Evaluation 11.10.10

The purpose of this assignment was to create a prepared pasta meal for a targeted audience. We had approximately 5 weeks to do this assessment. By researching this assessment, I have learnt the importance of pre-packed foods and take-away meals. I know how to choose a targeted audience and to find out what that specific targeted audience what and need. I have learnt what specific pasta is suitable for which sauce and what type of pasta should be used. Within the practical area, I learnt how to prepare a meal that I had no clue on what to do and to work under pressure, because we had much work to do within a short period of time. On the 10.10.11, Aimee and I were all set for our practical lesson in producing our Sushi Pasta. Personally, I think our practical lesson was quite a success to an extent. We had some areas in which we could improve on; such as the cooking of the lasagne and the texture of the pasta sauce, but overall, our creation tasted delicious and is something that nobody has ever done. The finished product looked like a take-away and looked ordinary. This is because all the fillings were inside of the ‘sushi like’ lasagne, but the packaging looked appealing and simple, because you don’t want to overload your consumer with too much information or too much colour. Both Aimee and I are were both really excited to make our new creation. We lacked in experience with sushi and pasta and we didn’t make our recipe before hand, so we were a bit nervous in coming into the lesson not knowing what to expect. Aimee and I made lasagne for the first time and we had no clue on what to do. We had the method with us and we could easily understand and read the instruction, therefore, our lasagne cooked well. However, Mrs George gave us advice on how to cook the lasagne better, by cutting the lasagne into strips before we put the lasagne into the pot with the water. This is a good idea, because we put the whole lasagne into the pot with the water and when we took the lasagne out it was tricky to open the folds of the lasagne and cut it, but we still managed. We then made the pasta sauce, which contained way too much cheese than expected. Whilst we were cooking the sauce, we realised that the sauce was going to be very thick in texture, so I decided to add water to make the consistency a bit thinner. I have ultimately learnt on how to make my own decisions in the kitchen and to not fully rely on what the instructions tell you. However, the water was not enough and did not make a dramatic improvement, so we just used the sauce as a paste and spread the ‘paste’ onto the lasagne. I think this was a better idea than what we originally had; which was to put all the sauce in a little container so the consumer could dip their sushi pasta into the sauce, but this could get messy/ So overall, or decision making is definitely improving and is helping us achieve better results along the way. I think we met the requirements for this task, as our targeted audience were teens and adolescents. We tried our best to add in the best nutritional value within our product and to also catch the consumer’s attention by the packaging. The garlic was anti-inflammatory, the herbs which improve overall health, the cheese which is protein and calcium, the avocado which contains healthy oils and helps reduce chances of getting certain cancers and diseases and the sundried tomatoes contain lycopene. This is important for teens, because growing teenagers need as much nutritional value as possible in helping them grow. We also took in consideration, that teens are always on the move and they need a healthy, quick and easy snack on the go. Our creation packs healthy food in small quantities, which is what teens really need. I think we could however, improve the nutritional content, by reducing the amount of cheese, as the amount was almost too much and would be not good for the teenage body to receive such large amounts of cheese in such a short period of time. Also, instead of using full crème, fat free of diet crème could be used in order to reduce the amounts of fat, as there is already enough fat within the cheese. This overall excessive was interesting, as it let the individual and partner work together in creating something fun and creative. I enjoyed the idea that Aimee and I created a recipe that was original, as this made us even more excited about our practical lesson. The packaging process was also enjoyable, as we could get as creative as we wanted, but we didn’t want to go over-board with the entire creativeness. To improve our overall assessment, practise in preparing our recipe would be necessary, in reducing the wasted time and the whole idea of not knowing what to do. We could then walk into the kitchen with confidence in knowing what needs to be done first and how to do it. Nonetheless, this assessment piece was of great enjoyment and it really let the students get creative in forming a recipe and in producing exiting packaging.