Cherries flap jacks

Another blog about what we made on 12 July.

Cherries. Lots of cherries! What to do with them?

Flapjacks are easy to make: mixing rolled oats, melted butter, honey and sugar together. Bake at 190C for 20 mins. The technique is straightforward and can be varied by adding fruits (fresh or dried) and/or nuts. Ah! Technique. A repertoire of culinary techniques is crucial to the successful transformation of our collected ingredients into desirable, tasty products. Flapjacks are also handy as a big batch could be made easily in one large tray in fairly little time. The end result was a visual triumph too! The fresh cherries and rolled oats glistened in the butter and honey which they were coated with.

A handful of spuds

Zoe looking her most glamorous mashing potatoes!

This was a spontaneous recipe on Sunday 12 July. We were given lots of young potatoes by the market traders. Now, with such young potatoes, there was no need to peel them (this also preserved the most nutrients); just scrubbed hard to remove soil and dirt was all that was necessary. Besides, we had to be mindful of the time and resources available to us: so many potatoes, so little time and not enough potato peelers to go round ha ha ha!! (More thoughts on this later)

The potatoes were boiled and then mashed. Then came the creative bit: adding butter, oil, some milk (whatever we had to hand really) and lots of seasoning. A big block of medium aged, fairly savoury cheese was also collected that day so this was grated into the mash. Then we also happened to have had donated fresh mint as well as a small packet of dried dill (from our larder box) which were added to the mash. The combined fragrance of these herbs transformed the dish into something unique and special just for that occasion. More special still as the transformation created value collectively to the otherwise mish-mash of surplus ingredients. So there was no waste, and more good food!

Uniquely, our project needs to balance our use of time, resources and space each time we cook. Therefore labour intensive dishes aren't really do-able, nor are recipes which need extensive cooking times and/or involved techniques. We sometimes just have to think out of the box and be creative with conventional recipes and adapt them to work within our constraints and still make them taste great, which is all the more creative, challenging and rewarding. So it does mean minimising peeling which, in any case, is better for nutrition as vegetable skins contain a lot of vitamins.

We also made a fresh coleslaw on Sunday 12 July using donated cabbages, carrots and beetroot. To this was added donated fresh coriander and the aforementioned dried dill from our larder box. The fragrance of the fresh coriander and dried dill was very special too (I love herbs). Once mixed with some fresh lemon juice the coleslaw was a special one-off to behold: full of vitamins, healthy fibre and a visually gorgeous palette of colours.

If ......

If gastronomy means the intuitive, intelligent and creative use of what raw materials are at one's disposal, no matter how humble, then the art of eating well can be the prerogative of the poor as well as the well-heeled.

(Adapted quote from Derek Cooper, who used to edit the Good Food magazine in the early 90s and original version appears in the foreword to Bernadine Lawrence's 1987 book "How to feed your family for £4.00 a day")

In picture - broccoli and runner beans stir fried with sesame oil, oyster sauce and toasted sesame seeds. All vegetables used in this dish were donated by traders in Islington market on Sunday 12 July 09, skilfully wok stir fried over high heat in batches by Tymon from Lodz, Poland. Respect!

Fleet River Bakery :)

Here you can find the link to 'Fleet River Bakery' which is located next to LSE campus and is hosting our cooking sessions the last 2 months :) Many thanks!!! Lets reward them for their contribution by telling our friends about it! They serve delicious gourmet dishes, and their sandwiches are yummy too (judging from personal experience!) Why not enjoy a cup of coffee along with a piece of cake at our favourite, charity-friendly bakery?

http://www.fleetriverbakery.com/

We got new funding... £75500 to be precise.

We hit the jackpot!

After 6 months of waiting, we have received our first major grant for the continuation of FoodWorks projects in the UK.

The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation gave us £75000 for salaries and project costs over 2.5 years.

Thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work on the pilot projects with the results to show the funders that FoodWorks is an innovative and dynamic project that has the huge potential to expand in the future.

Check mark for the first big grant, now onwards to the next one!

We are going to take a small break on the weekend of the 24th to 25th to celebrate by having a picnic for all our volunteers and friends in Hyde Park. We'll let you know more next week about the time and place!