  The  study  found that more than two-thirds of samples failed to meet international and U.S. standards.

First, remember that all olive oils, regardless of the variety, are 100 percent fat and contain the same amount of calories!

So what should be we be looking for when buying olive oil?

• Extra virgin olive oil: The finest and fruitiest of olive oil grades. It is also the most expensive, with a colour ranging from deep gold or greenish gold to bright, grassy green. It should never be cooked with, only used as a garnish.
• Virgin olive oil: Is the second pressing.  Its acidity level can be up to 2 percent. It should also taste smooth and have a good aroma, flavour and colour.
• Olive oil: oil with flavour or an aroma that is less than perfect is refined to produce an odourless, colourless and tasteless oil. Virgin olive oil is then added to give it some flavour and colour. The flavour and, ultimately, price of olive oil varies depending on the amount of virgin olive oil added.

Don’t fry away your money. The flavour of higher priced extra virgin olive oil tends to break down at frying temperatures. Standard olive oil forms a crust on the surface of food when fried that impedes the penetration of oil and improves its flavour. As a result, less of the oil is actually absorbed in the food, resulting in a lower fat content than food fried in other oils. … Click Here to read more.

Cookbook of the week

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Remember the movie Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. In the movie Julie set herself the task of  cooking every dish from Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking originally published more than 40 years ago. Fortunately the book has recently been re-printed, with all 524 recipes. … Click Here for more.

Click Here to see Wickedfood Cooking School’s top 10 food-related books for 2009.

Food quote of the week

“Laughter is brightest where food is best.” – Irish Proverb.

Recipe of the week:

Boeuf bourguignon

As is the case with most famous dishes, there are more ways than one to arrive at a good boeuf bourguignon. Carefully done, and perfectly flavoured, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man. Fortunately you can prepare it completely ahead, even a day in advance, and it only gains in flavour when re-heated. …Click Here for the recipe.

The Wickedfood Team

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.