Highfield Hall Cooks!

WOW!

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in because I've got a lot to tell you!

Let's begin with the garden. I have to admit, that somewhere in, oh, maybe May, the garden became something of a Sisyphean challenge. I had a plan in my head of what I wanted out there on our patch of dirt and I just couldn't get the thing going in the right direction. I could see other vegetable gardens popping up in back yards all around us, but all we had was this,

which was certainly usable as a practical garden space—there was amended soil and the beds had been raised and I have no doubt that things would have grown there. But, I wanted something more for the kids. I wanted a space where they could use their imagination, where the pathways would flow around the beds in a way that would be inviting and freeing, and where they would stand, arms outstretched, soak it all in, and then run around and around without sharp corners to slow or stop their movement.

The thing is, I'm no artist of the garden. I mean, I've grown things. Lots of things. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, chard, spinach, even a few melons here and there, and one summer I pulled weeds out of the sun-baked earth at a CSA in New York where I worked for my produce, but I never sat down and made a plan or considered where things should be planted for aesthetics. My method has always been to look around for a sunny spot, plop some things in the dirt, and hope for the best. 

It was clear to me, right from the beginning that I needed some help figuring out whether what I wanted could be pulled off in that space. We're a little sun-challenged in certain parts and a large part of the garden is in shade after 1pm. I was still teaching classes on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and time was running out.

That's where Paul Marini and Nellie Emigh came in. They knew immediately what I wanted. Nellie has worked with children outdoors before and Paul is a crack landscape designer. The two of them put their heads together and came up with a plan that is, for the most part, what you will see if you go out there and have a look today. It is truly wonderful. The kids love it, adults love it, I love it, and we are all so grateful for the work they did. Not only did they design the space, but they managed to get us the extra loam we needed (dirt to you and me), found someone to donate 6 yards of mulch for the pathways (a HUGE thank you to All Cape Recycling!!) and brought someone in to help us move the mulch around (many thanks to Dave!), plant shopped with me on the rainiest of late-spring days, gave us a fig and a plum tree among other things, and even recently dropped off some drip hoses to help with irrigation. They are, without a doubt, the reason this garden exists, and they are two of the most fantastic people I have ever had the pleasure to know.

Paul and Nellie and I couldn't have done all that work by ourselves—we owe a huge thank you to the Ostroff and Marzot families, as well as to my seemingly indefatigable parents who both worked in the garden and donated plants, Jane and Mike Cahoon for donating plants, my husband for getting the sprinklers going, and the very lovely (and strong!) Sandy Richardson who spent quite a few hours up there planting and cutting down saplings for the bean teepee.

Here's what it looked like before we put any plants in the ground.

There's no photo that could do the change any real justice, but here you can begin to get the idea. Free form shapes, flowing pathways, and a larger area in which to roam. After the beds were moved and amended with a full pallet of manure donated by an anonymous person (hint: I've already thanked that person above!) I was given some baby praying mantises by Jenna and her mom, Julie Arruda.

I know, I'm not the best bug photographer in the world, but these things were TINY—like large mosquitoes. You could see the general shape of praying mantis-ness in them, but they could easily have been mistaken for something else entirely.

My daughter, and her friend, Amalia (a great lover of bugs), released them one sunny morning:

There's one on Amalia's tiny hand!

Not long after the praying mantises took up residence we got the plants in the ground.

Just a few short weeks later almost everything has tripled or quadrupled in size. Our bean plants, in spite of the fact that they're still quite small, are producing beans—yellow wax beans, bush beans, green stringless beans, and royal burgundy beans have all shown themselves already. We have about 80 different things growing out there. Everything from blueberries and figs to hollyhocks and sunflowers. Four kinds of mint and thyme, at least eight different varieties of tomatoes (including some heirloom varieties like purple Cherokee, Mr. Stripey, and Lemon Boy), an interesting purple tomatillo, yellow, red, green, chocolate beauty, and purple peppers. Strawberries, watermelons (yellow doll and sugar baby), pumpkins, cantaloupe, zucchini (of course), bright lights swiss chard, mustard greens, lettuces, you name it and we've either got one or have plans to get one.

And the best part is that we've already made use of some of our plants in the kitchen!

Speaking of which, the summer program started last week and we are off to a great start with the first week of Rake and Bake coming to a successful end. Because this is already crazy long I'll just give you a brief synopsis of what we did—with pictures, of course!

Monday we started with an introduction to the garden, during which the children exclaimed loudly over the scented geraniums, different varieties of herbs, and ran around excitedly pointing out the plants they already knew. Even though I'd hoped for some great garden involvement I never could have imagined how much they would enjoy being out there. After we spent some time making herb biscuits in the kitchen that day (using fresh herbs from the garden!)

we went back out and weeded because the weeds loved the manure and have taken off in much the same manner as the rest of the plants.

Tuesday we decided to make little berry pies

And birdhouses decorated with things we found on a quick morning nature walk

And then the children BEGGED to go out and weed some more. I swear, it's true!

Wednesday was bread and scarecrow day, which started with mixing dough in saucepans

and carrying a bale of straw down the hill.

We stuffed the legs, body, and head and everyone added something to the face

Now he stands proudly in the garden doing his job near the blueberry bushes (now maybe we'll be able to get to the berries before the birds do!).

Everyone went home with a fresh, hot loaf (or two) of whole wheat bread.

Thursday we made more bread and chicken salad for sandwiches, using a variety of thyme picked from the garden. Fiona chose lemon thyme and silver thyme, and Allison picked English thyme. Malcolm (who is only 6) has already acquired some terrific knife skills, as you can see here:

So has Henry:

Malcolm's sister, Fiona, added fresh thyme to her bread this time around and was particularly enamored of the result:

I think I even caught her hugging it at one point.

Friday I was coerced to make it cake day—the girls made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the boys opted for chocolate.

(Someone got a little carried away with the sprinkles—I won't say who….) Afterwards we made small birdbaths out of terra cotta pots. They all did a fantastic job!

One final thing we did this week was create individual recipe and photo books to take home. We'll do the same every week. Allison was kind enough to let me photograph hers to share with you:

I'm looking forward to week 2 of Rake and Bake and our first week of Green Teens. Who knows what adventures we'll get up to! Stay tuned….

(Now I'm going to have to hope really hard that Typepad will upload such a huge post!)

 

 

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

The lovely Sarah has been in my Kids Café class for both sessions, so I was thrilled to help give her a birthday party to remember. The girls really enjoyed themselves. The pictures tell the story.

Even mom and dad had fun!

 

For more information about cooking birthdays at Highfield email me or call Highfield Hall at 508.495.1878.

Tortillas and Salsa, Oh My!

My little friend Ella requested quesadillas for the last class of the Tots 'n Pans session. Of course, I was more than happy to accommodate that request because I've made quesadillas before with both the children in the Kids Café and my Young Epicureans with a large measure of success. It's a lot of fun to make and shape one's own tortillas and these kids love to make dough. Any kind of dough. I asked, as I always do, after the dough was mixed, what to do, and Abigail raised her hand and said, "We have to let the dough rest," which Roberto followed up with, "The dough has to go night-night."

All together now: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! How cute was that?!

And now, rather than waxing on, here's a little peek into the world of Tots 'n' Pans—more specifically, two peeks:

Tots n' Pans Talk and Chop from Highfield Chef on Vimeo.
Tots Make Quesadillas from Highfield Chef on Vimeo.

 

 

 

Sushi, Spring Rolls, and Thai Fried Bananas

When I asked the Young Epicureans what they wanted to do for the last class Stephen piped up with a quick, "SUSHI!" Chloe, from the Kids Café is also a huge sushi fan and had been asking for it since the first session. I'd put them off because sushi requires a little bit of extra focus. Not to mention some tools I didn't yet have in the kitchen. Namely, these:

Rice paddles and bamboo mats. It's quite possible to make sushi without either of them, but I knew the plastic wrap method would be much too difficult for the kids, so I ordered a bunch from Ming's Pantry, which turned out to be right up the road in New Bedford, of all places!

When I told the Kids Café and Young Epicureans kids that we'd be making Sushi some of them were a little worried because they thought they were going to have to eat raw fish. I let them worry until the day we were scheduled to do it, and then explained to them that sushi is actually just "vinegar rice." It is often garnished with raw fish and vegetables, but it doesn't require raw fish. Sashimi, on the other hand, which we weren't making, is raw fish.

I gathered together some sushi rice (a medium grain), nori, a rainbow of bell peppers, celery, cucumber, avocado, carrots, tofu, and some fresh herbs, and we made sushi. The rice is easy to make. Just rinse the rice in water until it is no longer cloudy, steam it, and then season it with a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and mirin. Some people recommend fanning the rice so it will become shiny and have a pearl-like appearance, but I wasn't particularly concerned about that for this exercise. I figured we'd be lucky to get something the even approximated the look of a California roll.

I have to say that the kids, all of them, surprised me. The Kids Café cooks really enjoyed the prep. There were even some moments of extreme silence, which hasn't happened since the first day of the first class ever when they were all too terrified to do anything but stand silently at attention. The peeled and julienned and chiffonaded (is that a word?) their little hearts out.

They had the focus of a herd of Ninjas. And they made some pretty fantastic-looking sushi rolls.

We also made fresh Thai spring rolls

My teenagers did a great job the Friday before too

In addition to Sushi and fresh rolls, the Young Epicureans got to make Thai fried bananas—basically just bananas wrapped in eggroll wrappers and pan friend. I suggested rolling the banana in Chinese Five Spice powder and sugar first, but no one was brave enough to try.

Henry's a very nonchalant chef. Calm and collected.

Emily, on the other hand…I'm not sure who took this picture, but it's a beauty!

Stephen thoroughly enjoyed his Thai fresh roll (although I think the peanut dipping sauce was a little too spicy for him). AGAIN we missed Dominique—she was in a chorale competition. Her group won, so I guess it was worth missing all of us for something a lot less tasty.

 

Spoil ‘Em Then Shock ‘Em

I've kind of adopted this little policy in my head that if I know I'm going to challenge the kids' taste buds one week I'll spoil them a little bit the week before. Call it a false sense of security, if you will. This is not to say that we go crazy and make, say, candy houses and chocolate flowers (although now that I've said it the idea intrigues me) or break out a box of mac and cheese (I'm not the least bit intrigued by that idea), but I'll usually give them a break with something I know they're going to love—like things made with enriched bread dough. The only trouble with yeast bread was that I couldn't figure out how to accomplish some good artisanal loaves in these short, once-a-week classes. First of all, we don't have a mixer big enough to handle a large amount of dough and all that mixing and kneading by hand would more than likely be too difficult for all the kids (including my Young Epicureans) and secondly, there simply isn't enough time for all the mixing, rising, punching, rising, and proofing in one class.

And then I found this:

 

What a great book! The mixing is minimal and the dough does all the hard work by itself. All the kids have to do is combine the ingredients in a bowl, make sure everything is incorporated, and then leave it on the counter to rise. Then it goes in the refrigerator for up to five days. It's so easy that I was even able to have the Kids Café class mix small, individual batches and combine them in one big plastic container for later use. There were variations in each little batch, but together they made a great dough.

For Friday's Young Epicureans class I mixed the initial batch of dough (they mixed another one later for the Kids Café class). While I was mixing someone came into the kitchen to talk to me and I lost track of what I was doing. As a result I halved the amount of water I needed and doubled the amount of honey. Since we were doing sticky buns in that class I decided to let it go, but cautioned the kids that it was going to take extra time to rise. Because of my error we didn't bake any that night and instead everyone took them home to rise overnight for baking in the morning. Just so I could see the results myself I brought a batch home too and was pleasantly surprised.

(I'm most likely going to adopt the accidental recipe and use it instead of the recipe from the book!)

That same night the Young Epicureans made Souffléed Banana Pancakes with caramelized bananas and every one of them came out great. (Unfortunately I was camera-less that night, so you'll just have to take my word for it.)

Two days later my Kids Café kids made pecan sticky buns too, but they also made Challah bread.

They enjoyed rolling and braiding the dough.

And they decorated with poppy seeds.  A few of them seemed underwhelmed with the size of their loaves, but their disappointment dissolved the moment the hot, steaming, golden breads emerged from the oven.

My favorite part of the day (and I think it might be theirs too!) is when they get to taste what they've eaten. Inevitably a group of them ends up under the small table having a conversation while they devour the fruits of their labor.

Tots are Goin’ Crackers!

Graham and cheese crackers, that is. No, not all in one! This last class was all about crackers, and I realize that graham crackers are really just cookies, but how many of you have actually made your own graham crackers? Uh huh. That's what I thought! These kids have one up on you now, so you better get your culinary act together. Now, you might think that graham flour is a really special flour. And, in a way, it is. But, there's no such thing as a graham plant. Graham is not a whole grain or special type of grass. In fact, it's simply a type of whole wheat flour that has been ground in such a way that it contains more bran than whole wheat flour. In the early part of the 19^th century it was named for Rev. Sylvester Graham, who believed it to be more nutritious. Today some producers, like King Arthur, still make graham flour, and if you can't find it in your grocery store some natural foods stores carry it, but you can easily approximate your own by substituting 2 Tablespoons of wheat germ for 2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour per cup of flour in your recipe (in other words each cup of flour in your recipe would be 7/8 whole wheat flour 1/8 wheat germ).

We used all purpose flour augmented with some wheat germ simply because it is easier for the littlest kids to handle (it's more durable!), and we added honey and sprinkled the tops with cinnamon and sugar. The kids especially loved poking holes in the dough.

Some of the "crackers" had more holes than dough, it seemed!

They were all different shapes and sizes, but they looked terrific and tasted good too!

Cheese crackers were second on the agenda, and the Tots got to cut them in a wide variety of shapes.

They emerged from the oven in all their cheesy goodness just as parents were arriving, and they were yummy!

Memorial Day Weekend Breakfast

We had a light turn-out for the last Kids Café class because of the holiday weekend, but we still had a ton of fun, and because the class was small enough I even got to cook! The day's menu was Chive, Ham, and Potato Frittatas and Banana Bread. I love chives because they're one of the season's first signs that fresh garden vegetables are on the way.

Sunday's chives had been up long enough to produce some flowers, so the kids also got to see what a chive flower looks like. I was a little worried they wouldn't want to cook with them, but my fears couldn't have been more unfounded. Everyone chopped and sprinkled without complaint, and to my surprise, Xavier stood there eating one long grassy piece after another as he waited for his frittata to emerge from the oven.

The frittata above belonged to Jillian, who was thoughtful enough to cut hers into four portions so the rest of her family could enjoy her cooking. Everyone had a chance to work on the stove this week and some of the budding chefs were brave enough to try chopping with a chef's knife.

The mini banana breads filled the kitchen with an irresistible aroma and provided a satisfying end to a warm spring morning in Highfield's kitchen.

 

Just look at Jenna's happy little face.

Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer on Cape Cod, and after we were all done cooking we celebrated by rolling down the grassy hill in front of Highfield. What could be better?!

It’s a Long Way from Three to Thirteen

It is, really. Thirteen year olds are light years away from three year olds in so many, many ways, but when it comes to handling dough they're closer together than they might think. They also really, really like pizza.

In this class, of course, there's a lot more freedom (and time) to come up with some unique creations.

I was glad to see them using their sautéing skills to cook onions, and their newfound knowledge of stovetop pepper roasting to roast and peel peppers to use as another topping. Sliced mushrooms were also a popular addition.

As always, there was friendly goofiness, fun conversation, and lots of giggling, all of which I am not allowed to blog because I'm sworn to secrecy in spite of my whining that they are leaving me with very little blog fodder.

 

Instead of telling you about teenage romance, friendship dramas, and general goofing around I suppose all I have left to report is that we also made Italian sugar cookies, but none of us was particularly impressed with the results. They were dry and, in retrospect, could have used a generous drizzling of icing.

 

Pizza Perfect Morning

I know they're out there somewhere, but it's a rare child who doesn't like a good pizza. An even rarer child who doesn't like playing with a little pizza dough. The recipe we use in class makes for a truly epicurean experience. I might even venture to say that this dough is positively luxurious. It is easily stretched by its own weight—no need for tossing. Thank goodness, too, because who knows what could happen in a kitchen full of dough-tossing tots! As it was we had plenty of other things to get us messy.

Everyone made his or her own sauce, and let me just say right now that even though it's one of the best sauces I've ever had, it's a bit of a menace. It jumped all over Reilly's head and got in her hair! On the plus side, Reilly didn't seem to mind a bit, and was distracted by the beautiful basil and scrumptious fresh mozzarella and aged provolone we had for toppings.

 

I'm not sure how it happened, but the mozzarella disappeared almost as quickly as it was cut and let's just say it didn't all go on the pizzas. Abigail might know where it went!

What we created were truly traditional pizzas margherita, right in our own ovens. Do you know the origin of Pizza Margherita? No? Well, in 1899 Queen Marghereta visited Naples to escape the cholera epidemic that had invaded the northern part of Italy and chef Raffaelle Esposito served her a special pizza, whose colors (red tomatoes, white mozzarella, and green basil) represented the colors of the Italian flag. The Queen so enjoyed her pizza that she sent the chef a thank you note. He then decided to name the pizza after her.

The hot pizzas emerged just as parents were arriving for pick up, but we still had some time to enjoy them. Crispy chewy crust, hot and spicy sauce (we gave it a little kick with some cayenne pepper), gooey melted mozz, and aromatic cooked basil. Yum!

Ten Pots a’ Boiling…60 Dumplings Cooking….

One hundred golden cookies! I'm not joking, that's how much food thirteen kids produced in two hours. This past week the Kids Café made Chinese dumplings too, but they also got to make Almond Cookies. We started out with the dumpling dough because as every child in any one of my classes knows, dough's gotta rest. Dough is easy to make, but it requires a lot of elbow grease. It's a workout, which I think the kids enjoy, but once they get the dough to the right consistency they are always glad to move on to chopping and mixing. This week they had a lot to chop and mix. Cabbage, scallions, ginger, tofu, soy sauce, egg white, and sesame oil were mixed together to create a tasty and fragrant dumpling filling.

While the dumplings boiled they got busy mixing and shaping almond cookies (the smell of Amaretto didn't go over very well with most of them). Everyone made at least six, although some made significantly more. While they were baking the kids got to eat their dumplings, and as soon as they emerged from the oven the cookies were devoured. There were quite a few empty plates at the end of class!