Johannesburg - Is it possible to create a delicious world-class meal without electricity?
Foodie Kate Wilson certainly thinks so.
The well-known food and magazine personality says almost any dish can be made during load shedding as long as preparation is made well ahead of the time.
With load shedding going nowhere for the foreseeable future, Wilson has been hard at work over the last few months creating a cookbook masterpiece to help South Africans during the “darkest of times.”
This week, she launched an exciting new cookbook, the “Taste Loadshedding Cookbook”, which is a special edition cookbook designed to stop load shedding from ruining your dinner.
The ingenious collection, in collaboration with Woolworths and New Media, includes 89 recipes that will help South Africans navigate those evening power cuts (and more) with smart cooking strategies in five chapters: Fast, Easy Assembly, One-Pan Cooking, Prep Ahead and Braai.
It features recipes by Taste favourites Abigail Donnelly, Khanya Mzongwana, Hannah Lewry and Philippa Cheifitz.
Wilson, the editor-in-chief of Taste magazine, says the idea was to make life easier for South Africans during load shedding.
“We felt that we do have the tools to really help customers/readers navigate the challenges.”
The cookbook consists of five different strategies to service different kinds of cooks/readers. There is an element of planning involved in most of the chapters, but the book makes it easier,” said Wilson.
“The biggest section consists of recipes that can all be cooked in under 30 minutes (this is just the cooking time) - fast. There is a chapter for people who are more inclined to plan and who want to have more options that potentially involve longer cooking times.
“That chapter, Prep Ahead, features dishes where you can prepare or cook parts of the dish in advance and then either reheat or finish it off just before the power goes off or right after it comes back on.
“Similarly, the One Pan chapter also involves some preparation, getting an oven tray ready to go in or cooking everything in one pot if you have gas or have invested in a two-plate gas hob. It also means fewer dishes to wash in the dark.”
It wouldn’t be a truly South African book if it didn’t include a Braai chapter.
“The book wouldn’t be complete without a chapter on Braai recipes, just in time for Heritage Day. There are icons for all the chapters, and then these are used across the dishes in the book.
“There are also references made to the tools that will help – Airfryers, gas plates, skottels and Wonderbags.”
Recipes include sticky pork with noodles, seared steak carpaccio with beans, easy Thai red curry, loaded chicken schnitzels, sausages baked with tomatoes, whole chicken with Asian flavours, and many more.
“There is an ingenious steak pie that uses frozen potato rostis as a topping for a filling you’ve prepped in advance, dressed-up ravioli and even some slow-braise dishes, curries and stews and even pulled-pork, that you can start early in the day and they will take care of themselves.”
Wilson says South Africans can be creative with their cooking during load shedding and shouldn’t feel like they are confined to cooking basic dishes despite no electricity.
“You can be as creative as you want to be. It just depends on how much you are prepared to plan and whether you have your pantry and freezer stocked with the right ingredients.”
“This book is about strategies for navigating the power cuts so you don’t have to eat the same dishes over and over.”
Wilson says her personal favourite dish to make during load shedding is a one pan dish.
“I often do chicken thighs on baby potatoes with lemon and basil or with harissa, red peppers and chorizo. It’s easy to come home, smear some harissa or olive oil over the chicken pieces, mix them up with your vegetable of choice in a big baking dish and then when the power comes back at 6.30, it goes into the oven, and dinner is ready by 7.30.”
She says what is clever about the book is that they’ve assessed which recipes will work best for what kind of cooking and organised them in one place so you don’t have to search for them.”
“There are tips and hacks as well as product recommendations. But if you wanted even more options, you could search the quick and easy sections on the site, and there is a recipe guide for load shedding.”
Wilson believes a cookbook of this nature was imperative for South Africans as load shedding is set to stay for many years to come.
“Take-out is expensive and not always super-healthy. People get tired of having the same dishes over and over. So we wanted to give them options and show them that you can still cook around the power cuts. You just have to know what to cook.”
“That’s really the problem with or without load shedding, not knowing what to make for dinner.”
Recipe: Puttanesca baked fish
Recipe by Hannah Lewry
– Serves: 4
– Difficulty: Easy
– Dietary considerations: Pescatarian
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
– One T capers
– Four to six anchovy fillets
– Three cloves garlic, chopped
– 70 g olives, halved
– One chilli, chopped
- Two tablespoons of olive oil
– One tablespoon of tomato paste
– x 600 g pack Woolworths frozen hake fillets
– 50 g Parmesan
– Exotic tomatoes, chopped, for serving
– Pickled red onion, for serving
– Basil leaves, for serving
– Two x 400 g cans cherry tomatoes
Cooking instructions
– Fry capers, anchovy fillets, chopped garlic, halved olives and chopped chilli in 2 T olive oil in a large ovenproof pan over a medium to low heat.
– When fragrant, add the cherry tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add tomato paste and a little water if necessary to loosen.
– Meanwhile, preheat the grill, grease a baking tray and arrange the frozen hake fillets on the tray. Season and grill for 5–7 minutes. Place the fish in the sauce and grate over Parmesan, then grill until golden and bubbling, 3–5 minutes.
– Serve hot topped with chopped exotic tomatoes, pickled red onion, basil leaves and orzo, cheesy polenta or Woolworths frozen mash.
Cook's note: The worst thing about entertaining? Washing up, hands down. Do yourself a favour and serve this winning supper in the centre of the table, straight out the pan