Brussels Sprouts: My new favorite vegetable???

They say that Brussels sprouts are one of the top five most hated vegetables in the world. Not so at Haldane Elementary School. Last Wednesday Chef Mark Gandara visited Mrs. Hocker's and Mrs. Walker's 1st grade classes and cooked up two special dishes using brussels sprouts as the main ingredient. In Mrs. Hocker's class they made Braised Brussels Sprouts in apple cider sprinkled with local bacon. In Mrs. Walker's class they made Mashed Brussels Sprouts baked with parmesan and cream. After helping Chef Mark prepare the two dishes, just about every child tried them. And one little girl blurted out, "Brussels sprouts are my new favorite vegetable!"

Better start making them at home moms and dads! Here are the recipes:

MASHED BRUSSELS WITH PARMESAN AND CREAM

Serves 4

1 1/4 lbs Brussels sprouts

A little grated nutmeg

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 325F. Remove any outer leaves from the sprouts. Cut them in half.  Cook the sprouts in rapidly boiling unsalted water for four minutes. Drain, then put them in a food processor, along with some salt and pepper. Process briefly until  coarsely chopped. Season with a small pinch of nutmeg. Stir in the cream and most of the cheese. Scoop into a baking dish. Scatter with the reserved Parmesan and bake for 25 minutes or so until golden.

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Master recipe for Braised Brussels Sprouts

Serves 4

1 lb small Brussels Sprouts cut in half and stem trimmed with a knife. Discard outer leaves removed by hand

1/2 tsp salt

Bring the sprouts, 1/2 cup of water, and salt to boil in a 2-quart sauce pan over medium-high heat. Cover and simmer (shaking the pan once or twice to redistribute the sprouts) until a knife tip inserted into the center of a sprout meets no resistance, 8-10 minutes. Drain well and season (with ground black pepper and either olive oil or butter) and use in the below recipe.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON and CIDER

(*note do not use maple-flavored bacon, it will give an unpleasant flavor to this dish. To keep the bacon crisp, add the cooked bacon to the Brussels sprouts immediately before serving)

3 oz (about 3 slices) bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 medium cloves garlic minced or pressed

1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves

3/4 cup cider or apple juice

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1 Recipe brussels sprouts (see above)

1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels; set aside.

2. Add the garlic and thyme to the rendered bacon fat in the skillet (there should be 2-3 tbsp of fat) and cook until fragrant about 1 minute. Add the cider and pepper and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Add the sprouts and cook until heated through about 1 minute longer. Sprinkle with the reserved bacon and serve immediately.

Mrs. Hocker's 1st grade class

 Mrs. Walker's 1st grade Class

Chef in the Classroom at The Garrison School: Potatoes! Potatoes! Potatoes!

For the month of October, celebrating National Food Day, the Garrison sixth graders had the opportunity to work with Chef Laurie Gershgorn of Healthy Culinary Creations and made four fabulous dishes using locally grown potatoes.

The class was broken up into four groups:
Group 1 made sweet potato muffins
Group 2 made home fries
Group 3 made potato salad
Group 4 made an "experimental" potato mash

Everyone got to measure, mix, cook and best of all taste their creations.

Garrison 6th Graders making sweet potato muffin

Garrison 6th graders making potato veggie home fries

Chef in the Garden: Events herald second year of Farm-to-School activities

Transposing “the proof is in the pudding” to a healthier framework, children at Haldane and Garrison School each participated in a local field trip linking locally grown vegetable and dairy products to a delicious meal made from these ingredients.  They themselves gathered and picked the ingredients from the fields and barns in which they were grown, and thereby were able to make a vivid connection between the plants they pulled up from the soil and the serving of food on their plates a mere hour or so later.


Go to: Philipstown.info Chef in the Garden for the rest of the story.

Garrison 5th graders munching on lettuce

Garrison 5th grader harvesting ingredients for their salad

Garrison 5th grader enjoying the salad he helped make

Scarecrows and Herbs

On Monday after school, students got busy stuffing straw into old shirts and jeans and made some scary scarecrows.

We have more straw and clothes, so if you still want to make a scarecrow, come on out this Friday to our:

Family Picnic in the Garden and Film Screening of "What's On Your Plate?"

When: Friday, September 30th
6 pm: Picnic in the garden
7 pm: Film screening

Where: Haldane Sustainable Garden


Bring dinner and a blanket and enjoy the garden. Pick a bouquet of flowers. Taste some fresh herbs.

Then stay for our outdoor screening of the documentary film about kids and food politics.

This event is presented by the Haldane Garden and Farm to School programs and The Cold Spring Film Society.

Haldane's 4th grade class visits Glynwood to kick-off the 2011-12 Chef in the Classroom

On Thursday, September 22nd, Mrs. Hartford's 4th grade class visited Glynwood farm to experience first-hand where their food comes from. This was a special event to kick-off the Chef in the Classroom program for the new school year.

As the students got off the bus, they were greeted by farm educator, Carolyn Llewellyn. She led them into the demonstration garden and pointed out all the different vegetables and herbs that were growing and ready to harvest. With wicker baskets in hand, the students picked cherry tomatoes, chives, purple basil, rosemary and cabbage.

Next, they went into the CSA garden and picked kale and sungold tomatoes. After that, they had the rare opportunity to visit a mobile henhouse where each student was allowed to pick their very own egg.

Unlike a traditional henhouse, a mobile henhouse sits on wheels in an open field. The chickens spend most of their time outdoors – free to roam in a large fenced in area. Every few weeks the henhouse is moved to a different field. This process benefits both the chickens and the fields. The chickens benefit from a diet rich in vegetation and insects. And the fields are fertilized with their manure.

After the students collected all their ingredients, they headed up to the big red barn where Mark and Sunny Gandara had already set up their mobile kitchen. The kids sat on haystacks and helped prepare frittatas made with all the ingredients they had just picked. Everyone got a chance to crack an egg, stir in some herbs or sprinkle on a little cheese. And in under an hour, the kids were devouring their frittatas and begging for more!

Did they like it?? After every Chef in the Classroom program, the students are asked to name their dish. This is what they came up with:

Fabulous, Amazing, Delicious, Scrumptious, Fantastic, Wonderful Frittata!

The cafeteria will be serving this dish next Thursday, October 6th. Mark your calendars. Your kids won't want to miss this one.