Posts Tagged With: kids

Hugh’s Magic Dough

Posted on January 10, 2013 by melhm

Bondi kids love making dough: bread, pizza and pasta regularly grace our table! This ‘magic’ dough recipe can form the base for pizza, flatbreads, breadsticks etc…

Recipe source: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Veg Every Day
Makes: 2 large pizza or 2 calzone

Equipment:

  • Scales
  • Stand mixer& dough hook
  • Measures – tablespoon, teaspoon, ½ teaspoon
  • Bowls – large, medium
  • Cling film
 Ingredients:

For the magic dough:

  • 250g plain white flour
  • 250g strong white flour
  • 1½ level teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a little extra for oiling

What to do:

For the magic dough:

  • Put the two flours into the bowl of the stand mixer with the salt and yeast. Mix well using the dough hook. Add the oil and 325ml warm water and mix to a rough dough. Knead for 5–10 minutes, until smooth. This is quite a loose and sticky dough, which is just as it should be – you get better-textured bread this way – so try not to add too much flour if you can help it, it will become less sticky as you knead.
  • Trickle a little oil into a clean bowl, add the kneaded dough and turn it in the oil so it is covered with a light film. Cover with a tea towel or cling film and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size – at least an hour, probably closer to two – or if using the next day, wrap bowl in cling film and put straight into the fridge to prove slowly.
  • When the dough is well risen and puffy, tip it out and ‘knock it back’ by poking it with your outstretched fingers until it collapses to its former size. It’s now ready to be shaped to your will.

Notes: Why do we leave the dough to rise? What is this process called?

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Mini Christmas cakes

Posted on January 10, 2013 by melhm

I love this idea of mini Christmas cakes for everybody! Don’t forget to let everybody have a stir of the mixture so that they can make a wish for the coming year…

ourkitchengarden.net

Recipe source: adapted from a recipe by Kookaburra on food.com
Makes: 32

Equipment:

  • Large non-reactive bowl, spoon
  • 3 x 12 hole muffin tins
  • 36 cupcake cases
  • Peeler, grater
  • Scales, wooden spoon
  • Small saucepan, spatula
  • Bowls – large, med
  • Measures –cup, ½ cup, tablespoon
  • Sieve, skewer
 Ingredients:

  • 1½ kg mixed dried fruit
  • 50ml vanilla extract or dark rum
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 granny smith apple
  • 1 tablespoon treacle or 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 250g butter
  • 1½ cups plain flour
  • ½ cup self-raising flour
  • 200g blanched almonds (if using)
  • 150g glace cherries

What to do:

The night before:

  • Place mixed fruit into a very large bowl. Add vanilla extract or rum and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to stand overnight.

Start of lesson:

  • Preheat oven to 150°C and arrange oven racks to accommodate muffin tins in the centre section of the oven.
  • Place a muffin case into each hole of the muffin tins. Peel and grate the apple. Place the butter in the small saucepan and gently heat until melted. Remove from the heat to cool. Break the eggs into a medium bowl and lightly beat.
  • One ingredient at a time, add the beaten eggs, grated apple, treacle and sugar to the fruit mixture, mixing well with a wooden spoon after each addition.
  • Sift the flours into a big bowl, then add the cooled, melted butter and flours to the mixture and mix thoroughly – make sure to let every member of the group have a stir of the mixture while they make a Christmas wish!
  • Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, filling to almost full. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the top of each cake.
  • Press a glace cherry into the centre of each cake and, if you like, around each cherry press in 5 almonds to make ‘petals’- pointy end closest to the cherry.
  • Bake at 150°C for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Cool then store in airtight tins or the refrigerator. Or eat!

Notes: They can be eaten immediately or wrapped tightly in cling film, still in their paper. They will keep for a month at least, long after the festivities (and ham) have finished!

ourkitchengarden.net

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Festive shortbread

Posted on January 10, 2013 by melhm

Jill writes, ‘Free shortbread from the restrictively narrow timeframe of Christmas, and make it throughout the year. Hallelujah.’ I think by turning these into a festive treat (however short-lasting they may be!) they can be a great present for someone too…

Recipe source: adapted from Jill Dupleix’s recipe for Anytime Shortbread in ‘Simple Food’

Makes: about 30

ourkitchengarden.net

Equipment:

  • Baking trays and paper
  • Scales
  • Bowls – 2 medium
  • Food processor
  • Flour sifter
  • Chopping board and knife
  • Cling film
  • Rolling pins
  • Festive biscuit cutters
  • Ribbon, chopstick, skewer, cellophane
 Ingredients:

  • 300g unsalted butter, soft
  • 150g icing sugar
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 300g plain flour
  • 150g rice flour or cornflour

 

What to do:

  • Heat the oven to 150C. Line the baking trays with baking paper.
  • Combine the butter, icing sugar and sea salt in a food processor and whiz until smooth.
  • Sift in the flour and rice flour, then pulse off and on, scraping down the sides from time to time, until the mixture gathers into a ball. Knead for a minute or two with your hands until smooth, then cut into two, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Tidy & wipe down your workspace.
  • Turn out onto a floured surface and pat or lightly roll out the dough until 1cm thick. Cut into shapes with the biscuit cutters. Reshape the scraps and cut more shapes. Place on a baking tray and prick with a fork. If you want to, you can carefully pierce a hole in each shape with a skewer or chopstick, & later thread ribbon through to hang as a decoration.
  • Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the tray around and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until touched with colour. Leave to cool on the tray.
  • Pack gently into an airtight container, thread with a length of ribbon and tie into a cellophane bag – or simply gobble them up! 

Notes: This shortbread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Or spread with homemade strawberry jam and whipped cream for a take on the classic Strawberry Shortcake…

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Silverbeet, spring onion and ricotta calzone

Posted on January 10, 2013 by melhm

These folded pizzas are great with a homemade Napoli sauce served alongside (or even added to the filling before baking) – and you can even add prosciutto, ham or roast chicken at home. Mandatory is a leafy salad!

ourkitchengarden.net

Recipe source: Melissa
Fresh from the garden: silverbeet or spinach, spring onion, lemon, garlic
Makes: 4 large calzone

Equipment:

  • Rolling pins
  • 2 large baking sheets
  • Chopping board & knife, scissors
  • Large frying pan
  • Garlic press, wooden spoon, tongs
  • Large bowl
  • Grater, microplane grater
  • Baking paper
  • Scales
  • Measuring cup
  • Pastry brush
  • Serving plates
 Ingredients:

  • 2 recipes Hugh’s Magic Dough
  • Plain flour, for rolling out dough
  • 1kg spinach or silverbeet
  • 4 or 5 spring onions
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 cups ricotta
  • 1 tub bocconcini
  • 50g parmesan
  • 1 lemon
  • Flaked salt & black pepper
  • Coarse polenta for dusting baking sheet
  • Extra-virgin olive oil

What to do:

  • Preheat oven to 230C.
  • Lightly dust the work surface and rolling pin with flour. Divide the dough into 4 and press and roll it out into 4 x large rectangles. Dust the baking sheets with a sprinkle of polenta and drape 2 dough rectangles over each tray, leaving half off adjacent edges to fold back over later.
  • Wash the spinach or silverbeet, shake dry and slice or cut the leaves from the stalks (leaving the stalks for the chooks), then slice the leaves into thin strips. Squeeze the garlic through the press. Wash the spring onions and strip the tough outer leaf away. Chop into 1cm pieces.
  • Heat the frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the garlic and spring onion, gently cooking for 30 seconds. Then add the strips of spinach & a pinch of salt to wilt. Cook, tossing for 3 or 4 minutes until cooked through. Squeeze any moisture out with the back of the wooden spoon and place spinach in the large bowl.
  • Drain the bocconcini & pull each ball apart into little pieces, add to the spinach with the ricotta and season with salt and pepper.Grate the parmesan and add to the spinach, and using the microplane grater, zest the lemon into the mixture.
  • Place the filling on the tray half of each oval leaving a 2cm border along the edge.
  • Fold the remaining dough over the filling until the edges line up and pinch the edges together to seal. Gently roll the pinched edges under to form a rim and brush the tops with olive oil.
  • Bake for 15/20 minutes until golden brown and the centre is hot and melted, rotating midway through cooking.

 ourkitchengarden.net

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Kitchen News – 6th December 2012

Posted on January 10, 2013 by melhm

(OK this is a bit late but I’ve finally managed to find time to get this all updated! Watch this space…)


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Sunny and hot, cold and windy, humid and foggy, sunny and windy, cold and rainy, warm and rainy, sunny and windy… What’s going on? Goodness, just as I think I can pack the heaters away and start chilling cucumber soup, the wind & rain get me reaching for the long sleeves & slow-braised lamb again… One thing’s for sure though: the broad bean season has definitely come to an end! I counted to about 25 kilos but then I reckon we plucked another 25kg after that… and even today I finished blanching & freezing another box-worth, so will be able to surprise and delight (!) some eager-beavers in the first few weeks back in 2013…

So to business: Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 4 traditionally only mean One Thing: the Festive Menu! We’re mixing it up though in the interest of sustainability and using up what we’ve got before the big break… so we’re balancing mini Christmas cakes and festive shortbread with rainbow silverbeet and spring onion calzone, and the return of our fabulous Nicoise salad as it’s just SO good with our spanking-fresh eggs, and those green dwarf beans just keep on comin’… the children have also been hard at work signing their thankyou cards and then completing them in our kitchen classes, and Ligia has been helping our groups create beautiful mandala-inspired patterns on them with some clever kitchen garden materials…

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This will be my last Kitchen News of 2012… So with that I would like to thank all the Bondi children for being so enthusiastic and inspiring, for being so helpful and happy, for saying hello in the playground and telling me that they made one of our dishes at home, for trying new foods and for being brave. I’m very sad to be saying goodbye to the beautiful Year 6s (and some year 4s too) who have been such a joy to work with this year, but in reality the circle of life continues and I’ll be a proud mum waving my big girl off at the school gates for the first time in the New Year…

Our heartfelt thanks too to our great community of KG volunteers who help these kids achieve so much every lesson – and that’s not just the delicious food: I see first-hand the changes in self-esteem, self-control, technical ability & fine motor skills, the ability to work as a team (and even vegetable identification and preparation!) – and then stay and sweep the floor too! And a big group-hug to all the amazing staff and teachers at Bondi who help me do this great job and keep me smiling day after day…

Thank you for a great year. Love, Melissa x

IMG_1867

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Oat pancakes with roasted strawberries

Posted on November 22, 2012 by melhm

Frank says, ‘If you have children, as I do, it’s great to get them involved adding flour and milk and cracking eggs; sure, the odd egg hits the floor, or milk spills on the bench, but that’s half the fun.’ We say, ‘!!!’

ourkitchengarden.net

Fresh from the garden: strawberries
Recipe source: Frank Camorra in the Sydney Morning Herald
Serves: 8 or 24 tastes

Equipment:

  • Measures – jug, cup, ½ cup, tablespoon, teaspoon
  • Small roasting tray
  • Sifter or sieve
  • Bowls – large, medium
  • Fork, metal spoon
  • Scales
  • Non-stick frying pan
  • Ladle, tea towel
  • Plate & paper towel
  • Serving plates
 Ingredients:

Pancakes:

  • 1½ cups milk
  • 1½ cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Strawberries:

  • 2 punnets strawberries
  • 100g raw sugar
  • 100ml Canadian maple syrup

What to do:

  • Preheat oven to 200C. Pour the milk over oats and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
  • Wash strawberries and carefully hull them with a small knife. Mix them with the raw sugar and syrup. Pour into a small roasting tray and roast in oven for 15 minutes, until soft and juice starts to come out of strawberries.
  • After the 10 minutes for the oats is up, add sugar, oil and egg and beat with a fork. Sift in remaining dry ingredients and stir to form a smooth batter. If necessary, add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to thin mixture.
  • Place a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan and add a couple of separate large ladlefuls of the mixture and cook for 2 minutes each side, turning once, or until golden brown on both sides. Remove to a plate and keep warm with the folded tea towel. You may need to wipe the frying pan out a few times with paper towel and re-oil.
  • When all pancakes are cooked, divide among serving plates. Remove the strawberries from the oven and spoon over the pancakes.

Notes: What other fruits could be roasted this way? What is maple syrup?

ourkitchengarden.net

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River Cottage garlicky flatbreads

Posted on November 22, 2012 by melhm

Bondi kids love making dough: bread, pizza and pasta regularly grace our table! And we also love, love, love garlicky anything! This dish is great for mopping up any dip, sauce or soup, but especially good for the broad bean puree…

ourkitchengarden.net

Fresh from the garden: garlic
Recipe source: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Veg Every Day
Serves: 8 or 30 tastes

Equipment:

  • Measures – jug,tablespoon, teaspoon, ½ teaspoon
  • Stand mixer
  • Scales
  • Bowls – large, medium
  • Heavy non-stick frying pan
  • Rolling pins
  • Tongs
  • Tea towels
  • Plate & paper towel
  • Serving plates
 Ingredients:For the magic dough:

  • 250g plain white flour
  • 250g strong white flour
  • 1½ level teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a little extra for oiling

For the garlic oil:

  • About 120ml olive oil
  • 1 fat garlic clove

What to do:

For the magic dough:

  • Put the two flours into the bowl of the stand mixer with the salt and yeast. Mix well using the dough hook. Add the oil and 325ml warm water and mix to a rough dough. Knead for 5–10 minutes, until smooth. This is quite a loose and sticky dough, which is just as it should be – you get better-textured bread this way – so try not to add too much flour if you can help it, it will become less sticky as you knead.
  • Trickle a little oil into a clean bowl, add the kneaded dough and turn it in the oil so it is covered with a light film. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size – at least an hour, probably closer to two.
  • When the dough is well risen and puffy, tip it out and ‘knock it back’ by poking it with your outstretched fingers until it collapses to its former size. It’s now ready to be shaped to your will.

For the garlic oil:

  • Peel the garlic clove and very finely chop it. Combine the olive oil and garlic in a frying pan and place over a medium heat. You’re not going to fry it, just warm it through to take the edge off the garlic. So as soon as you see the first signs of a sizzle, pour the oil and garlic out of the pan into a small bowl to infuse. Wipe the frying pan clean.

For the flatbreads:

  • After ‘knocking back’ the risen dough, take lemon-sized balls and roll them into 8 flat circles, 2mm thick. Leave to rest for 5 minutes.
  • Meanwhile heat a heavy-based, non-stick frying pan over high heat until smoking hot.
  • Carefully lay one flatbread in the pan and cook for about 2 minutes, until bubbly on top and patched with brown spots on the base. Flip over and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Remove immediately to a plate and trickle with some of the garlicky oil. Scatter with a little flaked salt too. Repeat with all the dough. Cut the oiled flatbreads into wedges to serve.

Notes: Why do we leave the dough to rise? What is this process called?

ourkitchengarden.net

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Broad bean puree

Posted on November 22, 2012 by melhm

Alice says, ‘As the season progresses, the beans continue to mature, and they become larger and starchier. At this point they can be popped out of their pods, skinned and cooked into a luscious, bright green puree that I adore slathering on crisp croutons or serving alongside roasted meats.’

ourkitchengarden.net

Fresh from the garden: broad beans, garlic, rosemary
Recipe source: Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food
Serves: 8 or 28 tastes

Equipment:

  • Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
  • Colander
  • Scales
  • Bowls – 3 big, medium
  • Chopping board & knife
  • Measures – jug
  • Paper towel
  • Food mill
  • Spoon
  • Serving bowls
 Ingredients:

  • 1.8kg broad beans in shell
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 branch rosemary
  • Flaked salt
  • 100ml water
  • 50ml extra-virgin olive oil

 What to do:

  • Bring a pot of water to the boil as you shell the broad beans.
  • Blanch quickly in the boiling water and then drain & cool in a bowl of cold water for a minute. Drain and pop the beans out of their skins. Wipe the saucepan clean.
  • Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Wash and wipe dry the rosemary.
  • Heat 100ml olive oil in the dry saucepan, then add the broad beans, garlic, the branch of rosemary, a pinch of salt and 100ml water, and cook until the beans are very tender, stirring occasionally, and adding more water if necessary.
  • The beans are done when they can be crushed easily with the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Mash with a spoon or pass them through a food mill.
  • Stir in the 50ml extra-virgin olive oil. Taste and season with salt as needed.
  • Serve right away or at room temperature.

Notes: What is another name for broad beans? What would be good to serve with the puree?

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Carrot and fennel soup

Posted on November 22, 2012 by melhm

We love all the different combinations of vegetables that the seasons throw at us… and adding various spices can change everything! This is a lovely silky variation of soup…

ourkitchengarden.net

Fresh from the garden: carrot, fennel, onion, thyme, coriander
Recipe source: Melissa
Serves: 6 or 24 tastes

Equipment:

  • Kettle
  • Chopping board & knife
  • Scales
  • Potato peelers
  • Graters
  • Paper towel
  • Stockpot & lid
  • Measures: jug, tablespoon, teaspoon
  • Bowls – big, medium, small
  • Wooden spoon
  • Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
  • Stick blender
  • Serving bowls
 Ingredients:

  • 2 onions
  • 1 large thyme sprig
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 50g butter
  • 1kg carrots
  • A head of fennel
  • 1.25 litre stock (or 1 tablespoon bouillon & 1.25 litre boiling water)
  • Cooking salt
  • Flaked salt and black pepper
  • A little bunch of coriander

 What to do:

  • Fill the kettle if using and set to boil.
  • Peel and thinly slice the onions. Wash and pat dry the thyme sprig and strip off the leaves.
  • Melt the butter in the stockpot, then add the onions, the cumin and thyme, and cook over a low heat until tender for about 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, wash & peel the carrots, then grate them and reserve in a big bowl.
  • Wash, then top and tail the fennel, discarding the discoloured outer layer if desired. Slice the fennel as thin as you can.
  • After the 10 minutes, add the carrots & fennel to the onion and add a teaspoon of salt. Stir, then cook gently for 5 minutes with the lid on.
  • Add the stock or bouillon and water, bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer until the carrots & fennel are tender, about 20 minutes.
  • Wash the coriander and spin dry. Pick the leaves from the stalks and very finely chop the stalks. Gently chop the leaves but leave them quite big.
  • When done, blitz with the stick blender, season to taste and serve into your bowls. Garnish with the chopped coriander.
  • Serve right away or chill overnight to serve cold the next day, perhaps with a little sour cream drizzled in…

Notes: What is bouillon? How do you make stock? Why do we leave the coriander leaves quite big?

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Kitchen News – 22nd November 2012

Posted on November 22, 2012 by melhm

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re starting our descent into Christmas. Buckle your seat belts and stow your meal trays, it’s going to be a bumpy ride…! Every year I usually get so excited at this time of year, especially with two young children around, but this year – because the decorations have been up in shopping centres since before Halloween – I don’t get that same thrill of planning, decorating & boiling puddings… I’m hoping that last-few-weeks-itis will soon kick in at school and propel me forward into the land of gaudy baubles and fake long beards…

Meanwhile back at the ranch it’s been business as usual preparing the most yummy spring dishes. I’ve got to say it really is amazing to watch our Bondi children at work over their chopping boards, slicing with precision and peeling, stirring, measuring, weighing, clearing, washing up and working in teams – and especially trying new foods (like the artichokes – what a hit they were!) to the point of licking the bowls! I even had a gorgeous chap from 2B come to me after yesterday’s class to say that he thought the meal & class was ‘superb’. Bless!

ourkitchengarden.net

And here’s what he ate: Hugh’s fish-free Niçoise salad; Alice’s broad bean puree (yep those plants are still going!); Hugh’s garlicky flatbreads; Frank’s oat pancakes with roasted strawberries; and my carrot and fennel soup… yes I admit I’ve been going a bit crazy on Hugh F-W’s Veg Every Day but the latest addition to the household is Yotam’s Jerusalem (thank you Emma & Grace!) so expect some exotica here soon!

ourkitchengarden.net

PS I’m almost up to date with all the recipes, hooray!

PPS the day dawned bright and clear for the first Makers & Growers market last week – it was a quiet soft opening but the produce was fab & atmosphere lovely… come down if you’re up & about early, I’ll be there with my organic sizzle & chilli jams and will also be supporting the school in selling the cookbook, Flourish bags and festive wrapping paper on my stall xx

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