Hi all

Summer vegetables and fruits are certainly starting to come to an end, but we still have some really exciting choices for the next few months. Pomegranates, quinces, prickly pears, okra, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines are all at the very best right now. If you get to know your farmer or local butcher ask for lamb and baby beef. Many farmers are reducing herds in anticipation for winter and proper veld-raised meat is at its very best right now.

Okra is at its very best right now. With this in mind, together with the Cajun cooking class we have scheduled for the end of the month, our feature recipe for this week is gumbo which reflects the essence of Cajun food.

At Wickedfood Cooking School, our April programme for individuals is now available on the website. As always, we have a great mix of skills classes and flavours from around the world. For The next two weeks classes include baking, pasta making, Cajun food, healthy flavours of Vietnam and easy Italian.

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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

The Cooking class programmes for March and April are up on the internet, and bookings are now open. Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 giving everyone hands-on experience and keeping 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 17 March at 4pm – Desserts and cakes – The basics (R430pp). Dessert making holds a certain mystique and is often associated with disastrous stories. Unlike most areas of cooking where just a basic knowledge of food science is sufficient, dessert making requires a broader understanding of food chemistry and how and why dessert recipes work. Successful dessert making requires precision, patience, and strong attention span. Join us in our desserts and cakes cooking class, for an introduction into baking. Including grilled fruit, baked fruit pudding, hot milk sponge cake, chocolate cake and icing ideas.

• Monday 18 March at 6pm – Making pasta, basic shapes and sauces (R430pp). Making pasta is really easy, and fresh pasta tastes better too. Learn the secrets to making pasta from scratch in this pasta cooking class. Dishes include, farfalle with chicken and cherry tomatoes, salad Florentine, gorgonzola cream sauce, cheese and tomato filled cannelloni, and delicious sweet noodle cake.

• Monday 25 March at 6pm – Jamie’s America – … on Cajun food (R430pp). Jamie Oliver’s book is based on his travels through the USA. In this Cajun cooking class we reinterpret some of the dishes, and put them together into a themed menu which include hush puppies, blackened fish steaks, jambalaya, spicy meat gumbo, dirty Cajun rice and bread pudding.

• Tuesday 02 April at 6pm – Healthy flavours of Vietnam (R430pp). Famous for its lively, fresh flavours and artfully composed meals, Vietnamese food and cooking is the true ‘light cuisine’ of Asia. Abundant fresh herbs and greens, delicate soups and stir-fries, and well-seasoned grilled foods served on, or with, rice or noodles are the mainstays of the Vietnamese delicacies. Home-style Vietnamese cooking calls for an array of simple dishes that make complementary partners at a family’s communal meal. Hobby cooks with well-equipped kitchens and handy appliances will find preparing a Vietnamese meal both rewarding and relatively easy. Classic dishes in this Vietnamese cooking class, include fried springrolls, Vietnamese hot and sour fish soup, caramel chicken, squid salad, and coconut crème caramel.

• Sunday 07 April at 4pm – Easy Italian Class (R430pp). Italian cuisine is noted for its regional diversity, abundance of difference in taste, and is known to be one of the most popular in the world. The main characteristics of Italian cuisine is its extreme simplicity. Dishes and recipes are often the creation of grandmothers rather than of chefs, and this makes many recipes ideally suited for home cooking. This is one of the main reasons behind the ever-increasing popularity of this cuisine. Join us in this Italian cooking class for a more in-depth look at Italian cuisine which includes cauliflower frittata, risotto with dried mushrooms, lamb chops fried in parmesan cheese batter and cassata.

Cookbook of the week

Cajun Cuisine

This Cookbook includes Louisiana classics from gumbos, jambalayas, bisques, fricassees, to etouffees, piquante sauces, wild game, seafood and much more, a carefully selected compilation of totally authentic recipes from the region. . …. Click here to read more.

Click Here for reviews of all our cookbooks.

Food quote of the week

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.” – Mark Twain

Recipe of the week

Chicken gumbo

Gumbos reflect the essence of Cajun food – using very little to serve many. Although gumbos tend to look alike, each one has its own unique flavour. Gumbo derives its name from the slave word for okra, and many gumbos use okra. This recipe is a good basis for a wide variety of gumbo. ….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. We’ve just launched a new and exciting class, Wickedfood Master Cook. Think Master Chef with a fun twist.