Brrrrrrrrrrrr it’s frrrrrreezing! My hands are cold and stiff as I type, so I’m looking forward to cranking the ovens up in our classes later and getting into some dough-work to warm up!
We’ve been truly taking all advantage of our winter crops and preparing fine feasts this fortnight, learning different techniques and also new uses for some old veggie favourites: Roasted winter veggies with rosemary honey drizzle – Japanese turnips and cauliflower florets roasting in the oven with a little olive oil and salt, with their buddies Brussels sprout leaves adding an almost crispy-kale-like element of savouriness. A surprise hit indeed! And who would have thought roasted cauliflower was so delicious? It’s much, much better than the soggy, white-sauced version of my childhood… We’ve added crispy and creamy elements to a thick pureed Carrot soup with lemon tahini and crisped chickpeas, with also a little flake or two of chilli to get the blood racing.
We are harvesting some lovely juicy and aromatic lemons at the moment, from our tree in the kindergarten playground, so have been juicing and zesting galore! And at the same time have been working up a sweat rolling, rolling and rolling pasta for Sean’s linguine with lemon, parmesan and rocket (and another touch of chilli!).
Another favourite, and definitely a dish to hone cooking craft is the Silverbeet, turnip top and ricotta tart, preparing our own shortcrust lemon-zested pastry and learning the art of blind baking. Fabulous!
And last but not least, several of the classes have had enough volunteers helpers present to have a fifth group (known as the Broad Beans…) make the Blood orange and cardamom upside-down cake. Blood oranges! My favourite fruit of all time, and wonderful in a cake with wholemeal flour (and a little bit of butter and sugar, natch).
A perfect winter meal! Thanks to all the wonderful adult and kid helpers who make it happen (and especially those that help clean it all up afterwards!). And also for the clean jars that have flooded in since my request in the Class Newsletter earlier this week. Thanks and keep them coming!
Mx
The Bondi Cook 