Winter is here

We have been making soup in the kitchen which has been much needed for the gardeners as they come in to the kitchen from the cold and wind.
Year 5 are making Minestrone with Irish soda bread, followed by a rhubarb shortcake and Year 4 are making a Versatile vegetable soup with cheese and rosemary pastry twists followed by lime shortbread. All recipes are on the blog pages so try some at home!

Chokos!

We have had an amazing harvest of chokos this year. They have proven to be a very versatile ingredient in a variety of dishes across both year groups.

We have braised them and stir fried them with Asian greens, baked them with potato and a cheesy parsley sauce, made a choko fruit curry that we served with cauliflower rice and even used them sweet in mini choko tarts.

Enough were harvested for some children to take home to use as well and we loved hearing how they were used. 

With the last of the seasons crop Year 5 will make a choko pickle.

Serving the choko fruit curry with cauliflower rice and pastry rolling for the mini choko tarts.

May and the start of a new school term

Al Brown and some of his crew from Depot and Fed Deli came in and helped to plant silverbeet which we will grow and then harvest for them. Al and his chefs will design a dish using the silverbeet and put it on their menu at Depot. Keep posted to see what it will be!
They also helped sieve the compost and and feed the plants with worm tea.
In the kitchen we braised harvested choko, bok choy, tat soi and carrots and made a fried rice with our own wood ear fungi found in our gully. Spiced pumpkin muffins were a treat to follow. Al and his crew sat down to share the meal with us and we even had our plates very professionally cleared by the crew. So much energy and enthusiasm it was an awesome morning and hugely productive.

Term 1 completed!

 At the end of Term 1 the gardens were tidied in preparation for the school holidays. Leaves were collected and tied in to bundles to dry out and be used in the pizza oven and lots of mulch was placed on the pathways around the gardens. Mrs Masters and the gardeners worked so hard and the amount of mulch distributed was huge!
We talked about seeds, collected seeds, toasted seeds and ground seeds. Cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, hollyhock seeds, just to name a few.

  In the kitchen Year 5's made tabouleh, labne, borek and Anzac cookies. Year 4's made super easy cheesy chive puffs that were delicious warm from the oven an Appleslaw, and a green herb pilaf.

Welcome 2017!

We are well into Term 1 and it has been a hive of activity at Garden To Table. Our focus has been on garden and kitchen routines, working together as a team following the school motto - being courteous, courageous and constant in what we do, learning new skills and being safe in the garden and kitchen at all times.
This term the whole school is studying the concept of Whanaungatanga (connections) and at Garden To Table we have been developing the understanding that everything is connected. What we do in the garden impacts on what we can harvest and use in the kitchen. Vegetable and fruit scraps are put back into the compost and worm bins and this then helps to feed our soil. Some children in the garden have been "chickens" - turning and lifting the soil! We encourage our family members to help out and we have also had helpers from the school and local community volunteer because they love to. Great connections and lots of fantastic relationships being built and developed.
We are continuing our wonderful partnership with Al Brown and his staff at Depot and Federal Street Deli and there are lots of exciting plans ahead!

Year 4 have been learning how to hold and use a knife correctly and safely.
We have made a broadbean dip and crostini, whitebean dip with crudites, and our banana and honey icecream was made with bananas from our school tree and served with fresh passionfruit from our vine. Rhubarb was harvested and roasted with orange and served with a ginger cream.

 Year 5 have made corn tortillas with baked broadbean falafel, salad greens and a yoghurt dipping sauce. Fresh nectarines from our school tree were used to make nectarine and fresh ginger muffins and added to a fruit salad with harvested passionfruit, bananas and mint.

 An important part of the Garden To Table experience is the sharing of food. A time to taste what has been made in the kitchen and to hear what the gardeners have been doing. It has been fantastic to see all the children being courageous and trying the food. Lots of empty plates, happy faces and wonderful comments about what they had tasted.

The entrance to the pool gardens is being upgraded. Before photos here and after photos in the next blog....

Different cuisines, chefs from Depot and the school gala

We have been trying recipes from Vietnam, China and Italy
Year 4 children tried dishes from Vietnam. They made fresh rice paper spring rolls, nuoc cham - a fish dipping sauce and banana fritters. Carrots, radishes, lettuce, edible flowers, coriander and mint were harvested and knife skills were put to the test as carrots and radishes were julienned for the rice paper rolls. Bananas from our school tree were used to make deep fried banana fritters by some classes.

Year 5 made pot sticker dumplings with cabbage and wood ear fungi harvested from the garden. They were delicious! A range of vegetables were harvested to make a vegetable stirfry with a Chinese sesame sauce. Bok choy, silverbeet, carrots, kale, cabbage, and choko.

Our pasta machines were put to the test and Year 5 have been making fresh pasta. So much fun! With the pasta sheets we made a spring vegetable lasagna using freshly harvested asparagus, broad beans, peas and carrots and a roasted pumpkin rotolo. All recipes can be found in the Year 5 recipe link on the home page.

We were very lucky to have chefs from Depot volunteer last week. The rhubarb was tended to and is growing well. In the kitchen the children made tagliatelle and ravioli with help from Nikki, Al and Chris. It was so much fun and the pasta was delicious! We served the tagliatelle with herbed polpette and a tomato sauce. The ravioli were filled with a carrot puree (with carrots harvested from our garden) and served with a thyme brown butter sauce. A very yummy no bake citrus slice finished the menu.

Our school gala was a success and we sold all our marmalade and tamarillo chutney. The herb salts were a hit and our sorrel, yacon and jerusalem artichoke plants were popular. The citrus slice and brownie were delicious and there were a few faces that came back for seconds. It turned out to be a fantastic day weather wise too and the iced tea went down a treat. Well done Meadowbank school!