School Lunch – Film Noir or Chaplinesque?

Our district goes back to school this week, staff meetings Monday and Tuesday, our first day with students on Wednesday….I have spent the summer dining on fish tacos, grilled veggie tacos, prawn tacos, venison tacos, with chipotle coleslaw, rice vinegar slaw, avocados and cucumber. I have eaten pizza with tomatoes and basil, pizza with fresh pico de gallo. Pizza with nicoise olives and fresh mozzarella. I’ve slurped four different recipes for clam chowder, new england style, with/wo bacon, gooey duck or razor clams, super light, and creamy thick. I’ve been cooking vegetables in coconut milk and adding green curry paste, garlic, lime juice and chili flakes.

we can make a chowder that will appeal to most of the students, these are kids k-12. There are some really decent canned clams out there. And we do grow the best potatoes here in the valley. There is a great pork processor up north of Bellingham that makes a nice smokey bacon.

I think students will eat the fish, Alaska Cod, whole muscle, baked with Panko, in the soft warm white corn tortilla. The condiment is a problem. Cabbages, Brassica!, are so wonderful, crisp, unique in flavor, and feared by those under thirty like a closed bathtub shower curtain when you get home late at night and realize you forgot to lock the front door.

Ok, ok, I know the simple answer is to let them pour on the Ranch, and we will do that……yet, I want a vegetable in there somewhere. Got any ideas?

Our ranch dressing is made with non fat plain yogurt, low fat mayonnaise, actually very good, lots of fresh garlic, fresh parlsey, dill, white pepper, and some low fat buttermilk, I figure they slather about 1/2 cup on top of their pepperoni pizza ( yes, they do that, and spaghetti too) so it would work with the taco too, I’d count it as protein….but the USDA wouldn’t. There is enough garlic/herbs to make it a tonic flush, but don’t tell anyone…

I am going to make a pizza with a salsa-esque topping, again, garlic, cilantro, basil, all the fresh herbs possible. maybe pepperoni on the side? Ken makes a killer pizza sauce that stands up on the spoon, so rich and sweet.

You can check out our September menu at the LaConner School District website. watch out for those corn dogs. They’ll kill ya.