South African ballet dancer, choreographer, MC, TV presenter and managing director Lorna Maseko-Lukhele can now add ‘culinary genius’ to her long list of accolades. We caught up with her to chat about her latest culinary interests and ventures.
GLAMOUR: Being a part of celebrity MasterChef really brought your cooking skills to the forefront, when did you discover your skills in the kitchen?
Lorna: I’ve always loved cooking and I think being on the show fuelled my passion for cooking even more. I find it quite therapeutic and love playing around with different ingredients.
GLAMOUR: Cooking with Lorna and friends has been a great way to showcase your culinary skills, what’s the most important thing that you wanted viewers to receive from your cooking show?
Lorna: The whole idea behind the event is to bring people, food and music together. We want to hopefully recapture and ignite an individual’s passion for cooking. The experience is designed to build one’s confidence and teach them that good home cooking and entertaining can be a fun, relaxing experience that anybody regardless of experience can enjoy. What I love is that all the food that guest’s cook goes to charity. Each guest has a basic cooking station and they get to be taught a recipe by myself whether starter or dessert. What’s fun is that this is all interactive, unlike a normal cooking lesson where guests are just listening; here they get to actually cook as I teach. The main course is a cook off where guests get a number of ingredients and sometimes a recipe and they basically get to cook a dish of their choice. This is tons of fun and people are so competitive.
GLAMOUR: You recently enrolled in a culinary school, what are the differences now in your cooking than before that you’ve noticed?
Lorna: It’s mainly technique and knowing the base of doing something. I’d love to understand the French style of cooking but adapting a strong South African flair in my dishes. I think more than the food itself, I’d like to master Michelin style plating with a burst of South African flavour.
GLAMOUR: What’s your absolute favourite thing to cook?
Lorna: I love home style cooking but platted like Michelin style food, which I’m still learning to do.
GLAMOUR: What’s the one recipe you can share with us that you think all GLAMOURzons out there should know how to whip up this spring?
Lorna: I think salmon ceviche is super easy.
SALMON CEVICHE RECIPE
Ingredients
- 500g salmon, cut into bite-size chunks (gray parts removed)
- 3/4 cup lemon juice (to taste)
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 red chopped chilli
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander
- 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
- 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
- Ground pepper
- Butter Lettuce
Method
- Cut salmon into bite size chunks, remove all gray parts.
- In a ceramic dish or plastic bowl, combine the lemon juice, fish sauce, finely chopped onions and chilli along with freshly ground black pepper, coriander and diced tomatoes.
- Add the salmon and mix gently making sure that the fish is completely submerged in the liquid.
- Put in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 1 hour (3 to 4 hours is ideal). The fish flesh will become opaque as the citrus juice cooks it.
- Taste and adjust accordingly. Add a dash of soya sauce for extra flavor.
- Place scoops of the ceviche in cupped butter lettuce and present on a wooden board.
- Sprinkle left over coriander for a rustic look.
- Enjoy with friends as a great starter.
Want more recipes from South African chefs? Here are 2 braai recipes you need to try!
