The Kitchen

  • Apricot and Honey Balls

    150g dried apricots, diced 100g sultanas 1 cup apple juice 8 Weetbix ¼ cup honey Desiccated coconut METHOD Wash your hands. Pour the coconut into a shallow bowl and put to the side for later. Crush the Weetbix using your hands and then by squashing with a rolling pin and put into a large bowl….

  • Sugar Violets

    INGREDIENTS Violets (edible flower) Egg white Caster sugar Baking paper Tray Small paintbrush METHOD Line the tray with paper. After picking the flowers, stand the stems in a jar of water. The flowers must stay dry. Beat the egg white with a fork or small whisk. Hold one violet and use the paintbrush to carefully paint the…

  • Minty Melon Salad

    1/4 watermelon 1/2 rockmelon 1/2 honeydew melon 4 tbs orange juice 3 tbs honey 1tbs lemon juice Mint METHOD: Wash hands. Cut the melons into 2cm cubes or, if you have a melon baller, scoop out balls of melon.  Place into a serving bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the orange juice, honey and lemon…

  • Perfect Mashed Potato

    5 medium potatoes (Royal Blue or Nadine) 2 tbs butter 1/3 cup milk 1 tsp salt   METHOD: Wash hands. Peel potatoes.  Cut each potato into 6 pieces. Place the potatoes into a large saucepan and fill with cold water until they are covered.  Add salt. Place the saucepan on the heat and bring the…

  • Mashing Vegetables

    MASHING POTATOES & PUMPKIN Start with large chunks of cooked potato or pumpkin in a straight sided saucepan.  Use a potato masher to keep squashing the vegetables until they are smooth and there are no obvious lumps.  You have to use your muscles when mashing so it might be easier to move the saucepan to…

  • Rules for the Kitchen

    SAFETY IN THE KITCHEN ALWAYS ASK AN ADULT TO HELP WHEN COOKING!  NEVER COOK ON YOUR OWN! Use safe cutting techniques when working with knives.  Ask an adult to show you how. Turn the handles of saucepans to the back of the stove so that they won’t get knocked over as you work. Always turn off blenders…

  • Boiling and Simmering

    BOILING LIQUID To boil liquid, the saucepan needs to go on medium-high heat until lots and lots of bubbles rush to the surface. At this stage, the liquid is very hot and in the case of water, is 100°C.  Food is rarely cooked in boiling liquid for long; normally it is brought to a boil…

  • Peeling Vegetables

    Not all vegetables need to be peeled before they are eaten but they all need to be washed well first.  Old potatoes should be peeled but baby potatoes just need to be scrubbed; young carrots also don’t need to be peeled before they are eaten.  The recipe will tell you whether to peel a vegetable or…

  • Shredding Cabbage

    Vegetables such as cabbage are shredded so that they can be used in coleslaw and for cooking in the microwave, steamer or frypan.  To shred a cabbage, it first needs to be cut in half and then each piece needs to be cut into half again.  Cut out the hard core as this part isn’t…

  • Grating Vegetables and Cheese

    Vegetables and cheese are grated so that they are very thin; much thinner than can be achieved with a knife.  Grated cheese is used in sandwiches and salads and hard cheeses such as parmesan are very finely grated to sprinkle over Italian dishes such as spaghetti bolognese. Graters come with different size holes.  The larger…