A QUICK TRIP TO ASIA

At cooking this week all grades helped prepare a special Thai lunch for our guest Hayden who came to talk about Cambodia. I would like to thank all the children for their great efforts especially the grade 3 and 4's who especially impressed our lovely helpers, Janine, Kath, Ana , Sally and Cheryl.


OUR THAI MENU

Thai vegetarian spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce

Satay chicken skewers

Sweet pork lettuce cups

Thai beef salad

Coconut mango sticky rice

Iced watermelon drink.


They children identified different ingredients like lemongrass, palm sugar, fish sauce, ginger, coriander, and lime juice. We looked at the different flavours and taste buds of sweet, sour, hot and salty and used our noses to smell the aromatics of fragrances of south east Asia.

Here is our basic marinade recipe for satay chicken,  serve with your favourite peanut sauce!
1/4 cup finely chopped lemon grass
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tbs coriander powder
1 tsp tumeric
1 tbs grated palm sugar
2 tbs peanut oil
chilli to your taste
combine and you can either rub your chicken with this mix , or add 1 can coconut milk and toss it all in to sit . Reserve your marinade and add roasted peanuts, soy sauce etc to amke your peanut sauce.

Thai beef salad dressing and marinade;

The kids chopped up a salad of red onions, cucumber, tomatoes and fresh coriander. We marinated the steak in half the mix and poured the other half over our salad. The steak was cooked on the bbq , left to rest then sliced thinly over the salad.

3 tbs lime juice
2 tbs palm sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
4 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy
4 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp garlic
chilli to taste.

TERM THREE'S WINTER WARMERS!!!!!

What a cold long winter it has been! The fine weather now it's September has been most welcome.
The kids in cooking this term have been making winter food and practising some of the techniques they have learnt in earlier terms. We have made;

BAKED POTATOES ( Kindly donated by Sue and Carl Bruton)


PUMPKIN SOUP AND HOMEMADE BREAD

CORNISH  PASTIES


PIZZA

HOMEMADE BURGERS


We've had some requests for our pizza dough recipe that we put in the bread maker. Of course you don't need a breadmaker especially if there are lots of hands to help knead.......

PIZZA DOUGH (Enough for 3 large pizzas)
Place in the bread maker
1 cup lukewarm water
1 and a half teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Place carefully on top so the water is completely covered the following.....
3 and a half cups of plain flour
2 teaspoons yeast sprinkled
2 teaspoons sugar.sprinkled
Set the breadmaker on the dough setting.
All flour is different. You may need to add more water while mixing if too dry, or more flour if too wet. The dough will be soft and pliable when at the right consistency. Leave to rise for 1 hour till doubled in size and you are ready to go!
If you don't have a bread mixer most people mix the water sugar and yeast together  and leave till the mix is frothy. This means the yeast is active, then add oil and dry ingredients and knead a good 10 minutes.

ANYONE FOR THIRDS?

Welcome back for term 3 already!
The kids have requested spaghetti bolognaise amongst other things so our menu this week was as follows;

GNOCCHI WITH BOLOGNAISE SAUCE

GARLIC AND CHEESE FOCCACIA


GREEN SALAD


CASSATA

As always the kids did a fabulous job feeding the school on time, with our new principal Mr Galloway, and Terri our new face in the office, most impressed by the kids efforts.

GNOCCHI
1 KILO OF POTATOES (The older the better, floury is what you want. Desiree work well)
1 EGG
APPROX  2 CUPS PLAIN FLOUR.

BOIL POTATOES IN SKINS TILL TENDER.
PEEL WHILE HOT AND MASH WELL OR USE A POTATO RICER.
ADD EGG AND ENOUGH FLOUR TO MAKE A SOFT DOUGH.(Too much flour makes the gnocchi tough)
ROLL YOUR GNOCCHI INTO 20MM DIAMETER SNAKES AND CUT INTO BITE SIZE PIECES.
COOK IN BOILING WATER TILL GNOCCHI FLOATS.

CASSATA PERHAPS

Our cassata is modified due to time. Instead of lemon, chocolate, and almond  fruit layers we used the following for 30 serves......
Soften 6 litres of vanilla icecream till soft but not melted. Divide into thirds.
Add 1 tin passionfruit to 1st layer and place in lined roasting tin.
Add cocoa and choc bits to 2nd layer to taste and carefully place on first layer without mixing.
Add chopped apricots, cranberries  and toasted almonds to last layer, placing onto the first two layers, again being careful not to mix layers. Freeze till firm. Cut into serves with a hot knife.


HOW TALL IS YOUR TOWER?

The afternoon group used spaghetti and marshmallows to design the tallest tower they could, after researching various building structures and principals such as strongest shapes.........
THEY MADE A HUGE TOWER!!!!!  WELL DONE.

OUR HELPERS

Just like to send a great big hug to  all the wonderful helpers in first and second term.

Thanks to Cheryl , Sheryl, Sue, Ana, Michelle, Kath, Sally and Amanda!

Thanks ladies couldn't do it without you.

WHAT'S IN A ROLL

Today we baked sausage rolls using puff pastry.
Different age groups worked with practical maths to discover shapes such as squares, rectangles and triangles. Halving, doubling and using simple grouping and division to work out number of serves. Older age groups continued our work on perimeter and area of the pastry, using estimation, measurement  and multiplication. Then we ATE THEM ALL UP!!!!!!!!

Into our filling we put;

250gms sausage mince
250gms pork and veal mince
2 grated carrots,
1 small onion
2 small zucchinis
2 stalks of celery
1 teaspoon of garlic
salt , pepper and herbs to taste.

Divide each sheet of puff into 2 rectangles. Paint with egg wash on long edges. Place filling in centre of each rectangle, fold over and seal long edge with a fork. Cut to desired size.Top with sesame seeds or poppy seeds with egg glaze. Cook at 220 degrees till golden brown.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  TO EVERYONE WHO HAD A BIRTHDAY IN TERM 2 !!!!

BOLLYWOOD BANQUET!

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to learn some Bollywood dancing before the Chill out festival in Daylesford. The kids all had a great time and learnt some things about India. Continuing our global theme we prepared an Indian banquet. All the girls received a bindi, and the children were required to use their IT skills to answer some questions about bindis, lentils, and Indian language.

OUR MENU

Pappadums

Cucumber raita

Green chutney

Naan bread

Tandoori chicken

Biryani rice

Red Lentil Dahl

Mango Lassi



RECIPES

Naan Bread
We used the bread maker:

3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon oil
2 and a half tablespoons yoghurt
THEN ADD ON TOP
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch baking soda

Leave to rise till double in size, 1 to 2 hours. Divide into 6 balls. Roll out to 5mm and cook for 3-5 mins in superhot oven 220-240 degrees on preheated tray that has been oiled.






 

IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME!

This week we experimented with some Greek cooking using the goats cheese provided by Bullarto's very own dairy goats. (Supplemented by Mr Rolfs beautiful goats!) They kids (human ones) made soft cheese by heating the goats milk till near boiling (185 degrees F) and adding an acidic ingredient, we used vinegar. We strained the curds through cheesecloth and made soft goats cheese!

Many thanks to Mr Rolfe for the goat milkimg demo. We used our soft goats cheese instead of ricotta in our Spanika recipe and our rainbow chard from the Bullarto kitchen garden.

MENU

SPANIKA

GREEK SALAD

BAKLAVA

MEXICAN MADNESS!

We continued our trek around the globe from our little corner of Bullarto, with the kids making their own lunches with handmade tortillas, beef sauce, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber wraps and nachos for entree. The kids, as always, did a great job cooking a sit down lunch for 30 people. Some of the groups had time to make and decorate sugar skulls which are a very Mexican way of celebrating the day of the dead every November in Mexico. While it's not November, they made some beautiful works of art in colorful piped icing. Who said it had to be November to celebrate? We also made sangria to drink. (minus the red wine!!!!)

Here is our tortilla recipe:
TORTILLAS

2 CUPS PLAIN FLOUR

1 AND A HALF TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER

MIX DRY INGREDIENTS IN A BOWL

IN ¾ CUP WARM WATER ADD 2 TEASPOONS OIL AND 1 TEASPOON SALT

ADD WET INGREDIENTS TO DRY TO MAKE A SOFT DOUGH.

REST 20 MINUTES THEN DIVIDE INTO 6 BALLS

REST 15 MINUTES

FLATTEN INTO A DISC THEN ROLL OUT BETWEEN PLASTIC WRAP TILL VERY THIN AND AS CIRCULAR AS YOU CAN.

HEAT UP A FRYPAN TILL SMOKING HOT. COOK EACH SIDE TILL GOLDEN BROWN.

GINGERBREAD MEN

Today in preparation for our mad hatters tea party at the end of term we have started our baking. All groups made gingerbread dough using the following recipe;

GINGERBREAD DOUGH
Melt 125gms butter
250gms brown sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup in a saucepan.

Add 1teaspoon bi carb soda and 1 egg slightly beaten.

Pour into 375gms plain flour, 2 teaspoons ginger and 1 teaspoon mixed spice.
Mix into a soft dough, and roll out to about 5mm thickness. If too soft, chilling helps.
Bake at 160 -180 degrees for 10 -15mins or until golden. They do puff up!

The kids decorated them with icing and lollies. They looked great ! Well done kids!

MAMBO ITALIANO

LASAGNE

To make the pasta you can mix by hand or use the breadmaker.........

Basically all you do is lightly beat your eggs and add plain flour until you have made a dough that is not sticky and you knead it for a good while to work the gluten.

Quick method is to use 3 whole eggs to enough plain flour till a dough that is not sticky is formed. This depends on your flour a lot so it's hard to give exact amounts. Aunty Angelina also uses egg yolks for a better pasta (she says it's softer and richer) but she never adds anything else besides eggs and flour.

Once you are happy with your dough ,out comes the pasta machine. Using the widest setting pass through pieces the size of half your fist. You made need to sprinkle flour on the pasta if it sticks. Fold this strip into thirds, then pass through the machine again folded sides longways.

Once all the dough is through once , close the width and pass the strips through. Continue closing the gap and passing the dough through until you have sheets that you are happy with. Place these strips on the bench with a damp tea towel over them.

Have a large pot of boiling water on the go, and a sink full of cold water ready.

Place 3 strips in the boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute then scoop out and place in cold water. Remove from cold water and place on tea towel for use.

PASTA SAUCE

Dice 1 onion.

Grate 1 carrot.

Dice 1 stick of celery.

Grate 1 zucchini.

In a frypan cook with 1 teaspoon garlic and 2 tablespoons oil until soft.

Brown 500gms of mince in frypan with 2 tablespoons oil.

Add 1 700ml jar of tomato passata and 1 800gm tin of diced tomatoes. Add 2 teaspoons salt and herbs of your choice. Simmer until thick and yummy , stirring occasionally.

WHITE SAUCE

Melt 150 gms butter in a saucepan. Add ½ cup plain flour and stir with a wooden spoon over heat. Add 2 cups of milk slowly stirring well. Stir over heat until sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and ½ cup grated cheese if wanted.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER........

IN THE BOTTOM OF THE ROASTING TIN

LAYER OF SAUCE

THEN A LAYER OF PASTA

CONTINUE UNTIL THE TIN IS 3 CM FROM THE TOP. END WITH A LAYER OF PASTA.

TOP WITH WHITE SAUCE AND SPRINKLE WITH CHEESE.

PLACE IN 180 DEGREE OVEN FOR 30 MINS TILL GOLDEN BROWN.

SPRING ROLLS IN AUTUMN!!!!!

Everyone had a go at making spring rolls today using our beautiful fresh cabbage and herbs. Served with soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce it was great to see everyone have a go and try the fantastic food the kids made!

SPRING ROLLS BULLARTO STYLE

Shred 1/4 cabbage finely
Chop 2 spring onions
Grate 1 carrot
150gms pork mince
Chop 10 soaked shitake mushrooms
Soak 1/3 pack of glass noodles

Brown mince and add onions, carrots and cabbage till soft. Add mushrooms and soaked noodles.
Salt and pepper to taste. Spices and herbs as desired. Allow to cool.

Using springroll wrappers, place 3 teaspoons of mixture across the widest part of the diamond. Fold bottom point over filling. Fold in sides tightly and make and envelope. Roll tightly. Shallow fry in oil till golden brown turning once. Serve with sauce of your choice!


LEMON SLICE IS NICE!
While we were waiting for our spring roll filling to cool we made lemon slice........

Crush 200gms of plain biscuits
Add 1 cup coconut

In a microwave safe bowl
Melt 100gms butter and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk.
Add grated lemon rind, and juice of 1 lemon.

Add melted mix to dry ingredients.

Press mix into lined tin and refrigerate.

Ice when set witrh lemon icing........

FROM FLORENCE WITH LOVE

The kids are off to Lavendula next Tuesday for a day of all things Italian as part of their lote studies. We have made florentine biscuits to share with the kids from Hepburn primary to get into the swing of things! The kids have made some fantastic masks for their plays to be performed in italian. We have removed the almonds from this recipie, but feel free to replace 100gms of fruit with 100gms of nuts!  As always the kids did a great job and our helpers Cheryl and Ana were most impressed! An extra big thanks to everyone who has helped or offered to help with the cooking, we could not do it without you.  Baci baci baci!!!

FLORENTINES (Makes 16)

Mix the following together in a large bowl;

2 cups cornflakes
1 cup mixed dried fruit
1/2 cup sultanas
8 dried apricots cut into small pieces
2/3 cup of sweetened condensed milk


Place heaped tablespoons full of mix on a tray lined with baking paper.


Cook at 170 degrees till golden brown(about 10 mins)


Allow to cool.  When cool spread melted chocolate on the back of each biscuit.

KIDS KILLER QUICHE!

This week we used the silverbeet from our garden and our bantam eggs and herbs as the base for our quiche. Using our knowledge of sweet shortcrust from our blackberry pies we made savoury pastry bases that we blind baked. Selecting "hard veggies" such as pumpkin or sweet potato meant we had to precook them while soft veggies like spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, and spring onion we simply layered straight into our pastry case.

Here is our quiche filling recipe;

Mix together in a bowl         3 eggs
                                           1/4 cup milk
                                           1/4 cup cream
                                            1/2 cup tasty cheese
                                           salt and pepper to taste
                                           herbs of your choice

WEEK 2 CABBAGE CREATIONS!

We harvested some our beautiful red and green cabbages that have been growing since being planted last year. Our rhubarb is also a great success, along with our herbs and eggs from our hardworking hens.  Using our fresh beautiful produce, the children made a  sit down lunch for the whole school. Here is our menu and recipes. Well done to all the children for getting in and having a go, and the afternoon group for their fabulous rhubarb and coconut cakes for the bushdance.

MENU

Herb and garlic focaccia

Wombok cabbage salad

Pineapple coleslaw

Tabbouleh


BBQ   Sausages

Rhubarb and apple crumble with vanilla icecream

Rhubarb and coconut cake.


RECIPES

FOCACCIA IN THE BREAD MAKER

THE ORDER IS IMPORTANT!

1. 250MLS WARM WATER
2. 3 TABLESPOOND OLIVE OIL
3. 1 TEASPOON SALT
4. 1 TEASPOON GARLIC
5. 1 TEASPOON CHOPPED ROSEMARY
6. SPRINKLE ON TOP 3 CUPS OF PLAIN FLOUR SO YOU CAN'T SEE ANY WATER.
7. SPRINKLE ON TOP OF THE FLOUR
   2 TEASPOONS OF YEAST AND
   2 TEASPOONS OF SUGAR.
8. START THE MACHINE ON DOUGH SETTING.

WOMBOK SALAD.

1. FINELY SHRED ¼ OF A CABBAGE.
2. SLICE 1 SPRING ONION FINELY.
3. IN A MICROWAVE SAFE BOWL MIX
   ¼ CUP SUGAR
   ¼ CUP VINEGAR
   1/3 CUP OLIVE OIL
   2 TABLESPOONS SOY SAUCE.
   HEAT TILL DISSOLVES.

4. IN A SALAD BOWL MIX THE CABBAGE , ONION, AND TOASTED NUTS.

5. JUST BEFORE SERVING STIR THRU THE DRESSING AND TIP IN CHANGS FRIED NOODLES.

PINEAPPLE COLESLAW

1. SHRED ¼ GREEN CABBAGE, 1/4 RED CABBAGE
2. GRATE 2 CARROTS
3. DICE ½ RED CAPSICUM
4. CHOP 2 SPRING ONIONS
5. MIX IN A SALAD BOWL
6. TOSS THRU ½ CAN PINEAPPLE PIECES
7. ADD MAYO TILL COATED (½ – 1 CUP)

TABBOULEH

1. SOAK ½ CUP CRACKED WHEAT IN A BOWL WITH COLD WATER FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES.(WE USED HOT WATER TO

SPEED IT UP!) YOU COULD USE COUS COUS.
  

2. DICE (CHOP ) 2 TOMATOES, HALF A CUCUMBER,  1 SPRING
   ONION, SMALL BUNCH PARSLEY, 15 MINT LEAVES.

3. MIX THE CHOPPED VEGGIES IN A SALAD BOWL WITH
   1 SMALL TEASPOON OF GARLIC
   2 TABLESPOONS OIL
   2 TABLESPOONS LEMON
   PINCH SALT

4. DRAIN THE CRACKED WHEAT. TIP ONTO CLEAN TEA TOWEL AND WRING DRY. 
    
5. CAREFULLY BRUSH INTO BOWL AND MIX INTO VEGGIES.

CRUMBLE RUMBLE

1.PUT 3/4 CUP PLAIN FLOUR IN A LARGE BOWL

2.ADD ¼ CUP SUGAR

3.RUB IN 60GMS BUTTER TILL IT LOOKS LIKE BREADCRUMBS. ADD MORE BUTTER IF NEEDED.

4.ADD ¼ CUP OATS

5.ADD ¼ CUP COCONUT.

Blackberry pies

The grade 3, 4, 5, and 6 children made blackberry and apple pies with their own home made pastry! Great job  guys. Here is their shortcrust recipe. We used eggs from our chickens and blackberries from Bullarto!

BLACKBERRY AND APPLE PIE

Rub 125gms cold butter into 250gms of plain flour with 1 dessertspoon of sugar.
Add the yolk of 1 egg or 1 whole bantam egg and enough cold water to make a soft dough.
Place in a plastic bag and chill for 1/2 hour in the fridge.

Filling
Peel and dice 2 apples, stew lightly with sugar to taste.
Mix in 1 punnet blackberries, 1 tablespoon icing sugar and 1 tablespoon cornflour.

Roll out pastry to 2mm and line a greased pie tin. Place filling inside and pastry lid on top.
Crimp edges and glaze with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 180 - 200 degrees until golden.
ENJOY

Week 1 Fun with blackberries!

This week we looked at what grows locally. While blackberries are a weed we can use the fruit! Mrs Beels class made blackberry jam and fresh scones for morning tea. Well done!Here is the recipe the children decided worked best.

BLACKBERRY JAM. (MAKES 6 JARS)

Place 1.5kg blackberries with 1 cup water in a large pan and heat gently with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add 1.5kg of warmed sugar. stir over gentle heat until sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly, stirring occasionally for 5- 10 minutes until setting point has been reached. (Test on cold saucer) 

NB: You can add one packet of jam setter to the above recipe if blackberries are not setting.

Bottle in warm jars immediately.