Certified goodness!

Once again, Southway Housing residents gathered together at what we affectionately call Buck House to cook up a delicious vegetable stew with herby dumplings. This was our final session in the second programme Cracking Good Food has run on the Arrowfield Estate, just off Nell Lane.

Kim reminded us of the nutritious goodness in the beetroot and sweet potatoes used in this recipe and we sat back and let the class prepare the ingredients for our final feast. As this was a dish we had prepared earlier in the programme, everyone had something to contribute and different herbs and spices were added after careful tasting. The dumplings were light and fluffy and subtly flavoured with fresh rosemary from The Lost Plot, our community allotment. Black-eyed beans added protein and fibre, and the stew took on a pink hue from the beetroot, which made the dish even more appealing. All agreed that such an appetising meal was surprisingly economical and simple to prepare.

  

As it was such a glorious evening, the group decided to eat al fresco in the grounds of Buck House. This is in fact a tiny garden!

Here is some of the feedback we received about the course...

"Since cooking with Cracking Good Food, I have become more confident in the kitchen. I have introduced beetroot and sweet potatoes into my diet and am currently preparing a small piece of ground in my garden to enable me to grow some of the vegetables we have used in our recipes.  Thank you, Cracking Good Food."

Vicky Garlick, Arrowfield resident for 17 years. 

There is an album on our Facebook page containint more photos from this session. Click here to view.

GUEST BLOG: Flowered up

By guest blogger ANGELA CONNELLY

What a day to go hunting for elderflower! It's the end of May and Manchester is baking hot - what better way to spend a few hours than walking around Chorlton Water Park. Thank goodness the weather was fine since we had some people come all the way from sunny Bristol to learn about elderflower and all the beautiful things to do with it. Unfortunately, a temperamental spring has delayed the growing season somewhat so not all of the flowers had yet arrived. Jesper supplemented the elderflower talk with some insights into what else grows down the Mersey banks as we ambled around.

Having worked up something of a sweat, the picnic blankets came out, along with a selection of tipples. Wine made from oak leaf or Himalayan blossom? I didn't believe it either, but both went down very well, as did some of last year's elderflower cordial. To top it all off, Jesper brought some prepared elderflower champagne mix, explained how to make it and then siphoned a bit off for people to take home. After everyone had gone, I slowly inched back towards Chorlton, stopping en route to pick a few more flowerheads for home. This drew quite a few glances, comments and requests for my future elderflower vintage wine. Ahem... !

There are more of Angela's photos on our Facebook page.

GUEST BLOG: New breads on the block

By guest blogger HELEN ROADHOUSE

A lovely group came all the way from St Helens to Chorlton High School on Saturday (26 May) to learn from Rob how to make a classic loaf as well as focaccia and naan bread.

The group were volunteers from a community food group called Shoots who work not for profit and locally source and pack affordable veggie packs. This was originally to be for more disadvantaged groups and individuals to promote healthy eating but as it is so successful apparently anyone can buy the packs now. What a fantastic idea and certainly one that sits well with our own ethos here at Cracking Good Food.

We got started on the basic loaf. It was really interesting to learn from Rob that baking your own bread is so much healthier than buying supermarket bread. He explained that by allowing breads to prove for longer, like soda breads, the process makes the bread more easily digestible and often people who cannot tolerate mass-produced breads can eat some homemade breads. Also of course you know exactly what ingredients are going into it instead of the dizzying array of chemicals that help preserve the shop-bought breads. Rob explained the live nature of yeast and that it could have slightly unpredictable results and occasionally some doughs don't rise as well as others even though you use the same packet of yeast.

Rob had some great tips on kneading and using 'bakers mate' tools and while that dough was left to prove we started on the dough for the focaccia and naan. They both started off the same with the flour, olive oil and yeast quantities. The naan was mixed with garlic paste and yoghurt while the focaccia was stretched into baking trays to prove. The naan was divided to make six balls rolled thin to fry in sunflower oil in a frying pan. The focaccia was drizzled with oil from the olives and sun-blush tomatoes and then liberally decorated with an assortment of delicious ingredients - red onion, garlic, salt, rosemary, sun-blush tomatoes, olives and blue cheese, but the list could go on and on - then these were put into the oven.

The smells from the baking were more than enough to get mouths watering in anticipation and it was well past lunchtime so everyone enthusiastically divided up the different types of breads to taste. There had been one or two of the group who admitted they weren't overly keen on quite a lot of the ingredients we were adding to the focaccia, and one lady didn't like garlic. What was lovely was that they all tried ingredients they wouldn't normally eat and some even enjoyed foods they had previously said they didn't like. One lady said she was not a fan of curries but would use this naan bread with other meals instead plus she tried and liked hummous with it, which was a first for her.

Everyone learned something new from the class plus most were trying new flavours and discovering new ideas for using breads. I think sometimes breadmaking can seem a daunting task but Rob helped all of us understand that it really isn't something to be worried about and we all agreed that we would be trying out these recipes at home. It also helped that he could demonstrate exactly when a loaf was cooked to perfection not only by how it looks but also by how it sounds when you tap the bottom. A springy drum sound!

It had been a hot day for baking but no one minded as we were all thoroughly absorbed with the baking, learning and creating and everyone went home with bags bulging with delicious warm, fresh aromatic offerings. Another Cracking Good success!

There are more photographs from this session on the Cracking Good Food Facebook page. Click here to be redirected.

We're running this session again, on Saturday 30 June, so if you missed out this time, you can sign up here.

GUEST BLOG: Fab fast food

By guest bloggger TRACEY

Time fries when you’re having fun, and there was lots of fun and food to be had at the last session at the Approved Premises on Wednesday 23 May. The group finished on a high, leaving with a fill of homemade beefburgers, Spanish tortilla, smoky sweet potato wedges and a simple green leaf salad. They all seemed keen to reflect over the dishes cooked over the six-week programme and were overwhelmed when they took stock of the amount of information learnt, experiences gained and the growth in confidence they’d got over the course period. Not only did we massage their mental culinary skills, but Cracking Good Food also equipped them physically… a set of cooking utensils and saucepans were given to each participant to assist them in their lives going forward so they can go on to recreate some of the amazing dishes.

So, it was all hands to the pump, with chopping, grating, slicing and mixing of ingredients. The aroma of the onion and potatoes frying for the tortilla got the tastebuds going and, once the remaining ingredients of egg, garlic and parsley were added and the tortilla started to set, the distinct sound of tummy rumblings was heard (or was that just mine?). The group formed the beef into personalised and memorable shapes for the burgers, choosing whether to use the plain mix or the one with the added onion. The sweet potato wedges looked and tasted amazing as they were sprinkled with paprika before baking. Then the plates were finished off with salad and a lovely mix of the traditional burger relishes. A great end to a great course. Thanks guys!

You can see more photos from this session on our Facebook page.

GUEST BLOG: Nature's way

By guest blogger ANGELA CONNELLY

Spring has well and truly sprung for an enjoyable forage around Fletcher Moss Park with Jesper Launder. Who can resist the lure of free food? Particularly when found in abundance in the local park. I’ve been on some of Jesper’s forages earlier this year. What’s been really enlightening is seeing the changing seasons and learning how to use every aspect of one plant. Back in April, we were treated to the heady aroma and taste of young wild garlic leaves. This time round, the same plant was awash with beautiful flowers which make an equally good addition to the salad bowl along with the small punchy, green seeds. I was forced to reconsider my previous position on commonly held ‘weeds’, such as dandelion and ground elder. To top it all off we had baskets full of mushrooms, mint and other delights. Back at the range, our tipple of choice was dandelion wine and some rather scrumptious wild garlic flowers and hogweed fritters along with Jesper’s now famous garlic wild mushrooms. Three forages in and I’m beginning to sense some confidence at recognising and harvesting plants. And, alongside the cooking skills, I have learned much, much more about what is good for my health the natural (and free!) way…

You can find out more about Jesper on his website here.

There are lots more of Angela's great photos from the forage on our Facebook page here.

GUEST BLOG: Talking about a revolution

By guest blogger HELEN ROADHOUSE

As part of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day on Saturday 19 May, we set up a stall outside the Alexandra Worsley Health & Wellbeing Clinic in Bramhall just at the entrance of the Square shopping precinct - in prime position to catch the Saturday shoppers!

Harjinder was demoing how to cook tarka dhal and chapatis from scratch and it wasn't long before the lovely smells from the spices were wafting through the streets and starting to entice people to come and see just what was making their tummies rumble!

The point of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day is to promote healthy eating that is cheap, simple and tasty, and tarka dhal is a perfect recipe. The passers-by were impressed by the fact that it only takes 12 minutes  to cook once the ingredients are chopped and a family of four can be substantially fed for as little as £1.90! Most people have the spices already or they can be bought very cheaply and, as we all know, lentils are a very cheap staple that goes a long way. As we are all hit by today's austerity measures ways of stretching budgets are welcomed by everyone.

A few people had preconceived ideas about tarka dhal and believed it to be very oily, and one lady dismissed it immediately saying she had high cholesterol. Once Harjinder explained that the whole meal could be prepared with no oils or fats whatsoever, the lady was very pleasantly surprised as were most of the onlookers!

We struggled to finish on time as the shoppers kept coming up asking for samples and wanting more info, and how could we refuse when there was such enthusiasm for what we were promoting! Harjinder's deft skill with making and charring the chapatis had people enthralled and the demo was great entertainment for children, who loved to try the food and ask questions.

It really was a successful session and the people of Bramhall seemed keen to take on board the Food Revolution ideal and the cooking-from-scratch ethos of Cracking Good Food too. The girls from Alexandra Worsley were brilliant allowing us to use the facilities in their lovely clinic and they too loved the tarka dhal. I can only imagine any other future Cracking Good Food projects would be welcomed with open arms in Bramhall.

You can see more photographs from this event on the Cracking Good Food Facebook page. Feel free to "like"!

GUEST BLOG: Rising to the challenge

By guest blogger SIOBHAN KELLY

Saturday morning (19 May) bought together a group of 12 at Chorlton High School to make naan breads and a loaf, as part of our latest season of paid cookery sessions (see the CGF website for details of the next classes you can sign up for). 

We started off with an interesting brief from Rob of what the session would consist of and then we were straight into mixing yeast, flour and water to make the dough. Top tip from Rob – always add too much water rather than too much flour when making dough. The first is easy to rectify and the latter nearly impossible to change in the dough-making process.

While the dough was rising in the warm grill area of the cooker, heated only from the oven below, it was time to begin making the naan. Today, Rob had bought some amazing looking garlic from the Unicorn Grocery which was larger than life and such beautiful colours. I have never seen such large cloves. Fun was had chopping these and adding salt to make a fresh garlic paste. For the naan making, the group split into pairs to work so that there was not a “tsunami of naans” at the end of the session – an amusing bit of visualisation there Rob which made me laugh. Yoghurt was heated up in a pan ready to add to the flour mix, then we were busy kneading the dough ready to roll out before frying in a pan.

Wonderful smells of baking bread and fried naans filled the air, and I found myself getting very hungry indeed! This was a great session, which ran really smoothly due to the help and hard work of our two lovely volunteers.

See our Facebook page for more pictures from this session. Click here to be redirected.

Rob will be running another bread-making session on Saturday 30 June, when he'll be sharing the secrets of fabulous focaccia. Details of how to book can be found on our website. And if you fancy treating your sweet tooth, we have a cake-baking session on the evening of Tuesday 12 June, with Erika from Black Cat Cakery; details here.