Emma's Kitchen

Stating the day the avocado way!

A busy Saturday! We served Mediterranean meze platters and a vegan curry at Hever Primary school fair and a bbq at East Peckham school. Then we provided a buffet for a birthday party including bacon and halloumi bites with chilli jam, potato bites with cheese and bacon, mozzarella and spinach puffs, coronation chicken leaves and a selection of home made mini quiches!

We are recruiting! Due to expansion we are looking for enthusiatic, hard working kitchen managers for our new schools in tonbridge and surrounding areas. Candidates must have kitchen experience, be comfortable working in a fast paced environment and love being part of a team!! Please send cvs and any queries to [email protected].

Trialling out a new menu for the family. Thai green chicken curry!

When you proper fancy a mid week roast!! Keep it simple: cook your Yorkshires in advance and keep in freezer for occasions like this. Roast the pork and then roast the crackling and potatoes together whilst the meat rests. Par boil some frozen veg then fry off on the hob with oil, salt pepper and garlic. Splash of red wine in the gravy and hey presto!

A fun but soggy afternoon BBQ’ing at Leigh primary school!

We think it’s safe to say our home-made gelato went down a storm today at our theme day across our schools. Children chose from Oreo, Twix, salted caramel, vanilla, strawberry (with real strawberries), mint chocolate chip, rocky road and chocolate flavours!

Only went and made the regional finals!!

When you have a pub lunch at home! Piri piri chicken pittas with halloumi and loaded fries with pancetta, chorizo, spring onions cheese and chilli!

I am sooo rubbish at taking photos of my food!! But tonight I made a beef and chianti ragu. Mr H gave it a 10!

What a fab 1st cookery day we had. Started the day with some kitchen hygiene basics, followed by the chocolate game and some pancake flipping, some food bingo, created our own gingerbread people to colour in, we made pizza for lunch then decorated cupcakes and learnt knife skills whilst cutting the vegetables for our pasta bolognese that the children took home for their tea! Hope the kids had fun and learnt some new skills! Maybe another one in the summer holidays??

Looking forward to our first cookery club today!

Had a great Monday catering at a wedding. Needless to say we were rubbish getting photos but guests enjoyed canapés of mini toad in the holes, fish and chip sticks, deep fried olives with home made whipped feta and aubergine and pomegranate flatbreads. We then provided grazing boards for 8-10 guests at each table consisting of cured and home cooked meats, sausage rolls, mozzarella and tomato salad, home made breads, mini pie selection and finished off with cheese straws, chutneys and coleslaw! Had a pretty awesome team on board too!

Looking forward to our summer menu!

We are looking for an assistant cook to join our team at East Peckham school. Must have experience in catering, and a passion for baking as desserts would be your forte! Competitive rates of pay and full training given. Email [email protected] for more info!

Not one to miss out on world book day, today some of our schools enjoyed a Roald Dahl themed lunch! With mudburgers, snozzcumber salad, Bruce bogtrotters chocolate cake and George’s freak shake! Hope the children enjoyed something a bit different!

New computer, new ideas, new beginnings…..

A new recipe tonight. I bought some short beef ribs at the weekend and made this slow cooked (9 hours) ragu in a tomato and red wine sauce. Teamed with some parpadelle. It needed some tweaking but for a first attempt mr h gave me a 10!! Recipe to follow!!

The past 4 years have been hard. I set up a new business during Covid, survived (just), have gone from 1 school to 5, lost my beautiful mum, worked many hours, cried, laughed, and am still standing. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love what I do and how hard the team and I work to provide the best school dinners we can for 400 pupils plus everyday. These awards are to showcase how hard people are working to do the best for kids at school.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/schoolfoodawards/
If anyone fancies nominating us, I would be grateful, I feel like we deserve some recognition, never ask, never get and all that!

Home - Jamie Oliver’s Good School Food Awards After the huge success of last year’s awards, we knew there were many more unsung school food heroes who deserved some big love. These are the people who go the extra mile to feed our kids good food and teach them about the joy of cooking. Jamie Oliver

Only I would make home made fortune cookies!!!

Freshly baked bread rolls today to go with our toad in the hole!!

We are still looking for a kitchen manager to join the team. School hours, term time contract. Perfect opportunity for someone who enjoys cooking and wants a job to fit around the kids

When the boys want pasta for dinner but you haven’t been shopping. I had no chopped tomatoes in so made this chicken and bacon pasta with a jar of salsa that was meant for nachos. Genius!

This says it all. And why we are trying so hard to improve the quality of school dinners. Today we served over 500 meals across 5 schools.

"Food in schools is as essential as exercise books - you can't learn without it. What I find mind-blowing is that we shouldn’t have to be talking about this decision being bold or brilliant."

Read the full article here >> https://jamieol.com/FreeSchoolMeals Sadiq Khan

We’re hiring!
Due to recent expansion, Emma’s Kitchen is on the hunt for staff to work at Hever Primary School.
-Kitchen manager
Have a passion for food and be an experienced cook. Previous experience working in a school kitchen. Be a self starter, able to work under your own initiative. Manage a small team. Current DBS required

- General assistant
To assist the kitchen manager and to help with food service at lunchtime. Current DBS required

Immediate start, competitive rates of pay and full training provided. This is your chance to be part of a great team who are changing the future of school dinners. Please send cv and covering letter to [email protected]

One day I will learn to take a decent photo!! Trialled out some turkey, stuffing and cranberry ‘sausage’ rolls today for this function, along with some Christmas tree bread which I thought was rather cute!!

Christmas at Emma’s kitchen. A week of Christmas dinners across 4 schools. Over 600 Christmas meals served. Only one finger injury (first slice of turkey!!!), fresh turkey crown, 5 different vegetables and all the usual trimmings. I am exceptionally lucky to work with such a great team and to work with schools who share the same passion as me for giving children the best lunches. Thank you again for all your support this year. I am so lucky to be doing something that I love and to hear great feedback from children, parents and staff make all the early starts, the burns and the stress all worthwhile. We are already looking forward to the new menu next term and thrilled to announce we have another school joining us. Now some family time. Merry Christmas x

3 school Christmas dinners done. 1 more to go on Friday. So far we have served up 359 roast turkey with roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, roasted parsnips, carrots, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower cheese (plus some braised red cabbage for staff!!) topped off with chocolate pudding, Christmas cake or a festive cookie, and a chocolate and raspberry roulade and a cheeseboard for staff. Our vegetarians enjoyed our melty mushroom puff full of creamy melted Stilton. I however forgot the photos!!!😂😂 hope all the children and adults enjoyed our Christmas offering this year. We are now on countdown!!