Kitchen Academy at Wallington

KITCHEN ACADEMY TAKES THE FRESH FOOD MESSAGE TO CHILDREN (October 2007)

Northumbria Larder

One of the attractions of this year’s Wallington Food and Craft Festival, the Kitchen Academy, was set up six years ago by former farmer and chef Jethro Carr to teach children how to cook healthy meals using, wherever possible, fresh local ingredients.

Jethro, who is originally from Devon but now lives in Sussex, has expanded his original idea of taking chefs into schools by running fun workshops for kids at food festivals such as Wallington and at national events like the BBC Good Food Show at the NEC Birmingham between November 28 and December 2.

“At Kitchen Academy we passionately believe that all children should have the chance to gain sufficient skills and knowledge of how to cook,” says Jethro. “Through educating children in a fun environment we aim to teach them the importance of a healthy balanced diet.”

Jethro and his team of helpers have few problems in catching the kids’ attention by introducing novelties such as a pedal-powered blender and a human fruit machine as part of the more serious cooking workshops and demonstrations.

“We have learned how to make the workshops as exciting as possible for the children taking part. This not only makes it a fun day for the children but also means that they are likely to remember what they have learned,” says Jethro, who is becoming a regular visitor to food festivals in the North of England and Scotland. “I particularly enjoy working in the north of the country.” His visit to Wallington was sponsored by Food from Britain, the Government-commissioned agency which supports the growth of quality regional food producers, and also generates international business for UK food and drink producers.

http://www.northumbria-larder.co.uk/news.html

Photo Taken by Vaughan Lewis at the Wallington Food Festival in Northumbria 21st October 2007.

Satay Noodles

Satay Noodles

Dressing Ingredients
1 tsp garlic olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
80g Smooth peanut butter
a squeeze of lime

Ingredients
1 tsp sesame oil
200g curly kale pulled of the storks and ripped up.
2 grated medium carrots
1 head of broccoli broken into little florets
300g straight to wok noodles
Sesame seeds to serve

Directions
1. In a mixing bowl whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
2. Add the sesame oil to a hot wok and then the vegetables. Stir fry for 2 minutes then add the noodles and dressing. Stir for 30 more seconds and then serve with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

California Wrap

California Wrap

Ingredients
¼ tsp wasabi powder
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp soy sauce
250g cooked short grain rice
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
350g fresh crab meat
1 medium raw beetroot grated
2 medium carrots grated
50g chopped pickled ginger
2 tbsp mayonnaise
4 sheets of nori seaweed
4 flour tortillas

Directions
1. In a mixing bowl dissolve the wasabi powder with the water, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
2. Now stir in the crabmeat, beetroot, carrot, ginger and mayonnaise.
3. Place the nori sheets on top of a tortilla wraps. Divide the mixture between the four wraps and roll them up.

Stuffed Vine Leaves

Stuffed Vines Leaves

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
½ red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100g/3½oz short grain rice, rinsed
200ml/7fl oz hot vegetable stock
pinch cumin seeds
pinch turmeric
pinch ground cinnamon
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp chopped mint
10 vacuum-packed vine leaves (left to soak in boiling water for five minutes)
drizzle olive oil, to serve
pinch paprika and lemon wedges, to serve

Directions
1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and cook until softened.
2. Add the garlic and rice and cook for another minute, until the rice is coated with the oil and onions.
3. Add the stock, spices and cook for 15 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Combine the rice mixture with the parsley and mint.
4. Place the vine leaves onto a flat surface, add a little of the filling and roll up. Repeat with rest of the filling and make 10 stuffed vine leaves.
5. To serve, drizzle with olive oil and paprika and serve on a plate with lemon wedges.

Swiss Muesli Recipe

Swiss Muesli

Ingredients
200g/7oz jumbo porridge oats
25g/1oz flaked bran or wheat germ
75g/3oz barley or rye flakes
50g/2oz hazelnuts, lightly crushed
50g/2oz flaked almonds
50g/2oz sultanas
50g/2oz dried apricots, roughly chopped
50g/2oz dried figs, roughly chopped

Directions
1. Put a wok or frying pan on the low to moderate heat.
2. Place the oats, flaked bran or wheat germ, barley or rye flakes, hazelnuts and almonds in the pan and toast for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are all toasted and giving off a delicious nutty smell. Make sure you keep an eye on them and keep moving them around the pan. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool: this should take only about 10 minutes.
3. Mix the toasted ingredients with the sultanas, apricots and figs or other dried fruits, e.g. dried apple, mango, papaya, dates or cherries.
4. You can eat this muesli straight away with milk, freshly sliced strawberries and natural yogurt.

This breakfast cereal can be made up in large quantities and is a great alternative to more sugary cereals.

Vegi Sushi Recipe

Vegetarian Sushi

Sushi can be eaten as a healthy snack or meal. This sushi recipe is one of many and you can experiment with your own choice of fillings.

Sushi Rice
645g Rice
800ml water

Rice dressing
160ml rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Directions

1 Wash the rice in a sieve and leave to dry completely (roughly 30 mins).
2 Put rice in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid, pour in the water and bring to the boil (do not remove lid, stir or boil over).
3 Simmer for 15 mins, remove from the heat and leave the lid on to steam the rice for a further 15 mins.
4 Prepare the dressing by simmering the rice wine vinegar with the salt and sugar until dissolved (do not boil).
5 Put the hot rice in a large bowl and fold in the dressing.

Simple Sushi
6 sheets of Nori Seaweed
½ red pepper
¼ cucumber deseeded and chopped into matchsticks
Soy sauce to serve

Directions

1 On a rolling mat place the Nori seaweed shiny side down.
2 Spread out the sticky rice to cover half the sheet 30mm thick.
3 Along the entire length of the sushi roll, place the matchsticks of filling.
4 Roll up the sushi roll using the rolling matt. Make sure that the filling remains tucked into the seaweed when rolling.
5 Finally, slice the roll every 2cm and place the sushi on a plate to serve.

Cous Cous Recipe

Moroccan Cous Cous

This is a simple salad dish that is a good way of sampling new flavours.
Couscous has been made with semolina that has been mixed with water to form small pellets. It gives its name to the traditional dish of Northern Africa in which it is steamed over a stew of broth.

• 250g Couscous
• Juice of 1 orange
• ½ bunch of spring onion finely chopped
• 4 ripe tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 small tin of naturally sweet sweetcorn
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 400ml hot vegetable stock

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then add the stock. Whisk briefly with a fork and then cover with clingfilm and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

Quesadilla Recipe

Delicious Quesadilla
(a Mexican cheese toastie)

Quesadilla fillings:

Sliced green and red pepper
Finely Chopped spring onion
Grated Cheddar cheese
Chopped coriander leaves

Alternative fillings;
Green beans blanched in boiling water with goats cheese
Tuna, cheese and sweetcorn
Tomato paste, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil
Cheese and ham
Roasted pepper, roasted, courgette, roasted onion and humus

Directions:

Between two tortillas place the desired ingredients evenly. In a dry large frying pan on a medium heat fry the tortilla for a minute on each side (important to remember that you should use no oil in the pan). The tortilla can now be sliced into portions and served.