The popular Col’Cacchio Pizzeria Celebrity Chef Series, featuring four of South Africa’s most talented chefs, will run until the end of August 2011.
The chefs –this year features Bertus Basson from Overture restaurant in Stellenbosch, ‘bush cook’ Justin Bonello, Marthinus Ferreira of DW Eleven-13 and Neil Jewell of Bread & Wine in Franschhoek – are challenged to produce their trademark gourmet pizza with one pizza added to the menu on a monthly basis.
In the picture: Roz Mommsen, Col’Cacchio Pizzeria Franchise owner, Simone Dale, Strategic Manager, Wildlands Conservation Trust and Greg Mommsen, Col’Cacchio Pizzeria Director, at the Durban launch of the pizzeria’s Celebrity Chefs Campaign at Gateway Theatre of Shopping
The good news for wildlife lovers is that for every celebrity pizza sold, R5 will be donated to the Sustainable Communities Programme run by the Wildlands Conservation Trust, a non-profit organisation striving to maintain South Africa’s stunning natural heritage.
Opportunities
The programme creates opportunities for individuals with entrepreneurial spirit in underprivileged communities and, in turn, helps develop green, vibrant and sustainable communities. These “tree-preneurs” are shown how to plant and grow indigenous trees from seed and care for them until they reach a certain height. They are then traded back to Wildlands in exchange for goods and items like bicycles, building materials, school fee support etc. Wildlands then plants the trees back into under-greened communities or forest restoration projects.
Members of The Ridge team were on hand at the event to get a taste of what these celeb chef wizards have been brewing (or cooking, if you like), while also taking the opportunity to meet the Col’Cacchio Pizzeria and Wildlands team, and chat to some of the local tree-preneurs.
There was a massive thumbs up for TV chef Justin Bonello (No, not just because we enjoy his Cooked series and his input into Woolies’ Taste mag), but because his creation, “The Greengenie” was absolutely fab, healthy and had a twist, being served on a wholewheat base. It was light and extremely tasty.
Some of the items you’ll find on this pizza include parmesan, roasted garlic, beetroot, butternut, sautéed mushrooms, Danish feta, rocket and seeds (pumpkin, pine nut etc). Yummy!
Our team was divided on the runner up, and the decision was split between Marthinus Ferreira’s “Prawn Star”, big juicy prawns, basil leaves and a chill kick of note, and Jewell’s “Sticky Fingers”.
“Sticky Fingers” was an interesting selection indeed, listen to this: lentil base, topped with roasted pork belly, smoked mozzarella and tomato marmalade. Finished off with lime and vanilla pickled cucumber and chilli candy.
Might sound like quite a mouthful, and indeed it was, but a jolly nice one at that.
PS: Any plans for a proudly KZN chef among Col’Cacchio’s celebrity chefs for next year’s pizza stand-off? You bet. With the franchise considering further expansion into KZN (they’re already mulling over a few locations in the province), director Greg Mommsen says there’s every chance of one of our shining stars getting a look in. Watch this space.
**For more info on the Gateway Store or the Celebrity Chef Series, go to the Col’Cacchio Pizzeria website.