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Apples were a favourite of the ancient Greeks and considered a luxury fruit by the Romans.
Colours range from red, to yellow and green, but all varieties fall into one of two categories: eating, also sometimes called dessert apples or cooking, with the latter being more tart in flavour.

All apples are a good source of vitamins A and C, as well as fibre.
Availability; All year round, though British apples are at their best from September to November. When buying select firm fruit, with no blemishes, bruising or wrinkles. The fragrance of an apple is a good indicator of freshness and quality.
All ‘eating’ apples can be used in cooking but the opposite is not the case. Bramley is the definitive English cooking apple. For cooked dishes requiring a firmer texture Cox, Braeburn or Granny Smith are a good choice.

In this week’s dish we will be using the following skills:
Skills used include:
Washing, peeling, measuring, cutting, chopping, slicing, coring, mincing, sautéing, boiling squeezing, simmering and mashing.

In the 1800s, most Italians thought of pizza as a peasant meal. That changed when a baker named Raffaele Esposito created a margarita pizza for visiting royalty. The king and queen were impressed by the colors of the Italian flag represented by the pizza’s white mozzarella cheese, red tomato sauce, and green basil. Pizza became fashionable overnight and was soon a staple in restaurants all across the country. (Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Pizza.)

This week our Junior Chefs will be learning some new skills to make their pizzas including: Washing, weighing, measuring, chopping, mixing/combining, kneading, and baking.
Neapolitans, the masters of pizza baking, say the dough should be made from brewer’s yeast, flour, salt, and water. Some also add a little olive oil!

Junior Chefs will need lots of energy as kneading dough by hand can take up to 10 minutes as we will need to keep working it until the dough feels smooth and stretchy, but working quickly because over-handling will toughen the dough. Whilst our dough is left to rise we will have lots to do preparing our pizza topping chopping and cutting our chosen ingredients.

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 (8-10 minutes). Slice and stir fry (1-2 minutes) or steam whole (3-4 minutes).
In this week’s dish we will be using the following skills:

Washing, weighing, measuring, peeling, chopping, slicing, grating, sautéing, boiling squeezing and frying.

Courgette also known as Zucchini to some, is the most popular of the squash family, its culinary uses are many and it is an easy ingredient to cook providing you don’t boil them turning them mushy and flavourless, instead pan fry or steam, or eat raw.

When buying choose small courgettes that are firm to touch with a glossy, unblemished skin. Avoid soft, and oversized courgettes.

Courgettes do not need peeling. Slice off each end and prepare as per recipe.

In this weeks dish we will be using the following skills:
Weighing, measuring, roasting, combining, blending, pureeing, frying and grilling, spiralizing, sauteing.