This dish works well with a mixture of wild or fresh mushrooms and handmade pasta. This is an ideal vegetarian meal, served with a crunchy salad on the side.

250g Portobello mushrooms
250g other mushrooms (oyster or brown)
3T oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 small dried chillies, seeded and pounded
Salt and pepper to taste
±2t lemon juice
±1/2 cup (125ml) cream
500g pappardelle pasta (recipe follows)
±1/3 cup pecorino/parmesan cheese
±1/3 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1. Brush the dirt off the mushroom with a paper towel (do not wash as the mushrooms become water-logged), then slice thinly.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the mushrooms. Fry fast, tossing every now and again, for ±5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and chilli with a pinch of salt and continue to fry for ±5 minutes, or until most of the moisture has evaporated.
4. Add the lemon juice and mix well. Then reduce the heat and pour in the cream, heating through, but not allowing it to boil otherwise the cream could separate. Season to taste.
5. Cook the pasta until al dente and drain.

To Serve

1. Transfer the pasta to a warmed serving dish, toss in the mushrooms, cheese and parsley (reserving ±1T of parsley and cheese for garnish).
   Serve immediately, garnished with the remaining cheese and parsley, and a good twist of freshly ground black pepper.

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 events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: I would like to know how to make my own pasta. How long can i keep the pasta dough in the fridge?

A: We make fresh pasta at least once a week at Wickedfood cooking school and once people taste the difference they often wonder why they haven’t learn’t to make it sooner. As far as keeping it in the fridge i wouldnt keep it in its raw form for longer than 2-3days, If filling or rolling it does freeze very well for ±3 months just make sure to use enough flour to prevent them from sticking to one another. I have added the following recipe which we do in our corporate team building class and its always a hit.
Factory made pasta is made with flour and water, whereas in homemade pasta, eggs generally take the place of water, giving a much richer product. Homemade pasta keeps well so long as it is properly dried. It also freezes well.

As a basic recipe, to make ±500g of pasta, enough for 4 standard servings, use:

300g flour
3 large eggs
1/2t salt (optional)

There are four steps to making egg dough:

1.    Combining eggs and flour – Make a well in the flour, pour the liquid into the well and slowly fold the flour into the liquid until a dough is formed (add 1-2T water if the dough seems too dry and does not want to bind together, but do not add too much!!)

2.    Kneading the dough – Empty the dough onto a clean work surface and knead with your hands until it is well blended. Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for ±20 minutes, wrapped in plastic.

Rolling the dough
Divide the dough into 4 equal balls. Work with one ball at a time and keep the others covered.
Sprinkle the work surface liberally with flour. Flatten the ball, and then begin to roll it out, working quickly so that it does not dry out. After each roll, give it a quarter turn and flip it, dusting with more flour if necessary (do not use too much flour, as is also tends to dry the dough).
Try and roll it into a rectangle to approximately 2mm thick.

4.    Shaping – Allow the pasta to rest, covered with a tea towel on a flour-dusted surface for a few minutes before cutting it into the desired shapes – for flat pasta there are 3 basic thicknesses:
Pappardelle ±4cm wide;
Tagliatelle ±2cm wide; and
Taglierini ±1cm wide;
To cut the pasta, flour it well, fold it along its length into ±7cm sections to create a square, then cut into the desired widths.

Click here to see a great mushroom sauce to go with this fresh pasta

Rainbow Experiential Marketing in conjunction with Cadac and Wickedfood Cooking School hosted a relaxing Saturday afternoon braai for Glenfiddich‘s VIP’s. A wonderful afternoon was had as everyone got their hands dirty in preparing and cooking the different dishes. We started with boerewors rolls as everyone was a bit peckish and needed something to nibble on as the smells in the kitchen became overwhelming. These quick and simple ‘boerie rolls’ were served with a tomato gravy and seemed to just hit the spot. As the afternoon continued so did the rest of the cooking, with many people commenting on how easy the different dishes were to prepare. I heard at least two guys comment on how they had learnt a couple of tricks and were now eager to impress the wife. As we finished cooking the meat on the Cadac kettle braai’s the thunderstorms started to roll in. Although their were a few people calling for their meat to be cooked well done we did manage to convince a few to have there meat medium-rare. We cooked a T-bone, a sirloin and a rump steak all on the braai, which, in my opinion came out to perfection as my knife went through these steaks like butter. Along side all the meat we had pap, a grilled vegetable salad and spicy potato wedges which were the perfect accompaniment to the meal.

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.