Colouring pasta – When making fresh pasta there are many different methods to colouring it. The most common colours being yellow, red, green and black. Yellow pasta – just add egg yolks (this will also give you a richer flavour), Red pasta – boil 2-3 beetroots until cooked then grate them and squeeze out the juices and add them to your flour (as this is adding more liquid to the pasta dough, some extra flour may be needed depending on how much pasta you are making and how much beetroot juice you add), Black pasta – add a few drops of squid ink (your local fish-monger should stock this), Green pasta – wash some spinach and cook in a pot until wilted either chop finely and mix in with the flour for a speckled green pasta or squeeze out the liquid and add that to the flour, boiled and pureed carrot can also work quite well. Once you become a master of colouring pasta, start matching your pasta to the sauce – for instances if you making a prawn and clam cream sauce chop some dill and dried chilli finely and add that to you flour, mix in and once rolled you will have a lovely red and green speckled pasta that will enhance the flavour dramatically.

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Wickedfood cooking school runs Johannesburg cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Cooking lessons 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.

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

Hi

At last a food information page on our blog is working. Just click on the heading if you wish to ask a question, or click on the top right hand Question & Answer if you want to see what other people have asked. Hope you participate and we are able to extend our services to our cooking class ex- and future students.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Our June programme is up on the Internet

Class highlights for the next two weeks include:

• Sunday 07 June at 4pm – Easy Indian cooking class (R370pp).Authentic Indian dishes including singharas, baked fish with tomato cream sauce, kali dal, rotis and kalfi
• Monday 08 June at 6pm –Home-style Middle Eastern cooking class (R350pp). A delicious combination of easy to prepare dishes with a strong Lebanese influence, include baba ghanoush, H’reesy, Bean stew, Lebanese rice, Lebanese bread salad, making pita breads and Rice pudding within an apricot compote.
• Sunday 14 June at 4pm –Easy classic pasta dishes and sauces (R360pp). In this class we make pasta, spaghetti carbonara, spaghetti with tuna sauce, fresh tomato sauce, Bolognaise sauce and the perfect lasagne.

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 ouronline for assistance on any food-related topic, including recipes, and our two resident chefs will strive to get an answer back to you within 48 hours – Click here for more information, hope to here from you.

Our food article of the week
Organic food is now commonplace. Yet many consumers still have questions about how organic food is produced and labelled. Does it taste better? And is organic food actually healthier.  Click here to read more about this fascinating trend.

What’s new on the Wickedfood blog
Apart from our weekly newsletter, we’re also very active posting interesting food-related articles on the Wickedfood website. New articles this week include:

Recipes

Basil Pesto

Fettuccine with sausage & tomatoes – our recipe of the week

Crostini with chicken livers

Food-related articles on travel

The Art of Tuscan cooking

There are also a host of other mouthwatering recipes and travel related articles on the blog. Please feel free to comment, or let us know if you cook any of them and how they turn out.

Cookbook of the week
The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan is universally acknowledged as the most influential Italian cookbook in English ever published. This is the ultimate book for those wanting to discover genuine Italian cooking. Although there are no glossy photos, the passionately written text leaves the reader almost tasting the food. Where nessery excellent diagrams demonstrate various techniques.. Read more ….

Did you know – Perhaps the best known regional English cheese, Stilton is made from the milk of dairy herds from Melton Mowbray and its surrounding counties. The cheese was originally known as Quenby cheese, but became known as Stilton at the start of the 18th century, when The Bell Inn, a coaching house in the village of Stilton, became the main outlet for sales..

Food quote of the week: – “Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort.” – Norman Kolpas

Food tip of the week: – Never put citrus fruits or tomatoes in the fridge. The low temperatures degrades the aroma and flavour of these fruit.

Recipe of the week – Fettuccine with sausage & tomatoes

While in Tuscany in search for ideas for their Italian cooking classes and teambuilding cooking classes, the Wickedfood Cooking School team came across this simple, quick and easy pasta recipe. Click here for the recipe.

Look forward to hearing from you.

The Wickedfood Team

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.

Q: Hi, I’m looking for a simple basil pesto recipe. All the recipes I’ve found so far seem to call for pine nuts – where does one buy pine nuts from?

A: Most of your larger store’s should stock pine nuts, if you have no luck there try a health specialist shop or deli. At a push, you can use peeled almonds, but the flavour and texture is not quite the same.

In our cooking classes at Wickedfood Cooking School have found that the best recipe for Basil Pesto is one that is kept fresh, simple and to a minimum so that the flavours can really come through on their own. The most common pestos are probably Pesto alla genovese (basil), Pesto alla siciliana (tomato and less basil), Pesto alla calabrese (grilled bell peppers and black pepper) and Arugula (rocket, black olives, lemon peel and coriander).

In a recent individual cookery class at Wickedfood Cooking School we used this recipe which came out as a firm favourite:

• 4 cups basil roughly torn (soft stalks can be added)
• 1-2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup toasted pine nuts
• ±1t sea salt
• ¼ cup Parmesan
• ±1 cup olive oil

1. Place the basil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a mortar and pound until a smooth paste is reached.
2. Add the cheese and mix in well.
3. Slowly pour in the olive oil and mix until the desired consistency is reached.
4. Season with salt and pepper and store in an air-tight container for ±1 week.

Serve with fresh pastas for best results.

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.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we believe that the simplest pasta recipes taste the best. This is our take on this Tuscan classic. Pecans and walnuts work equally well in this recipe. If you use very fresh walnuts and the inner skin is still pale, it must be removed because it will be bitter. If the skin is brown, it may be left on.

1 1/2 cups pecan or walnuts
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
Salt
1 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

500g good quality spaghetti

1. Chop the nuts finely with a knife, or pulse in a food processor.
2. In a pan over low heat, warm half of the olive oil. Add the nuts, garlic and breadcrumbs and fry until the garlic is just golden, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Remove from the heat and mix in the remaining olive oil.
3. In a pot, bring ±4 litres salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, ±11 minutes.
4. Drain and tip into a warm serving bowl (reserve ±1 cup of the cooking water to moisten the pasta if too dry).
5. Add the nut sauce to the spaghetti and toss well, moistening if necessary with the reserved cooking water. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

Serves 6-8 as a starter or 4 as a main course

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.