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Sunday 23 November 2014

Fettuccine and Food Forests!

On Thursday we had a very busy and productive morning out in our Food Forest and in the kitchen. We planted some berry bushes, a lemon tree and some pumpkins in the area. We broadcast a mix of beneficial and bee seed mix for the food forest floor and added some wood chip to the pathway, in front of the chicken enclosure. So many people are visiting our chooks that the grass has completely worn away, so we decided to make the area look a bit tidier by laying some wood chip on the path.

We also did some fruit tree maintenance. To encourage a better crop in the coming years, we removed the few fruit that had started to grow on the trees. We also noticed that some of the trees are suffering from leaf curl, so we removed the affected leaves and gave the trees some food, in the hope that they'll outgrow and overcome the disease. It was a busy time but we all enjoyed it, and as we did our jobs we heard one of our chooks laying an egg. The students loved being able to collect the egg and use it in the morning's cooking.

Once we'd had a tidy and a wash up we headed over to the kitchen to make fettuccine and spinach pesto. Many of our students had never made pasta before and they all enjoyed having a go with the pasta making machine. (One mum told me her son had enjoyed making the pasta so much, he wants one for home now. That's what it's all about!) The pesto making team and I not only made the pesto, but we also got to be the front of house team, and we enjoyed laying the tables and making floral decoration with flowers from the garden to go on the tables. It was really lovely to sit down and share the food together. This is something we don't usually manage to do, as there is often about 55-60 students in one session, so we usually go with finger food and eating in the garden to make it more manageable (and less messy)

Here's the recipes for the day and a few photos.

Pasta

Ingredients:

200g plain flour
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon of salt

METHOD

Thoroughly clean and dry the work space.
Weigh flour and combine it with the salt.  Tip onto work bench and make a well in the centre. Crack in eggs and begin to incorporate using flat fingers. Continue to knead the dough until smooth.  Cover the dough and rest (ideally for one hour) whilst you clean up the mess!!

On a clean and dry work surface attach pasta machine.  Press the dough into an 8cm rectangle and with the pasta machine on its widest setting pass the dough through.  The dough will look uneven and sticky.  Fold it into three length ways, turn 90 degrees and roll again. Change to next thickest setting on the pasta machine and repeat. Do this 3 or 4 times until the dough looks smooth and even. Once that has been achieved you can start rolling it slowly though the settings until you reach the desired thickness. If the dough starts to get too long cut it into two and work two pieces.

Pass the dough through the required cutter to achieve shape.  Flour strips and lay on bench to dry whilst you fill a large pan with salted water and bring it to the boil.  Drop the pasta into boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes (taste to check when al dente).  Place a colander in the sink.  Spoon 2-3 tables spoons of the cooking liquid into the prepared pesto then tip the pasta and cooking liquid into the colander to drain.  Return the pasta to the empty hot saucepan and mix in the pesto.  Transfer to serving dish and garnish with toasted sunflower seeds.

Pesto

Ingredients:

60g Parmesan cheese
¼ cup sunflower seeds
1 bunch of parsley/spinach
2 cloves of garlic
1/3  cup olive oil (approx)
salt

METHOD:

Place 2 tablespoons of the sunflower seeds in a frying pan and toast over a medium heat for two to three minutes careful not to burn them and set aside to garnish finished dish.  Place remaining sunflower seeds into the food processor.
Weigh Parmesan and grate finely. Divide into two adding half to the food processor and the other into a separate bowl.
Wash and dry the parsley/spinach and peel and crush the garlic.  Add both to the food processor.
Process the ingredients until you have a rough paste.  Scrape down the sides and begin adding the olive oil and continuing to process until a creamy consistency is reached.
Scrape pesto into a bowl and add remaining Parmesan and salt to taste.

On the way back for another load of wood chip

Charlotte, Amber and Tanika planting berry bushes

The boys enjoying a feed
That's what I like to see James - A nice clean plate and a big smile!






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