Chatham Primary School

Kitchen Garden

Over the past three weeks, we have cooked with both our Year 5/6 students and our Foundation students, and it has been a wonder to witness that our students’ eagerness to learn new techniques, have a go and try new flavours has been equally enthusiastic at both ends of our school. Our sessions bring a sense of togetherness and belonging for our students. Certainly, working in groups to create delicious meals and then sharing our creations together appears to instil a sense of engagement and great accomplishment in our students. 

 

Our recipes are based on seasonal produce. That is, what we have available in our garden, with the help of using top-up produce when our plants are still maturing. We also aim to create recipes that are achievable in our time frame, but also easy to re-create at home. By cooking for family and/or friends at home, our students’ enthusiasm for healthy cooking and eating, along with their confidence in their new skills, can continue to flourish.

 

Our Year 5/6 students cooked classic Spanish and savoury omelettes, and bread rolls, accompanied by a balsamic and olive oil dipping sauce. Our Foundation students used the same bread roll recipe to cook mini pizzas, producing both margherita and potato pizzas. Lots of herbs were also used during all cooking sessions, both fresh and dried, highlighting the versatility of herbs and how easily any dish can be elevated when using simple natural flavours.

 

Isabella from FST rated her pizzas as a “10 out of 10”, which was a huge compliment! Miles from FKB was concentrating very intently on the flavours from his potato pizza, just so he could try and remember all the ingredients to tell his dad after school, in the hope that he could recreate them for dinner that evening! 

 

Our parent volunteers who were able to come and support both year level cooking sessions were extraordinary, with our Foundation parents also having to join in a sing-along to our Italian themed music, led by Mrs Scantleton. We all left with the melody to ‘Mambo Italiano’ in our heads.

 

Our recipes for all of our Year 5/6 and Foundation sessions are attached to this newsletter.

 

Happy Cooking!

Ms Leda Semercioglu

Kitchen Garden Coordinator

 

Quick Bread Rolls

 

Ingredients

2 cups of self-raising flour

1 ¾ cups of Greek yogurt

1 egg lightly beaten (egg wash)

 

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. In a large bowl, add the flour and yogurt. Stir with a spatula until it forms a soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until smooth and workable.
  3. Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a work bench, remove dough from the bowl and gently roll into a thick disk.
  4. Divide dough evenly into 15 pieces.
  5. Grab one of the dough pieces at a time and roll it with your hands into round balls.
  6. Place on a baking tray, spacing each one approximately 2 inches apart.
  7. Brush over the bread rolls with the egg wash.
  8. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

2-Ingredient Pizza Dough

 

Ingredients

2 cups of self-raising flour

1 ¾ cups of Greek yogurt

 

Method

  1. In a large bowl, add the flour and yogurt. Stir with a spatula until it forms a soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until smooth and workable.
  2. Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a work bench, remove dough from the bowl and gently roll into a thick disk.
  3. Divide dough evenly into approximately 15 pieces.
  4. Grab one of the dough pieces at a time and stretch with your hands to the desired thickness. 
  5. Pizza bases are now ready for your choice of toppings.

Enjoy!

Note: This recipe will make 4 large pizza bases or up to 15 mini bases.

 

Margherita Pizza

 

Ingredients

1 batch of pizza dough 

(Refer to 2-ingredient pizza dough recipe)

1 cup of passata

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

2 cups of grated cheese 

Sprigs of oregano

 

Method 

  1. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
  2. In a bowl, place the passata, tomato paste, olive oil and dried oregano, and mix.
  3. Stretch out pizza dough balls one at a time.

(Refer to 2-ingredient pizza dough recipe)

  1. Using a tablespoon, spread the passata sauce on the pizza dough.
  2. Generously sprinkle with grated cheese.
  3. Sprinkle with fresh oregano.
  4. Repeat steps 2-5 until all the pizzas have toppings.
  5. Place the pizzas in a hot oven at 200 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes.

 

Potato and Rosemary Pizza

 

Ingredients

1 batch of pizza dough

(Refer to 2-ingredient pizza dough recipe)

2 Potatoes, thinly sliced

2 cups of grated cheese

Olive oil

Olive oil spray

Fresh rosemary

 

Method

  1. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
  2. Stretch out pizza dough balls one at a time.

(Refer to 2-ingredient pizza dough recipe)

  1. Using a tablespoon, spread the olive oil on top of the pizza dough.
  2. Generously sprinkle with grated cheese.
  3. Place the sliced potatoes on top.
  4. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary.
  5. Repeat steps 2-5 until all pizzas have toppings.
  6. Lightly spray tops of pizzas with olive oil.
  7. Bake in a hot oven at 200 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Balsamic and Olive Oil Dipping Sauce

 

Ingredients

 

¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

A pinch of sea salt

A sprinkle of ground black pepper (optional)

 

Method

  1. In a small and shallow bowl, add olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The oil and vinegar will naturally separate. 
  2. Top with dried oregano and a pinch of sea salt. 
  3. Give the dipping sauce a gentle stir.

Savoury Omelette

 

Ingredients

½ cup of red capsicum diced

½ cup of green capsicum diced

½ cup of chopped spring onions

1 cup of chopped spinach leaves

5 eggs

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Method

  1. In a bowl, whisk the 5 eggs lightly using a fork.
  2. In a separate bowl, prepare all chopped and diced vegetables based on the instructions in the ingredients list.
  3. Heat a fry pan on medium heat with the olive oil.
  4. Gently pour in the vegetables and sauté until they have softened.
  5. Gently pour in the eggs and then loosen the eggs with a wooden spoon, moving them around a little. This will allow the egg mix to escape and cook.
  6. Cook for about 5-minutes until it is golden brown underneath and set inside.
  7. Season with salt and pepper.

Spanish Omelette

 

Ingredients

5 eggs

1 red onion, diced

4 medium sized potatoes boiled, peeled and diced

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley

Salt to taste

 

Method

  1. Prepare all ingredients based on the ingredients list.
  2. In a bowl, whisk the 5 eggs lightly using a fork.
  3. Heat a fry pan on medium heat with the olive oil.
  4. Gently pour in the onions and sauté until they have softened.
  5. Pour in the potatoes until they become golden and slightly caramelised with the onions.
  6. Pour in the eggs over the top of the onion and potatoes. Loosen the eggs with a wooden spoon, moving them around a little. This will allow the egg mix to escape and cook.
  7. Cook for about 5-8 minutes until it is golden brown underneath and set inside.
  8. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and finely chopped parsley.