What can I cook with 25 kids and no kitchen?

October 15, 2008 7:46 AM

What non-cook foods can we prepare at school?

I'm a teacher who is doing cookery with 25 kids tomorrow. They are all about 11 or 12 years old.

We're doing world foods. Last week we did Italian Bruschetta, the week before veg Sushi.

We have no kitchen at the moment so we have to do it in the classroom.

What meal can we prepare?

It needs to be simple and require no ovens or microwaves or anything. Chopping and salads are good or anything you might think of.

Many thanks.

posted by mooreeasyvibe to food & drink (21 comments total)

Hummus!
posted by contessa at 7:52 AM on October 15, 2008

Ceviche! That's a fish dish that "cooks" via the acid from lime juice.

Or Gazpacho -- there are a squillion different varieties, and all of them boil down to "run a whole bunch of vegetables through a food processor and then chill the results".

A salade nicoise does call for hardboiled eggs, but these I'm sure can be procured in advance. There's also Caesar salad.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:53 AM on October 15, 2008

Gazpacho!
posted by Pollomacho at 7:55 AM on October 15, 2008

You can always make grilled cheese using an iron, though you might not be up for ironing sandwiches for a classroom full of kids. If it were earlier in the summer I'd make whipped cream either by shaking the cream or whisking it - pass it from kid to kid so their arms don't fall off then serve it with some fresh fruit. This time of year you could do a green papaya salad (either Thai or Vietnamese style). Babaganoush (salat hatzilim) and chips/veggies would be good, you'd just need to precook the eggplant then have the kids peel and smoosh it. Salsa, guacamole, hummus, ajvar, and countless other dips would be easy enough to do also. Caesar salad would be fun too.
posted by foodgeek at 7:58 AM on October 15, 2008

Guacamole is pretty simple
I also like the hummus idea posted above
posted by smalls at 8:10 AM on October 15, 2008

Is this an equipment issue or a fire code issue? Because you could use a small can of sterno to cook up a lot of things, especially queso or fondue, and it only costs a few bucks. I'm kind of useless in this department but I'm thinking sandwiches, especially some sort of ethnic/cultural variety (from the Caribbean, for example) that makes it exotic and educational. Seconding Caesar salads and fruit salads (now I'm thinking of a certain Wiggles song).
posted by crapmatic at 8:11 AM on October 15, 2008

My "roommate" (okay, I'm just sleeping on his couch) makes a raw "burger" which is very easy assuming you have access to ground sunflower seeds. I suppose you could put them in a bag and smash them with a hammer. He uses a food processor.

1/4 cup yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 cup sunflower seeds, ground
1/2 cup flax seeds, ground (you can buy them ground)
1/2 cup water
2 stalks celery, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

Just put everything in a large bowl and mix together. Add the water last using only half at first. You want the patties to stick together enough to stay together but not so moist they fall apart. This recipe will make 3 or 4 depending on how big you want them to be.

Eat! (Well, we put them on bread (which he makes but it's too friggin complicated) with slices of tomato or homemade ketchup or whatever).

And here's his recipe for Guacamole

2 avocados, diced
2 tbs yellow onion, chopped
1 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tbs)
2 tbs olive oil (extra virgin)
1/2 jalepeno pepper, chopped, to taste

Put everything in a bowl and mix well.

And Pineapple Mango Salsa (I put this on the burgers instead of ketchup but he thinks that's wrong):

2 cups finely diced pineapple
2 cups finely diced mango
1 cup finely diced red pepper
1/4 cup minced jalepeno
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
sea salt to taste

gently mix everything in a bowl.

And here's what he ate for breakfast this morning: coconut breakfast cakes:

2 cups whole flax seeds (or 3 cups flax seed meal)
2 tbs coconut oil
1/2 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup water

Put everything in a bowl and mix well with your hands. form into four balls and then flatten them into pancakes about 1/4 to 1/2 thick.

Serve them topped with sliced bananas or strawberries or nuts. I like it with Berry Syrup but you need a blender for that (1/3 cup pitted dates, pint of blueberries, blackberries or strawberries; blend till smooth--add water if needed).
posted by Manhasset at 8:12 AM on October 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Two more ideas, although perhaps not super kid-friendly:
Russia/Poland: borscht
Asia: seaweed salad
posted by smalls at 8:15 AM on October 15, 2008

English Tea Sandwiches and Pea Salad?
posted by prettymightyflighty at 8:19 AM on October 15, 2008

Pico de gallo or more elaborate salsas, guacamole, and chips. Yum.
posted by vytae at 8:23 AM on October 15, 2008

Halo Halo
posted by spec80 at 8:26 AM on October 15, 2008

You could have them chop vegetables (carrots, celery, bell peppers, cucumber) and have them make their own dips to eat with the veggies.
Making dip has an element of "potions" that most kids love.
The dip ingredients that you could have for them to choose from and combine could be:
plain yoghurt, cheese crumbles, salt, pepper, oil, vinegars, garlic powder, onion powder, fresh herbs like dill, chives, scallions (which they can also chop up)...
posted by rmless at 8:33 AM on October 15, 2008

Do Greece! Some options...

Greek salad. Cucumber, tomato, olives, beans, capers and feta cheese.

If you can get hold of those premade filo pastry cups you can make miniature Greek Pies filled with spinach and feta cheese.

If you can pre-cook a lot of rice and bring it in with you, the kids could make dolmades. (I suspect the wrapping process would be messy but fun.)
posted by the latin mouse at 8:37 AM on October 15, 2008

guacamole would probably be fun. it's slimy and green!
and you can serve it with chips and veggies for dipping.

Bonus: you can try to get the avocado pits to sprout as a class project.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:21 AM on October 15, 2008

in elementary school, we made guacamole and kimchi.
posted by kerning at 9:39 AM on October 15, 2008

Bhel puri would be perfect! India. And it is soooo yummy.
posted by lampoil at 11:12 AM on October 15, 2008

With guacamole you could also slip in a lesson about good fats and bad fats - get 'em started young checking for the saturated facts on those junk food wrappers.
posted by nanojath at 1:28 PM on October 15, 2008

Smoothies. My daughter's Montessori preschool has a cooking day once a week, and the kids made watermelon smoothies a couple of weeks ago. They all took turns chopping up the melon before it went into the blender.
posted by Ostara at 2:11 PM on October 15, 2008

I would do Greek salad and tzatziki (served with store bought pita). I also really like the selection of fresh salsa and guacamole. No bake cheesecake would be fun, but you would have to either pre-make the crust or melt some butter/margarine ahead of time to mix with the graham crackers. Sounds like a lot of fun!!
posted by ms.v. at 4:56 PM on October 15, 2008

What about a Thai Green Mango Salad? It fits with world foods, and doesn't involve cooking. Lots of fine chopping to be done. It does usually involve peanuts, though, if you're a peanut free school.

In a similar vein, what about rice paper salad rolls? More chopping, pre-cooked shrimp rather than cooking them on site. Plus again with the peanuts, but you can make a peanut sauce for dipping.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:30 PM on October 15, 2008

My son loves it when we make ice cream using ice, rock salt, cream, milk, vanilla and sugar. You pour the cream, milk, vanilla and sugar into a ziploc bag. Then put it into a bigger ziploc bag full of ice and rock salt. Wrap the bag with a towel. Shake, shake, shake for eight minutes. Presto: ice cream. It keeps the kids busy, provides a science lesson, a potential history lesson (ice cream, refrigeration, etc) and tastes good.
posted by acoutu at 9:37 PM on October 15, 2008 [1 favorite]