Regular followers of the blog and my social media accounts will know how passionate I am about food education. As such I was delighted to be approached by Inchgarth Community Centre in Aberdeen to teach two blocks of after school cookery lessons. The class of 10 primary aged kids have been very enthusiastic throughout the initial six weeks. I chose our first dish and they have decided what we would make on subsequent weeks.
We've got a great size of kitchen to work with but sometimes have to improvise a wee bit with the equipment available and supplement it with some from my own kitchen. Thanks to the Food Standards Agency who provided aprons for the group. They've been well used and abused. On the menu for week one was Spaghetti Bolognese. To go alongside this we shook up our own butter in jam jars, added garlic and made garlic bread. Plenty to taste in class and substantial portions to take home.
Week two and the request was for Stuffed Crust Pizza. Paul Hollywood would have been proud of our pizza dough kneeding. Not sure he would have approved of the Cheesestrings in the stuffed crust. All went well until we set the fire alarm off and the whole community centre had to be evacuated. Whoops!
The girls in the group has been asking for Chocolate Cake since week one. Chocolate Muffins and Chocolate Brownies hit the spot. Definate Star Baker awards all round for the showstopper decoration.
Beef burgers, turkey burgers, chips and sweet potato wedges were declared "better than Burger King" I suspect there may have been a few requests to head to Lakeland for the Burger Maker and Chip & Dicer.
We dished up another healthy takeaway alternative with an Indian feast of Chicken Korma, Bombay Potatoes, Rice, Poppadums and Raita.
Last week of the session and ice cream was requested. No problem! We used the geeky/scientific method as described here. Served with Crepes topped with golden syrup, Nutella and jam this was one to eat in class. Definite brain freeze and sugar rush on the menu.
The next batch of intrepid Junior Masterchefs kick off on 30th October. I'll be lining up something spooky for them to celebrate Halloween. I've been amazed at the huge range of activities that take place at Inchgarth Community Centre. Passionate staff, tutors, volunteers and users make this a vibrant, well used and highly sucessful centre. There's definitely something for everyone and I hope they can secure funding to keep food education on the menu.
Drop me an email claire@foodiequine.co.uk if you'd like to discuss me tutoring cookery classes in your school or community in Aberdeen City or Aberdeenshire. Take a look at my Freelance Foodie page for my full range of services.
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