Friday 7th June will see people across the country
celebrating their love of fish and chips as they come together on National Fish
& Chip Day!
Mini Chefs will mark the occasion creating ‘Posh Fish Fingers’ using a mixture made from crushed cornflakes and parmesan, which will make a delicious coating for our fish.
We will serve these crispy fish fingers with fresh lemon
wedges for squeezing, alongside a simple salad of cherry tomato, cucumber and
red onion salad. With a mustard dressing.
In this week’s dish we will be using the following skills: Weighing, measuring, crushing, cutting, slicing, mixing/combining, coating & pan frying.
This week our Teen Chefs will be busy cooking – Citrus – Miso marinated Salmon served with Roasted Asparagus Pasta in a Creamy Roasted Garlic & Chive dressing.
It is long awaited asparagus time; with such a
short season of just 6 to 8 weeks (end of April to mid-June) we need to make
the most of it, especially as it will be super tender with a sweet tasty
flavour. We will be roasting our asparagus to really showcase this
seasonal vegetable at its finest.
We are also going to roast whole garlic and in
doing so the end result is a taste that is sweet and creamy, it then becomes a
versatile ingredient which adds a wonderful depth of flavour to dressings, and
spring time pasta like in this dish. Did you know that the British
are now eating as much garlic as the French!
Garlic is very good for you as it is packed with
vitamins C and B6, as well as manganese, selenium and other antioxidants,
contributing to the reduction of blood pressure, reduced cholesterol and
cardiovascular diseases.
We are going to season our Salmon with a White Miso
paste which is a traditional Japanese seasoning. White Miso (Shiro)
made from soybeans and rice and fermented for no longer than two months.
Shiro (means “white” in Japanese) is light in
colour and sweet to mildly salty. Shiro is a great gateway miso, very versatile
and provides a bit of oomph to salad dressings or sautéed vegetables and fish
as the umami flavour gives the dish added depth.
In this week’s dish we will be using the following
skills: Washing, weighing, measuring, chopping, grating, food processing,
whisking. Blending & combining, roasting, frying, boiling and
grilling, separating an egg.
This week our Mini Chefs will be making – Sweet and Sour Chicken
This recipe is full of tangy flavour and also looks
lovely and colourful. We will cook our
chicken so it is crispy but coated in sticky deliciousness.
Sweet and sour is a term that covers many styles of
sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It is commonly used in China, but has been
used in England since the Middle Ages, and remains popular in Europe and in the
Americas.
In this week’s dish we will be using the following
skills:
Weighing, measuring, mixing, beating, frying, stir
frying, simmering, combining, making a sauce, making a batter.
This week our Junior Chefs will be making – Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Cannelloni (pronounced [kannelˈloːni]; Italian for
“large reeds”) are a cylindrical type of lasagne generally served
baked with a filling and covered by a sauce.
This classic filled and baked pasta dish is good at
any time of the year, we will be filling cannelloni tubes with a rich filling
of ricotta and the ever so popular vegetable spinach, and then will bake
with a layer of tomato and white sauce.
Spinach is used all round the world; the leaves are
bright green when young, deepening to a darker colour when older. It has a
distinct flavour that complements many dishes.
Baby spinach can be eaten raw in salads, whereas
older spinach should be cooked but not for long, and will reduce in volume
considerably.
Although spinach is now available throughout the
year it is best from April through to September.
When buying select spinach with bright green
leaves, that are tender and crisp and smell fresh. Avoid leaves that are yellow
or wilted.
Loose spinach will need a good rinsing to remove
dirt and grit, but drain well.
It can be prepared in a few ways raw in salads.
Warmed, in a sauce for (8-10 minutes). Slice and stir fry (1-2 minutes) or
steam whole (3-4 minutes).
Ricotta is a cheese that has a fresh, creamy taste
and is a wonderful addition to both sweet and savoury dishes, lending luxurious
body to sauces, thickening mixtures for baking.
As a fresh Italian cheese, it can be bought ready-made or easily created
at home.
As a fresh cheese, ricotta should be used as
quickly as possible – however, there are salted, aged version of ricotta found
in Italy which keep for longer.
The one thing we do have to remember is to make
sure that the sauce we pour over the cannelloni once you have arranged them in
the baking dish is somewhat more liquid than what you would normally use for
serving on pasta, as it will thicken during baking.
In this week’s dish we will be using the following
skills: Weighing, measuring, chopping, crushing, grating, mixing/combining,
whisking boiling/simmering/infusing, straining and baking, squeezing, piping.
This week as it is Thai New Year (13-15 April) we will be making – Thai Green Curry with Prawns
Songkran is
Thailand’s most famous festival. An important event on the Buddhist calendar,
this water festival marks the beginning of the traditional Thai New Year. The
name Songkran comes from a Sanskrit word meaning ‘passing’ or ‘approaching.
The festivities
are accompanied with music, dancing, and lots of water! In fact as April is the
hottest month of the year in Thailand, the water brings relief from the soaring
temperatures.
Songkran started
as a Buddhist tradition, using a light sprinkling of water to symbolise
purification.
Curries are an
important part of Thai cuisine and refer to both the dish as well as the curry
paste used to make the dish. There are three main types of Thai curries—red,
yellow, and green—which are identified by the colour of the curry paste. It is
the colour of the chili that imparts each signature colour to the paste, and
each curry paste has its own distinct flavour.
Traditionally, all
Thai curries were made with the same ingredients except for one thing: the
chilies. Red curry was made with several red chilies for a fiery hot dish,
while green curry was made with green chilies, and yellow curry was made with
yellow chilies. In Thailand, these chilies have slightly different taste
characteristics in addition to their colour. Over time, however, other ingredients
have been added to the curry pastes to enhance each recipe, making them more
distinct from one another. Although all three colours may be spicy-hot
depending on the chef, normally green is the mildest and red the hottest with
yellow being somewhere in between.
Green Curry
This brightly coloured
curry is considered the most popular curry used in Thai cuisine. The green
colour has become more vibrant over the years with the addition of fresh
coriander, kaffir lime leaf, and basil. These herbs are combined with fresh
green chilies and several other ingredients such as lemongrass, shrimp paste,
garlic, and shallots. The consistency of
the sauce can be adjusted by the amount of coconut milk used.
Thai curry is very
different from other countries’ curries.
Thai food achieves the perfect balance between hot, sour, sweet and
salty.
Coconut milk is used traditionally in a lot of Asian cooking. Thai green curry and laksa are two of the most well know dishes but it can be used in most curries as a lighter and tastier alternative to cream. Coconut milk is made by extracting the flesh of the coconut, grating it and soaking it in hot water. It is then left to cool and strained through cheesecloth. The coconut milk separates, creating coconut milk and coconut cream, and is sold in varying densities. Fresh coconut milk is generally not available in the UK as it has a very short shelf life so we have to make do with tinned versions.
Coconut milk is
high in vitamin B3 and still considered to be good for the body due to its make-up
of medium chain fatty acids. These are easily digested and even considered by
some to promote weight loss.
A good substitute
for cow’s milk, coconut milk is lactose free, which means it’s great for both
allergy sufferers and vegans alike. It is also a more sustainable and
environmentally friendly choice than cow’s milk. However, coconut milk is much
higher in calories and fat than cow’s milk, so it should be consumed in
moderation.
Shellfish and
coconut milk go hand in hand –So the end result for our Prawn Thai Green curry
will be an aromatic dish that is beautiful to serve and eat.
In this week’s
dish we will be using the following skills: Washing, weighing, measuring,
chopping, stir-frying and boiling/simmering, blending, food processing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.