During the school holidays, Xenia ran some cooking lessons for Young Cooks at Hills Café in Micklefield. Children are accompanied by parents, and the recipes and equipment are considerate of the children’s age and experience.
In the first session the children made soda bread, focaccia and fresh butter. Learning about different flours, raising agents and baking techniques. Fun was had shaking cream in jam jars to make fresh butter; and learning that the bi-product buttermilk can be used for soda bread, pancakes, and other recipes.
The second session focused on vegetable cooking. The students made a stir fry, learning some knife skills, how to prepare certain vegetables. We also made courgette and cheese muffins.
Top tip was peeling ginger with a teaspoon!
Xenia, who is a food teacher, has developed the Young Cooks initiative is to teach practical cooking skills to children and young people. In schools, children rarely get exposure to regular cooking due to lack of facilities, space on the timetable and budget restrictions. Xenia also works with Beechview Academy running a cooking club on Tuesday afternoons, and is keen to roll out similar initiatives with other schools.
The Young Cooks programme and schools’ cooking clubs are free to all participants.
