"Bangers & Mash"

This is a traditional English breakfast but it can served any time of the day.
The combination of the sausages, mash, caramelised onions and gravy is a winner.
It may be your first experience of caramelised onions which are tangy and sweet.
It would be good to serve with a side salad or steamed vegetables to make this a healthier meal.

Bangers and Mash with Caramelized Onions

Equipment

Potato peeler

Pot and lid

Sharp knife & chopping board

Potato Masher (1 per table)

Fry pan

Tongs

Measuring cup/spoons

Oven tray (for sausages)

Sieve

Ingredients

Mash

Potato's, 2-3 medium size, washed, peeled and chopped into chunks

Salt, pinch

Parsley, 1 tsp, chopped finely

Cheese, grated, 1 Tbsp

Butter, 1 tsp

Bangers

4 sausages per pair

Oil for frying

Caramelized onions

Onion, 1 sliced

Balsamic vinegar/ Worcester sauce, 1/2 tsp

Brown sugar, 1 tsp

Oil for frying, 1 tsp

Gravy

Bistro gravy, 1 tsp

Water, 50ml, hot

Method

Potatoes

1.    Wash, peel and chop up potatoes.

2.    Place in pot and bring to boil (enough water to cover the potato's).

3.    Add a good pinch of salt.

4.    Boil until potatoes are soft (when a fork can go through them).

5.    Drain and let sit in hot pot (off the heat) for 5 minutes.

6.    Mash until fluffy.

7.    Add butter and chopped parsley/cheese and mix through.

8.    Season with salt/ pepper.

Sausages & Onions

1.    Fry the sausages in a little oil until they are brown all over. Remove from pan, put on tray and place in oven on a low heat to keep warm.

2.    Fry onion in the same fry pan until they have gone soft and begin to brown. 

3.    Add balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, stir through the onions and simmer (low heat) for 5 min.

Gravy

1.    Mix bistro gravy powder into the hot water.

2.    Microwave for 30 seconds, stir again and let stand for 2 min.

Serving

Place a dollop of mash in the centre of the plate.

Arrange sausages lying on the mash on an angle.

Top with the caramelized onions.

Drizzle the gravy around the mash and over the sausages/ onions. 

Banana and Chocolate chip Muffins.

A simple baking recipe.

I have used a mixture of flours in this recipe. Half wholemeal and half white. It makes a healthier product.
Remember to make sure you measure out everything correctly and don't overmix the batter before you spoon it into the muffin tins.

Banana & Chocolate Chip Muffins

Equipment

Large bowl

Small bowl

Masher

Wooden spoon

Measuring cups/spoons

Sieve

Muffin tray (silicone or metal)

Spatula

Whisk

Ingredients (makes 6 large muffins)

Butter, 25g, soft

Brown sugar, 1/2 cup

Egg, 1

Wholemeal flour, ½ cup

Plain flour, ½ cup

Baking powder, ½ tsp

Baking soda, 1/2 tsp

Salt, small pinch

Milk, 1/4 cup

Banana, mashed, 1 small

Chocolate chips, 1 ramekin

Method

Oven on to 175⁰C

1.    Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl.

2.    Beat in the egg, then add the mashed banana.

3.    Sift the wholemeal flour, plain flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Add in the chocolate chips.

4.    Dissolve the baking soda in the milk in a measuring cup.

5.    Add the contents of all bowls and measuring cup together.

6.    Fold gently together. Do not over-mix!

7.    Spoon into large muffin tray (use 6).

8.    Bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and soft, not mushy.

9.    Remove from oven and let cool down before removing from muffin tray.

10. Dust with cocoa and icing sugar to finish.

Beef Sausage rolls

Simple and quick. This recipe is a good one.
Practice cutting up the onion and parsley into a fine dice. For the onion, cut off the leaves leaving a nice flat surface, then cut in half. Peel off the skin and dice up using the 2 cut method.
You could also use other meats, instead of beef.
Using the egg wash sticks the pastry together and glazes the outside of the pastry to golden brown.

Beef Sausage Rolls

Equipment

Sharp knife

Wooden chopping board

2 Bowls

Wooden spoon

Measuring cup

Whisk

Basting brush

Oven tray

Ingredients

Beef mince (or spinach if vegetarian), 1 ramekin

Onion, ½, diced finely

Breadcrumbs, 1/3 cup

Egg, 1, whisked up

Tomato paste/sauce, 1 tsp

Seasoning (salt, pepper, herbs etc)

Flakey puff pastry, 1 sheet

Parsley, 1 tsp, chopped finely

Flour for rolling

Method

Oven on to 200⁰C

1.    Combine beef mince, diced onion, breadcrumbs, tomato paste, chopped parsley and whisked egg into a bowl and mix well with wooden spoon.

2.    Season and mix again.

3.    Sprinkle some flour on to the clean bench, divide the mince into half and roll out mince mix into 2 long sausages.

4.    Set out the sheet of puff pastry and cut in half.

5.    Roll the mince onto the middle of each pastry sheet and roll up the pastry, sealing the edge by brushing with egg/water mixture.

6.    Brush more egg/water mix over the sausage roll.

7.    Cut the sausage rolls into 10cm lengths.

8.    Place on baking paper on the oven tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

9.    Serve with a small amount of tomato sauce.

2014 Begins with new year 7's. (Introduction and Pancakes)

Yr 7 Introduction to Food Spec

Introduction

Me

Teacher- Evan Skipworth

I am a qualified Chef (worked at various cafes and restaurants around Wellington 2005-2008) and Food Technology/ Hospitality teacher at Aotea College for 3 years (2008-2011). Worked at Tawa Intermediate from 2011.

I am an enthusiastic hands-on teacher who enjoys being able to pass on culinary skills and knowledge to the next generation. I like to have a laugh and tell stories but I also expect hard work and good behaviour from my students. We have limited time in the kitchen so we have to work together well as a team when we cook and clean up.

You

My objective is to get you to learn the basics of cooking in this kitchen.

It will be hard but fun. Cooking is a valuable life skill and we all should be able to cook the basics.

I will teach you how to read a recipe, follow the instructions with good measurement and timing, use the right techniques to produce and present a quality product.

Then I want you to be able to go home and cook these recipes for your family (once a week). We cook a sweet dish at the start of the week and a savoury dish at the end. These 2 recipes should be a complete meal.

Kitchen setup

Groups

Each work station (bench) is set up for 4 students.

There will be 2 cooking groups per bench (2 students each side) with each pair having a set of equipment but having to share the oven and sink.

The students will cook as pairs but clean up as a bench (4 students).

Each student will be given a clean up duty (4 different jobs- washing up, drying, putting away and wiping benches) which will be rotated each week.

Mr Skipworth will check each work station before releasing each group.

Clean up is very important as the next group will want the kitchen to be nice and clean.

If every body in the group works together, clean up will only take 10-15 minutes. You won’t be allowed to leave the kitchen until your work station is clean.

Assign duties to students (recorded for future inquiries)

Routines

·      Enter the kitchen

·      Put on an apron, wash your hands and set up your equipment. Sit at your bench when you are finished

·      Be quiet while Mr Skipworth marks the roll.

·      Stand around the front bench to watch/ listen/ learn while Mr Skipworth demonstrates/ explains the recipe.

·      Collect ingredients.

·      Prepare the ingredients.

·      Cook.

·      Mr Skipworth may stop you at regular intervals to give you more instructions and further demonstrations.

·      Complete the cooking and “plate up”.

·      Eat the food.

·      Start cleaning up (washing the dishes, drying the dishes, putting the dishes away and wiping down the benches).

·      When the clean up is complete, sit at the bench and wait for the check from Mr Skipworth.

·      Hang apron up and leave the kitchen.

Safety

The kitchen can be a very dangerous place.

To avoid serious injuries, you need to aware of the following:

·      Knives- use as directed (carrying and using correct chopping techniques) and no silly behavior with knives.

·      Cuts- notify teacher, use a paper towel to stop blood flow, then apply blue plaster when stopped bleeding, finally put on a glove.

·      Hot oven/ stove top- use oven gloves and dry tea towel to hold hot equipment. Be careful of other students around you.

·      Fires- any oil/fat left on the heat may catch fire. Take off the heat immediately and smother with another pot/fry pan. Do NOT put water on the flames! It will make the fire spread.

·      Burns- notify teacher and run under cold water immediately for 10 minutes.

·      Water spillage- any water spilled on the floor should be cleaned up with the skody towel or dirty tea towel. Any water left on the floor could be a potential hazard (slipping over while carrying hot items).

·      Food safety- make sure you wash your hands before cooking and after handling raw meat, eggs, rubbish or touching nose and face/hair. Don’t eat anything off the floor.

·      Long hair- make sure any long hair is tied back with a hair tie or it may catch fire and drop into your food.

Rubbish and Laundry

Each bench has a rubbish container (with paper in it) and a compost container.

Place paper and plastic and meat in the rubbish container and vegetable scraps into the compost bin.

These need to be emptied into the big bins (at the front of the class) at the end of the lesson.

The clean wash cloths, tea towels and hand towels are found in the hot water cupboard. I will change all the dirty laundry.

Replace the wash cloth and tea towels after every lesson but the hand towels are only replaced if they are really wet.

Dirty laundry goes into the big blue bin at the front of the class at the end of the lesson.

Eating

Bring a plastic container to take home any leftovers.

Plate up the food on the plates found in the back cupboard.

Knives and forks are found at Mr Skipworth’s bench.

Equipment

Mr Skipworth will go through the equipment at each work station.

Pancakes

Equipment (per pair)

Bowl

Wooden spoon

Whisk

Sieve

Measuring cup/ spoons

Small fry pan

Fish slice

Ingredients (per pair)

Flour, plain, 1/2 cup

Baking powder, 1/2 tsp

Eggs, 2

Sugar, ¼ cup

Milk, ¼ cup

Butter, 1 tsp

Oil for frying

Method

Try to make perfectly round, golden brown, fluffy pancakes.

1.    Measure sugar into a bowl.

2.    Crack the eggs into the bowl and whisk together with sugar.

3.    Sieve the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix together to form a thick paste.

4.    Add the milk (more if still too thick) and mix until smooth and creamy.

5.    Heat the small fry pan and add a small amount of butter and oil to coat the bottom of the fry pan (roll around)

6.    Add a tablespoon of pancake mix to fry pan and roll around.

7.    Cook pancakes until bubbles come through and pancake is free from fry pan.

8.    Carefully turn over and cook other side until golden brown and risen.

9.    Cook all the mix before eating (keep warm in oven on low)

10. Serve with jam & cream or golden syrup or icing sugar and lemon.