Wickedfood Cooking School Newsletter 16 June 2010

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

Well  the World Cup Tournament is here.  For those who want to get into the spirit, but not necessarily go to the games, Wickedfood Cooking School has some exciting alternatives:

  • Cooking classes for individuals- based around menus from those countries participating in the World Cup, that we feel have the most interesting culinary traditions – on Monday night, we kicked off with a delicious South African cooking class which was fully subscribed … click here for more information on other cooking classes available during the Soccer World Cup.
  • Cooking classes for a group of friendsWickedfood Cooking School has identified the 10 participating soccer teams with the most interesting cuisine and drawn up a representative 6-dish menu cooking class for each national team. Bring a group of 12 or 24 friends for fun night out @ R390pp and we will give you one place per twelve people free ie book for 12 and pay for 11.   Contact the school for more details.
  • 2010 Culinary World Cup Challengea great way for your company to entertain staff or clients, or do a teambuilding cooking class with a difference, during the Soccer World Cup period.  Click here or Contact the school for more details.

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, we have some great cooking classes to coincide with the Soccer World Cup – see above, or click the relevant month for the June and July programme .

Wickedfood Cooking School runs 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.

  • Monday 21 June at 6pm Flavours of Brazil (R380 pp). Brazilian cooking class, showcasing the country’s unique flavours including savoury pumpkin soup, Feijoada, fried Brazilian-style greens, rice cooked with onion, toasted manioc flour and an orange flan.
  • Sunday 27June at 4pm Classic Japanese dishes (R380pp). Classic Japanese cooking class with dishes from the Japanese kitchen including yakitori grilled chicken, tofu and vegetable soup, poached fish with miso, chicken cakes, spinach rolls with bonito flakes and caramelised sweet potatoes.
  • Monday 28 June at 6pm – Classic French cooking (R370pp). French cooking class, an introduction to French cuisine including cheese soufflé, potato and leek soup, coq au vin, potato gratin, and tarte tatin.
  • Monday 05 July at 6pm Cooked in Africa (R380pp). Justin Bonello has become a cult hero in the South African culinary world. Through his quirky television series, and accompanying book, Cooked In Africa, he has taken a bunch of friends on a culinary road trip through southern Africa.  We’ve taken a few of the recipes from the series and re-interpreted them to create a delicious South African cooking class.

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.

Cookbook of the week

Delia Smith – Complete How To Cook

In 2009 Delia’s How to Cook was released as a single book of over 700 pages, with 350 recipes and step-by-step photography, covering every technique you will ever need from how to boil an egg to Risotto Carbonara. Truly a great book for both a beginner and someone who wants to brush up on both basics and more involved cooking. Click Here for more.

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

Food quote of the week :

“My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four, … unless there are three other people.” – Orson Welles

Recipe of the week:

Mixed Grill with Apricot Barbecue Glaze

Every day during the |Football World Cup Delia Smith will add a recipe that reflects the cuisine of one of the teams playing. This is her take on the braai. The sauce is suitable for all meats – lamb cutlets, pork ribs or chicken.

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studio. 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Fruit and Nuts

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Fruit-Nuts

Every once in awhile a really remarkable cookbook crosses the Wickedfood Cooking School review desk.  Fruit and Nuts by Susanna Lyle is such a book.  Although  not a cookbook, it is an extremely informative and comprehensive guide to growing and using more than 300 species of fruits and nuts. Each entry includes a brief history, detailed description, and authoritative information on propagation, as well as helpful advice about harvesting times and methods, cultivation, pruning, pests and diseases.

In addition there is a very informative sidebar  detailing nutrition, health benefits, and medicinal uses. The book is suitable for home gardeners, horticulture professionals, orchardists, and nutritionists.

Interested in buying this book? visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, they will be able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for.

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.

  Wickedfood Cooking School Newsletter 2 June 2010

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

By the time you read the next newsletter,  the world cup will have started.  To get you into the spirit of things, over the next two months, Wickedfood Cooking School will be running some cooking classes for individuals based around menus from those countries participating in the World Cup that we feel have the most interesting culinary traditions.  we start with the delicious South African cooking class, followed by Brazil, and Japan over the next three weeks.

We have also developed our own 2010 Culinary World Cup, a great way for your company to entertain staff or clients, or do teambuilding with a difference, during the Soccer World Cup period. Contact the school for more details.

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.

Great advertising opportunity

Did you know that how that our website and blog receive around 10,000 hits per month.  The Wickedfood Cooking School website and blog pages are  great places to advertise to reach your target market.  Click here to find out more.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Cooking class programmes are up on the internet – click the relevant month for the programme June and July.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs 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.

  • Sunday 06 June at 4pm Making pasta, basic shapes and sauces (R370pp). Pasta cooking class, using different pasta shapes, make sauces, and make pasta – farfalle with chicken and cherry tomatoes, salad Florentine, gorgonzola cream sauce, cheese and tomato filled cannelloni, and delicious sweet noodle cake.
  • Sunday 13 June at 4pm – Vegetarian Indian (R360pp). Authentic Indian cooking class making vegetarian dishes including curd cheese with spinach, chickpeas and mushroom curry, fragrant rice with soya, spicy brown lentils, savoury pancakes, coconut chutney and coconut milk pudding.
  • Monday 14 June at 6pm – South African – A Taste of the Cape (R380pp). South African cooking class with a strong Cape Malay flavour, showcasing the unique flavours that have become synonymous with South African cuisine including savoury chicken pies, smoorsnoek, lamb slow braised, tomato bredie, sousboontjies, yellow rice and milk tart.
  • Monday 21 June at 6pm Flavours of Brazil (R380 pp). Brazilian cooking class, showcasing the countries unique flavours including savoury pumpkin soup, Feijoada, fried Brazilian-style greens, rice cooked with onion, toasted manioc flour and an orange flan
  • Sunday 27June at 4pm Classic Japanese dishes (R380pp). Classic Japanese cooking class with dishes from the Japanese kitchen including yakitori grilled chicken, tofu and vegetable soup, poached fish with miso, chicken cakes, spinach rolls with bonito flakes and caramelised sweet potatoes.

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.

Cookbook of the week

Fruit and Nuts

Every once in awhile a really remarkable cookbook crosses the Wickedfood Cooking School review deskFruit and Nuts is such a book.  Although  not a cookbook, it is an extremely informative and comprehensive guide to growing and using more than 300 species of fruits and nuts. Click Here for more.

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

On food

What does the word organic mean on the lable?

Is organic food really better for us or is it just a con? Take a closer look behind the label.

Organic agriculture is defined as a system of farming based on principles of human, animal and environmental health. At its core, organic farming is about avoiding the use of agro-chemicals to minimise damage to the environment and wildlife. But the jury’s still out on whether it does the climate any good. Click Here for more information.

Food quote of the week :

“All mushrooms are edible – once.” - Anonymous

Did you know?

Mushrooms are not universally adored. Some people are not keen on the taste or texture of funghi, while others suffer from an irrational fear of mushrooms, called mycophobia. Perhaps the fear isn’t so irrational – although fatal poisoning from mushrooms is rare, some of the most poisonous and most delicious species belong to the same genus.

Recipe of the week:

Sausage and mushroom sauce for pasta

A delicious pasta sauce is quick and easy to make.  It is a firm favourite in Wickedfood Cooking School’s pasta cooking classes. .… Click Here for the recipe.

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studio. 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

  The alternate Newsletter – 26 May 2010

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

In this week’s newsletter we look at shopping tips for a greener kitchen, an amazing weather website as well as the start to the food guide for bachelors. I was taught at a young age that ‘if in doubt, throw it out’ but the below guide is a comical version of specific food. Enjoy the rugby this Saturday from Orlando. Kick off at 17h05.

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

Our June individual cooking class programmes are up on the internet – click on the month for the programme -  June

Wickedfood Cooking School runs 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.

Sunday 30 May at 4pmThai master class 1/2 (R350 pp). Part of our Thai master class series, where we teach students the secrets of authentic Thai cooking. In this class dishes include Shrimp paste dipping sauce, Massaman curry, Bean salad, Stir fried egg noodles and Steamed banana cake.
Monday 31 May at 6pm30 minute meals (R370 pp). Quick and easy low-fat meals for two including Honeyed stir-fry chicken, Grilled pork chops, Creamy mushroom pasta and Toasted muesli.

Monday 07 June at 6pmMaking pasta, basic shapes and sauces (R370 pp). Pasta cooking class, using different pasta shapes, make sauces, and make pasta – farfalle with chicken and cherry tomatoes, salad Florentine, gorgonzola cream sauce, cheese and tomato filled cannelloni, and delicious sweet noodle cake.

Sunday 13 June at 6pmVegetarian Indian (R360 pp). Authentic Indian cooking class making vegetarian dishes including curd cheese with spinach, Chickpeas and mushroom curry, fragrant rice with soya, Spicy brown lentils, savoury pancakes, Coconut chutney and coconut milk pudding.

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

Green ideas for your kitchen?
Green Cooking Tips – How to Cook Greener, Save Energy and Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Shopping Tips for a Greener Kitchen
1.    Buy local when you can. It means less fuel was used to transport your food, and less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
2.    Shop at farmers’ markets. You know you’re buying locally, and contributing to the local economy as well. Keeping local farmers in business is good for everyone.
3.    Skip “serving size packs” of food and buy in bulk. It reduces the amount of trash going into the landfills.
4.    Bring your own bags. Every plastic bag you don’t use is one less bag in the trash. Remember you are charged between 28 and 40 cents for every plastic bag.
5.    Look for the recycle symbol on products so as to make sure you’re buying containers that can be recycled.

Awesome website of the week: I’m constantly wanting to know what the weather is up too and up until now I have been incredibly frustrated by the lack of good weather reports out there. I was recently directed to this amazing Norwegian weather website and although its not local it  provides the best up-to-date weather report out there. Visit http://www.yr.no/place/South_Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/

Food Joke: The Bachelor’s Guide to Food!

BREAD: Sesame seeds and Poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable “spots” that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread. Fuzzy and hairy looking white or green growth areas are good indications that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment.
CANNED GOODS: Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of. Carefully.
CARROTS: A carrot that you can tie a clove hitch in is not fresh.
CEREAL: It is generally a good rule of thumb that cereal should be discarded when it is two years or longer beyond the expiration date.
CHIP DIP: If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.

More Bachelor tips in the next newsletter…

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studio. 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

  Wickedfood Newsletter 19 May 2010

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

If you have been listening to the radio, reading newspapers or watching television, you are no doubt aware that Gordan Ramsay is in town (at a reputed fee of around R1 million a day – who said cooking doesn’t pay?).  This week’s recipe comes from his latest book.

In the last newsletter we talked about growing your own vegetables, and had a great responseclick here for some tips.

What do you think of our new  websiteWickedfood. Please also give us feedback.

For those who are not particularly interested in soccer, but still want to get into the spirit of things, we have developed our own 2010 Culinary World Cup, a great way for your company to entertain staff or clients, or do teambuilding with a difference, during this period. Contact the school for more details.

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 programme May and June.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs 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.

  • Monday 24 May at 6pm – Gordon Ramsay – Cooking for Friends (R390 pp). This class is based on the Gordon Ramsay 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 broccoli blue cheese and pear soup, mushroom and barley risotto, poached fish fillets, roast rib-eye of beef, and pear and frangipane tart. – The class is fully booked and we have a waiting list, but should there be enough demand we will run a further class in June, contact the school if you are interested.
  • Sunday 30 May at 4pm – Thai master class (R350pp). Part of our Thai cooking class series, where we teach students the secrets of authentic Thai cooking. In this class dishes include shrimp paste dipping sauce, Massaman curry, bean salad, stir fried egg noodles and steamed banana cake.
  • Monday 31 May at 6pm – 30 minute meals (R370 pp). Quick and easy low-fat meals for two including honeyed stir-fry chicken, grilled pork chops, creamy mushroom pasta and toasted muesli.
  • Monday 07 June at 6pm Making pasta, basic shapes and sauces (R370pp). Pasta cooking class, using different pasta shapes, make sauces, and make pasta – farfalle with chicken and cherry tomatoes, salad Florentine, gorgonzola cream sauce, cheese and tomato filled cannelloni, and delicious sweet noodle cake.
  • Sunday 13 June at 4pm – Vegetarian Indian (R360pp). Authentic Indian cooking class making vegetarian dishes including curd cheese with spinach, chickpeas and mushroom curry, fragrant rice with soya, spicy brown lentils, savoury pancakes, coconut chutney and coconut milk pudding.

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.

Cookbook of the week

Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape

Gordon embarks on a culinary journey around India, discovering the breadth and depth of cooking of the country. This new cookbook from him is packed with the best recipes from his travels to India, where he had never been to until now Click Here for more.

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

On food

Autumn has broadsided us this year, turning up unannounced while we were still coatless and plunging us back into the world of soups and hot toddies. Wrap yourself up in soothing autumn fare . … Click Here for some delicious ideas and recipes.

Food quote of the week :

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.” – Albert Camus

Did you know?

The liquid inside a coconut is the coconut juice, not the milk. Coconut milk is produced by steeping grated coconut meat in boiling water, leaving the mixture to cool, then straining it. Coconut cream is produced by the same method but using less water.

Recipe of the week:

Butter chicken

Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, can be traced back to Mogul times, but the dish and its history is most closely associated with Delhi’s famous Moti Mahal restaurant. Over time, numerous chefs have attempted to emulate the rich buttery sauce, and flavours vary slightly between restaurants. This is Gordon Ramsay’s version of the classic dish. .… Click Here for the recipe.

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studio. 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 team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.