crich area community news
Reflections on the Food for Life Cooking Bus
Many thanks for the community efforts in supporting the Food for Life Cooking Bus which was stationed at the Fire Station for a week in November. In particular, thanks go to:
• The Fire Station
• The Loaf
• Croft Fruit and Vegetable Shop
• Luncheon Club
• Cliff Inn Horticultural Club
• Parents and Governors
• Crich Children’s Centre
• Bernie the cook at Fritchley School
This was a tremendous opportunity for our community. Over the 5 years that this lottery-funded project will run, only 180 schools will benefit from this opportunity, out of approximately 20,000 schools in England! During the week we were able to run sessions for all children in both the Infant and Junior Schools, family and childcare sessions and an intergenerational session with the Luncheon Club and Horticultural Club.
School Thoughts:
Our school was really lucky to be chosen as a flagship school by the Food for Life project. This is a project funded by the National Lottery. We were all very excited about the arrival of the Cooking Bus.
The Bus was not really a Bus but a huge trailer pulled by an articulated lorry. The sides came out and it would not have looked out of place on an episode of Dr Who. It had a large glass door and inside was a super modern kitchen with lots of cookers, coloured tables and pots and pans for us to use.
Mrs Julian timetabled sessions on the bus for different groups. In the village the Luncheon Club, After School Club, a family session and the Infants all had their own session to cook on the Bus. Andrew from The Loaf came to the bus and taught us all how to make bread, we learnt how to knead the dough and we made it into a delicious pizza. Our local veg shop supplied the bus with lots of fresh healthy produce for us to cook with. During our school session the teachers on the bus showed us how to use knives safely, the two techniques we used are called the ‘claw’ and the other the ‘bridge’. This helped us to cut vegetables safely and quickly.
There were lots of parents that came and helped with washing up! We made lots of delicious food like cheese chilli potatoes, apple mango salad and the wonderful pizza we made with Andrew from The Loaf.
I really enjoyed the Cooking Bus visit to our school, I hope other schools get the chance to do what we did, and they enjoyed it as much as us. The recipes we used I have cooked them again with my family at home. – By Amy Harris
The cooking bus is a big silver trailer in which you do cooking. It has large tables, red, blue, green and yellow, that way it is easier to know what table you are on. Underneath the table is a tub of water to wash your hands in. We cooked lots of mouth-watering foods on the bus. My particular favourite was mashed potato with chilli filling. I ate it as quick as a flash. The best bit about it was that the filling was already on the table. Everybody got a go on the bus, some got three and some two but everyone got one. Some people went from Luncheon Club. I thought the cooking bus could not be better in any way. I loved every moment of it. I loved it so much I could live it all over again and I would if I could. – By Charlie Crellin
Quite a lot of pupils really enjoyed the cooking bus and thought it was a great idea. It was not just the recipes that
were tasty, there was plenty of room to cook in, we had four tables to cook on. The instructors were very clear with the
instructions, which meant it was easy to cook. All the recipes were salt free, which means all the food was a lot healthier!
But it did not just come to our school, it has been all over England, it is linked with the Food For Life project. This improves our gardening skills, and we used our crops to cook on the bus. It was a pity the bus only stayed for a couple of days. However, it was really interesting to see all the community joining in, such as Luncheon Club and some parents came to have dinner at the bus and they had to cook it which was an excellent idea. The cooking bus was amazing and everybody thought the same, because we had a lot of equipment and four teachers were available to help. Some schools don’t have ovens and it would be a good experience for them to have the bus. – By James Rawson Jones & Ollie Crellin
When we went on the cooking bus with After School Club, I was on a table with Joseph, Stefan and Ben. Michaela was with Bella, Emily and Charlotte. The lady showed us how to make tomato and basil tartlets. After we washed our hands and put an apron on we made them ourselves. It was really fun and we all really enjoyed it. We took them back to After School Club with us and ate them as our snack. We all thought they were very yummy. – By Campbell (Y4) and Michaela Stephen (Y2)
Community Thoughts:
“I really enjoyed it and it has been great seeing that the children are learning to cook”.
“Please can we do this again.”
“I thought couscous was boring as there was no flavour – now I’ve made it again at home and I really enjoy it!”
Favourite Recipes:
By request we have published our two favourite recipes:
Kaleidoscope Couscous
Ingredients
200g couscous
1 dessertspoon bouillon powder
250ml boiling water
Ground black pepper to taste
¼ of red, green and yellow pepper,
deseeded and chopped
4 spring onions – finely sliced
4 tablespoons canned sweetcorn niblets – drained
3–4 cherry tomatoes – cut into quarters
1 tablespoon mint – finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Method
1. Place the couscous in the mixing bowl with the bouillon powder.
2. Measure the water, put it in the saucepan and bring to the boil.
3. Pour all the boiling water onto the couscous and quickly stir with a fork. Season with pepper. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for 10–15 minutes.
4. Remove the plate. Using the fork, separate the grains and allow the couscous to cool.
5. When the couscous is cold, stir in the olive oil, the prepared vegetables and the mint. Spoon the couscous into a bowl and it’s ready to eat.
Raisin Bread
Ingredients
225g strong plain white flour
1 x 7g easy blend microfine dried yeast
150ml milk
1 tablespoon sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
25g butter
100g seedless raisins
A little extra flour – for kneading
Milk – for glazing
Method
1. Place the flour and yeast in the mixing bowl. Place the milk, sugar, lemon zest and butter in the saucepan and heat it very gently until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Set aside until the liquid is just warm to the touch.
2. Make a ‘well’ in the centre of the flour and yeast. Add all the warm liquid and mix with a wooden spoon to a soft dough. Sprinkle the work surface with flour and knead the dough until it is smooth and springy to the touch.
3. Flatten the dough with your hand and place the raisins in the centre. Fold the dough over to encase the raisins and
knead again to incorporate the raisins.
4. Shape the dough into a round and push 2 fingers into the centre to make a hole. Keep pulling evenly to enlarge the hole until it is the breadth of 2 hands (approx 15cm). Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.
5. Place the bread ‘ring’ on the baking tray and set aside in a warm place to rise to twice its size. Brush with milk and bake for 20–30 minutes until golden-brown.
Andrew’s Top Tip:
Roll the dough into a coil and the raisins will not pop out.
Andrew’s Taste Test
Andrew from The Loaf brought us lots of ‘samples’ of bread from the shop for the children to try. The children would like to recommend the olive bread as their absolute favourite!
The Great Salt Debate
To salt or NOT to salt! Should we be banning salt or educating children in the appropriate use of salt? Following Government guidelines, the Cooking Bus and the School Meals Service do not include salt in any of their recipes. This
has started a great debate in school as Andrew, our village artisan baker, uses salt as part of the bread making process as it helps the bread rise and gives flavour to the dough. But the Food for Life bottom line is – NO SALT ON THE BUS. Therefore it was with great amusement that Andrew noted a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce on the bus.
A quick search on the internet has found – The Secret Recipe for Worcestershire Sauce.
Water – 20½ lbs
Cloves – 2 lb
Salt – 10 lbs
Sugar – 34 lbs
Soy – 8 gallons
Fish – 24 lbs
Vinegar – 18 gallons
Essence of lemons – 8 oz
Peppers – 5 lbs
Tamoraide (the Victorian spelling of
tamarind) – 14 lbs
Pickles – 40 lbs
In spite of the salt controversy the Bus provided a fantastic opportunity for the school community and has inspired us to cook in a much more adventurous way.
Cheryl Julian (Headteacher)