Cooking - Cucumber canoes

Quantities are for four children working individually.

Ingredients
1 straight cucumber;
4 tsps sultanas;
4 oat biscuits;
12 to 16 chive blades;
120g curd cheese;
half a lemon;
4 pinches of sugar;
salt and black pepper;
shredded lettuce to serve
Utensils
4 teaspoons;
4 forks;
4 small bowls;
4 sharp knives;
4 chopping boards;
4 small plates;
a dinner plate;
kitchen paper

Method

- An adult should cut the washed cucumber in half widthways, then halve each piece lengthways to give four quarters, one for each child.

- Help the children to scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, making a channel down the length of their quarter. Leave the rounded ends intact to be the ends of the canoes.

- Sprinkle with salt, and turn the pieces upside down on the dinner plate with the rounded ends on the rim so the slices are tipped up slightly. The children should be able to observe how the salt draws out some of the water.

- For the filling, beat 40g of the curd cheese in a bowl, adding a little seasoning, sugar and a small squeeze of lemon.

- Chop the sultanas and biscuits into small pieces, tip most into the bowl but save some for later.

- Cut the chives into small pieces - it's easier if they are first folded into a thick bundle. Add most of the chopped chives to the bowl and save the rest on the plate. Stir everything in the bowl together.

- Rinse the cucumber pieces and pat dry with kitchen paper.

- Let each child fill their quarter with the curd cheese mixture and on top, sprinkle the saved pieces of sultana, oat biscuits and chives.

- Push the quarters together to make two canoes. Float them on a sea of shredded lettuce.

- Put the scooped-out cucumber in a bowl, mix with cheese, season, and eat on bread and butter.