Hooked on cooking!

Two small pieces of advice. If your time is “fluid” in that you can change any plans to suit yourselves then check the weather forecast – if it's going to be a great day, use it – when it's not good - cook! Design your students' cooking sessions for the mornings – if you leave it until the afternoon they'll have lost any enthusiasm and would much prefer to sit with whatever game and/or device is flavour of the month!

Since you've only just embarked on your mission to create the next culinary genius – be smart – let them be creative with their lunch today.

Definitely up there with the pizza and burger culture is the sandwich – in this case a toasted version. Most people (that eat meat that is) like a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, here's my suggestion and if you have non meat eaters omit the ham and by the way, if you are watching the pennies then don't use Gruyére cheese, use a mature cheddar instead.

Croque Monsieur

aka posh toasted sandwich

aka signature sarnie

Serves 2

4 slices of medium sliced wholemeal bread

2 tsp Dijon mustard

75g (3oz) Gruyere cheese (grated)

2 slices of ham – wafer ham works well – as good a quality as you can afford

30g (1½oz) unsalted butter

Use funky cutters!

Preheat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread.

Spread half the cheese on two slices of bread followed by the ham, remaining cheese on top. Sandwich together with the other two slices of bread.

Cut out the shapes chosen.

Heat the butter in a frying pan until foaming – fry your croque monsieur on a gentle heat for 1-2 minutes on each side and transfer onto a baking sheet – repeat until all your croques are ready, place the sheet into the oven for 4/5 minutes and then serve.

The benefit of using cutters is that each student can choose their own – easily identifiable when out of the oven and ready to serve – no arguments. If, like me, you've a huge box full of assorted cutters you might even have initials – even better.

So, some supervision is required for the final stage – note to self – don't forget a sandwich for you!

Lets make afters

My first “afters” offering in “get them hooked on cooking” is Pinwheels. Once again minimum work in the way of prep for the supervisor, only a few minutes and the night before works well for me! No stress and maximum fun for the budding chefs.

Pinwheels

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed in fridge (375g)

15g butter, melted

50g dark chocolate drops (or finely chopped)

25g ground almonds

25g dried cherries, finely chopped

25g craisins, finely chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp milk

Preheat your oven 180c fan/200c/Gas 6. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper or similar. Unroll the pastry sheet and lay with the short sides left and right, you are going to roll to form a log.

Brush the surface of the pastry and melted butter then scatter the chocolate and ground almonds leaving a border at the top end of the pastry to enable you to “glue” the log when rolled. Then scatter the cherries and craisins over the chocolate and almonds. Carefully roll up from one of the shortest sides as tightly as you can forming a log.

Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 12 even slices. Place on the baking tray and brush with the remaining butter, then the beaten egg mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden.

Fondant Glaze

75g icing sugar

2-3 tsps boiling water

Pour the boiling water slowly over the icing sugar in a small bowl while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon. Pour in only enough water to make a creamy mixture that has the consistency of pancake batter. Cool. You need to make sure the mixture isn't too stiff, you need to be able to drizzle the glaze over your pastries.

Here's some helpful illustrations and the end result.

Take a tip or three :

Use the greaseproof wrapping with the pastry sheet as a base to roll the pinwheels.

Place a damp j cloth on your worktop and then the sheet on top – it will avoid it ending up on the floor!

When you get to the stage of slicing into 12 portions mark the roll in the middle, and then each half again (i.e. quarters) and then divide each quarter into 3 – there's a fighting chance of reasonably even pinwheels.

I warn you – these will vanish at the speed of light – it's a good idea to have two batches 1 x 2 kids.

Lets make lunch

If you've ever had to cope with grumpy teenagers then a crucial ingredient in the “hook” is speed – not for nothing do we call it “fast food”.

In this spirit, first up is the Stromboli previously mentioned in the blog. In my opinion it cannot fail – it suits young and old alike – if you're overwhelmed by the size of a whole pizza Stromboli does away with this problem because you can help yourself to as many small slices as you wish.

In your “supervisory” prep ahead you might like to think about providing a range of toppings so that the kids can choose whatever they want to fill their stromboli. For example, ham, pineapple, chicken, sweetcorn, olives, salami, pepperoni, mushroom, peppers, onions, greenery of your choice i.e. baby spinach, blah blah! You get the picture – you know best the likes and dislikes of your charges.

Here's the recipe again for ease of reference :

Stromboli

400g prepared pizza dough or ready-made base

4 tbsp tomato paste

100g thinly sliced salami

120g baby spinach

100g thinly sliced mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

Generous sprinkle of oregano or garlic Italian seasoning

Pre-heat your oven 220fan/200c/Gas 8. Place a large baking tray in the oven.

Place a dampened J cloth on your work surface. Place a piece of baking parchment on top of the cloth – it will stop it sliding – make sure you leave enough to get hold of – you're going to lift it onto the hot baking tray that's in the oven at the moment. Unroll the pizza dough gently on the parchment.

Spread the tomato paste onto the base. Add the slices of salami, followed by the spinach and then the mozzarella and sprinkle with the oregano or garlic Italian seasoning. Roll up the base from the shortest side and brush with the olive oil - make sure it's seam-side down when placed on the tray.

WITH CARE remove the tray from the oven and then carefully lift the parchment and the rolled up pizza onto it. Place back in the oven for 20/25 minutes until golden brown – check at 20 minutes.

When removed from the oven slice into portions to suit and serve.

Choose any of your favourite pizza toppings to create your own Stromboli – the fastest pizza ever.

Asda for the prepared pizza dough - £1.30 per 400g pack.

If you want to know what it looks like, check out Salad revival Italian style: Stromboli for the salad.

When an unstoppable force...

... meets an immovable object

In this instance the immoveable object I'm talking about is a younger person (and it varies in age) who doesn't consider it cool to cook!

I think it matters therefore what you choose for the first session – you need to get their attention and pizza is not a bad place to begin. Just in case there are doubters out there saying - “junk food”. I concede that there are elements that may be considered junk but it's being assembled with fresh ingredients as you'll see.

If your children have friends who are interested and you can manage 4 it creates a great atmosphere and they get so interested in what they are doing they forget to fall out or squabble! If you have sufficient space and a friend to perch with you and help supervise then the more the merrier but 4 would be a good place to start. It also gives you two groups of two – plenty of food for everyone to share.

A word to the wise - I'd like to suggest that if you're going to try “hooked on cooking” during the holidays you might deliberately cook more protein than you need over a weekend. It doesn't really matter what sort – chicken, lamb, beef - all will be revealed.

A little prep goes a long way – ingredients you'll need won't be difficult, unusual or expensive.

Any kitchen kit required really depends on the ages of the kids – you can buy wooden spoons, rolling pins et al for small hands quite easily these days and inexpensively too.

Knives however are a different kettle of fish and you may be surprised to know that there are knives specifically designed for childrens' use when learning to cook. Check out “Kiddi Kutter Childs Safety Knife” www.lakeland.co.uk. This product is suitable for age 3+.

Lets get on.

Have some fun …

… with the kids and get them hooked on cooking!

Whether you're a parent or grandparent you can't avoid the fact that it's that time again – aargh – the school holidays. It may be that as a parent you are taking time off, shortening your working days or are fortunate enough to have parents to call upon to help with care.

If you are responsible for child care then I take it that under normal circumstances – budget permitting, you may send the children to a holiday club or something similar. If not this route then may be a day out here and there.

Whatever the circumstances, how about getting the kids hooked on cooking. I'm not talking Michelin Stars here but we all have to start somewhere and, if you get them interested now, think how much money they'll save when they go off to University – or wherever life may take them – if they can cook for themselves.

Picture yourself perched on a kitchen stool supervising (with your coffee or tea) - not only are the kids learning, they are preparing their own lunch and yours too - which they'll take great pride in serving – believe me when I tell you this!

Depending on the ages of the children then obviously the amount of supervision required varies.

This summer – even if it's only a couple of days a week – why not let the kids make their own lunch and supper too, each with a dessert and on different days to avoid boredom - who knows – it just might catch on.

So be prepared to let them get down and messy.

Sit back and watch the fun and think of the money you'll save too!

Nasi – but not as we know it!

I mentioned in The art of disguise… fish about substituting the cooked chicken with thin strips of smoked salmon and/or smoked salmon flakes and the ham with 4-6 hard boiled eggs, chopped.

Here's an alternative “fish” Nasi recipe :

Nasi but not

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed or garlic paste

half tsp chilli powder

8oz (225g) cooked rice

6oz (175g) cooked salmon fillet, flaked

6oz (175g) smoked salmon, finely sliced

6oz (175g) peeled prawns, defrosted if frozen

2 tbsp Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)

1 tsp soft light brown sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

4-6 hard boiled eggs, quartered

black pepper

Serves 4-6

Add the vegetable oil to a wok and heat gently. Add the onions, garlic and chilli powder and fry until lightly browned. Add the rice and cook for a few seconds then stir in the salmon and prawns.

Mix the soy sauce, sugar and lemon juice together, then stir into the rice mixture. Stir in the ham then season to taste with pepper.

Add the eggs, folding in gently, serve immediately, straight from the wok.

You can adjust the amounts of fish/seafood to your own personal taste – bearing in mind that you have two elements to replace from the original recipe – chicken and ham – 175g each plus 175g of prawns. You are adding hard boiled eggs but I see these as garnish but definitely an integral part of the dish since the sauce is quite punchy and the fish quite salty so they play an important part in the balance.

Once again though, make it your own – adjust to suit yourself, if you want more prawns then adjust the amount of salmon accordingly. The great thing about this recipe is that it is a “leftovers” dish i.e. everything in it, apart from the onion, garlic and chilli and the sauce, is already cooked.

Check out the summertime deals around at the moment – salmon fillets and smoked salmon are part of the picnic passion – always assuming we ever have any decent weather – a soggy bottom is not nice!

A little summerthing extra …

… for your strawberries and cream/ice cream

Strawberry & Almond Soup

250g strawberries, the riper the better

2 tbsp icing sugar

3 tbsp water

3 tbsp Amaretto liqueur

Top your strawberries and cut into quarters, straight into your blender. Add the icing sugar and the water and blitz until you have a purée.

Pass the purée through a sieve and then add the Amaretto liqueur. Cover and “fridge”.

Serve tipped over strawberries and ice cream, vanilla ice cream on its own or even over a plain cake.

Thanks to Niki Segnit and “The flavour Thesarus” where I came across this recipe. It didn't have a title so I gave it “soup” since it's messes with your senses - ice cream and soup!

It's a really quick recipe and here's what it looks like.

You could toast some flaked almonds and sprinkle over the soup for added texture!