Remembering Maidstone Intermediate & Mrs Otter

When Mum came over earlier this year she had a wonderful  surprise in her suitcase – my Maidstone Intermediate Cookbooks! YAY!!!

Now anyone who went to Maidstone Intermediate (James & I both did) will remember Technicraft. A very exciting prospect which included Sewing with Mrs Bruce, Metalwork with Mr Crombie, Woodwork with Mr Livesey and of course Cooking with Mrs Otter. Every student who came out of Maidstone in those years is familiar with making lemon drink, mousetraps, rock cakes and so much more. It is fantastic to be able to flick through the pages of my Technicraft books and relive these days and ever since I got these little beauties back into my hands I have been meaning to recreate some of these recipes. This weekend seemed to be as good a time as any and with Mackie here for a sleep over I had 2 hungry little girls to satisfy!

First up were Chinese Chicken Wings – sticky & delicious, and just as good as I remember. The girls loved them and relished picking them up with their fingers and getting stuck in. What a mess but nothing that a wet wipe doesn’t clean up!

Chinese Chicken Wings (courtesy of Mrs Otter, Maidstone Intermediate)

Ingredients:-

4-5 chicken wings

2 Tbsp tomato sauce

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp chilli or other hot sauce

1/4 tsp five spice

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 clove garlic or garlic salt

1/4 tsp ginger

Boil chicken for 10 mins. Combine all other ingredients and mix well. Place cooked wings in a baking dish. Brush or pour sauce over wings.

Bake (200C – 15 mins), bbq or grill until crisp and brown.

So very simple – well it needs to be as it was being prepared by a class of 10-12 year olds!!

The girls certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves – judge for yourself!

My 11 year old creative talents!

Just out of the oven

Yum yum!!

Let's see how much Broccoli I can fit in my mouth!

Caveman Style!

The girls enjoying home made juice iceblocks for dessert.

Second recipe of the weekend was Savoury Sausage Roll – tasted just like I remembered and is a great way to make 4 sausages go a lot further. Make sure they are good quality sausages – will make a big difference. For all those Kiwi’s who love a Sizzler (why, oh why?) this is not the type of sausage I mean!!

Savoury Sausage Roll (once again courtesy of Mrs Otter, Maidstone Intermediate)

Ingredients:-

2 Tbsp breadcrumbs

1 small onion

salt & pepper

200g sausage meat or 3-4 sausages

1 Tbsp flour

1 apple

1 carrot

Sprinkle breadcrumbs and flour on a piece of lunch paper.

Remove skins from the sausages. Pat sausage meat out on the breadcrumbs to a long rectangle approx 5mm thick.

Prepare filling ingredients – chop onion finely, peel & grate carrot, core & grate apple

Spread filling over the sausage meat. Season with salt & pepper.

Roll up like a pin wheel. Place in a baking dish with a little oil.

Bake 30-40 minutes in oven 180C.

Another stunning piece of artwork!

Ready for the oven

Lunch time!

Mrs Otter’s recipe says you can use 1 mashed banana in place of the apple – haven’t tried this but don’t think this sounds particularly appealing.