Hot Lava

I was looking at images of lava flows for an art project with the third grade students and I kept coming across a drink called a 'lava flow' http://gohawaii.about.com/od/drinks/r/lava_flow.htm

I thought that when persimmons came into season that we could make a non alcoholic version with persimmon puree.  I used a combination of coconut milk, frozen bananas and purple sweet potato for the top or 'hot ash'.  The bottom was just pureed hatchiya persimmons. Students used a straw to pull up the hot lava and then drank it.  A lot of fun and a great connection from our garden and the third grade science unit.

Summer/Fall Fruit Salad

We made fruit salad with the addition of herbs from the garden.  We had Pineapple Mint, Lemon Balm and Stevia.  Students could choose any combination of fruit and herbs to make their own signature fruit salad.  The fruit choices were Figs, Apples, Grapes, Watermelon, Honeydew, Persimmons and Limes.  At least half the students ate figs for the first time and quite a few also had their first taste of persimmon.

Nectarine Jicama Salsa

We were lucky to use the first Passion Fruit of the season from the Peralta Gardens. We included the juice in a Nectarine and Jicama Salsa.  The recipe as usual is more guidelines then exact amounts.  Use what you have and tastes the way you like.

2 White Nectarines (Peaches or Yellow Nectarines are fine also)
1 Cup Jicama
1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
1 or 1/2 Jalapeño Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
1 Tablespoon Passion Fruit Pulp or Juice
Salt to taste

Cut the Nectarines and Jicama into small pieces.  Mix everything together and enjoy.

Chayote

Chopping Cucumbers

The intersection of a fourth grade class reading a book that included curries and a great harvest of Chayote developed into an wonderful cooking event. The class worked together to make Chayote Coconut Milk Curry, Cucumber Raita and Fresh Carrot Chutney.  We also had rice and apple, peach chutney.  The cumber raita was pretty close to this recipe but we added some crushed garlic.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cucumber-raita/


The carrot chutney included - 
2 Grated Carrots
1 Tablespoon Grated Ginger
2 Tablespoons Grated Fresh Coconut
1 Tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
1 Jalapeno Pepper
1 TablespoonFresh Lime Juice
1 Tablespoon Palm Sugar or brown sugar

Salt to taste  
(These quantities are approximate)

Grating Coconut                                

Grating Carrots

Chopping Mint 

The Chayote Curry is from 'Indonesian Street  Food Secrets' by Keith Ruskin Miller.

1 lb. Chayote

1 Tbs fresh grated turmeric or 2 tsp. dried
2 cloves garlic
2 shallot
1 tsp. soy sauce

1 Tbs oil
1/2 cup coconut milk

Peel and cut the chayote into 1" x 2" pieces. Saute the spices in oil for 2 minutes.  Add the chayote and a little water, cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and salt to taste and cook until the chayote is tender about 10 minutes.

The original recipe also includes 2 hot chili peppers but we did not include them.

Enjoying our cooking

Passion Fruit Shave Ice

The yard at Peralta has a prolific passion fruit vine that is just starting to ripen.  The kids sometimes call them snot bombs, because they are filled with greenish yellow slime but they have a wonderful sweet, tart taste and delicious aroma.

We cut them in half and scooped out the seeds and pulp and then drained the pulp and added simple syrup.

I had shaved a bag of ice with an electric ice shaver but we had a few hand held ones that we used also. We poured the syrup on the ice and added some pomegranate seeds for additional texture and color and started to dream about what else we could use to make shave ice.

Passion Fruit Shave Ice with Pomegranate Seeds

Apple Cake

We have been making apple cake all week so I thought someone might be interested in the recipe.  The recipe that I use at home is from Saveur, and the cake that I make at school is a based on this recipe. http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Apple-Bundt-Cake

When we bake it school it is not very precise, maybe one group uses 1 cup of apples and another group uses 1 1/2 cups depending on how much grated apple stays on the table and how much goes into the batter so this recipe is more a guide then a strict formula.

2 Cups  Flour

1  teaspoon baking soda

1  teaspoon baking powder

1  teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

3/4 sugar

2 eggs

3 - 4  grated apples

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.  Mix the wet into the dry, the batter can be stiff, pour or scrape into a greased 9" x 12" pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes until it feels firm and pulls away from the sides a little.

APPLES

Kids usually like to eat apples, we made it extra fun by covering our apple slices with whipped ricotta and honey and using raisins and grapes for features.

Strawberry Orange Salad

Cutting the Oranges and Strawberries

The filling for the crepes was so delicious that we had to make a fruit salad with strawberries and oranges.  I don't usually think of these two fruits together but they compliment each other nicely and the end of the orange season is the beginning of the strawberry season so it makes sense.  Strawberries have been wonderful for the last few weeks and we have been using them as much as we can.  You don't really need a recipe for this just cut up strawberries and oranges and mix - some tangerine segments are a nice addition.

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!!!!!!!!!

Caesar Salad

I am aware that we do not eat enough vegetables and I am frequently told by parents that their children are picky eaters or will not eat salad but my experience cooking with students is that they love vegetables and salads.  The salad that no one seems able to resist is the Caesar salad that we make at Peralta.

The recipe for this salad is 
Romaine Hearts
Croutons
Grated Parmesan Cheese

The dressing is -
1 Bulb Crushed Garlic
2 teaspoons of Capers
Grated  Peel from One Lemon
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon of Dijon Mustard
1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

These amounts are approximate but should make a nice dressing - you can just mix all the ingredients together for a great dressing.  If you want to you can emulsify the dressing by mixing all the ingredients except the olive oil then add the olive oil slowly stirring all the time with a wire whisk.  My students have lots of energy and enthusiasm for vigorous whisking so we get great thick smooth dressings.

Green Salad with Oranges

We have been making this salad all winter with lettuce from the Peralta Gardens and oranges from neighborhood trees.  It is one of my favorite salads and my students enjoy it.  A few of the older students are getting pretty good at cutting off the orange peels and then slicing the oranges.




Lettuce
Peeled and sliced oranges
Tangerine segments
Sliced jicama
Sliced avocados
Dried Cranberries

I make a dressing with lemon peel, orange peel, lemon juice, orange juice, olive oil, a little dijon mustard and salt

Buckwheat Crepes

Making Crepes

I am so happy to see some spring fruits and vegetables at the markets and stores.  Strawberries are plentiful and inexpensive now so to celebrate we made buckwheat crepes filled with strawberries and oranges.  We added some vanilla yogurt for a sauce.  These are delicious, nutritious, gluten free, easy and fun to make.  This is the recipe that we used - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Basic-Buckwheat-Crepes-357236

Preparing the filing

Avocados

Cutting Cilantro

A recipe - you can decide on how much

Avocados

Chopped or mashed garlic

Chopped Cilantro

Chopped Jalapeno

Lime Juice

Salt

You can add also onions, jicama or tomatoes

This has been an amazing year for avocados, these all came from a tree in the neighborhood.  The avocado tree at Peralta is bearing fruit for the first time in any one's memory.  What is really surprising is that they taste great.  We have had a surfeit of them and so we made guacamole that we scooped up with carrots and jicama.  I was surprised at how many carrots the kids ate even after we finished the guacamole they couldn't get enough raw carrots.

Mashing Avocados

Eating Guacamole with carrots and jicama

Ribollita

We have been making lots of wonderful dishes with the greens from the garden this season, one of my favorites was a stew inspired by Ribollita the Tuscan stew made with lots of vegetables and several different kinds of greens.  We used canned tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, greens, garlic and cooked cannellini beans.  I cooked the greens, potatoes and carrots ahead of time so that we could prepare and eat this stew during our 45 minute class.   The students cut everything up and we put it in boiling water then let it cook while we cleaned up for about 10 minutes.  We added grated Parmesan cheese right before we ate the stew, which was fabulous.


Here is a recipe for a traditional version from Bonappetit -
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/02/ribollita

Citrus Week

The last week of January was citrus week at Peralta the entire school cooked recipes that featured citrus in one way or another

Kindergarten made a kale salad with lemon.  I have learned that knives and Kindergartners are not a good combination so making this kale salad with scissors was perfect.  We added lemon juice, lemon peel, tangerine slices, olive oil and salt.  The kale was grown in our gardens

 

    









Second Grade classes made orange cake that filled the entire pod with the most amazing aroma.                                                          

 1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

1tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup oil

2 oranges

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl.  We used the entire orange grated on a grater, the Cuisinart works also but isn't as hands on.  Mix the wet and dry ingredients and pour into a 9" x 12" pan and bake at 350 until done, about 20 - 25 minutes in our little convection oven, possibly a little longer in a conventional oven.  

Third Grade Students made a citrus salad with Oranges, Tangerines, Grapefruit, Pineapple and Lime Juice.  

 

A Fourth grade class made preserved Meyer lemons.  The recipe that I have been using has been a little too salty lately so you might add less salt.
 http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Preserved-Meyer-Lemons-102747

Fifth grade students drew all the different kinds of citrus and then tasted them.

Broccoli and Citrus Salad

What's more fun peeling tangerines or cutting broccoli?

Even though some Presidents aren't fond of it kids usually like cooked broccoli. This recipe makes it even better.

To make this recipe we used -

Cooked or steamed broccoli
Peeled and segmented tangerines
A dressing of rice wine vinegar, a little roasted sesame oil and salt.

We made this salad with the addition
of steamed brussel sprouts
in a first grade class

The addition of some steamed brussel sprouts was also very good.  We made this salad right before lunch in a first grade classroom and the students couldn't get enough of it.

These are students lining up for seconds

Winter Greens and Pasta Salad

We have a nice crop of winter greens  
in the Peralta Garden this year
including red and green chard,
red kale, collards and sorrel. We made
a wonderful salad with all of the different
greens and some pasta

Red Chard 

Sorrel and Chard



This is of course a rough recipe but any combination
should be good. We added tomatoes and sorrel but
they are optional. The basic recipe is cooked greens,
pasta, Parmesan cheese, garlic and lemon juice.

1 pound cooked pasta
1-2 bunches cooked greens - kale is good
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 - 2 lemons
Grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove of smashed garlic
Olive Oil
Salt

Another Positive Review

Rice Salad with Roast Persimmons

This salad got a good review

When I started thinking about this entire week of celebrating persimmons I wasn't really sure what I could make besides salads and cake so I did a little research and came across roast persimmons.  Wow they are a revelation!  I am still figuring out exactly what can be done with a roast persimmon but the few times we have used them they are really wonderful.  This rice salad used about -

4 cups Cooked Rice
1 Roast Delicata Squash
2 Roast Persimmons
1 lb. Roast Baby Carrots

Students helped me to peel and cut the squash into batons that we tossed in olive oil and salt and then roasted until they were soft and a little browned.  The Persimmons were peeled and cut into quarters also tossed in olive oil and salt and then roasted until they were soft and a little browned, the carrots got the same treatment. The cooking class cut all the roast vegetables into small pieces and we mixed it all together.  I added a little salt and olive oil but really the roast vegetables had plenty of flavor.

Quantities are hard to remember - I think I used 4 cups of uncooked rice, 5 lbs. of carrots, about 6 squash and maybe 6 persimmons.  We also added a few handfuls of roast broccoli but I don't think that it was really necessary.  

We did not make this at school

I got so excited about roast persimmons that we made a tart with a lemon/orange curd and roast persimmons

Green Salad with Persimmons

Drying the spinach was actually way too much fun

We made two green salads in our week of cooking persimmons.  I started the week with a 3 pound bag of baby spinach and 1 1/2 pounds of romaine hearts and it was all used by the time we were done.

The #1 Salad (Pretty Conventional)
Baby Spinach
Persimmons
Jicama
Fennel

With a Rice Wine Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil Dressing


The #2 Salad (Not so Conventional but very good)
Baby Spinach
Romaine Lettuce
Persimmons
Oranges
Apples

The dressing was Blended Hachiya Persimmons, Yogurt, Lime Juice, Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil

Winter Fruit Salad and Salsa with Persimmons

Winter fruit can make a great fruit salad.  For this remarkably good fruit salad that was made by fifth grade classes  we used -



Fuyu Persimmons
Oranges
Tangerines
Apples
Pomegranate Seeds
Mint
Lime Juice

Chopping Fruits and Vegetables for Salsa

In one of the fourth grade classes we made persimmon salsa with these basic ingredients

Fuyu Persimmons
Jicama
Cilantro
Oranges
Lime

We divided the class up into five different groups, each group made a slight variation.  One group substituted lemon juice for lime, another group added a pepper, another group added green tomato, one group got a little hot sauce.  There were some allergies to citrus and jicama so one group had no citrus and another had no jicama.  A hot pepper would have been a nice addition but I don't let students handle hot peppers.  When all the salsas were done the students had some time to sample each one and decide which they liked best.  I highly recommend this salsa especially now when the local tomatoes aren't very good.