GUEST BLOG: Tasty tofu & tempeh

By guest blogger KITTY GALORE

We began the session on Saturday 2 October with an informative history lesson from laid-back Lawrence (aka Lorenzo, pictured below). Then it was straight into the nitty-gritty of cooking the stuff: tofu was sliced, squeezed and dry-fried; tempeh was sizzled in oil with splashes of soy sauce; more tofu was scrambled with mushrooms and garlic, and finally silky tofu was whisked with melted chocolate (what was left after the cooks had taste-tested it!) and poured onto a biscuit base.


All the food (except for the dessert, which each of us got to take home) was served up brunch style with fried peppers and tomatoes. While we ate, we picked Lawrence's brains for more tofu and tempeh inspiration. A tasty tofu and tempeh time was had by all!


More photos from the class are on the Cracking Good Food Facebook page.
Read Lorenzo's blog, Grocer's Kitchen, here.

GUEST BLOG: Plover Terrace Hop

By guest blogger AVRIL POVAH

Cooking on a windy field in the middle of Southway Housing's estate just off Nell Lane seemed a tall order, but once me and fellow Cracking Cook Lorenzo had worked out how to erect a gazebo in the gusts, we were away! (Never take us away camping!)

On the menu on Tuesday 3 August was pasta and homemade sauces, full of all those Mediterranean flavours of fresh garlic, purple and green basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil and plump fresh red tomatoes. There were lots of children around that evening, especially after we set up at 5pm; and while we set about boiling and chopping, Adele (our children's entertainment manager) kept them amused with a nutrition game explaining the Eat Well Plate and what foods to eat to follow a balanced diet.


It's so easy to make your own tomato-based Italian sauce for pasta and so much cheaper than buying ready made. Fresh sauces just taste so much nicer too, especially alfresco. We prepared different types of pasta, including wholewheat, and we added fresh broccoli to one of our sauces to get those extra vitamins. Everyone lapped up the tasters we provided and we couldn't cook it quickly enough, especially as we served up around their teatime!

The Hop at Plover Terrace was organised as part of the Lost Plot project on Nell Lane Allotments and funded through Action For Sustainable Living. You can see more photos of the Plover Terrace Hop on our Facebook page!

GUEST BLOG: Leading a session with Chorlton Good Neighbours

By guest blogger CRACKING COOK LORENZO

Had an exhausting but great two hours doing a cooking demo for some of our local seniors from the Chorlton Good Neighbours group last week. I did the spiel, jokes and anecdotes while everyone else did the cooking.


The theme was microwave miracles. We made:
a) granola with porridge oats, syrups (the date syrup went down well; the rice syrup only so-so) and lots of dried fruit. This was a success as it used ingredients the audience could relate to and only took three minutes in the microwave.
b) mini-muffin pizze. One from a 1978 cookbook. A winner - see the photo of the finished product below (and before cooking above)!
c) chickpea salad. Now I thought everyone ate chickpeas but 75% of the group had never even tasted one before. Not a winner, unfortunately - maybe a step too far.


Lorenzo is on Cracking Good Food's team of Cracking Cooks. He also writes a blog, Grocer's Kitchen, about cooking, eating and grow your own.

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!

Cracking Good Food official launch

Cracking Good Food's official launch is approaching fast and a week today (Saturday 27 March), we'll be rocking up at Chorlton's Big Green Festival with our Cooks On The Hop gazebo!

Chorlton's Big Green Festival gives people the chance to sample sustainable living in fun and friendly surroundings, putting environmental issues centre stage with a vibrant and varied programme of live entertainment, activities and workshops. The festival is a really great showcase for local suppliers of tasty, responsibly sourced food and drink, and this year there will also be plenty of info about grow your own and allotments as the theme is "growing locally".


Cracking Good Food is really pleased to be involved and we'll be running our unique Cooks On The Hop sessions on the day, which kicks off at 11am. Make sure you pop in to the school hall at St Clement's where Cracking Cooks Avril, Rob and Lorenzo will be in action, rustling up sensational stir-fries. You get to choose your ingredients, chop them up then combine them in a wok with one of the fabulous sauces blended just for you. The best thing is you get to eat your creation, so you'll have plenty of energy to enjoy the rest of the festival!

Clare