Let the Herald Cooking Masterclass inspire your festive family feast

As the year draws to a close and we wrap up work projects and studying for exams, our thoughts turn to our Christmas and festive-season menus.

In the final episode of 2021's The Herald Cooking Masterclass series, themed “A Festive Family Feast”, our readers are in for a special treat when Capsicum Culinary Studio professional chef Nadia Pillay shares cooking tips to ensure delicious accompaniments to year-end festivities.

If you have always been too nervous to try your hand at a roast leg of lamb, now is your chance to find out how to prepare this traditional meat dish without asking your aunts or grannies for their secret recipes.

Chef Pillay will be presenting the Herald Cooking Masterclass on Thursday December 2 and, as well as the leg of lamb, she will also be showing participants how to make a cranberry and feta couscous salad.

“We will be preparing the roast leg of lamb with some cumin, orange and garlic flavours. We will change up the flavours — playing around with spices — with this traditional dish. Our dessert will be a raspberry and dark chocolate trifle. Again, we are taking the traditional Christmas trifle and just flipping it by showing participants what else can be done,” says Pillay.

Pillay’s cooking partner and co-presenter, chef Donovan Miller, will be away on a roadshow for Capsicum Culinary Studio and Pillay will be having a surprise guest join her for the last masterclass of 2021. The Herald Cooking Masterclass series has been successfully hosted since 2019 — creating a fun, interactive cooking experience to broaden participants’ horizons in the kitchen.

Participants are encouraged to simultaneously work in the kitchen while the recipes are demonstrated from start to finish — all in under 60 minutes. The culinary series is sponsored by Checkers, Three Peaks Wine and Capsicum Culinary Studio, and is hosted online free of charge.

Mount Vernon sales support and director of hospitality Sarah Weiss paired these festive dishes with their perfect Three Peaks wine matches.

“Our Three Peaks Cantata Red Blend is well textured and will balance the scrumptiously rich lamb. The Cantata — with a ripe plum element and floral note — will also complement the cranberry couscous. As for the chocolate trifle, the Three Peaks Merlot is recommended as an easy drinking wine with red berry and a chocolate development on the finish,” she says.

Participants are encouraged to register early to allow enough time to buy the required ingredients for the masterclass, all of which can be found at Checkers.

Twenty lucky participants also stand a chance of winning a bottle of Three Peaks wine and branded chef’s apron.

Register here for the Festive Family Feast Masterclass on Thursday December 2 at 3pm >>

Watch other episodes for more inspiration: