17/01/2010 Imperial College cooking session

Once again we are grateful for the generosity of Abel & Cole who donated several boxes of produce containing great variety. Look at the colours!



In particular, there were lots of citrus fruits which came in handy for a fruit salad. We also had in stock several bottles of homemade lemon syrup given to us by Ruth in Stoke Newington. The lemon syrup formed the liquid base of the fruit salad.



Lots of apples and bananas!



Green veggies (savoy cabbage, broccoli, white cabbage and leeks) and mushrooms formed a braised vegetables dish. Braising is a technique which is half sauté (stir-fry) and half stewing. This technique is particularly useful for our dishes because braised dishes reheat well, and our dishes are normally served to beneficiaries the following day. The veggies were lightly sautéed first (with a little garlic, if desired) over medium high heat to achieve aroma and browning, then seasoning (salt, pepper and if desired, some form of alcohol like white wine or vermouth) and water (and stock, if using) are added and the heat turned to low for the veggies to stew gently for about half an hour. The stewing process gets the flavours going in both the veggies and the sauce!

Joyce doing a great job prepping carrots :)

I made the fruit salad - check out the kiwi fruits!! We were given some candied dates by Abel & Cole and I removed the stones, chopped them up and used them in the fruit salad (kind of in place of glacé cherries oh errrrr) to add sweetness. The juice of 2 limes were also added to the lemon syrup base to enhance tartness.

Joyce and Ivy made a fresh salad with the salad leaves which came in the boxes to which was added alfafa sprouts and sliced avocadoes.

Roasted root vegetables - a favourite dish!

Braised cabbage, broccoli, leeks and mushrooms.

10/01/2010 Imperial College cooking session

First cooking session for the Imperial group in 2010! Lots of us turned up and the work was, consequently, much lighter.

For the first time, the produce was donated entirely by Abel & Cole with whom we have embarked upon a fantastic and mutually beneficial relationship. We received a dozen boxes of produce for this session which were orders which could not be delivered to some of Abel & Cole's customers because of the adverse weather conditions that weekend.

There were large quantities of top quality organic fruit and veg. We counted bananas, pink grapefruits, apples, onions, celery, red and green peppers, courgettes, aubergines, butternut squash, beetroots, fennel bulbs, garlic bulbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, savoy cabbages, carrots, turnips, potatoes and something unusual which we thought could have been burdock roots! Such a variety of produce from these Abel & Cole boxes was truly impressive.

Hannah made a giant pot of ratatouille using the courgettes, aubergines, celery, fennel, peppers and onions to which she added tomato purée.

Donat supervised a baked hashed potatoes dish which was flavoured with fresh rosemary that was brought in by Hannah (and which she picked from a bush from a place near her house) and salt and pepper.

I devised a nutty, roasted root vegetables dish using a nut paste to coat the sliced butternut squash, turnips and carrots. The nut paste was made from gently heating jars of pecan nut butter, chopped fresh garlic and onions, sesame oil and soya sauce (for savory flavour) - all these we had in our larder box and it was good that they were used up. The warm nut paste was then added to the vegetables, mixed and coated thoroughly and the vegetables baked/roasted in the oven for 40 mins until cooked.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough baking vessels to use on this occasion otherwise Ludo and I had in mind a baked bananas dish for dessert. As it turned out, we decided to give the bananas fresh to the refugee centre as a fresh fruit dessert.

All in all, it was another successful weekend cooking yummy food and adding value to the community. Fantastic!