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The Food Party recently attended the Woodside Elementary School Garden Fest, an event celebrating harvest. We did a little cooking demo, showing off produce grown in the garden.
Founded in May 1991, the Woodside School Garden is utilized by grades TK – 5th (about 275 students) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. With the help of parent volunteers and teachers, students plant, weed, compost, and harvest. A current focus of the garden is healthy eating and learning to cook. The children prepare healthy snacks – some recent highlights were salsa, Pico De Gallo, popcorn straight off the cob, and hand-made tortillas with sauted chard. In addition to gardening and cooking tasks, garden time is used to complement curriculum. Weather and seasons, geology, plant parts and life cycles, water cycle, animal habitats and many other areas of curriculum are a perfect match for hands on experiences in the garden setting.
Here’s the recipe we made during the fair. It is Kid Approved with rave reviews. Make the pancakes small for a tapa appetizer. Larger cakes are perfect as a dinner side dish.
Garden Zucchini Pancakes with Tomato Umami
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup scallions or 1/3rd cup minced chives
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons chickpea flour
1/3 cup herbs of choice: dill, parsley, basil, rosemary, etc., chopped
½ cup feta cheese crumbled
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Umami Tomato(recipe follows)
Microgreens (I buy from Trader Joes)
Place zucchini in a strainer with mix with some salt. Let stand 30 minutes. Squeeze out as much water as possible. I squeeze it in a towel. In a large bowl, combine the zucchini – walnuts.
Add olive oil to a sauté skillet (I use cast iron). Drop batter and fry till golden brown, a few minutes on each side. Top with Umami Tomato and microgreens.
Umami Tomato
1 medium homegrown tomato, diced small
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon white miso
Sea veggie granules
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Mince the garlic, then make a paste by sprinkling on a pinch of salt and massaging with the side of your knife. Mix garlic with 1 teaspoon miso and dash sea veggies. Using your hands, incorporate into a small amount of tomatoes and juice, then add in remaining tomatoes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Finish with salt and pepper.
Garnish with Calendula flower if you have them.
