Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

SAKGP Garden and Kitchen Programme 

News - from Chris and Mel in the kitchen & garden

In the Kitchen with Chris

We’ve started our Pasta month with Grade 456H cooking  Home- made Orecchiette with Tomato Sugo of the Imagination,

Orecchiette with Parsley Pesto and Rosemary Focaccia

From the garden we used Tuscan Kale, Silverbeet, Celery, Parsley, Mint. Oregano , Garlic and Tomato Passata (from the freezer).

We had fun making our own Orecchiette (Little Ears) Pasta.  James and Arlo made the pasta dough and then everyone showed great measuring skills rolling out and cutting the dough into 1cm pieces.  We then used the end of a spoon to shape each piece of pasta into the Orecchiette (little ears).

Helen’s  group made the Tomato Sugo of the Imagination, and showed great skills chopping and slicing the onions and garlic and washing and chopping greens and herbs and cooking them with the tomato passata and their secret herbs and spices to create a delicious sauce. We made Parsley Pesto using parsley and garlic from the garden, this is a great winter pasta sauce when parsley is abundant.  It’s just as good as basil pesto. Lizzie and Mina’s group separated the parsley leaves and chopped them finely, then everyone had fun pounding the salt and garlic and parsley to a paste in the mortar and pestle. It took a while to make it by hand but they had fun making it and it was delicious.

Grace, Arlo and Chloe’s group mixed, kneaded and shaped the dough to make the delicious Rosemary Focaccia.

Our focus this term is on making different types of pasta and seeing how easy fresh pasta is to make and how delicious freshly made pasta is.  Everyone tried all the dishes and loved them. 456H were very impressed by how delicious the homemade pasta was with the two sauces. The Rosemary Focaccia disappeared quickly! Lizzie  said “The Parsley Pesto had a proper pesto flavour and you could really taste the garlic and parsley and even though we added more garlic it wasn’t overwhelming”  Mina said “The Orecchiette was small and delicious with the pesto ” Well done everyone!

If you want to make the Orecchiette and the Parsley Pesto at home the recipes are below the photos,  it’s a great fun activity.