Margaret Ellis is really cooking now.  She recently kicked off a cookbook of Gambian-Inspired recipes called West African Perspective.  Now she’s launched her Classik Kitchen website with monthly video recipes.  You’ll want to check it out.

Cooking is More Than Food

For Margaret, cooking is more than a list of ingredients turned into a meal.  Cooking was the heart of her home back in Gambia, where everyone enjoyed the process of food preparation, even her father.  Though most men in Gambia spent their all free time with their friends, Margaret’s dad made time for family, too.  Margaret credits her mother’s cooking for the good times her family had in the kitchen.

When Margaret came to the States, she incorporated her mothers recipes and traditions into her own American home.  When she compared her family to the families around her, she noticed her own family seemed closer. She believes the recipes and practices she learned in her mother’s kitchen are what made the difference and tied the family together.  So she decided to share those traditions with others.

 Videos are More Than Recipes

For the month of September, Margaret introduced a tasty dish called Chicken Wing Soup.  It’s one of her favorites for a Friday night supper, because it rejuvenates and energizes her.  She invites the audience into her kitchen, along with a friend and a niece as they make the recipe.

Margaret’s cookbook embraces modern recipes as well as traditional West African dishes.  This month’s video recipe is a quick and easy stew made with familiar ingredients you’ll find at the corner grocery store, but the book also has traditional dishes straight from her mother’s kitchen.  Readers will enjoy a wide variety of choices.

As the food cooks on the video, Margaret chats with her guests about her recipes, her traditions and her philosophies.  She shares advice for romance and child-rearing, all the time she’s explaining delicious variations for the stew she”s making.  Foodies will enjoy the cooking, but anyone, foodie or not, can enjoy the kitchen banter.

Drop By Margaret’s Classik Kitchen

LeniCam is proud to be a part of this project.  We encourage you to visit Margaret’s Classik Kitchen via the miracle of the Internet.  We had a wonderful time recording the cooking sessions in her home and we know you will enjoy watching them.  We also know you’ll love her cookbook, so go to her website now to order your own.

Dallas Production Company Creates Media for a Gambian-Inspired Cookbook

West African Prospective by Margaret Ellis

Cookbook Author: Margaret (Badjan) Ellis

Looking for something delicious to try for dinner?  Then you might just want to try out this new cookbook.

Margaret Ellis knew she was onto something.  Those delicious meals recipes her mother had been preparing for over forty years back in The Gambia, West Africa?  Margaret knew other people would be interested in them, too.  Many West Africans have come to the United States and lost touch with their cultural food heritage.  Helping these people reconnect with their culinary roots was a part of her inspiration, but she knew the tasty dishes would be appreciated by anyone.

But her vision was bigger than a collection of recipes squeezed between the covers of a book.  Her vision included step-by-step photographs and videos.  She knew people might want to see the results of her recipes before they cooked them and the popularity of cooking shows told her they also wanted to watch the recipes being made.  So she called LeniCam, a Dallas Video Production Company.

The production of the first photographs and video from LeniCam were a case of trial and error. Margaret had the vision and LeniCam had the technology.  Margaret wanted high quality media, but she also needed to keep a cap on expenses.  She was able to lean heavily on LeniCam’s John Lenihan and Michelle Pourciau.  John Lenihan is the founder of the company, our producer and one of our videographers.  Videoing a cooking show is nothing new to him.  He’s worked for Rachel Ray.  Michelle is a photographer and a videographer.  She’s also our associate producer.  Together with Margaret, they labored to create something spectacular.

When LeniCam was through with production and delivered the first video, Margaret was thrilled.  She couldn’t wait to get started on the rest of the series.  Margaret’s book is out in soft cover and hardback.  The ebook and videos have not yet been released.  You’ll want to get her cookbook and try out her recipes.