Grant - Cook School : more than 50 fun and easy recipes for your child at every age and stage

cook school Amanda Grant PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSAN BELL LONDON NEW YORK For Ethan and Noah, my two new, very special nephews and all the wonderful children who live in our street. Senior Designer Iona Hoyle
Senior Editor Cline Hughes
Location Researcher Jess Walton
Production Toby Marshall
Publishing Director Alison Starling Prop and Food Stylist Amanda Grant
Photoshoot Assistants Brenda Bishop and Esther Webb
Indexer Hilary Bird First published in the UK in 2011
by Ryland Peters & Small
2021 Jockeys Fields
London WC1R 4BW
www.rylandpeters.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Text Amanda Grant 2011
Design and photographs
Ryland Peters & Small 2011 The authors moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. eISBN: 978-1-84975-316-6 ISBN: 978-1-84975-135-3 A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Printed in China NOTES All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified.

Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. All ovens work slightly differently. We recommend using an oven thermometer and suggest you consult the makers handbook for any special instructions, particularly if you are cooking in a fan-assisted oven, as you will need to adjust temperatures according to manufacturers instructions. All eggs are medium, unless otherwise specified. It is recommended that free-range eggs be used. Recipes containing raw or partially cooked egg, or raw fish or shellfish, should not be served to the very young, very old, anyone with a compromised immune system or pregnant women.

Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any claim arising out of the information in this book. Always consult your health advisor or doctor if you have any concerns about your childs health or nutrition. contents Cook School is a practical and inspiring cookery book for young children. Amanda Grant has helped parents by producing excellent books on feeding children. Now she is showing children how to achieve a sense of achievement and pleasure by learning to cook. The accepted method of teaching children to read is by giving them books, toys and information suitable for their age.

This approach is followed in Cook School . Interesting information and suitable recipes are given under the ages of 35 years, then 57 years and 711; in the case of food preparation, physical ability must also be considered. Parents will be thrilled by the extra skills their children will develop. THIS BOOK BELONGS TO Put your name in the space above and keep this book somewhere safe. Treasure it and enjoy it! You are about to learn some skills that you can use for the rest of your life. If you start cooking now, you will have lots of fun ahead of you making good food for you and your family and friends.

We all need to eat every day and it is much more exciting if you have helped to make some of those meals, instead of always eating food that others have made for you. Have you ever cooked a meal for anyone? When you do, you will see just how happy it makes people feel and how grateful they are for the time and care you have taken. This will make you feel proud too. It feels good when you cook for others. THE SKILLS Learning to cook is a bit like learning to read. When you learn to read, you learn the letters first and then you start to put the letters together to form words.

It is similar to this when you learn to cook. You first learn some basic skills that you can later put together to make meals. Cooking is not just about making something to eat; you will be practising maths (measuring, weighing, sharing); literacy (reading and writing if you jot down some notes about the recipes) and geography (learning about food and where it comes from) and much more. Cooking uses all your senses. You can look at food, smell it, touch it, taste it and listen to it as it cooks. This is something my mum taught me when I was young.

I think thats pretty exciting; I hope you do, too. THE RECIPES My children Ella, Lola and Finley have helped me to put this book together. They have guided me as to which recipes are the most fun to make and eat! They have also tested the recipes with the help of some friends, in particular Rosie, Libby and Tess. The book has 3 main chapters Stage 1 (35 years), Stage 2 (57 years) and Stage 3 (711 years). Even though the recipes in Stage 1 are suitable for children aged 35 years, if you are older than that and have just picked this book up you can still make the recipes from this section. The recipes in Stage 1 are great for mixing and matching with the other recipes in the book to make a complete meal.

For example, crunchy paprika chicken (). I have included classic favourites like crumble topping (). This is because I think that these are the basic building blocks for learning to cook. I was fortunate to be taught these recipes by my mother, my grandmother and my design technology teacher. There are also lots of other exciting recipes in the book which use some ingredients that we are lucky enough to find in shops today. Remember that food is expensive, so dont be too disappointed if your parents dont want you to cook every day of the week. Remember that food is expensive, so dont be too disappointed if your parents dont want you to cook every day of the week.

But the more you offer to make food that you can all eat as a family, the more likely it is that you will be able to cook, as your parents can include your food in their weekly budget. THE PHOTOS The children in the pictures in this book are friends of ours and they came to my kitchen to make the food you see in the photos. Some children asked if they could keep cooking in between having their photos taken, as they were enjoying it so much. For example, while Hector on was having his photo taken making toffee apple tarts, Sam was making the same tarts in the background because he didnt want to miss out! YOUR NOTES As you work your way through a recipe, try to think about it: did you like cooking it and would you like to cook it again? You might like to write some notes in the book. I know that normally you are told not to write in books, but this one is for you to keep forever and you might find it handy to jot down a few comments to remind you of something for next time. For example, would you add more herbs or spice to a recipe? Or make double the amount so that you have enough for friends to share, too? WHY WE NEED TO EAT The main reason why we need to eat good food is because it helps us to grow, develop and stay healthy.