If you’re into serious food and the latest food trends then you definitely should be watching the Great British Menu competition on BBC Lifestyle, where top chefs from the United Kingdom are cooking some of the most contemporary food around.  In the first series Marcus Wareing won the competition with his Custard tart recipe. This winning Custard tart was served as a dessert to the Queen and her guests at a banquet celebrating her 80th birthday.

Garibaldi biscuits

100g butter, melted in a saucepan

100g icing sugar, sifted

100g plain flour

100g egg whites

200g currants

Pastry

225g flour, plus extra for dusting

pinch of salt

1 lemon, zest only

150g butter

75g caster sugar

1 free-range egg yolk

1 free-range egg

Custard filling

9 free-range egg yolks

75g caster sugar

500ml whipping cream

freshly grated nutmeg

Garibaldi biscuits

• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Mix together the butter, icing sugar and flour until smooth. Slowly add the egg whites, stirring, until they are completely incorporated, then fold in the currants. The dough will be quite wet. Place in a small bowl and chill for at least one hour.
• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, and spread the mixture out. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Bake the biscuits for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. While soft cut into slices with a sharp knife. Leave to cool, then keep in an airtight tin.

Pastry

• Turn the oven down to 170°C.
• Rub together the flour, salt, lemon zest and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar.
• Beat together the egg yolk and whole egg and slowly add these to the flour mixture, mixing until the pastry forms a ball. Wrap tightly in cling film and refrigerate for two hours.
• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to 2mm thickness. Use to line an 18cm flan ring placed on a baking sheet. Line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans, then bake blind for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is starting to turn golden brown. Remove the paper and beans, and allow to cool.

Custard filling

• Turn the oven down to 130°C.
• Whisk together the yolks and sugar. Add the cream and mix well. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a saucepan and heat to blood temperature.
• Fill the pastry case with the custard, until 5mm from the top. Carefully place the Custard tart in the middle of the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the custard appears set but not too firm. Remove the Custard tart from the oven and cover the surface liberally with grated nutmeg. Allow the Custard tart to cool to room temperature.
• Before serving, warm the biscuits through in the oven for 5 minutes. Cut the Custard tart with a sharp knife and serve with the biscuits.

For more Marcus Wareing recipes 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.

Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

Well it’s voting day.  Hope you all go out and exercise your democratic right, irrespective of which political party you vote for. And to all those candidates out there, good luck.

At Wickedfood Cooking School, you also seem to be voting with your feet. Most of our individual classes fill up pretty quickly when published, thank you. Our June programme is now up on the website.  We still have a few spaces open in most of the classes outlined below, including our ever popular Sushi making 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  May and June 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.

• Sunday 22 May at 4pm – Hearty winter Entertaining (R360pp). No fuss dinner party for six. This cooking class is perfect for winter entertaining. Dishes include mushroom soup, Caesar’s salad, braised chicken, mini vegetable filo pies and chocolate pudding.
• Monday 23 May at 6pm – Jamie’s America – … on Cajun food (R390pp). Jamie Oliver’s book, Jamie’s America, is based on his recent travels through the USA. We re-interpret some of the dishes in this Jamie Oliver cooking class, and put them together into a themed Cajun cooking class menu, including hush puppies, blackened fish steaks, jambalaya, spicy meat gumbo, dirty Cajun rice and bread pudding.
• Tuesday 31 May at 6pm – Sushi 1 – The basics of sushi making (R375pp – maximum 18, so book early). The increasing popularity of sushi around the world has resulted in many more people wanting to learn the basics of sushi making, this cooking class shows you how to do the following – cutting fish, making rice, California and maki rolls, nigirizushi (finger), and hand rolls.
• Sunday 05 June at 4pm – Flavours of the South African Portuguese Table (R360pp). In this Portuguese cooking class we blend a mix of traditional and contemporary Portuguese food which has been adapted to a South African palate which includes trinchado, chicken livers, caldo verde, chicken peri-peri, Portuguese salad and crème caramel.

Cookbook of the week

Food from Plenty

A weighty, beautiful book containing over 300 recipes. What really sets this cookbook apart, is its approach to recipes.  It starts where all good cookbooks should, with roasts, roast chicken to be more exact.  Once you have mastered the basics, author Diana Henry, gives the cook 9 additional recipe ideas for different flavours with roast chicken. Added to that are great ideas on what to do with leftovers. … Click Here for the full story.

Food quote of the week

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” – Virginia Woolf,

Recipes of the week:

Spare ribs

This is sticky finger food at its very best.  This recipe is from our cookbook author of the week, Diana Henry.  Rather than roasting, try cooking these tasty ribs on a braai, or smoke in a kettlebraai, as we do at Wickedfood Cooking School, in our outdoor cooking class. Also try the marinade with chicken wings or drumsticks. ….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.

Food from Plenty is a weighty, beautiful book containing over 300 recipes. What really sets this cookbook apart is its  approach to recipes.  It starts where all good cookbooks should, with roasts, roast chicken to be more exact.  Once you have mastered the basics, author Diana Henry, gives the cook 9 additional recipe ideas for different flavours with roast chicken. Added to that are great ideas on what to do with leftovers.

And so the book goes on. Most chapters start with an  informative introduction: cuts of meat and a synopsis of how to use them, different grains and pulses, and how to cook with them , and cooking with bread.

Food from Plenty is divided into 11 chapters covering various foodstuffs and styles: the roast; vegetables; pulses;  grains; fish; choice cuts of pork, lamb and beef; soup; wild things; sweet fruit; crust and crumbs; and eggs.

The book promotes the virtue of buying good quality produce, locally if possible, to produce dishes you’d want to eat, aimed squarely at the home cook. Diana shows  how to save money by cooking ahead, using up gluts from the garden, and how to cook with respect for sustainability and resources. Recipes originate from all over the world – from Corfu to Vietnam, but at the heart of it are easy-to-achieve recipes, full of flavour .

Diana Henry was named Cookery Writer of the Year by The Guild of Food Writers in 2009 and 2007 for her work in The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine. As well as writing a weekly column for Stella, Diana is the author of several cookbooks, including Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, The Gastropub Cookbook and Cook Simple. She also writes for many magazines, including House and Garden, Sainsbury’s Magazine and Waitrose Food Illustrated.  Photographer Jonathan Lovekin is often referred to as the best food photographer in the business.

Click here for recipes from Diana Henry.

Interested in buying this book? For the next 2 weeks Red Pepper Books is offering a special discounted price for Food from Plenty. Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, they are able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door.

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,

Hope you all had  a relaxing break.  For us at Wickedfood Cooking School, it was a time to develop some exciting new recipes and classes.  With all the over indulgences – what better way to detox, than to include more vegetables in your diet.  With that in mind, this week’s newsletter has a strong vegetarian theme.  Our cookbook of the week is the acclaimed vegetable cookbook Plenty.  In addition we run our first vegetarian cooking class next Monday, featuring six delicious quick and easy recipes, perfect for midweek cooking.  This Sunday we also have our outdoor cooking class with the emphasis on poultry.

And for those of you looking for a market with a difference, Wickedfood Earth will be participating for the first time at the slow market in Skeerpoort. We will be selling some naturally grown vegetables and herbs, as well as a variety of chilli sauces and chutneys, see below for more.

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  May and June 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.

• 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.
• Monday 09 May at 6pm – Quick & easy 30 minute vegetarian meals (R370pp) In this vegetarian cooking class we teach students how to put together well balanced, quick and easy meat-free meals including courgette and feta fritters, sweet potato soup, onion and potato frittata, Thai green vegetable curry, fried eggs on a vegetable ragout, falafel burgers, and ricotta and tomato tart.
• Sunday 15 May at 4pm – Easy Greek dishes for entertaining (R370pp for the class). The Greek cooking class that’s simple and easy. Dishes include fried halloumi, bean soup, moussaka, spanokopita and honey tart.
• Monday 16 May at 6pm – Making filled pasta and accompanying sauces (R370pp). We will show you how to make your own pasta from scratch in this pasta cooking class and then how to fill them with meat and vegetable fillings. Fillings include cheese and ham, spinach and ricotta, sweet potato and a variety of sauces.
• Sunday 22 May at 4pm – Hearty winter Entertaining (R360pp). No fuss dinner party for six. This cooking class is perfect for winter entertaining. Dishes include mushroom soup, Caesar’s salad, braised chicken, mini vegetable filo pies and chocolate pudding.

Cookbook of the week

Plenty

It seems like everywhere there is a buzz about this new vegetable cookbook.  And so it was with great anticipation that the Wickedfood Cooking School review team paged through Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest creation, Plenty. This is a book about cooking vegetables as opposed to a vegetarian cookbook trying to recreate meat substitutes. … Click Here for the full story.

Country food Market

This Saturday, Wickedfood Earth will be participating for the first time at the ‘slow market’ at the Dutch-Reformed church in Skeerpoort. This is a real food market, run by the church ladies, selling local produce from the area, including meat, vegetables, honey and trout. The market starts at about 07:00 am to approximately midday.   Skeerpoort is west of Hartebeestport dam, about 70km from Fourways.  The best way to get there from northern Johannesburg is via Brooderstroom, Pecanwood, and then at the T turn left. The road then turns and twists through Skeerpoort  village. The  Market happens every first Saturday of the month. Contact Marleze on 082 781 0736 for more information.

Food quote of the week

“We may live without friends; We may live without books; But civilized man cannot live without cooks.” – Meredith Owen

Recipes of the week:

Roasted sweet potato with pecan & honey

It is now sweet potato season, so enjoy them. This recipe from the Ottolenghi cookbook, is delicious as a side dish, particularly with poultry, or at room temperature as a picnic salad.

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.

This Nigel Slater chocolate and chestnut terrine  is a seriously rich recipe to be enjoyed in thin slices, perfect as a decadent Easter treat, with chestnuts just coming into season. You will get a good 8 to 10 portions from the cake. This cake is very similar to one that we make at Wickedfood Cooking School in our chocolate cooking class. Chestnut purée is available from specialist delicatessens.

Photo: Jonathan Lovekin

Cake

250g butter
225g golden caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
2t baking powder
30g cocoa powder
4 eggs
80ml milk
3T hot espresso coffee

Chestnut and chocolate filling

250g dark chocolate (79 per cent cocoa solids)
125g butter
400g chestnut purée
2T caster sugar

To finish

10–12 cooked or candied chestnuts
250g dark chocolate

Cake

• You will need a 20cm sq cake tin lined with baking parchment, and a 20 x 9cm loaf tin or similar for shaping the cake (measurements are taken across the bottom of the tins).
• Set the oven at 160°C. Cut the butter into small pieces and put into a food mixer with the caster sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder (don’t miss this step; it is really important that the dry ingredients are well mixed).
• Crack the eggs into a small bowl, beat them briefly to mix, then stir in the milk.
• Introduce the flour mixture and the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar, adding a little of each at a time, with the mixer going constantly till you have a smooth mixture. Finally mix in the coffee.
• Spoon the mixture into the lined square cake tin and smooth the top, then bake for 45-50 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch. Test with a metal skewer. If it comes out moist but clean, without any raw cake mixture stuck to it, then it is ready. Remove from the oven, leave to settle for 15 minutes, then run a palette knife around the edges and gently turn out on to a cooling rack. Peel off the baking parchment.

Chestnut and chocolate filling

• Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a glass or china bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Do not stir, other than to push any unmelted chocolate down into the liquid chocolate. Turn the heat off as soon as the chocolate has melted.
• Cut the butter into small pieces and stir it gently into the chocolate until it has melted.
• Beat the chestnut purée with the sugar until well mixed, then fold gently into the melted chocolate and butter. Try not to over-mix. Set aside.
• Cut the cake in half to make two long pieces. Slice each half in two horizontally and trim to fit the loaf tin. Place a piece of cake in the base of the tin, add half the chocolate chestnut cream and smooth the top. Place a second piece of sponge on top, followed by the rest of the chestnut cream.
• Place a third and final piece of cake on top. (You will be left with one remaining piece, which I suggest you freeze for later or nibble at will.)
• Wrap the entire loaf tin in clingfilm, pressing down firmly to encourage the layers to stick together. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

To finish

• Remove the clingfilm, loosen the cake from the sides of the tin and turn it out on to a wire rack. Place the chestnuts along the top.
• Melt the chocolate as before, then pour it over the top of the cake, smoothing it over the sides. Leave to set before serving, sprinkled with cocoa powder if desired.

Makes 10 slices

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.