Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

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

Hi all,

Wow, what a response we had from our last recipe of the week  - Umngqusho Samp and beans – twice as many hits as any other recipe we have ever published. In recognition of the interest in African cuisine, this week we once again have a delicious African inspired recipe, this time from west Africa – Chicken and peanut stew. We also review a selection of our favorite African inspired cookbooks.

Apart from political upheavals and the dust cloud over Europe the other news story which will continue to grain prominence is the 2010 Soccer World Cup.  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.

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 April and May.

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 26 April at 6pm – Outdoor Cooking – Poultry (R390 per class). Learn the secrets of outdoor cooking on Cadac kettlebraais and gas barbecues. Dishes covered in this class include whole roast 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.
• Sunday 02 May at 4pm – Easy Greek dishes for entertaining (R370pp). Dishes include fried halloumi, bean soup, moussaka, spanokopita and honey tart.
• Monday 05 April at 6pm – Easy Entertaining Indian style (R370pp). Learn how to make 7 authentic Indian dishes with which to entertain your friends, including samoosas, baked fish with tomato cream sauce, kali dal, rotis and kalfi.
• Monday 10 May at 6pm – Alfresco Italian dining (R360pp). Six classic dishes from the Italian kitchen, all easy to make in advance, ideal for a 6-course summer buffet meal – stuffed tomatoes, cheese mould, potato gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce, cold sliced pork and tuna sauce, and zuccotto.
• Sunday 16 May at 4pm – Outdoor Cooking – seafood (R390pp). Part of the master class series. In conjunction with our head instructor, and leading fishmonger, learn the secrets of cooking seafood with confidence on kettlebraais and gas barbecues. Dishes covered in this class include seared tuna carpaccio, grilled whole fish, baked fish fillets, and spicy grilled squid salad.

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

This week we look at a variety of the African inspired cookbooks. … Click Here for more.

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

On food – Macaroni and cheese:

Macaroni and cheese is a dish with hidden depths. We think of it as an all-American, dish, but it actually isn’t. Italians have been eating something like it for about as long as they’ve had pasta. Some historians, in fact, date the dish’s debut in the USA to 1789, when Thomas Jefferson returned from Europe with an Italian pasta machine in tow. … Click Here for more information, and here for a great Macaroni and cheese recipe.

Food quote of the week :

“‘A beggar can beg for certain things but cannot beg for an ostrich’s egg“. – Meaning:the egg of an ostrich is rare and therefore very difficult to get. Moral Teaching: Do not be overambitious – Ghanaian proverb.

Recipe of the week:

Chicken and peanut stew

This wonderful chicken and peanut stew, with a thick spicy tomato base is typical of West Africa. This recipe is based on one that we teach at Wickedfood cooking School in our West African cooking class. .… 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.

Umngqusho (Mngqusho) -  Samp and beans – is a favourite traditional dish among the Xhosa people in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It is made of de-hulled dried corn and dried beans. In the case of samp, however, the corn kernels are crushed or broken into pieces which are easier to cook and eat. In South Africa, dried samp and beans are sold already mixed and ready to use. Umngqusho is sometimes served with fried onions, or as a side dish with any stew that has gravy.

3 cups dry samp and bean mix
water
salt to taste

1. Cover the samp and beans with water and soak overnight. Drain and rinse before cooking.
2. In a large pot, cover the soaked samp and beans with cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low heat for one to two hours, until all is tender and the water is mostly absorbed. Add additional water during cooking if needed.
3. Season with salt. Serve hot.

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.

Pumpkins take centre stage in October, lighting up driveways and leering at us through windows in the run up to Halloween in the Northern Hemisphere. But they’re not just pretty faces, they are a great autumn vegetable with a good shelf life.

Blend the flesh into smooth, thick pumpkin soups, finished with a swirl of cream – a small pumpkin can provide a satisfying meal for one. For a pot-luck broth that hits the spot, roughly chop and boil equal quantities of pumpkin, potatoes and sweet potatoes in stock, along with one onion, a tomato, an ear of sweetcorn and a bunch of fresh coriander. When the vegetables are tender, chop them more finely to create a delicious, chunky pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin creme brulee

Stir meltingly sweet cubes of fried pumpkin into risottos or curries, offsetting the flavours with fragrant herbs such as sage or thyme, or warming spices such as ginger. Alternatively, serve pumpkin stuffed into pasta, pasties or gnocchi, or use it to beef up warm salads.

Sweet dishes need not be limited to pumpkin pie. Stir puréed pumpkin into a cheesecake filling for a less sickly take on this decadent dessert. Or try making pumpkin halva – the nutty flavour of the pumpkin flesh blends well with the other nuts and seeds. Roasted pumpkin seeds are great on their own as snacks and can be incorporated into flapjacks and biscuits, or used to garnish tarts and cakes.

Click here for some delicious pumpkin 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.

At Wickedfood Cooking School, we offer cooking classes for individuals on every alternate Sunday afternoon and most Mondays.  On Sunday just gone by,  we ran a pasta cooking class, where students learned the art of making pasta, including how to make flavoured pasta and how to fill pasta,  as well as a variety of pasta sauces.

Congrarelations to Hannelie and partner, our recent compertition winner

The class was presented by Mike, our development chef, and attended by twelve eager students, two of whom were there as prize winners for our recent competition.

Mike showing students how to fill ravioli

Cutting chilli flavoured pasta into fettuccini

During the class the students were shown that techniques of making four flavoured pastas:

1. Chilli tagliatelle – with a seafood cream;
2. Yellow and green Tagliatelle – beautiful colours with a cream, chicken and mushroom sauce;
3. Pepper fettuccini – with  a simple cream and parmesan sauce (Alfredo sauce)
4. Fried sweet pasta – with grappa in the dough.

They also made two delicious filled pastas:

1. Cappelletti – with a butter cream sauce.
2. Beef filled spinach ravioli – with a mushroom, tomato and red wine sauce.

Click here for more pictures of students learning to make pasta

For more on making pasta click on one of the links below:

1. Making Fresh Pasta
2. Pasta Dough
3. Mushroom sauce for pasta
4. Colouring pasta
5. Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle
6. Beef bolognese
7. Basil Pesto
8. Fettuccine with sausage & tomatoes
9. Baker’s spaghetti

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.

North African cuisine, especially from Morocco cuisine, has taken the world by storm. It has a distinctive flavour, a blend of Middle Eastern ingredients with unique cooking styles.  At Wickedfood Cooking School, our Moroccan Cooking Classes are always popular. In our cookbook of the week,  A Farm In My Heart there is a great recipe for Moroccan Chicken.  Saffron is an essential ingredient in this dish.

1.5 kg chicken pieces

2 large, finely chopped onions