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

Hi all,

This week sees the start of our cooking classes for individuals.  We have had a number of enquiries for basic cooking classes, and shortly we’ll be running a class from our very popular series 30 minute meals.  In each of these classes participants learn how to produce 6 quick and easy meals that are delicious, and at the same time low in fat and well balanced. We also have a variety of other appetizing classes including Portuguese, Thai and pasta.  Hope to see you at one of the classes

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 January and February individual cooking class programmes are up on the internet – click the relevant month  for the programme January / February.

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 24 January at 4pm – Flavours of the South African Portuguese Table (R370 pp per class). 7 tasty dishes including trinchado, chicken livers, caldo verde, chicken peri-peri, Portuguese salad and crème caramel.
• Monday 25 January at 6pm – Classic Thai dishes (R360pp). These classic Thai dishes are ideal for easy entertaining even around the braai – green Thai chicken curry, Thai beef salad, coconut noodles with prawns and coconut custard.
• Thursday 28 January at 6pm – Making pasta sauces (R370pp). Delicious, easy sauces for pasta, including raw tomato sauce with ricotta cheese, rocket pesto, prawn and pernod cream sauce, vodka tomato cream sauce, ham and mascarpone, and ragù with nuts and mushrooms.
• Monday 1 February at 6pm – The tastes of Spain (R370 for the class). An introduction to Spanish cuisine including tortilla Espanola, salt cod fritters, gazpacho, paella, and almond tart.

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

Looking for info on food?

The Wickedfood blog took off in a big way in 2009, with lots of questions coming in from our readers.  If you have any  food-related question, 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

For anyone who loves authentic Greek foods this cookbook is a must have.  Vefa’s Kitchen is the first authoritative and all-encompassing Greek recipe book in English. You will find versions of most of the recipes we teach in our Greek Cooking Classes at Wickedfood Cooking School in this book…    Click Here for more.

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

Did you know:

There are more than 2,000 varieties of blackberry, growing as far south as South Africa and as high up as the Himalayas. Some are so red as to be almost indistinguishable from raspberries. Traditionally, blackberry tea, made from the leaves, was used to salve indigestion and was also thought to purify the blood.

Food quote of the week:

“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.” – Anonymous.

Our favourite ingredient:

A vegetable native to the warmer climates of the Mediterranean, especially around Greece and the Middle East, the aubergine, was introduced to Northern Europe about 300 years ago. There are many varieties; size, colour and shape can vary enormously. Always try to choose aubergines that feel heavy and have unblemished skins and fleshy stalks.

This humble plant has played a major part in many popular regional cuisines throughout the world – in Greek moussaka, French ratatouille, or roasted and whipped into baba ganoush in traditional Lebanese style. Roasted and marinated aubergines can be served as antipasti, with plenty of olive oil and fresh herbs. The slightly bland flavour of the aubergine makes it the perfect blank slate to which rich and aromatic spices and herbs can be added; slicked with miso and grilled, for example, or gently stewed with stock, chilli bean paste and Shaoxing wine for a classic Chinese dish with minced pork. In India, Iran and Afghanistan, aubergines are made into hot, spicy pickles to whet the appetite.

Previously, it was advised to salt aubergines to draw out any unpleasant bitterness, but with many modern varieties this is an unnecessary step; salting, however, is useful if the aubergine is to be cooked in oil, as it prevents the flesh from absorbing too much oil during cooking.

Recipe of the week – Greek village salad

A classic Greek salad, or village salad, as referred to in Vefa’s Kitchen, is tomatoes, cucumber, olives and feta cheese, but no lettuce. It appears on nearly every restaurant table on the Greek Islands. The secret of the salad is the dressing.

The Wickedfood Team

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 – team building 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.