SAKG

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden News

Learning about life cycles is a major aspect of our gardening curriculum. Last term, Year 4 students allowed one parsley plant to complete the full cycle in garden. With the abundant recent rain and right climatic conditions, the self- seeded parsley are healthy looking and have provided us with enough to harvest for all of Brookside’s cooking programs. We used the chopped parsley and silverbeet as the star ingredients for several weeks.

With good weather approaching, students removed plants that have gone past used by date in the garden. We added horse manure that came from Mrs Greene’s property in Ballan to enrich the soil and planted spring onions, lettuce and celery. We should see broccoli and cauliflower heads appearing in the big garden bed soon.

For the very first time, Year 3 students made bread rolls and practised kneading skills. It was a great tactile experience for our mini bakers who knotted, rolled and kneaded their way into some fantastic designs. The rolls were the topped with fresh rosemary from the garden and baked to a crunchy perfection. There were no complaints from the students this week as they enjoyed their freshly baked rolls with pasta. See recipes below

Bread Rolls

Ingredients:

• 600 ml warm water
• 2 tbsp honey (can substitute
• with molasses)
• 800 g plain flour
• 200 g whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 14 g instant dry yeast
• vegetable oil, for oiling bowl
• sea salt
• sesame seeds or other mixed seeds
• 100 ml milk

Directions:

1. Combine the water and honey in the small bowl and stir to dissolve the honey.

2. Tip the flour into the large mixing bowl and add the salt and yeast. Stir once

or twice with the wooden spoon. Make a well in the centre.

3. Pour the water and honey mixture into the well.

4. Stir to mix the flour and water to a heavy dough.

5. Sprinkle a little flour over the bench, your hands and the dough.

6. Tip out the dough and use your hands to squash it all together into one lump.

7. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, adding extra flour if it feels sticky. Place dough

into an oiled bowl, cover it with a tea towel and leave it for at least 30 minutes in

a warm spot (not too hot), to double in size.

8. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

9. Punch the dough down once to release the air, then knead for 30 seconds.

10. Divide dough into 30 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball or knot, brush with

milk and decorate with rosemary and sea salt or mixed seeds. Place it on a lined

baking tray. Leave the shaped dough in a warm place again for 20 minutes. You

should see that it has risen.

11. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes.

12. *Wearing oven mitts on both hands, carefully take the tray out of

the oven.

13. Wait at least 10 minutes before serving warm.

In cooking, we learnt about the different continents around the world and discussed where our family comes from. We discovered that in 3C we have nationalities from every continent except Antarctica. Then we made pasta because it came from Italy, which is in Europe.

We learnt there are different shapes of pasta and sauces that have different texture and that’s why we need different shapes to hold and absorb the pasta sauce, and the shapes are fun to eat. When we did kneading, we learnt to stretch the dough with our palms then knotted them into bread rolls.

By Maxen 3C

Silver beet & Parmesan Sauce with Pasta

Ingredients:

• 500 g packet of spirals pasta
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 10 leaves silver beet (stem removed, leaves chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup basil and parsley leaves
• ¼ cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Salt & black pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add pasta. Cook for about 10 minutes until ‘aldente’.

1. While pasta is cooking, heat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil in a frypan over medium heat; cook and stir the silverbeet and garlic in the hot oil until the silver beet leaves have wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. Process the basil, parmesan, salt and remaining olive oil in a food processor until all the ingredients are well mixed together.
3. Add the silverbeet mixture and the lemon juice to the food processor and blend until the mixture is pureed. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir the sauce through the pasta and serve.

In the kitchen, we learnt knife skills. These skills are the claw and bridge techniques. With the claw technique, we curve our hands by curling our fingers back to protect our fingers. The bridge technique is when you make an arch with your fingers. You put the knife through the arch and push down with the blade to cut vegetables in half.

By Oliver 3D

I know that you have to hold the knife by the handle and not the sharp bit, which is called the blade. You never point a knife or wave it around. Always keep the knife out of the sink so you don’t accidentally cut yourself when the sink is full. Lastly, don’t walk around with a knife because it’s dangerous and you can trip and hurt somebody.

By Allison 3D

Until next time!

SAKG Team