With the school holidays coming up, parents will be thinking about what they can do to keep the kids busy.
Because of the popularity of TV cooking shows, many children are aspiring "masterchefs".
Cooking classes were once part of the national school curriculum but setting up kitchens proved very expensive. However, many teachers are introducing cooking as an element of cultural studies and it's a lot of fun. My 7-year-old granddaughter learned to make roti during a class on India. It was cooked on an electric frypan.
As for getting upfront and personal with the hob, it's usually up to mum to organise at home or, if mum is lucky, at one of the cooking schools throughout the country that run kids' holiday classes.
Check out the web to see what is available.
A friend's children are great fans of TV2's Erin Simpson Show (4.30pm weekdays) on which presenter Mike Lee, a past MasterChef contestant, does simple cooking demos (Mike's Bites) that inspire the kids to have a go.
On July 15 and 17, Bay of Plenty's young Claire Gourley is fronting a free one-hour online cooking workshop making creamy fish pie or cottage pie.
Sign up at www.itsmyturntocooktonight.com.
By the end of the session your kids will be able to boil and mash potatoes, hold a knife properly, cut an onion and make a white sauce (if they are making the fish pie); or make the best-ever potato-topped pie.
They'll also learn how to swap vegetables with the ones they have available at home.
Then they can impress the family with a scrumptious dinner they've made all by themselves.
RECIPES
FUNKY BAKED APPLES
4 Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup craisins
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, chopped
Juice 1 orange
4 cinnamon sticks
Core the apples using a corer. Cut the top quarter off the apples.
Combine the craisins, brown sugar and butter and stuff into the centre of the apples. Place in a microwave-proof baking dish. Put the "hats" on the apples and top with more stuffing mixture.
Sprinkle with the orange juice. Cover loosely with plastic film. Microwave on high for 8 minutes. Carefully insert a skewer in the centre of one apple to see if it is cooked. If still firm, microwave in 1 minute bursts until cooked. Stand for 2 to 3 minutes. Insert the cinnamon sticks in the centre and serve.
Great served with a dollop of icecream, yoghurt, or custard.
- Serves 4
'GRATE' SOUP
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 parsnip, peeled and coarsely grated
1 apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
4 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp each: mixed dried herbs, honey
4 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Prepare all vegetables and place in a large saucepan. Add the herbs, honey and chicken stock. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Taste, then add enough salt and pepper to your liking.
Serve in mugs. Sprinkle with parsley.
- Serves 4
CHEESE TWISTIES
Good as a snack or with soup.
2 sheets ready-rolled flaky pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup finely grated tasty cheese
Set the oven to 200C.
Brush one pastry sheet with egg. Sprinkle with cheese. Brush the second pastry sheet with egg and place over the first sheet, egg-side down. Press the sheets together firmly.
Cut the pastry in half, then cut in 2cm wide strips.
Pick up each strip of pastry with both hands, then twist it. Place on an oven tray. Bake for 10 minutes. - Makes about 20
KIWIFRUIT BUTTERFLY CAKES
I used a Macro Gluten-free cupcake mix. The icing mix included in the packet is not used in my recipe but it's great for decorating plain biscuits with faces or your name.
470g packet vanilla cupcake mix
1/2 cup cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
2-3 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
4 red glace cherries, quartered
Set the oven to 175C. Line a 12-hole cupcake pan or muffin pan with paper patty cases.
Prepare the cake mix according to the packet instructions.
Spoon into the paper cases.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted in the centre of one cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack.
Whip the cream and icing sugar, until thick.
Take a teaspoon and scoop or hollow out the centre of each patty cake.
Then spoon the whipped cream into the hollows.
Cut each round of kiwifruit in half to make a half circle.
Place the straight edges in the cream to form two butterfly wings on each cake.
Add a piece of cherry in the centre.
- Makes about 12