For Design and Technology this term, we have been cooking seasonal tarts. We began by discussing what we mean by seasonal foods, we looked at examples of seasonal foods and asked why certain foods can only grow in certain seasons.
How do we get foods in winter which are grown in high temperatures? We looked at foods which are grown elsewhere in the world compared to foods which are grown in the UK. We talked about the transportation required to get foods from other parts of the world and discussed the concept of ‘air miles’.
We decided on seasonal foods to use to include in our environment-friendly seasonal tart. The first thing to learn was cutting techniques because it was the children’s job to cut and peel the vegetables. We learned the bridge hold and the claw hold, and reminded the children of the importance of keeping their fingers away from the blade and peeling away from the body.
In groups the children decided which combination of vegetables they wanted to include on their seasonal tart. They had to consider the colour combinations (because it had to look appetizing!), the size of the chunks, the texture and the taste. Each group was given a roll of ready-made puff pastry and they marked a margin 1cm from the edge of the pastry. Within these markings, they could spread a tomato paste, their vegetables, grated cheese and parsley.
Once the tarts had been baked in the oven for 15 minutes, they were ready to be taken home and eaten and the majority of us really enjoyed them!
