Getting Organised

Our first cooking club session was all about getting organised.
What are we going to do? How are the sessions going to run?

Some of us obviously watch a few of the current cooking shows, and we decided that we would like to run our sessions a little bit along the lines of 'My Kitchen Rules'

We have split into groups and each group with cook a different dish each week.  We will cook and entree, a main and a dessert.  At the end of each session we will sit down and taste each others dishes and give feedback to each other.  Mrs Hanlon and her helpers will also be looking at, and tasting the food and choosing the best dish of the day.
They will be looking at group dynamics - how the group can work together and how organised the group is. The taste of the food, and where time allows, how the food is presented.

Next week we are going to be making Chinese Dumplings, Vegetarian Pasta and Chocolate Tart!

Food technology is focused on developing knowledge and skills about the use of living organisms and ingredients to process, preserve, pack and store products.

In home economics, students develop an understanding of the factors that influence the well-being of individuals and families within the home and community and of the actions people take to enhance and sustain those environments.

In the context of food and nutrition, students evaluate current issues and theories of nutrition, identify and reflect on factors that influence people’s choices and behaviours, and use this knowledge to make informed decisions.

Through the processes of selecting, preparing, cooking, and serving food, students develop their creativity and experience a sense of accomplishment. At the same time, they develop personal and interpersonal understandings and skills that contribute to well-being.

Macaroni Cheese

WOW - so many easy dishes that we can make at home!
Today it was macaroni cheese.
Boil us the macaroni and make a Roux - it's as simple as that.
While the recipe we used today didn't have any extras we discussed how you could add all sorts of other tasty bits to the dish to make it a bit different.  We decided that ham, bacon or salami would be yummy.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Edmonds plain baking flour
2 cups milk
salt n pepper
2 cups grated tasty cheese
2 cups macaroni elbows, cooked

Method

Melt butter in a saucepan.

Stir in flour and cook until frothy.

Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until sauce boils and thickens.

Remove from heat.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in half the cheese.

Add macaroni, stirring to combine.

You can stop at this point and eat, however you can follow the next steps if you want.

Pour mixture into an oven­proof dish.

Sprinkle over the remaining cheese.

Cook at 190°C for 20 minutes or until golden and heated through.

Chopped cooked bacon or ham can be added to the sauce if desired.

Week 7 - Taco challenge

Today we split into two groups to cook.  This meant that one group of us were able to work on our own and were challenged with following the recipe ourselves.  The other group worked with Mrs Hanlon.  This was a great opportunity to use our skills of organisation and co-operation.

This is the first meal that we have prepared that we have used starter kits for instead of from scratch.  We made soft tacos and crispy tacos.

Curried Sausages - Week 6

Today we made curry sausages.  We were amazed how quick and easy these were.  They would make a great winter family meal.

Recipe

500 g sausages (plain) uncooked

Small amount of oil for cooking onions.
1large onion cut into wedges
2 potatoes - cut into chunks
1Tbsp curry powder
1Tbsp flour
mixed herbs
salt and pepper to taste.

Cook sausages water till firm then slice up.
Keep liquid from cooking sausages for later.

Prepare all other ingredients.

Saute onions in oil until soft and translucent
Add curry power and flour.
Use small amount of liquid from the sausages to create sauce
Add sausages.
Keep adding liquid as mixture thickens to thin sauce.
Simmer for 30 minutes

Serve with Rice.

Butter Chicken - Week 5

Another delicious dish, and it is amazing how simple some of these dishes are to make.

We had lots of conversations today about how we are making our foods from scratch rather than buying a flavour sachet or ready made sauce.  We are getting better at some of our basic preparation skills too. Things like chopping, dicing, and mixing.

Another important part of our learning is the importance of keeping our work space clean and not creating cross-contamination of raw meat with other ingredients that you might not cook.  

Butter Chicken

Ingredients
500g Chicken breast
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1tsp Tumeric
1tsp Cumin
1tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp each Salt and Pepper
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 Cup Cream
1 tsp Chilli (optional)

1: Chop Chicken breast into bite size pieces.
2: Mix together all the spices (except the Garam Masala) and toss through the chicken.
3: Melt the better in a large pan.
4: Add onion and garlic and cook until soft (do not burn)
5: Add the chicken
6: Stir until golden
7: Add tomato paste and Garam Masala and mix well.
8: Stir in cream.
9: Simmer for 5-8 minutes until rich and creamy.

Kebabs and Mash - Week 4

Today we made beef kebabs and mashed potato.
The classroom smelt SOOoooo good.

Ingredients

Mashed Potatoes
Potatoes (about 1 large potato per person)
small amount of butter
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and wash the potatoes, then cut into small pieces 









Put the potato into a saucepan with water and bring to boil.  Turn down the heat and let them cook until they are soft. (you can stick a fork into them easily)

















Kebabs

Bamboo Skewers (soak in water if you are cooking on the BBQ)
500g Rump steak or similar
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce.

Chop and crush the garlic (or use a garlic crusher if you have one)






In a bowl mix in garlic, soya sauce, brown sugar and sweet chill sauce.

Chop the rump steak into small cubes.

Mix meat at garlic mix together and leave to sit for at least an hour (Overnight is even better)

Thread the meat onto the skewers.

Cook the kebabs in an electric frypan with a small amount of oil , or on the BBQ until the meat is cooked.

Then eat and enjoy like we did.