Month: February 2012

Kale tasting at Community Park Elementary School

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Community Park Elementary School parents are invited to join their children for a lunchtime tasting on Tuesday, March 6, when Christopher Albrecht, executive chef at Terra Momo Restaurant Group (think Eno Terra), cooks up a fresh kale soup. He is using Tuscan (aka Lacinato or Dinosaur) Kale from the restaurants’ Canal Farm, in Kingston and from Whole Earth Center in Princeton (see photo, above), and Red Russian Kale from farmers Andrew Marchese and Chris Turse of Double Brook Farm, in Hopewell.

This tasting is the latest in-school event of PSGC’s Garden State on Your Plate, a program that brings chefs and farmers into schools to connect children to their food and their community. The program is funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Chef Christopher says there are three tips that will set you on the path to success with this hearty soup: First, to ensure that leeks are cleansed of grit, rinse them well under running water, then cut into coins and allow to soak in cold water for a couple of hours, agitating them occasionally. Second, after peeling and dicing potatoes, prevent discoloration by submerging them in cold water until time to add them to the soup. Third, kitchen twine, used to tie the herbs together, is untreated and is available from kitchen supply stores. If labeled kitchen twine is unavailable, simply add herbs to the pot and fish them out later. Do not substitute other twine.

Tuscan Kale, Potato & Leek Soup
Makes 6 quarts, or 24 one-cup servings

1 bay leaf
6 thyme sprigs
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup white onion, diced
2 cups leek rounds, ¼-inch thick, white and lightest green part only, cleaned, drained and patted dry
8 cups peeled and diced white potatoes
2 cups heavy cream (substitute half-and-half or milk for a lighter version)
Cold water
6 cups rough-chopped Tuscan kale
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan or cheddar or crumbled gorgonzola) if desired

1.Using 12- to 24-inch length of kitchen twine, tie bay leaf and thyme sprigs together, leaving a tail to tie to the handle of the pot. Set aside.
2.Heat vegetable oil in an 8-quart heavy-bottomed pot. Add onions and leeks to pot with a sprinkle of salt. Cook over medium-low heat until they are soft and sweet but have not developed color.
3.Add potatoes and enough cold water to cover, then increase heat to medium until soup reaches a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes, adding more water to keep potatoes covered.
4.Meanwhile, in microwave or on stovetop, heat cream to steaming, then add to soup, stirring to combine.
5.Heat soup just until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat; discard herbs. Puree in a food mill or blender until smooth. Chill.
6.Reheat soup to steaming, remove from heat, add chopped kale and puree again, leaving some coarseness to the kale. Serve immediately, garnished with cheese, if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

Riverside kindergarten students eat their words

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By Assenka Oksiloff
Princeton Regional Schools

Research shows that children’s literacy skills improve when their reading and writing experiences are meaningful to them. At PRS, educators have taken this lesson to heart, designing innovative lessons and programs that make the written word come alive in imaginative – and delicious – ways.

In Jennifer Bazin’s kindergarten class at Riverside Elementary School, 17 students were recently treated to a culinary sampling while reading Maurice Sendak’s classic, “Chicken Soup with Rice,” in a lesson co-taught by Dorothy Mullen, the school’s garden artist-in-residence.

The lesson is part of a winter series on literature and food that Ms. Mullen has designed for the classes of Ms. Bazin and Linda Bruschi, who also teaches kindergarten at Riverside. Using an interactive, inter-disciplinary approach, Mullen packed the lesson full of goodies that included a reading of Sendak’s book, a review of the months of the year and the seasonal cycles, a song, and, of course, the pièce de resistance: chicken soup with rice.

Ms. Mullen’s position is funded by the Riverside PTO, who sought to develop a garden-based education program across all grades. Under her direction, in collaboration with the teachers, the children do garden lessons about 10 – 12 times per year.

During the winter months, they engage in lessons involving literature and food. This year, the kindergarteners have also tasted Stone Soup, Tops and Bottoms Soup, and Black Swallowtail Butterfly Host Plant Soup. “This is a way of bringing the garden into the classroom when we can’t go outside,” Mullen explained.

Before eating the soup, the students took a careful inventory of the ingredients in Sendak’s soup: chicken, rice, broth, carrots, celery and cabbage. They also pledge to honor Mullen’s simple rule: “You don’t have to eat something you don’t like, but no ‘yuck.’

In this case, there was no need for the rule. The soup received an overwhelming thumbs-up, with many requests for seconds. After the tasting, the group discussed plant growth and made plans for spring planting.

For Mullen, the connections between learning, gardening and eating add a nutritional and environmental component to the lesson. “We get our ingredients from our school, which gives a sense of sustainable living,” said Ms. Mullen, who is a founding member of the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative and has taught Master Gardeners of Mercer County how to become school gardeners. “Kids are actively involved when growing peas and carrots, and they are more likely to eat those vegetables when they grow them.”

Based on the data gathered about food preferences at the end of the lesson — almost all enjoyed the carrots, and two-thirds found the celery and cabbage delicious — she is correct.

PU chefs cook up a meal for PHS students

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Princeton University chefs were welcomed as guest chefs for Princeton High School students, teachers and staff during lunchtime on Feb. 2.

This first-ever event was a direct outgrowth of the Garden State On Your Plate program, which brought local chefs into elementary schools to serve dishes made with lusciously fresh local produce. That program, funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative, served 720 students at Community Park and Littlebrook elementary schools, their parents, and school teachers and administrators.

This event was made possible by the army of volunteers who served the children at the tastings; the chefs, including Stu Orefice, director of dining services at PU, who led this guest-chef effort; Princeton University; the farmers; the videographer, Jerry Tully; the teachers and administrators at PRS; Jim Gillespie and Cindy Hill of Chartwells Food Service; and countless others in our good food community.