SUNNINGHILL>> information & bookings (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Hi all,

I hope you are having a great week so far, congratulations to the Bokke for securing the tri-nations you have made every South African proud. Today is International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer so why not try to do something little that could make a difference. We have had a great response to our blog so keep it up, we will do our best to answer any food related questions that have been bugging you. You can now also follow us on Facebook and Twitter – just search for Wickedfood and you will find us.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Our October individual cooking class programme is up on the Internet

Wickedfood Cooking Schools run classes with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 as this gives everyone hands-on experience  and keeps the class small enough for maximum learning.

Sunninghill -

• Sunday 20 September at 4pm – Pasta making – filled pasta and accompanying sauces (R370pp). Dishes covered in the 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.

• Monday 21 September at 6pm – Easy entertaining – Entertaining with Asian undertones (R380pp). Elegant dinner party for six with an Asian flavour including duck and bean sprout springrolls, lemongrass vichysoisse, crispy skinned fish and crème caramels.

• Sunday 27 September at 4pm -  Spanish peasant cooking (R390pp). Robust flavours of the Spanish countryside including fried calamari, chourizo and cheese fritters, garlic soup, butterflied lamb, hot chourizo salad, and fried cream.

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

Wickedfood Cooking School, Sunninghill

September individual class programme….. click here

SUNNINGHILL>> information & bookings (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Hi

With the icy weather over the past few days, what better way to spend a meal, then with the steaming plate of delicious oxtail stew, our recipe of the week.

As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are starting a new concept at Wickedfood cooking school – a 1 hour class starting promptly at 6pm, where students learn to cook a healthy homestyle dinner for two, and take the fruits of their labour home to enjoy with their partner. Each student will get to make a main dish, with veg and a starch. In the first class, we’ll be looking cooking delicious chicken breasts in a tikka yoghurt sauce, with couscous – Contact the school for more information.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Our July individual cooking class programme is up on the Internet – click the relevant school for the July programme Sunninghill

Class highlights for the next two weeks include:

• Tuesday 16 June at 6pm –Flavours of the South African Portuguese Table (R360pp per person per class). 7 tasty dishes including trinchado, chicken livers, caldo verde, chicken peri-peri, portuguese salad and crème caramel.
• Sunday 21 June at 4pm – Jamie’s Ministry of Food – Easy Curries, Lovin Salads & Simple soups (R380pp). We consider Jamie Oliver’s latest book his best. It is a perfect book for any beginner. Each month we take six recipes from the book and re-interpret them, with plenty of tips along the way. Learning the secrets to successful easy cooking, including chicken korma, lamb rogan josh, vegetable bhajis, evolution potato salad, pea and mint soup, vanilla cheesecake with a raspberry topping.
• Monday 22 June at 6pm – Home cooking – Dinner for two (R195pp). Learn to cook a healthy homestyle dinner for two, and take the fruits of your labour home to enjoy with your partner. These are quick classes starting promptly at 6pm and lasting 1 hour. You will get to make a main dish, with veg and a starch.
• Sunday 28 June at 4pm – All you wanted to know about… Chocolate (R390pp). Part of the master class series. Our head instructor will give an indepth hands on demonstration on working with Chocolate, including cakes, glazes, Chocolate truffles, biscuits and chocolate mousse.

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

Wickedfood Cooking School, Sunninghill

June individual class programme….. click here

Looking for info on food?
Over the last week we have had some great questions on food.  If you are looking for an answer to a food topic that has puzzled you, ask our online chef for assistance on any food-related topic, including recipes, and our two resident chefs will strive to get an answer back to you as soon as possable – Click here for more information, hope to here from you. Questions answered during last week (click on the green highlight for the answer):

• If you can cook oxtail why don’t we eat lambs tail?
• Is making halva possible in a home kitchen?
• Do you have a recipe for a tasty beef bolognese sauce?

Our food article of the week
Fish for thought - The messages surrounding our consumption of fish is more than a little murky. We’re told to eat more of it for our health, but are warned that some species may become extinct because of our eating habits. Confused? For more information Click here

Cookbook of the week
The Rose Bakery is a small Anglo-French restaurant, shop and bakery, tucked away in a Paris side street. Breakfast, Lunch and Tea is a book that introduces this hidden gem and the philosophy and style of its creator Rose Carrarini. Beautifully illustrated with more than 100 photographs, and featuring 100 of Rose’s most popular recipes, this book is as much a treat for the eye as for the taste buds… Read more ….

Did you know – Mangosteens, prized for their deeply aromatic and intensely sweet flesh, are popularly known as the ‘queen of fruits’. Many have rhapsodised about this South-East Asian delicacy, including famed botanist David Fairchild, who wrote of its qualities: ‘it is so delicate that it melts in the mouth like a bit of ice cream.’

Food quote of the week: – “Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” – Henry David Thoreau

Food tip of the week: – To clean cast iron cook-wear, don’t use detergents. Just scrub them with salt and a clean, dry paper towel.

Recipe of the week - Slow cooked oxtail

For the launch of the monthly Wickedfood cooking School singles cooking class evening we cooked this delicious oxtail stew. We trimmed most of the fat off the meat, then made the dish in our brand new pressure cooker which worked a real treat, the meat being succulently tender, and the gravy thick, after one hour of cooking. Click here for the recipe.

Look forward to hearing from you.

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School 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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Hi

With the start of the school holidays next week, as well as the various long weekends, we are still able to offer some exciting and mouthwatering classes for April. To all who are going away, have a relaxing safe holiday, and to those staying behind, hope to see you at one of our classes.

Cookbook of the week
The Food of Spain gives you the real taste of a country that has an intense passion for its food….. read more, click here

Wickedfood Cooking School, Sunninghill

April individual class programme ….. click here

May individual class programme….. click here

Did you know – The Chinese make a clear distinction between eating to live and eating for pleasure. Everyday meals predominantly consist of energy-rich ‘zhushi’, or ‘principal food’ such as rice and noodles. They are complemented by ‘fushi’, or ‘secondary food’ such as flavourful – but superfluous – meat or vegetables. However, at times of celebration, eating for pleasure is the order of the day, with banquets dominated by rich and varied dishes.

Food quote of the week: -’A well-filled stomach is indeed a great thing: all else is luxury of life.’ – Chinese proverb

Kitchen tip of the week: - when you nick your finger while cutting veggies….. click here.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Wickedfood Cooking School – Food Feature and Recipe of the Week

Marinades

About marinating
Marinating is the process of soaking foods in seasoned, and often acidic, liquid to tenderise it or impart flavour – or both. It should not be confused with macerating – a different process that is usually reserved for fruit, involving steeping the food in a liquid (such as alcohol, or even tea) to infuse it with its flavour.

Marinating is used in many cuisines. Many of the spicy and sour foods of South-East Asian cooking, or the intensely rich offerings of the Caribbean, rely on marinades for their characteristic flavours. Marinades are extremely versatile and can be used to impart just a touch of flavour, with a few simple, fresh seasonings; or used to create strong flavours, with powerful aromatic herbs and spices.

The key ingredients for marinades come in three groups – acids, such as vinegar or lemon juice; oils; and seasonings. A good marinade might have a balanced and varied combination of the three, depending on the type of food and the flavours you want to achieve.

Other flavouring ingredients can be used too, including honey, horseradish, anchovy, ketchup, soy sauce, tamari, Tabasco, fermented fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce and yoghurt. The choices are, literally, quite endless!

Marinating couldn’t be simpler, but it does mean you need to plan ahead so you can you leave the meat, fish or vegetables to steep in the marinade to absorb fully all the flavours. You can always use this time to prepare the rest of the meal. If leaving food to steep for more than a few minutes, it is always better to keep it in the fridge while it marinates to avoid bacteria growth.

What it does
The varying ingredients in a marinade work in different ways.

Oils lock in the natural flavour and moisture of foods. Olive, walnut and sesame oil are great for lending extra flavour to the food (but be aware of using certain oils if your guests have nut allergies). Oils infused with ingredients such as garlic, chilli or lemon can add a more intense flavour to your dish if used in a marinade.

Acids such as wine or sherry, vinegar and fruit juices tenderise meat by unwinding the meat proteins. Acids break down tissue in meat, allowing for the flavours of your marinade to penetrate better, giving a juicier and more flavourful end product. This method is particularly useful for tenderising tougher cuts of meat.

Be careful not to over-marinate delicate foods such as fish, which can easily become mushy and unpalatable. Harder vegetables such as aubergine, courgette or beetroot can also benefit from the marinating process. Citrus-based marinades are superb with fatty meats such as duck, imparting a fresh flavour to the dish.

Seasonings such as salt and pepper, fresh herbs, spices, ginger, chilli, garlic, shallots or onion can add spectacular flavour profiles to your food. Ideally, select seasonings that are complementary to your main ingredients, such as dill for chicken or white fish, rosemary for lamb, or even cinnamon for pork.

Other useful marinade ingredients that can be found in any store cupboard are honey, mustard, sugar, thick-cut marmalade, tomato ketchup and whole spices such as cumin, coriander or cardamom (slightly crush the pods before using).

As well acting as a flavouring tool and a method of keeping in moisture, a marinade can also become the cooking or braising liquid. Boeuf bourguignon and that other French classic, Coq au vin, both use a wine marinade that becomes the stock for the cooking.

Containing the flavour

Use plastic, glass or ceramic containers for marinating; metal can react with the acids and spoil the flavour. Shallow vessels are best because they allow the marinade to cover more surface area. If the food is not completely covered or submerged in the marinade, turn the food every half-hour to ensure even marinating.

Maximising flavour

It may help to prick meat with a knife or fork to encourage flavours to be absorbed beyond the surface. Crushing ingredients such as garlic to release the juices (instead of simply cutting it) can add a more intense flavour, as can crushing whole black peppercorns. The zest of citrus fruits such as lemon or lime contains fragrant essential oils that can also impart a delicate yet rich aroma to chicken or fish.

Getting the timing right

As the action of the marinade actually softens the foods by breaking down the structure and fibres, it is important not to over-marinate food as it can become mushy or fall apart.

Follow the timings recommended in recipes or use the following guidelines for the best results:

• red meats such as beef or lamb – four to six hours
• game meats such as venison – four to six hours or longer
• pork – two to four hours
• poultry such as chicken or turkey – two to four hours
• duck or game birds – four to eight hours
• whole fish such as trout or sea bass – one to two hours
• fish steaks or fillet pieces such as tuna or salmon – half an hour to one hour
• vegetables – half an hour to one hour

Rubbing it in

Rubs differ from marinades in that they are made up of only dry ingredients – usually a combination of herbs, spices, salt and sugar. Meat, poultry or fish benefit from this type of marinating where the rub is sprinkled onto the food and left to chill in a refrigerator. Rubs are also useful for curing raw fish such as salmon. Although they’re called rubs, you should just pat the rub onto the food rather than rubbing it in, especially with meat.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood® Cooking School 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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.