Young people know what they want, and how to cook it, writes Catherine Cleary
It is difficult to go on a family outing these days without being bombarded by bad food. On the face of it, Dublin Zoo is a good, healthy excursion.
Yet at every turn you seem to be met with ice-creams, cinema-sized bags of sweets, fat-laden sausage rolls and sugary drinks. If you are eating on the hoof at the zoo it can feel as if the only fruit available is that munched by the animals as the sugar-buzzed youngsters and their pestered parents watch on.
The way around the onslaught is to bring a well-stocked picnic bag, and there are plenty of picnic tables at the zoo and other spots to sit and eat and then finish off with a Choc Ice so as not to be a complete wet blanket.
Bee Walsh, whose legendary summer cooking school is about to run its final week-long course under her tutelage, knows what children and teenagers like to eat on the run. "I asked my group of 11 to 15-year-olds this morning what they would like to eat on a day out and here's what they said: corn-on-the-cob, meatballs, quiche, chicken wings and chicken legs and mini pizzas. They also love my festival chicken salad wraps, and fruit salad and smoothies."
After 30 years teaching summer cookery courses to children in her home in Killiney, Walsh is hanging up her apron next month.
"The kids know everything about food these days," she says. "And the boys that do the course are very interested in food." Her pupils have not all been Dublin-based, as the course also attracts kids from around the country who stay with their grannies and get spoiled rotten while at the week-long course.
Walsh, who hopes that the cookery school will be carried on by a member of her family, says the secret of teaching children to cook is not to give them the time to get bored.
Busy Bee Summer School of Cooking, Killiney, Co Dublin, 01-2858674
BEE'S PIZZA PIE
Base:
1 dessertspoon dried yeast
125ml lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
200g strong flour
a pinch of salt
1 dessertspoon vegetable oil
Topping:
1 onion
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tbspoon olive oil
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning or oregano
salt and pepper
100g mozzarella cheese, grated
12 slices of pepperoni
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water with one teaspoon of sugar. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and warm it up by putting it in the oven or microwave until it is warm. Add the yeasty water to the warm flour and pour the vegetable oil in. Beat well. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and put aside in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. When it has risen, knead and roll it out to fit a pizza tin.
Dice the onion into small pieces and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in the saucepan, add the onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and Italian seasoning or oregano and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes. Spread this mixture on the base, and sprinkle the grated cheese over it.
Arrange the pepperoni around the top. Bake in a moderate oven (140-160 degrees/gas five to six) for 35 minutes or until the base is cooked.
BEE'S SPICY CHICKEN WINGS
Serves 4
4 chicken wings per person, or to taste
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp cardamom
½ tsp garam masala
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Wash and dry the chicken and cut at the joint in the wings to separate into two pieces. Crush the garlic and mix with the spices and vegetable oil in a bowl. Add in the chicken and stir well. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Place wings on an oiled baking tray and cook in a moderate oven for 15 minutes, then turn and leave for another 15 minutes.
From The Right Bite by Bee Walsh and Jill Walsh, Gill and MacMillan, €18.99