Hooked on cooking – Dessert design… a blank canvas

The model shown measures 50x38 cms. The cake boards mentioned measure 25x25 cms for the square and 25cms in diameter for the circular.

What to do with the blank canvas – that's up to the cheflets. Here's a photo with a few bits and pieces :

The additions speak for themselves – the pile of logs are wafer rolls - the muddy puddle in the centre of the logs is the caramel glue. You could if you wished melt chocolate as an alternative. The flowers – I use the term loosely – are meringue kisses with a hole in the bottom – punched through gently with a cocktail stick and a chocolate mint stick cut in half inserted for the stalk/stem. The pink versions are mini raspberry macaroons.

In other words, fill all the remaining space on the boards and in between, directly on to your table cloth.

The list of what can be added is huge but here's a few ideas :

Fresh fruit – strawberries, cubes of fresh pineapple,

ditto of mango – convenient to dip into muddy puddles

any other fresh fruit of your choice

cubes of Madeira cake or lemon drizzle

meringue nests filled with blueberries and raspberries

Remember the squeezy bottles mentioned – you could make up one each of lemon drizzle syrup, orange syrup, sticky toffee sauce and strawberry coulis.

I mentioned in the original shopping list that you might like to include the ingredients for Rocky Road and Malteser cake. Have a look at the photos of each below and I hope you'll agree that either or both of these scattered creatively of course, would make a great addition.

The recipes for all of the above are on the blog.

Note:

If you decide you'd like to give the cheflets either or both of these then they'll need to be made ahead but neither are difficult or time consuming.

Now for the good news – when your party is over any leftovers can be boxed, fold up the table cloth and bin – Marigolds (aka washing up gloves) not required!

Ta Dah!

Just before I go, a big thank you to my mate Susie Q who helped me translate the idea in my head to the model – mwah.

Hooked on cooking – Dessert design… follow the yellow brick road!

Your road needs to be neat and to show definition so we need to create an edge of stones. Enter the mini marshmallow and the best glue ever – I give you “Carnation cook with caramel” (in other words condensed milk with added caramel) I've not seen it in smaller cans than 397g but it's not as expensive as buying a jar of posh caramel sauce – it makes great glue.

Now you know what the paintbrushes are for – one for each of your cheflets and in order to prevent any dispute it might be more practical to give each of them a small dish of caramel. You'll be able to pick up the brushes in your preferred “£1” shop.

Using the “glue” paint a line either side of the road. The marshmallows can then be glued into place. It matters not if the glue strays further on to the board - so not a problem for small hands – it will be covered soon enough with grass and soil!

You can buy bags of pink and white mini marshmallows so you could add more colour by alternating pink and white edging.

The story so far, a board each with a piece of road with edging stones and a bag of desiccated coconut grass.

The next step is for the cheflets to create the soil. Each should have a chocolate muffin and a plastic food bag. Place the muffin in the bag, secure the top and crumble into soil.

Back to the paintbrush - paint either side of the road with the glue – again it doesn't matter if they stray onto the cloth with the glue or grass or soil but they do need to bear in mind that their board should stay in its place.

Your cheflets can now scatter their coconut grass and muffin soil where they may on their respective boards.

Hooked on cooking – Dessert design… choose a theme

It can be anything the cheflets like – they may need inspiration – a word of warning though, it shouldn't be too ambitious – it needs to succeed.

To explain myself the example I've chosen is The Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz.

The road shown is made from marzipan, rolled quite thinly. The beauty of using marzipan is that if you do make a mess of it you just roll it into a ball and begin again. A small tip – a dusting of icing sugar on your surface will help. Give each cheflet a cake board together with a quarter of the block of marzipan and a rolling pin – their road should be rolled directly onto the cake board. They could reproduce the road shown or they could make a crazy paving, using circles made with cutters of different sizes. The road doesn't have to be straight, there are no rules.

When each portion of road is completed the boards should be placed on the paper table cloth, wherever they like. My only suggestion is that each board has roughly the same amount of space surrounding it.

The cheflets next job is to weigh 25g of desiccated coconut into a ziplok bag – squeeze a large blob of green food colouring into the coconut, carefully expel the air and seal the bag. Work the colouring into the coconut – this will take a minute or two, rubbing the bag between your hands – the coconut absorbs the colouring and the more you work it the more even a colour will result.

  

The table cloth on your shopping list IS the base for the dessert – no bowls, no plates – fingers only but, you might want to make sure you've plenty of serviettes/napkins or, if you must, then spoons or forks – it defeats the object of sticky fingers and I can testify that when I did do this, the grown-ups loved it too.

Hooked on cooking – having a party?

We're now three weeks in to “hooked on cooking” and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that you've had a surprise or two and you now having budding “cheflets” eager and raring to attack the next challenge.

Will you be having a summer get together/party/BBQ – any or all of the above?

I know that lots of people bring desserts on such occasions, but I have an idea that your cheflets might like.

This might take a little organisation ahead of the game but nothing that will be difficult to get hold of, nor cost a lot of dosh!

Do you have a table going spare – it can be as big as you like – you'll see what I mean shortly.

First up, here's your shopping list :

Next time you're in the supermarket/cheap shop pick up a paper table cloth – the stronger the better, you don't want the sort you can see through, it'll just fall apart and won't be suitable for the purpose I have in mind.

Pick up three or four squeezy bottles – like the ones illustrated below.

As illustrated these are really handy for a drizzle of whatever takes your fancy.

To continue with your shopping list :

Cake boards - £1 each – square or circular, depending on the shape of your table. If you have four cheflets creating, then one each.

Marzipan – one 500g block should be sufficient, preferably the golden kind – to be divided between 4.

Desiccated coconut, green food colouring and 4 ziplok bags.

Pack of 4 large chocolate muffins and 4 food bags.

1 bag of white mini marshmallows.

1 can of Carnation cook with caramel.

4 small (cheap and cheerful) paintbrushes suitable for children.

Whilst not compulsory you might want to make sure you've the ingredients to make Rocky Road and Malteser Cake.

Okey dokey, lets get on with the masterpiece!

Hooked on cooking – Dessert design …

… make a mess!

Lemon Eton Mess

(per 2 students)

2 small lemon yogurts (120-160g per pot)

2 meringue nests

Jar of good quality lemon curd **

2 tsps lemon juice

200g strawberries

(a large punnet weighs 400g, perfect to

divide between 4 students)

Sharing one large mixing bowl tip in the yogurts.

In a separate bowl spoon 1 generous tbsp of the lemon curd and stir in the lemon juice.

Put half the lemon mixture into the yogurt, you want a rippled effect so go slowly! Repeat, but leave the bowl with a little mixture left – all will be revealed!

One meringue nest per student plus a ziplok bag or a food bag large enough to be secured – you won't get bits of meringue flying around this way – crush the meringue into chunks – you don't want sugar dust! Fold into your mixture. Hull*** the strawberries and cut into four, fold into the yogurt and lemon curd mixture. Spoon into picnic plastic of your choice.

The remaining mixture in the bowl is then drizzled over the top.

Bits and pieces

You could have a mixture of strawberries and raspberries, or any other fresh fruit in season.

**You could get your students to make their own lemon curd – see Microwave Lemon Curd in Luscious Lemons but the process will need supervision so may not be suitable for younger students.

***Hull means to remove the green top and the small stem in the centre of the strawberry – you can buy a strawberry huller but it's just as easy to do, carefully, with a paring knife. See the photos below to illustrate.

Optional extra - decorate with chopped nuts – pistachios would be a good choice - texture and colour too.

There are lots of yogurt options – lemon flavoured and lemon curd versions to choose from - low fat or not – bear in mind that low fat usually means high sugar. A “small” yogurt weighs 120g but you can get slightly larger versions at 160g.

A pack of 8 meringue nests has a long shelf life, so any leftover won't be wasted.

Let the mess begin!

Hooked on cooking – Burgers with a difference

This is not for the Rendang curry purists out there – its my variation. If your students and family like a burger that's outside the box then this could be it!

Rendang style burgers

Per 2 students

500g (1.1lb) turkey mince

50g(2oz) tomato paste

2 popped garlic cloves or 2 crushed garlic cloves

1 tsp star anise powder

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp Worcester sauce

50g shredded (or dessicated) coconut

1 tsp mild curry powder

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tsp brown sugar

plain flour for shaping and dusting the burgers

You may need an egg to bind

Rapeseed or vegetable oil for shallow frying

Place the mince in a large mixing bowl then add the remaining ingredients (excluding the egg) and mix well. The omission of salt and pepper is deliberate – there's enough of both in the ingredients. At this point your mixture may be too wet. If it is, sprinkle a little plain flour over the mixture and fold in gently – if the mixture is too dry then use your egg. I made these burgers recently to the recipe given above and I didn't use the egg. A lot depends on where you get your turkey mince from, there will be differences. You don't have to use turkey mince but it is a healthier option.

Heat the oil gently in a frying pan. With damp hands weigh the mixture into 50g or 100g portions. Roll the mixture into a ball and then flatten into rounds and shape gently into a burger. Heat the oil in a frying pan, seal the burgers on a gentle heat, turn and repeat. At this point you have a choice, you can continue to cook the burgers in the pan on the hob, if you have an oven-proof pan, pop it straight in the oven or you can transfer, when sealed, to one of my famous foil dishes – 160fan/180c/Gas 4 for 15/20 minutes.

Rendang style Sauce

100 ml coconut cream

50ml water

3 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp curry powder

(I used mild)

1 tbsp kecap manis

(also known as sweet soy sauce)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat and

serve. Can be made ahead and re-heated.

The sauce is optional but if you're creating a monster burger for hungry hordes serve on toasted burger buns or the brioche version - then you can add any of the usual extras – cheese slices, crispy bacon, top with a fried egg and then drizzle with the sauce to complete – clearly not for the health conscious!

Make sure there are plenty of napkins/serviettes around.

“Outside the box” in more ways than one and hopefully the fact that it's a burger may distract those who need a little encouragement to try something new – here's hoping!

Hooked on cooking …salsa for the burgers

Something to serve as a side or as a topping on your burgers :

Pineapple and Sweetcorn Salsa

1 x 432g tin pineapple pieces,

drained

*2 red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped

3(ish) spring onions, finely chopped

small bunch of coriander, leaves only, chopped

finely

(if fresh not available, ½ tsp of ground coriander)

salt and black pepper

50g sweetcorn (defrosted if frozen)

Put the pineapple pieces into a bowl. Add the spring onions, coriander leaves and chillies, season with salt and black pepper, mix well.

Whiz a quarter of the mixture in a food processor until smooth. Add back to the remaining mixture and add the sweetcorn.

*If you know that chillies are too hot for your students, substitute with Romano peppers, chopped finely.

This salsa is quick, easy and colourful – a great way to practice knife skills for your budding chefs and it's also a great introduction of different flavour combinations.

Enjoy!