Showing posts with label Adele. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adele. Show all posts

2 March 2011

GUEST BLOG: New cooks on the books

By Cracking Good Food director Adele Jordan

On Tuesday 22 February, we trained up some new Cracking Cooks to join the team and add even more to our cooking repertoire and the classes and sessions we can offer. After spending two hours going through the ethos of Cracking Good Food and trying to cover all the things we’ve both done and have planned (so much!), we then got to grips with the actual cooking.

Experienced cooking leader Beth Creedon, of Dig and Guestrant fame, took the reins by splitting the cooks into two groups. They were asked to talk through making a vegetable cobbler, step by step, to each other. It’s hard getting used to talking through things that are instinctive for a cook like chopping an onion or celeriac, but they all took it in turns, in front of each other. To watch how captivated they were when listening to those who spoke, you’d swear they’d never chopped an onion in their life!


So we’ve now got a great new team, in addition to our other great Cracking Cooks. We’ve got Harjinder, who’s been cooking up Punjabi food for 40 years, Deanna from North Star Deli, Ian from The Parsnipship Collective, Cathy from France, Graeme who was a student living on takeaways and now lives in his kitche, Wendy from On the Eighth Day, Nicola from Fareshare and Emerge, chef Laura and keen cook Alison… with another nine also waiting to be trained up.

So cooking is very much on the agenda… stay tuned for all the exciting things coming up via our new website, to be launched shortly!

16 February 2011

GUEST BLOG: School dinners

Guest blog by ADELE JORDAN

Our final session at Dial Park Primary School in Stockport was on Monday (14 February) and this time Avril cooked up an Indian takeaway with the pupils and their parents. She started by getting the map of the world out so everyone could locate India, where a lot of the spices we would be using came from.

She then got everyone chopping the veggies for the vegetable jalfrezi. Adding cumin seeds to a dry pan, we enjoyed the sound of them popping, then added oil and onions and left it all to sweat. When the heady aromas of garlic, chilli and ginger were added to the onions, various people passing through the corridors couldn’t resist coming to see what we were doing!


Once the root veg was in the pan and the curry was simmering away, we turned our attention to making the side dish tarka dhal - a mixture of lentils and spices - as well as our very own chapatis! These were a delight to make, and the kids loved rolling the dough balls out into circular shapes then cooking them in a dry frying pan. By pressing down on the bread with a teatowel, bubbles popped up and brown spots appeared – just like chapatis you get in restaurants! As soon as the bread was cooked, we all sat down to a a slap-up "takeaway" and it was a real shame it would be the last time at the table together.


Unfortunately all good things come to an end and the fourth and final session was over. We’d like to continue cooking at the school as the regular team of parents and pupils say they’ve been truly inspired, and Justyna, Ian, Natalie, Elaine, Clare, Blake and the staff have been absolutely stars. With a bit of luck, we've inspired them to set up a cooking club - certainly, the seed has been sown and we hope their talents in the kitchen flourish.

More photos from the class can be found on our Facebook page here, and there are albums for the first three sessions at Dial Park on Facebook too.

Adele is the Director of Cracking Good Food. If you have any questions or queries, or you'd like to find out about how Cracking Good Food can help your school or community group, you can email her via adele@crackinggoodfood.org

5 January 2011

Happy and healthy New Year!

After the overindulgence of the festive season, diet and exercise are at the top of most people's list of New Year's Resolutions. Why not let Cracking Good Food help you kick off a happy and healthy 2011 - our latest classes start on 15 January and run on Saturday late mornings and Tuesday early evenings until 15 February.


The best guacamole you'll ever eat, from Fernanda's Mexican Tapas class.

The Cracking Cooks encourage more home cooking through hands-on classes - by cooking together and then eating together, we pass on food knowledge and share ideas for tasty, affordable meals. We’ll show you how to eat meat ethically, fish sustainably and veggie and gluten-free easily - all the ingredients we use are seasonal, organic and fairtrade where possible, and bought from Chorlton’s fantastic independent retailers. Adele Jordan, who set up Cracking Good Food a year ago, says: “The support and demand for cooking sessions has been astounding. People really enjoy getting stuck into good food when they’re shown what to do, and it’s so social too!”


Get on a bit of a roll in Breadmaking for Beginners run by Rob!

As we're subsidised by the Local Food Fund (National Lottery) and The Co-operative Membership, we can offer our three-hour classes for just £20 per person (or £15 for unemployed people, students or over 65s). The new Saturday classes run between 11am and 2pm while the Tuesday classes take place 6pm to 9pm, all at Chorlton High School on Nell Lane. Places are limited to 12 so everyone has the chance to prep, cook and eat - and ask plenty of questions!

Kate's Thai green curry will knock your socks off in our Spicy Vegetarian session.

Breadmaking for Beginners (with Cracking Cook Rob): Saturday 15 January
Breadmaking Advanced – Sourdough (with Cracking Cook Rob): Saturday 22 January
Breadmaking for Beginners (with Cracking Cook Rob): Tuesday 25 January
Spicy Vegetarian (with Jam Street Café’s Kate): Saturday 29 January
Breadmaking Advanced – Sourdough (with Cracking Cook Rob): Tuesday 1 February
Curry Up (with Kath from Unicorn Grocery): Saturday 5 February
Marvellous Meat (with Beth of Electrik’s Guestrant Wild Food fame): Tuesday 8 February
Mexican Tapas (with Unicorn’s Fernanda): Saturday 12 February
Risottos Demystified (with Kim from Islington Mill Café): Tuesday 1 March (please note new date)

Bookings can be made online at http://crackinggoodfood.org/ (our website is having a little spring clean, so bear with us!), via email (fiona@crackinggoodfood.org), by telephone on 0845 652 2572, or in person at Hickson & Black’s deli on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton.

Vouchers are also available if you fancy treating the food-lover in your life!

15 December 2010

Soup kitchen

On Thursday 9 December, the second Christmas Farmers' Market was held on Chorlton Green, outside the Horse & Jockey. Cracking Good Food was there to warm up the chilly shoppers with a smashing seasonal soup. We dished up an unusual but ultra-tasty apple and parsnip broth, which went down a treat on the dark, damp evening.

This video clip sees Cracking Good Food's Kath and Adele interviewed by local resident Bernard Leach at the Christmas Farmers' Market about the seasonal soup and the next round of Cracking Good classes, running in the New Year. There's plenty to choose from, so why not get yourself, your friends or your family vouchers to put towards one of the three-hour sessions? Just email fiona@crackinggoodfood.org or call 0845 652 2572.


We also have photos from the Christmas Market on our Facebook page. All you need to do is click here to go straight to the relevant album. Remember to tag yourself if you're in any of the pictures and click "like" if you saw us manning our stall!

7 December 2010

Soup kitchen special

This Thursday sees the second Christmas Market on Chorlton Green, organised by the folk at the Horse & Jockey and featuring local farmers and independent producers (more details here).


Cracking Good Food's Adele and Kath will be braving the cold snap at the Farmers Market from 4pm until 9pm to set up a special Cooks On The Hop soup kitchen, dishing up piping hot broth to warm the cockles. This week, they're offering seasonal parsnip and apple soup, and as well as being able to give this unusual but delicious flavour a try, you'll be able to pick up a recipe sheet to recreate it at home.

Also available on the stall will be Cracking Good Food vouchers - the perfect Christmas gift for the food lover in your life! Our vouchers are available at various values and are redeemable as full or part payment against any of the cooking sessions in 2011 (vouchers are valid for one year from date of purchase).

If you can't make it down on Thursday, you can still buy vouchers by...

* emailing fiona@crackinggoodfood.org
* calling 0845 652 2572
* logging onto www.crackinggoodfood.org
* popping into Hickson & Black’s on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton

4 November 2010

GUEST BLOG: Roast veg

By guest blogger SARAH FANTHORPE

Cracking Good Food surpassed itself in delivering an alternative to the standard veggie Sunday lunch of nut roast. We all gathered at Chorlton High School in its state-of-the-art food technology room. Our chef for the day Anna (pictured below left) explained the menu, Veggie Roast with Seasonal Vegetables, which included a Vegetarian Wellington made with delicious chestnut mushrooms from Chorlton's Unicorn Grocery. Adele was on hand to tell us all about cooking with locally sourced organic ingredients while Tammy, a volunteer with Cracking Good Food, demonstrated how to prepare the greens ensuring a grit-free delight with every mouthful.


I guess this is where I introduce myself. My name is Sarah and I'm a volunteer with The Lost Plot Chorlton community allotment project. We grow many of the ingredients used in the class and are always looking for volunteer diggers in return for a take-home bag of fresh veg. Hough End Allotments also have their own bee hives, and Eleanor was able to share her experiences of bee-keeping with the group as we prepared the honey roast parsnips.


Back to the Wellington, and after rolling out our puff pastry, we prepared the filling with fresh herbs and an abundance of soy sauce. Anna then demonstrated the simple plaiting technique which secured the tasty goodness and we popped the packages in the oven while we got on with the accompaniments, including a rich red wine gravy.

All that was left was to gather round the table and dine in style. Everyone then helped clear and clean, and we were finished one minute before our departure time! I hope to meet all the participants again at the next Cracking Good Food do, as our feedback suggested a good time was had by all!

You can see more photos from the veggie roasts class on our Facebook page. This Saturday, Rob will be roasting chicken and North African-style lamb, using organic meat from Chorlton's Wild At Heart. To book a place, be quick and email fiona@crackinggoodfood.org or call 0845 652 2572.

3 June 2010

Picnic in the park

Join us on Saturday (5 June) to bring World Environment Day to Whalley Range at a community picnic in Manley Park. Cracking coordinator Adele and Cracking Cook Kim will be helping picnickers rustle up some tasty nosh (for a small fee) from 11am, with the picnic running from noon until 4pm. On the menu are felafels, couscous with nuts and fruit, raita, potato salad with maple syrup, sesame seeds and torn parsley... all kinds of yummy veggie fayre.


Loads of other local groups will be there as well as Cracking Good Food, including Friends Of The Earth, Meat Free Monday, Eat Your Streets, Celebrate Your Alley Gates and Adopt-A-Tree, and there will even be some planting taking place from 2.30pm.

15 May 2010

GUEST BLOG: Seeing the Cooks On The Hop in action

By guest blogger SARAH-CLARE CONLON

Having been helping out Cracking Good Food with their press and PR for a while now, I was beginning to feel a tad guilty that I hadn't yet managed to see the Cooks On The Hop properly in full swing. Yes, I was there for the launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival, and even put my name down for a session, but demand was so great on the day that I had to step aside so non-Cracking Good Foodies could have a go. Not that I'm complaining - I want as many people as possible to try out the fantastic stop'n'chop idea!


When Adele told me that the Cooks On The Hop gazebo was going to be rocking up outside nice new Barlow Moor Road deli Hickson & Black's today, the date was straight in my diary. Obviously for promotional purposes (I hope you're keeping up with events on our new Facebook page, BTW!), but also so I could finally get a piece of the action.


Well, I know I'm biased, but the wait was certainly worth it! When I rolled up, Steve (the Black of Hickson & Black's) was in full swing serving up perfect pasta on paper plates. It was less about getting hands on and more about taste testing, but trying to decide which I preferred between the Putanesca and the All'amatriciana was tricky stuff, I can tell you. The smoky pancetta gave a lovely depth to the All'amatriciana, while you could taste the freshness in the subtly spicy Putanesca. (In the end, my favourite was the Putanesca - absolutely chockablock with flavour.)


If you were also lucky enough to snaffle a sample today, great news, because Steve's colleague Jay (as in Hickson) will be running two workshops for Cracking Good Food in July. All the details about the Pasta Plus courses are on the Cracking Good Food website, along with details of all the new sessions running in June and July. Hey - maybe I'll see you there!

Sarah-Clare Conlon is a writer, editor and press officer who lives in Chorlton and does PR for Cracking Good Food. You can read her award-winning blog about arts and culture here.

6 May 2010

Celebrating good food!

On bank holiday Monday (3 May), Whalley Range played host to the Celebrate Festival at St Margaret's Primary School on Withington Road. Events kicked off at noon and ran right through the afternoon until 6pm. Cracking Good Food was there with the Cooks On The Hop gazebo and we had fantastic fun helping festival-goers make their own lunch.


It was another great chance for Rob (below, in the white pinny) and Juliet (above, also in the white apron) to show off their Szechuan sauce stir-frys. There was an abundance of fresh produce to choose from, and hungry participants eagerly selected what they fancied, duly peeled, chopped and tossed their veg'n’tofu around the woks, and threw over coconut, pineapple and sesame seeds at the end. Even Gerald Kaufman MP popped by and was obviously delighted by what was going on.


What’s more, Laura and Anghi, two wonderful Year 10 Chorlton High School students, were keen to help out, having loved their time at the wok during Cracking Good Food's launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival in March. We’re hoping to see more of these two… they're truly inspired chefs in the making!

Cracking Coordinator Adele

27 April 2010

Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition

Last Friday, our Cooking Leaders were guided through the Eat Well Plate (pictured below) with Steffie, a public health nutritionist working for the NHS. Referring to food groups (rather than nutrients), we discussed the importance of balancing our menus with all types of food and talked about how to tailor the Eat Well Plate to be compatible to those on a specific diet, such as dairy-free, or with particular health issues, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. I didn’t realise that white fish wasn’t as oily as tuna, sardines and mackerel or that soya milk has natural oestrogen in it.


We also talked about portion sizes, and it was really interesting to learn that the faster you eat, the less you are aware of the fact that perhaps you’re getting rather full! Our training session also taught us about the Model Of Change, which is the process by which we can alter a habit. It's a wheel that shows the decision-making stages you go through to make a change and relates to almost everything that we do in life: thinking about a change, preparing for it, taking action, making it permanent or lapsing back into old habits. All manner of factors can cause a lapse, and it's perfectly normal; what's important is getting back on track and recognising your potential.

The Cooking Leaders also now know about all the free NHS courses, resources and services that are available to the public and we have phone numbers for health trainers and support groups should we need them. Fascinating. I’d no idea so much was available!

Adele

26 April 2010

News flash...

In case you missed it, here's the story that ran recently (Thursday 15 April 2010) in the South Manchester Reporter newspaper, featuring Cracking Coordinator Adele and covering our six sessions with Chorlton Good Neighbours. Click on it to make it bigger!

29 March 2010

A cracking day for a Cracking launch!

Phew, we're only just recovering from the launch of Cracking Good Food at Chorlton's Big Green Festival on Saturday, when around 6,000 local residents turned up to enjoy sustainability in the spring sunshine.


The Cracking Good Food launch was a resounding success, with loads of happy customers signing up for sessions led by Kim, Lorenzo and Rob, pictured above manning the woks. Young William here even said how much he enjoyed the mushrooms in the stirfry he made - his mum Zoe (who kindly passed on the two photos below) was thrilled because apparently he won't touch them normally!


Cracking coordinators Jess and Adele (shown here with the official Cracking Good Food clipboard!) collected loads of feedback on what kinds of workshops the good people of Chorlton would like to see run by Cracking Good Food - from classic French to basic bread-making. We'll let you know when we have some dates in the diary so you can get booked in!

12 March 2010

Cracking Cooks training session, Friday 12 March


There’s nothing quite like getting a group of foodies together to cook up a meal, although our recent event was something of a dinner party with a difference! To be a Cracking Good Food Cooking Leader, our team of Cracking Cooks have to undergo training in everything from food hygiene to health and safety, and this was their second session, held in the Youth Centre at St Clement's Church in Chorlton.


This time, we (the coordinators) wanted the Cracking Cooks to get into practice for leading their upcoming workshops by prepping, cooking and talking us through everything: where the ingredients were grown, how to chop veg safely, which flavours compliment each other... Well, I learned loads! I’d never have thought to add lemon juice to a grated celeriac salad to keep it white, or known to keep the onion roots intact when chopping to make it easier. And I didn’t know that vegetable stock was just a vegetable concentrate either. Wonderful! I just hope I’ll manage to get to all the future cooking sessions, because I’m cracking loads right now. And it can only get better!
Adele

10 March 2010

GUEST BLOG: Cracking Cooks training session, Wednesday 3 March

By guest blogger CRACKING COOK RICHARD

It didn’t bode well. The venue (St Ninian’s Church) seemed deserted and when I finally got in, I was presented with a large church hall, a semi-circle of seats and a heater. It looked like it was going to be a long, cold and dull four hours for my Cracking Good Food training to be a Cooking Leader.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. First, Adele greeted us, gushing and motivated as usual; then Beth sidled out of the kitchen and re-introduced herself and the aim of the session. Folders were distributed; teas, coffees and juices offered and pleasantries exchanged; and the room wasn’t as cold as expected – I even took my coat off.

And so the session began. It was well structured, concise and divided into bite-sized pieces. We covered the usual suspects: Health & Safety, How To Run A Cookery Class, Housekeeping For Cooking Sessions, Recipe Sheets Debriefing, Equipment Requisition, Costings and Registration. But we also talked within the group. We discussed issues that surfaced, brought up problems that worried us and raised matters that hadn’t even been thought of. A very agreeable session.


The bit that I/we hadn’t expected was a bit of real cooking. Two recipes had been provided and we divided into a Veggie group and a Meat group. We were set the task of following a recipe (my own personal nightmare) in order to produce either a vegetable cobbler or a sausage something-or-other (don’t care; it wasn't veggie!). It was quite interesting seeing a group of chefs, home cooks or wannabe foodies all come together in a kitchen and interact. We didn’t really have time to form a hierarchy or have squabbles, but it was fun and quick and helped everyone bond. So, within half an hour we had two dishes in the oven for our lunch - giving us enough time to fill out a self-assessment questionnaire. Read on.

Cooking time was literally the time taken to fill in the self-assessment form. This would indicate our learning styles. By ticking a series of questions regarding how we approach life and analysing the results, we discovered how we function. No one could believe how perfect I was, but that’s life.

Following this we ate lunch, disseminated the assessment form, talked at length about future courses, discussed how things were likely to pan out and ironed out any potential problems. So all-in-all a very good, interesting and fruitful course.


P.S. Did I mention that for lunch we had to move to a very cold room (coats on), the vegetable cobbler was voted the best (does my memory serve me right? or is this maybe fictitious?) and the topping was baked to perfection, and Cracking Good Food moves on to the next level. Several more members committed to the cause.

11 February 2010

Cooks meet, February 2010



As Cracking Good Food hurtles towards its official launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival on Saturday 27 March, coordinators Adele, Jess and Beth thought it would be a good idea to get all the Cracking Cooks together, and last Tuesday evening was set as the date.

Adele's wonderfully homely kitchen was crammed with 20 chairs and stools begged and borrowed from various friends and neighbours, and the Cracking Good Food Cooking Leaders met for a briefing about the project and a chance to try out each other's food. One by one, everybody introduced themselves to the group and described their cooking background - from restaurant pastry chefs and events caterers to local grocers and full-time mums. The coordinators outlined the aims of the network and organisation, explained how the cooking sessions and Cooks On The Hop events will work, and answered queries that were put forward.

Next came the important business of sampling the various dishes that the Cooking Leaders had brought along with them. Included in the savoury spread was a delicious homemade cheese and onion quiche, some Aberdeen Buttery Rowies straight from Rob's oven next door, Juliet's clove-laden chilli con carne, an unusual take on veggie moussaka courtesy of Unicorn's Richard and a tasty curry with lovely fresh chapattis. Steve and Jay from new deli Hickson & Black's supplied the cheeseboard and Kim rustled up a sundried tomato flatbread there and then. Anna's chocolate muffins with a cheesecake topping went down a treat for afters, while Kate's dragon cake was so beautiful noone wanted to cut into it - but we were so grateful when Jess finally took the plunge, as the sweet sponge and icing concoction was fabulous!
Clare

26 October 2009

Cooks On The Hop, October 2009


Despite it being a cold and windy October day, plenty of people gathered round to watch (and help!) us erect our gazebo in Darley Avenue. Laughing at the oddness of the activity, we battled on and eventually managed to perfect a sheltered cooking spot for our first attempt at Cooks On The Hop, when Cracking Good Food goes out and about into the local community to put on a cooking demo.

Seeing Kim throwing matchstick-thin carrots and leeks into a wok sizzling with hot chilli paste, passers-by were at our side like a shot eager to try some out. Pleased at how good veggie food was, even the teenage lads on bikes helped out with the chopping so they could have seconds.

The buzz of chatter and smells in the air encouraged more and more people to stop by, and soon stories were being swapped about favourite food. Some nice ladies even nipped back home to rustle up dishes to add to the table, including a fantastic coleslaw! It was almost like a proper old-fashioned street party – all that was missing was the music! Everyone enjoyed themselves so much, we promised to return to repeat it, and we will...
Adele