WHILE their classmates are doing arithmetic or learning about the Tudors, a small band of pupils at St Barnabas’ Primary School, in York, is cooking lunch.

As nine-year-old Jessica McEvoy grates a giant slab of cheddar, Natasha Hare deftly snips chives into the tiniest of pieces using a pair of scissors.

Not to be outdone, Giuseppe Caringella chops carrots into slithers using a blade as long as his arm.

Welcome to the school’s Cook Shop, the weekly initiative that gives six pupils each week a chance to master culinary skills under the guidance of North Yorkshire cook Penny Abbey.

Each Friday morning, one pupil from each year group comes together to pick a recipe and prepare a two-course lunch. The boys and girls take inspiration from what is growing in the school’s allotment and whether any of their hens have laid eggs.

They then write a shopping list and all go to the local store to buy what they need, with the children charged with looking after the money and checking the receipt.

Today, they are making lasagne. And this isn’t any ordinary lasagne. This is the favourite recipe of six-year-old Natasha, a Year 2 pupil at the school. What’s more, she has donated it to a new book produced by the school: York Can Cook – on sale now for £6, with £2 from each copy going to Save The Children.

The book began as a school initiative but quickly became a city-wide venture, guided by Vikki Pendry, former deputy head turned sustainable schools co-ordinator.

It features 78 recipes from a wide-ranging and colourful list of contributors, including school pupils, staff and parents but also York MP Hugh Bayley, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and Mrs Waller, mother of Andrew Waller, leader of City of York Council.

The book was launched at the Castle Museum, where Jamie Cann, chef from the Dean Court Hotel in York, cooked up some of the recipes.

Soups and salads, vegetables, pasta, meat, fish, dessert and sweet treats all feature in the cook book. My own recipe for Chocolate Banana Cake made the final cut – a basic chocolate sponge with mashed banana topped with Nutella, which always proves a hit with kids and adults.

After finishing Natasha’s lasagne, the pupils are instructed by Penny to make pudding – my chocolate banana cake.

Amazingly, Penny and the youngsters have it ready in a flash, choosing to cook it in the microwave in just six minutes (I normally bake mine in the oven for 20). Served with custard rather than the Nutella topping, it tastes different, but still moreish. The sponge is lighter and I can taste the chocolate more. It’s an instant hit.

“I don’t normally like banana, but I love this,” says Joseph Sykes, aged six. Nine-year-old Jessica McEvoy is another convert. After clearing her bowl, she says: “I don’t like banana but I can’t actually taste it in this.”

More of a triumph is the achievement of Thomas Greaves, ten, who hates vegetables, but gobbled down all his lasagne – complete with carrots, onions and herbs. “I’m really glad I’ve done this as I wasn’t sure I liked vegetables,” he said.

Besides teaching about food and basic cookery skills, the class is broadening the children’s culinary horizons, too. “Through this experience, we are turning them on to a mixed and varied diet,” says Vikki.

• York Can Cook costs £6 and is available from WH Smiths, Save The Children shop, Spurriergate Centre, Castle Museum and York Art Gallery.


Recipe

Homemade Lasagne

From Natasha Hare, pupil at St Barnabas School Serves six, preparation 20 minutes, cooking time 50 minutes.

Ingredients…

500g lean minced meat
two carrots
two garlic cloves
one pepper
Parsley
Oil
Butter
Pepper
500g passata
one courgette
one large onion
Mixed herbs
Splash of red wine if desired
Flour
Milk
½ pack of ready to cook lasagne sheets
Tomatoes

What to do

1 Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

2 Grate carrots and slice tomatoes.

3 Heat a little oil in a pan and add the mince, onion, courgettes, garlic, pepper and carrots. Cook until meat is brown all over.

4 Remove the fat from the top of the pan and then add passata, herbs and a splash of red wine. Simmer for 20 minutes.

5 To make the white sauce, melt a spoonful of butter in a pan. Add a little flour at a time until you have a paste.

6 Add milk very slowly to the paste, stirring all the time, until you have about ½ pint of a smooth white sauce.

7 Layer your food in an ovenproof dish in this order: 1/2 meat, 1/3 sauce, lasagne,1/2 meat, 1/3 sauce, lasagne, 1/3 sauce, tomatoes, cheese.

8 Place in the oven for about 30 minutes until gold on top.