A roast served with Yorkshire pudding, could be called the quintessential British Sunday dinner. With the wet cold weather this weekend, I made roast beef, served with roast potatoes, mashed butternut,  Jerusalem artichokes, and a delicious onion gravy.

1 x 2kg  beef sirloin roast
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1⁄4 cup oil

Gravy

3 onions , finely sliced

6 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

2 cups red wine

2T butter, cubed

Yorkshire pudding

1 cup flour
1t salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1⁄2 cup beef drippings or oil

1. Preheat the oven to 240°C.
2. Season beef with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the oil in a roasting pan into which the meat will comfortably fit. Brown the meat on all sides, and set aside.
4. Add the onions and garlic, and fry until they just start to change colour.  Add the red wine and deglaze the pan.  Place the meat on top of onions, fat side up and place in the preheated oven.  Roast for 10 minutes, and then reduce the heat 170°C, and roast for a further 40 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, transfer the meat to a cutting board, and allow to rest, covered with foil, while you make the Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Skim the fat off the cooking juices  into a bowl.

Yorkshire pudding

1. Increase oven temperature to 240°C.
2. Sift flour together with salt into a medium bowl. Make a well in center and add eggs. Whisk in milk. Mix until smooth. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Spoon 1⁄2t of fat into each cup of a nonstick muffin pan. Heat in oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove pan from oven, divide the batter evenly between cup and bake until risen and brown, about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.

Gravy

1. Strain the cooking juices into a clean saucepan. Cook, whisking, until thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.  Serve immediately

Serves 8

See more roast recipes – click here

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 is an ideal venue for corporate entertaining, whether it be team building, a relaxing way of rewarding staff, building relationships with customers, or getting to know colleagues. In anticipation of the world cup, for those who are not particularly interested in soccer, but still want to get into the spirit of things, from now until the end of July Wickedfood Cooking School has developed a unique competition cooking concept, the 2010 Wickedfood Culinary World Cup Challenge.

2010 Wickedfood Culinary World Cup Challenge

Wickedfood Cooking School has identified the 10 participating soccer teams with the most interesting cuisine and drawn up a representative 6-dish menu for each national team. The class is divided into two groups, each representing one of these national teams, and cooks the relevant menu. We supply the ingredients and recipes for each team. Apart from the fun aspect, this is also a novel way of entertaining clients, a great form of teambuilding, or ideal opportunity of assessing various staff members’ abilities to work together and solve common problems. Once all the dishes are cooked, our judging panel, will choose the winning team and then the participants sit down and enjoy the 2 respective meals they have prepared.

What is included in the price?

• A set of recipes for each participant to take home;
• All ingredients and the use of aprons to wear while cooking (we also have branded aprons for sale and with enough lead-in time can have these embroidered with company logos);
• Teas, coffees (on request) and soft drinks in the morning classes; limited white and red house wine by the glass, and soft drinks in the evening classes;
• The meal at the end. Bring only your enthusiasm.

About Wickedfood Cooking Schools

(see our website for more information)

Wickedfood Cooking School is an educational facility, offering tuition in a wide range of culinary skills to the public and corporate world in a fun, safe environment. We run classes (subject to a minimum of 12 people) throughout the year at our purpose-built cooking studios, in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week. The venue is also available for corporate and private functions – 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 these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Our first classes were run from restaurant premises in Illovo in October 2001. In May 2002, the school was moved to a purpose-built kitchen in Fourways. Our newest school opened in Sunninghill in August 2007. The school can accommodate up to 60, in hands-on classes in state-of-the-art, purpose-built, teaching kitchens and offer over 30 classes (including special halaal options) specifically for the corporate and group market.

See the Programme section on our website for a list of the wide variety of classes available.

For more information on the 2010 Wickedfood Culinary World Cup Challenge, please contact Wickedfood Cooking School - Tel: 011 234-3252.

Africa is a vast continent, three times the landmass of Europe, and with over 1,000 different languages. Its history is incredibly ancient, its cooking styles grand and majestic, with food flavors that shift dramatically from north to south, east to west. Unfortunately to date, very few of these mouthwatering flavours have been accurately captured in cookbooks.  Here are a few of Wickedfood Cooking Schools favourite African themed cookbooks:

The Momo Cookbook by Mourad Mazouz – a sensual feast of the perfumes and flavours from North Africa . The author is a restaurateur of Algerian extraction and has an extensive knowledge of the food from the region. This beautifully produced cookbook features over 90 authentic recipes from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, many supported by mouthwatering photographs. In addition the book includes interesting travel notes and background on the region.

If you’re looking for a book that truly represents modern South Africa, as a special present for overseas clients or a homesick friend, then African Salad – a portrait of South Africans at home, should receive your serious consideration. The book is a delicious portrait of real South Africans in their homes, and their favourite recipes. It is supported by beautiful design and some spectacular cityscape photographs. A real gem.

Life Soweto style – an intriguing look into Soweto, it’s warmth of energy, community spirit and people with some stunning coffee table photography by Mark Lanning. And what makes this book more intriguing is the selection of ethnic recipes at the back of the book, real gems.

West Coast Cookbook– edited by foodie, Ina Paarman, this book is a collection of recipes from the West Coast fishing community. Apart from the easy-to-follow mouthwatering recipes, the book also weaves an interesting tale about the trials and tribulations of living at a hand-to-mouth existence from the sea.

Africa cookbook – Jessica Harris explors the continent’s diverse cuisines and rich history. An erudite discussion of regional food differences among North, South, East and West Africa is followed by a glossary of African ingredients and utensils and a list of mail order sources for ingredients in the USA, for whom the book is written. While Harris challenges readers to move beyond preconceived notions of African food as “hot,” “spicy” and limited to “soupy stews,” her lofty intentions fall somewhat short as her recipe collection covers mostly these very types of preparations. Virtually all of the 200-plus recipes are “one-pot” dishes, which showcase just one ingredient that is boiled or fried then seasoned.

In Cooking from Cape to Cairo, Dorah Sitole, long time editor of True Love Magazine, has put together a mouthwatering collection of recipes drawn from around the continent. …

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.

This wonderful chicken and peanut stew, with a thick spicy tomato base is typical of West Africa. Make it as spicy as you like by adding cayenne pepper, and for extra heat, a chopped chilly or two. This recipe is based on one that we teach at Wickedfood cooking School in our West African cooking class.

8 to 12 chicken pieces

±3T oil for cooking

2 onions, peeled and chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2T fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2T tomato paste

1 ½ cups peanut butter

1 stock cube dissolved in 2 cups hot water

2-3t cayenne pepper or to taste

salt and sugar to taste

garnish with chopped chilly or spring onion

1. Trim the chicken pieces of extra fat and skin, and season with cayenne pepper and salt.
2. Heat the oil in a deep pot or casserole dish. Add the chicken in batches, skin side down and fry on both sides until it is browned. Remove and set aside. (Chicken cooks best if the chicken pieces do not touch each other while frying.)
3. Fry the onions until they just start to change colour, then add the garlic and ginger.
4. Stir in chopped tomatoes and paste. Reduce heat and simmer for ±5 minutes.
5. Stir in peanut butter and then the stock and stir well.
6. Return chicken to pot, bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for 40 minutes. Adjust the spices by adding more cayenne pepper, salt and sugar to taste.
7. Garnish and serve with Fufu, pounded yam, a classic accompaniment to most West African stews, or rice.

Serves 6 to 8

Click here for some other interesting African recipes

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.