Leith Academy have created a recipe book which is a mixture of famous people’s recipes and international recipes from all the pupils who are 58 different nationalities.
Nationwide companies have supported Leith Academy to print a recipe book that reflects the diverse international taste of the students at the school.
The book is a lot more than a recipe book. Graphic designers have helped in the production and Gavin Hastings supported the book launch earlier this week.
Gavin Hastings was there as a representative of the Wooden Spoon charity along with the charity’s Scotland Chairman Charlie Bryden. The money from selling wooden spoons the pupils decorated will be spent helping disadvantaged people. The money raised from the book will help the school fund a new kiln along with specialist art and design materials.
The pupils have created some of their own recipes adapted from their favourites.
Alexander McCall Smith, Tony Singh MBE, Tom Kitchin, Neil Forbes and Martin Wishart all contributed recipes to the book.
There are around fifty-eight different nationalities in the school and pupils were asked to offer any recipes they liked the best to be judged by the home economics staff. There are 100 pages in the book and they are mostly a diverse range of recipes from stir-fry to stovies. There is a chapter called manners make the world go round with a range of ways of saying please, thank you and please pass the ……… in six languages including Gaelic.
The pupils drew their own illustrations for the book, The idea was to show through pictures in an educational and charming way how food ends up on their table from the plough to the plate. There are poems about food and a mathematical pie chart painted as a pie showing in a percentages and by the size of the slices of the pie what type of food the pupils and staff eat at Leith Academy.
This is an extract from the book – Alexander McCall Smith’s recipe for ‘Scotland Street Cauliflower Soup’
Scotland Street cauliflower soup by Alexander McCall Smith
This soup is one that is much enjoyed by many of the characters in the 44 Scotland Street series of novels. It is often made by Domenica Macdonald for her husband, Angus Lordie. One of the most popular characters in the series, Bertie Pollock (7), also likes this recipe. Those of us who follow a low carb diet appreciate this soup because of its healthiness.
Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 tsp ground coriander 800g cauliflower florets, roughly chopped 1 litre vegetable stock 150ml double cream
Method
1. Heat the oil in a large heavy based pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry for 2-3mins, until softened. 2. Add the ground coriander and fry for a further minute.
3. Add the chopped cauliflower and vegetable stock. Bring mixture to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for approx. 10 mins, or until the cauliflower is tender. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
4. Carefully pour the soup into a food processor (or use a stick blender in the saucepan) and blend to a puree. Return the pureed soup mixture to the pan and add the cream. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and warm through for 1-2mins.
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