Highfield Hall Cooks!

That’s a Wrap!

    I

I can hardly believe that our first summer session is already over! This final week, in spite of the rain, flew by. Monday started with beautiful, healthful breakfast cookies and some bath salts for mom (or grandma!). We used fresh lavender and essential oils for aroma (everything from peppermint to plumeria went home in those jars). Jacqueline showed both of her creations off for the camera.

The next day was scallion pancakes with a spicy ginger dipping sauce.

You wouldn't think scallion pancakes would be particularly complex, but they do actually require a lot of work. First we made dough, which had to be kneaded for at least ten minutes before being set aside to rest while we made our sauce.

After a 20 minute rest the dough was ready to be cut into equal pieces and rolled into very thin sheets.

Each circle was then brushed with oil and sprinkled with scallions, first rolled, like a cigar and then like a snail, and finally, finally, pan fried in all its glutinous glory.

There was some initial skepticism among the little chefs about this dish, but the vast majority of the group went home with nearly empty Chinese take-out containers. Having won their trust with the scallion pancakes, the following day I went for Satay Chicken with Peanut Dipping Sauce, and although it was one of those days that was so busy I didn't have time to pick up the camera, I did write down the most fabulous quote: "Every time I come to cooking class I think what we're making is going to be disgusting, but then I taste it and it's DELICIOUS!!"

I think we finally made it outside on the third day, and the kids were anxious to pick what was ripe

Abbie loves picking those beans, and several of the girls worked on this fine still life featuring zucchini (of course) pickling cukes, beans, and a small yellow doll watermelon.

We're getting tomatoes too, but they're mostly getting eaten by the kids before they even make it indoors. The Little Goldies (or husk cherries) are hands down the kids' favorites.

I think that's partly because they come in tiny papery packages, and partly because they explode with a confusing yet surprisingly pleasant array of flavors immediately after the first bite. Are they peachy? Pineapple-y? Tomato-ey? Who cares, really, because they're GOOD!

We managed to get in a tiny bit of weeding

and then we went indoors to cut the watermelon they had so anxiously awaited tasting. It was small and mostly underripe, but the kids loved it anyway.

 

I've been throwing in a little canning and preserving over the past few weeks just to give the kids the idea that they can enjoy the fruits of their labor throughout the year. This session I opted for some fruit and vegetable dehydration. We had a lot of zucchini and yellow squash coming in from the garden, so we attempted zucchini chips (unfortunately they got overloaded with garlic powder and had to be tossed, but it's the idea that counts, right?!). In spite of being not-quite-in-season the dried apples turned out great, however.

Of course there was also bread! The rye bread had a surprisingly light crust,

but was extremely tasty, and the cinnamon bread (with a buttermilk base)

was a lot of fun because the swirl patterns inside the loaves were as unique as their creators.

And of course the berry tarts just made everyone happy!

Including the tarts themselves, apparently!

Beauty

In restaurants and on TV there is a great deal of emphasis on culinary artistry. To be sure, making plates of food look beautiful is an important piece of the culinary puzzle. Chefs spend a lot of time manipulating food to make it picture perfect, but I think sometimes we all forget how stunning food is in its most natural state. Take this bowl of herbs and squash flowers, for example.

The kids picked three different types of basil, oregano, and edible flowers for their garden pizzas this week. Everything went in a big mixing bowl, and the colors were absolutely brilliant. The pizzas were also topped with peppers, squash, and even cucumbers. I was skeptical about the cucumber, I'll be honest, but it really tasted pretty good!

Speaking of cucumbers, we've had a lot in the past two weeks. Enough last week to make pickles, and this week everyone took home at least one. Emily and Lexi picked flowers to go with their cukes.

On pizza day Teri Stanley, a photographer from The Enterprise, joined us. The kids loved posing for the camera and answering her questions. Cole even shared his pizza with her.

Earlier in the week we shucked corn for cheddar corn biscuits

and we learned how to slice the kernels off the cob. Jenna shared some tips she picked up while watching the TV Food Network.

She's preparing to be a chef when she grows up and after seeing her take control of the class out in the garden where she created a culinary masterpiece of peppers, cucumbers, herbs, and edible flowers atop the garden's flat boulder, I have no doubt that she will fulfill her aspirations.

The absolute surprise hit of the week, for me anyway, was the Blueberry Clafouti, a traditional French dish made of eggs, fruit, and a small amount of flour.

Blueberries can go either way with kids depending upon how they're prepared, but these guys devoured their Clafoutis.

 

Jack so enjoyed his that there was literally nothing left but a blueberry-stained paper plate.

Tomato jam, flavored with lemon, ginger, and cinnamon, was a little more challenging than the rest of the week's recipes. Tomatoes are hard to peel, and thin slicing is hard work, but the results were beautiful and tasty, although I think the lemons are probably a little tough in most of those jars!

On the last day of the session we made Whoopie Pies. They weren't your typical whoopee pies, either—instead of all white flour we used half whole wheat and in the filling we dropped the shortening and mixed up a luscious combination of whipping cream, fat free yogurt, and vanilla. Gelatin helped give the mixture a more traditional consistency. The kids loved them. It was a nice way to end the week.

Don't worry, we spent plenty of time in the garden too!

Chefsir and the Four Freds

I suppose that title deserves a little explanation. Those of you who have been reading along for a while now know the origin of Chefsir, but you might be a bit puzzled by the Four Freds. For some reason that is a mystery to me, the Green Teens (ages 10 to 13) seem to have a need to change each other's names. Giuliana and Emily kept calling Aidan "Ian," or "Andrew," or something else entirely. Each name change was punctuated by a round of silly giggling. Aidan was visibly frustrated by their antics at times, but I think at one point he finally gave up and joined in. Tiffany often came to Aidan's defense, but the name-changing continued. I decided that they should all just be called Fred. Fred 1, Fred 2, Fred 3, and Fred 4. Then someone dusted off Chefsir and we agreed that Chefsir and the Four Freds would make a great singing group. They seemed to like being Freds. Unfortunately I couldn't remember which Fred was which, so they went back to changing each other's names. The same thing happened in an earlier Green Teens group. Not the Fred part, just the name-changing. I told the kids that "Chefsir and the Four Freds" would be the title of this week's blog post. So there it is.

Now that you're as thoroughly confused as I, I'll let you off the hook and tell you that among other things, we made pickles at Highfield this week. Real bread and butter pickles with cucumbers straight out of Highfield's garden. It's true! They were even properly canned!

Look how cute those pickles are with their homemade labels and green fabric toppers!

The teens also made Blueberry-Peach Jam:

Chickens were roasted for chicken tostadas and fresh corn tortillas were made

That's Tiffany with her completed tostada. She did a great job!

Another surprise hit was a lovely, crunchy Jicama Salad. The ingredients alone were beautiful. I got some of the kids to at least try it and they were surprised to find that they actually liked it.

The Vermont Cheddar Bread we made was so good that the kids were even eating the raw dough like it was going out of style. I know. I'm not a big fan of raw bread dough either, and much prefer the cooked loaf like Jack's.

Our special treat of the week in Rake and Bake was Peach Shortcake with crystallized ginger.

Most of the kids were able to whip their own cream.

On Thursday some of my return students requested the Almond Cookies we made during the school year and I was powerless against their charms, so we did those too.

 

The Green Teens made cakes and started learning how to pipe decorations on them. I was very pleased with the results.

 

There were, of course, crafts—this week's big one was some natural dyeing using flowers and leaves from the garden and a big rubber mallet. The kids loved the smashing part. My thumb took one for the team more than once, but the results were pretty neat.

There's a hat before the smashing commenced and a bag after smashing. Next is Theodora holding her completed bag.

We also made a second scarecrow

And harvested some tomatoes and zucchini.

It was a busy, but happy week in the Highfield kitchen and garden.

The Point of it All

I started doing these classes for several reasons, not the least of which are that I love kids and I love cooking. But I also wanted to get kids excited about cooking, so they would learn to value good food and understand the benefits of good nutrition. I get really excited when one of my students tells me that he or she went home and cooked one of our recipes at home. Giuliana went home and made Egg Drop Soup two weeks ago and cousins Kristen and Brendon cooked dinner for their family. Henry was so excited about the almond crusted chicken fingers we made that he went home that same night and made them for dinner.

You can imagine, then, what a thrill it was when Sarah,

who has been with me since the beginning of this adventure at Highfield, came in this morning and told me that she entered the Cranberry Orange Scones we made in class in the Barnstable County Fair and WON FIRST PLACE! Way to go Sarah!!! (She also won a First Place prize with her banana bread!)

YAY!

“Look! I Made it Myself!”

That's what I hear just about every time a parent or grandparent comes through the kitchen door to retrieve a child at the end of class, and it's music to my ears! It was another fantastic week in the Highfield kitchen. Both groups (Rake and Bake as well as Green Teens) are in session now and we've been making some seriously tasty treats. We started out the week with fresh pasta, which is one of the kids' favorites (and also the messiest!). They're pretty content to eat it plain or with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh herbs right out of the garden.

We tried a variety of herbs, including three different types of basil (Spicy Globe, Purple Ruffles, and Red Rubin), two kinds of oregano (the regular kind and the golden kind), and sweet marjoram. The younger kids are a little braver about the herbs than the teens are. I've even seen a couple of the Rake and Bake kids sitting out in the garden munching on herbs while they weed!

Green Teens made pasta too, but they also added some chopped vegetables and garlic, which they sautéed before tossing it with their pasta.

The following day brought expressions of pure disgust from my little Rake and Bakers. The aroma of roasting garlic first thing in the morning did not sit well with most of them. Compound the insult with black beans, tahini, cilantro, and lemon juice, and, well, you've got some pretty unhappy hummus makers on your hands. Most of them tried it, which was great progress, and some of them actually admitted to liking the purplish paste, so for me at least, it was a worthwhile experiment.

Their courage was rewarded later that day when they got to make cheese crackers.

Green Teens made the same black bean hummus and cheese crackers on day 3 and were honored to present their work to the Board members at Highfield's Annual Board Meeting.

The black bean hummus was garnished with the most delicious mustard greens picked from Highfield's own garden earlier that day. They are unbelievably tender and yet pack a spicy punch—a perfect addition to the earthiness of our hummus. The Board members were quite pleased their treats.

Day two of Green Teens was Chinese food day—Egg Drop Soup and Chicken Stir Fry. Everything was flavorful and well-liked, but the Egg Drop Soup proved to be the surprise hit of the day.

The rest of the week featured soft granola bars,

pinwheels and painted rocks,

an attempt at creating mini greenhouses inside balloons,

pizza, and chicken and cheese quesadillas with homemade tortillas and salsa for the little guys.

 

And let's not forget a little Miss Mary Mack in the garden (turn your volume waaaay up):

Miss Mary Mack (and a little weeding) from Highfield Chef on Vimeo.

Green Teens finished out the week with a luscious Caramelized Plum shortcake,

hand thrown pizzas (Tessia's a pro!)

chocolate cakes

some fun times while cleaning, and

 

the kind of silliness comraderie  that grows so beautifully in the kitchen.

What? Why are you looking at me like that? It's just frosting. Kids just gotta have fu-uunnnnnn….yeah kids, they gotta have funnnnn.

I, for one, am looking forward to the upcoming week!

 

 

 

 

 

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!)