Kitchen News

From Erin Reynolds, SAKG teacher

Jerusalem Artichoke Harvest

Over the past few weeks we have been making the most of our Jerusalem Artichoke harvest from the garden. Thanks to Tess and her team of great gardeners for digging them up out of the ground and cleaning them for use in the kitchen. We gave them a second scrub and a soak and they were ready to use in recipes.

First up on the menu was Risotto of the Imagination using an aromatic base of onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Each group carefully diced the vegetables and measured rice and vegetable stock. Lots of stirring (and patience) was required as we gradually added the stock to the rice to cook our risotto, then finally added fresh parsley and parmesan cheese. While our risotto was cooking we roasted the Jerusalem Artichokes with rosemary. Our patience paid off and we ended up a delicious creamy al dente risotto topped with crispy roasted artichokes.

Next on the menu was Vimlas Vegetable Curry and a Herb Pilaf. We used the last of Jerusalem artichokes and combined them with potatoes, beans, eggplant and chickpeas. We measured out fragrant spices including turmeric, cumin seeds and garam masala along with curry leaves fresh from the garden. Lots of fresh herbs were picked and chopped in preparation for mixing through our rice pilaf. The kitchen smelt amazing as our curries bubbled and our rice simmered.  It was finally time to serve and enjoy our warm and fragrant dishes. Well done Year 5 on trying something new, for most of the students it was their first time tasting this interesting root vegetable.