A Day of Cooking

Today is a public holiday in Western Australia (Foundation Day) so the girls were home from school. My husband had to work for some of the time so I decided that it would be a good chance to do a bit more cooking with the girls.

Firstly, the girls peeled potatoes and carrots for a Corn Soup.



I sort of invented this one as we went along but the ingredients were:

1.5kg of Potato
4 carrots
.5 cup dry soup mix
Water
1 teaspoon Asfotedia powder (herb which substitutes well for onion & garlic)
1.5 teaspoons Mixed Herbs
3 x 425gm canned corn kernels (drained)
2 cups whey (additional milk can be used instead of the whey)
1 litre milk
Salt & pepper to taste

Basically, peel and chop the carrots and potatoes, place in a large saucepan with the soup mix, asfotedia powder and mixed herbs. Add enough water so that all of the ingredients are covered. Mix. Bring to boil and then simmer until potatoes and tender, stirring occasionally.

Once the potatoes are tender stir through the corn kernels (retaining about half a cup), whey, milk, salt & pepper.

Process the soup in a blender. Mix through remaining corn kernels and serve.

The finished product:


While the potatoes and carrots for the soup were cooking we made our first batch of Panir Cheese for the day. Both girls wanted to make some - the youngest wanted hers plain, the eldest wanted to try putting herbs through hers.

Here's a (blurry) photo of the youngest stirring the milk waiting for it to foam:



Here's the youngest measuring out the yogurt (BTW this is the best yogurt I've found to make the cheese with).



My eldest daughter has created a powerpoint presentation on the whole Panir cheese making process, email me if you would like a copy.

We used the whey from this cheese in the Corn Soup (and later in the Roast Cauliflower Soup that we also made).

Once that cheese was underway the eldest and I started to make some bread, using this Basic White Bread recipe.

Both girls took turns kneading it - here's a photo of the eldest:



We used the recipe to make one loaf and four buns.

While that was rising we started on the Mini Chicken Burgers - which I've blogged about before and some coated Eggplant slices. My youngest, when asked in class last week what an Eggplant was didn't know, so I thought it time to introduce the girls to them.

I was very pleased with the girls, the eldest mixed and formed the Chicken Burgers and the youngest crumbed them.



We simply sliced the Eggplant (I used a baby one), dipped it in beaten egg and then coated them in breadcrumbs with some mixed herbs and then cooked it in a hot, non-stick fry pan.

Here's a photo of some of the Eggplant slices with the Mini Chicken Burgers cooking away:



By this time the first batch of Panir Cheese was ready and we started on the second. The only difference was that we sprinkled crushed mixed herbs through the mixture as it was spooned into the cheesecloth. I think, after tasting it, we were a bit light on with the herbs. So next time we'll be a bit more generous.

Once the bread was cooked we quickly roasted some cauliflower - cut the cauliflower into small florets, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with crushed black pepper. Place in a hot oven until the ends of the florets go golden brown.

I then warmed a couple of cups of whey in a large saucepan. Microwaved two potatoes and mashed them and then mixed them into the whey. Mixed the roasted cauliflower through and then blended about 3/4 of the soup to a soupy texture. Mixed this back into the unblended soup and added the left-over yogurt (about 2 tablespoons), for a quick, but totally yummy soup.

So all in all, there were two lots of cheese, two soups, mini-chicken burgers, bread and eggplant slices all cooked this morning. What isn't eaten today will be used for lunches / dinners through the week ...

Here's some pictures to show you what the girls thought of the food:

This is my 7y.o. with the Roasted Cauliflower Soup, the bread and a mini-chicken burger.



And this is my 5y.o. with the Corn Soup, the bread and some of her cheese.



(Notice the bandaid on her thumb - this was caused by a slight knife accident when she was chopping carrots!).