The Out of the Box chefs turned their heaping farm box into an array of colorful dishes for the Hub workers Tuesday morning.   Eight rutabagas were the challenge of the day, and these creative chefs found three ways to incorporate them into today’s meal. A quinoa dish was served with additions of roasted pumpkin, sautéed kale and rutabaga. Delicious pasta was served with sautéed mushrooms, roasted pumpkin seeds, garlic, olive oil, a bit of Dijon, honey, and parmesan.  These dishes were complimented by three crisp salads, one consisting of mandarins with a rice vinegar dressing, another featured diced rutabagas, and the last consisted of apples and shaved carrots tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.  A last minute idea brought some sushi rolls to the table, as brown rice, shaved carrots, and rutabagas were rolled around nori paper.  A fruit salad was also thrown together with leftover mandarins, apples, and strawberries in a balsamic vinegar dressing.  These young cooks never cease to impress!

Ten swift little cooks churned their box of produce into quite the palatable lunch at the Hub this Tuesday. This crew was all business today, immediately washing, chopping, slicing, and sauteing upon the farm box arrival. Dishes included 3 large crunchy salads, basil ricotta crostini's, mushroom orzo, cheesy broccoli, and fresh strawberries tossed with ricotta, cream, and honey toasted almonds.  The students got creative with their salads, one was brightened with grapefruits and tangerines, another was tossed with vinaigrette, crisp apples, cheddar cheese, and red onions, while the last disappeared in a flash due to the homemade garlic croutons, olives, and ricotta toppled over the lettuce.  As usual, many happy and hungry Hub workers came to join the kids for the meal they prepared.  The strawberry ricotta dessert was also quite the hit, and students shared the recipe with some curious Hub workers.

Today was the day that we FINALLY created our gingerbread house village!  But before we could start on the sugary construction, we first created something savory.  We began the class by talking about different ways to eat eggs.  Some eat them simply fried in a pan, some eat them in a sandwich, some scrambled.  I introduced them to a fun way to eat eggs - hint - its from Italy (we visited there a couple months ago, remember?) FRITTATAS!  Frittatas a a wonderful way to eat eggs because you can be creative with the veggies that go into it!  Today we used green beans and Swiss chard (remember to eat those greens!)  But you can use anything from potatoes to bell peppers, to spinach and mushrooms!  We started by reading the recipe as a group, to see what we needed to do - keeping track of time so that we don't miss out on assembling our ginger breads!  We began chopping the green beans, washing and chopping the greens.  Those went into a saute pan with some olive oil and salt.  While the veggies were sauteing, a group of boys began grating the cheese, and another group cracked eggs into a bowl.  Half the cheese was added to the bowl and it went straight into the perfectly al dente veggies (you don't want to overcook them!  They finish in the oven.)  With a little sprinkling of cheese, this frittata was ready to pop in the oven - and cook for 15 minutes while the kids quickly cleaned up the work space to make room for our gingerbread houses!

With a little help from our neighboring architecture class, we came together to assemble each carefully cut gingerbread cookie.  Our icing perhaps wasn't strong enough - or it could have been that the gingerbread village was on the North Pole fault line - our gingerbread houses suffered some structural damage and did not want to stay upright!  Don't worry, there was plenty of landscaping and icing stealing to be done!  Either way - we all had fun decorating our gingerbread!

We finished the class by sampling out frittatas - and admiring our gingerbread village.  A great way to end the day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break - filled with lots of warm food and treats!  

Take care, and see you next year!

Of course, the recipes: 
Frittata
 
Ingredients:
8-10 eggs
2-3 cups assorted veggies and herbs
½ cup grated cheese
2 Tablespoons water
1.5 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
 
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375.  Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk just to blend.
Wash and roughly chop the vegetables and herbs.  Add ¼ cup of the cheese (half), the water, the salt and pepper to the eggs, stir to blend. 
 
In a large pan, heat the olive oil to medium heat.  Add the vegetables and herbs and cook until they are tender – but not completely cooked.  Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and herbs, stir to blend.  Heat until the eggs are half cooked.  DO NOT OVERCOOK as the frittata will finish cooking in the oven. 
 
With the back of a spoon, smooth the top of the frittata and top with the remaining cheese.  Transfer the skillet to a preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the frittata is puffy and golden brown.  Remove the frittata from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before slicing into wedges, like a pie. 

Tartine Comes to the Ferry Building!

Have you ever seen a Buddha's hand? And I'm not talking about a real hand - this funky fruit looks like a bright yellow octopus, but smells like a lemon! Buddha's hand was just one of many citrus fruits we got experiment with, thanks to Laurie Ellen from Tartine Bakery, Hamada Farms, and Marshals Farm Honey! First we learned how to zest and peel fruits to candy the rinds - tangerines, oranges, lemons, Meyer lemons, and Buddha's hand! Then each team was assigned a special baking project - French madeleines, lemon icebox cookies, and mini citrus bundt cakes in lots of fun shapes. Each baking project used a different citrus fruit - the madeleines had orange zest and a citrus glaze, the lemon icebox cookies used lemon zest, and the mini bundt cakes used citrus zest and were topped with a citrus simple syrup - yum! To top it off, all of the sweet confections were topped with fresh, local honey for a little bit of added sweetness and texture. If you want to try these at home this citrus season, here's how it's done!

Citrus Bundts

Tools:
Mini Bundt Pan
Mixing Bowls
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Spoon
 
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 Organic Valley eggs
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup Straus Creamery plain yogurt
2 Tbsp poppy seeds, optional
1 Tbsp fresh citrus zest from Hamada farms

Honey for glazing, optional - we used Marshals Farm honey - the wild blackberry flavor! Yum!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pans by greasing and dusting lightly with flour.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds.
In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, egg, oil, yogurt, and citrus zest.
Mix wet into dry and stir just to combine.
Fill bundt pan 2/3 full, bake for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from pan, when cool and if you didn't use poppy seeds, drizzle with honey when cool.

Citrus Glazed Madeleines

Tools:
Madeleine Pan
Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
Mixing Bowls
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Mesh Seive
 
Ingredients:
1 ½ sticks Straus Creamery unsalted butter, melted
¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour
4 Organic Valley eggs
pinch salt
2/3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp citrus zest from Hamada Farms 
1 tsp vanilla extract

for glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp citrus juice (we used Meyer lemons from Hamada Farms!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pans by greasing and dusting lightly with flour
Melt butter over low heat until it turns dark brown and smells nutty. Remove from heat and strain over a mesh seive lined with paper towels.
While butter is melting, beat eggs on high speed until they double in volume, about 3 minutes.
Add sugar slowly, while continuing to mix on medium speed. Once sugar is incorporated return to high speed and mix until ribbony.
Fold in citrus zest and vanilla.
Add flour and fold in gently.
Pour strained, melted butter over mixture and fold just to incorporate.
Scoop into prepared pans and bake 8-10 minutes, or until edges are a deep golden brown.
Remove from oven and bang pan to release madeleines, let cool.
Glaze madeleines by first combining powdered sugar and citrus juice to make a thick glaze, then brush on each individual madeleine,let set and serve.
Store in an airtight container, but they are best when eaten immediately.

Citrus Icebox Cookies

Tools:
Sheet Trays
Parchment Paper
Mixing Bowls
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
 
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (for a cookie with a nutty flavor use ¾ cup buckwheat flour with 1 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour)
2 sticks unsalted butter from Straus Creamery, at room temp
2/3 cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp citrus zest (again - that Hamada farms citrus was so wonderful in here!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line sheet trays with parchment paper.
Beat butter, salt, and sugar on high until creamy, about one minute.
Add flour and mix on medium speed until it comes together.
Add vanilla extract and citrus zest and mix just to combine.
Pour dough out onto parchment paper and form into a log. Fold parchment over log and seal, pressing to form a round log.
Refrigerate or freeze until solid, about one hour.
Remove log and slice into medallions about ¼ inch in thickness.
Place on sheet trays and bake for 12-15 minutes until edges are light golden brown.

Candied Citrus

Tools:
2 qt or larger pot
fine mesh seive
 
Ingredients:
1 cup citrus (any kind - Buddah's hand, mandarin, meyer lemon, regular lemon...)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Directions:

1. Peel citrus into strips or chop into small cubes. Any shape is fine!
2. Stir sugar and water together in the 2 qt pot over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a simmer and add citrus. Turn heat to low. 
3. Place a small square of parchment paper over the top of the citrus so that it rests directly on top of the sugar/water mixture and citrus. This acts as a sort of "lid."
4. Let the citrus simmer in the sugar-water over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until tender.  
5. Remove from heat and pour the mixture over the sieve into a separate bowl, reserving the liquid.
6. Place the citrus on parchment paper to cool. 
7. The candied citrus can be used to top desserts, chocolate dipped, or enjoyed as is! The liquid is a citrus simple syrup that can be used in place of any regular simple syrup, and is delicious on the citrus bundts (see recipe above)!

Happy candying and baking!

Who knew veggies could taste so good? Fresh green broccoli, bright orange sweet potatoes, and crunchy carrots from Chue Farms stole the show in this class! Chef Dennis gave us an important knife skills lesson as we peeled, chopped, and sliced the fresh produce in preparation for the batter and fryer. Then we learned how to make real tempura batter - who knew it was so simple! After the veggies and batter were prepared, we went into the kitchen with Dennis and got to put the veggies in the fryer ourselves and learned how to work with hot oil safely. The best part? Getting to try the freshly fried tempura while it was hot...sometimes a little too hot! When the frying was all done, Dennis showed us how to plate the tempura the way they do at Namu - a little bit of grated daikon, some dipping sauce, and a towering stack of fresh tempura vegetables! 

Want to try it again at home? Here's what you'll need! 

Ingredients:

Fresh vegetables - broccoli, sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, and squash are all good options!  Chue Farms is known for their specialty Asian vegetables, (Chef Dennis loves them!) - visit them at the Ferry Building farmers market and try out their fun and delicious produce! 

Oil for frying

Tempura Batter:
1 Organic Valley egg
1 cup water
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon corn starch

Tempura Dipping Sauce
1 cup dashi soup stock
1/4 cup mirin (rice wine)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp sugar

Grated daikon

How To:
1. Cut the vegetables into thin slices, peeling the carrots but leaving the skins on for other veggies. 
2. To make the batter, mix the egg and water together, then add the flour and corn starch, mixing rapidly with a fork or whisk. It's okay if it is a little lumpy!
3. Pour the oil into a heavy pot, no more than 1/3 of the way full for safety. You can also use a deep fryer here if you have one! Heat up the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don't have a thermometer, you can check to see if it is hot enough by dropping some batter in the oil - it should shoot up to the surface quickly if the oil is ready.
4. Prepare a large plate lined with paper towels or newspaper as a draining rack.
5. Dip the vegetables, one at a time, into the batter and be sure that all excess batter has dripped off to avoid splattering the oil. Slowly place it into the hot oil, being sure not to drop it or the oil will splash. Only do a few pieces at a time to avoid overcrowding the pot.
6. Remove vegetables as they are ready - thin veggies only need a few seconds, and harder ones need about a minute. Drain the finished vegetables on the draining plate.
7. Plate the tempura, stacking them into a small pile on the plate, and enjoy with dipping sauce and some grated daikon! Enjoy while hot!

Happy Holidays everyone! 

Yesterday at Beach Elementary, we filled the halls of the school with the scent of gingerbread cookies baking. The little chefs each got a ball of gingerbread dough (made during the last class) at their station and went to work rolling it out to a thickness of about and fourth of an inch. There was some pounding of the dough with the rolling pins, some holes poked in them by little fingers in search of samples, and comments about the coloring of the dark brown dough (molasses!). Paper templates of the different walls and roofing for the gingerbread houses were passed around and the little chefs went to work cutting the pieces out--although some were more creatively shaped than the templates called for! We'll have to have some strong icing next week so that we can assemble our pieces into houses. The extra dough that was left was molded into little gingerbread people, funny shapes, or "snacking pieces" as lovingly termed by the boys. While the gingerbread pieces were baking the little chefs began making salads. We had both fruit salad and green salad. The green salad was washed and ripped by one team while another made curly garnishes with shredded carrots. Another team made concocted the salad dressing. The next team cut up apples for the fruit salad, a Waldorf salad to be specific. This salad had chopped apples, in interestingly shaped pieces, yogurt, and dried fruit. As the gingerbread came out of the oven, staff from the school kept poking their heads in to see what the lovely aroma was! Class ended with sampling of salads and small pieces of gingerbread. Next week will be the construction of the gingerbread houses and putting them onto the Santa's Village set, made for us by the architecture class next door!

Here are yesterday's recipes...

Simple green salad with "Carrot Ribbons"

2 Carrots, peeled
1 head lettuce, washed and torn into bite sized pieces (romaine, green leaf, or red leaf)
1/4 cup garbanzo beans, canned
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1.  Using a peeler, peel carrots to make ribbons and add to greens in a large mixing bowl.
2.  Mince garlic and place in a small bowl.  Add vinegar and allow to sit for one minute (helps to soften the garlic flavor)
3.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper (taste the dressing using a piece of lettuce!)
4.  Add the dressing  - you might not need all of it - just enough to coat the leaves!  
5.  Sprinkle garbanzo beans on top and serve!

Stephanie's "Waldorf Salad"

Serves 4 as a side dish

3 Apples, chopped into small dice
Handful of raisins
1/2 cup Straus Creamery Plain yogurt

Mix all ingredients into a bowl and serve!