The Children's Culinary Academy

Salsa!

So two Sundays ago I decided to try something a little different with the class. We had been discussing doing a combined event with a local group of foodies--a kid's Iron Chef of sorts--but it didn't all come together in time, so rather than disappoint the kids I decided we'd do a modified version in class  I've had all these kids in my classes for a while now. Several of them have been with me for over three years, and I was anxious to see how they would put all their culinary knowledge to use when left to their own devices.

The subject was salsa. The rules were simple:

1. They could use fruits and/or vegetables.

2. They could use other recipes to get ideas, but the final recipe had to be their own.

3. They had to send me a list of ingredients in advance so I could do the shopping.

4. They were free to use anything in the CCA's pantry and were also allowed to bring their own secret ingredients if they thought I wouldn't be able to find them in the local grocery store.

5. We would make baked tortilla chips in class and I wanted them to come up with a flavor for the chips that would complement their salsa.

Sunday came quickly and I admit, I was a little worried about how things would go in class because I've never just let the kids have free run of the kitchen. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about--the kids did an incredible job and the other parents and I decided that we could probably produce and sell vast quantities of our own salsas and baked tortilla chips!

Here's the rundown:

Ben's Bold Salsa with Salted Tortilla Chips: A traditional salsa, which showed that Ben had been paying attention during the Mexican cooking classes. He used just the right amounts of traditional herbs and spices and created a salsa that would do any Mexican restaurant proud!

Jenna's Strawberry Salsa with Sesame Salted Paprika Tortilla Chips: A zesty salsa that combined sweet and savory and married the flavors nicely with her secret ingredient--fig and raspberry balsamic vinaigrette! Delicious!

Julia's Roasted Vegetable and Pineapple Salsa with Garlic Powder Tortilla Chips: The group's only cooked salsa combined roasted pineapple, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and jalapenos with fresh chopped tomatoes and a little olive oil. I loved how the caramelized flavors blended together perfectly.

Sarah's Spectacular Fruit Salsa with Toasted Coconut Tortilla Chips: Sarah chose to make her salsa entirely out of fruit, and what I loved, aside from the wonderful flavors, was how much thought Sarah put into the way her salsa should look. She made a special point to choose fruits of all different colors so it would be appealing to the eye as well as the palate. We made a quick last minute change to her recipe by putting the coconut she had originally intended for the salsa right on top of the tortilla chips before we baked them.

Kaia's Five Spice Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon and Agave Tortilla Chips: Kaia combined strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple with a little chinese five spice powder, agave syrup, and a last minute dash of toasted sesame seeds. I was a little worried that she'd gone overboard with the agave, but it turned out to be pretty fantastic. Her tortilla chips were the big hit of the day!

At the end of class we lined all the salsas and chips up and had the parents in for a tasting. Without a doubt this was one of the most fun and fulfilling classes we've ever had. I can't wait to do it again!

Wrapping it Up

There's so much to report from the last two weeks (yes, I'm a little late with these posts!). We made a wide variety of amazing foods, including zucchini bread (after we discovered a forgotten zucchini in the garden that was nearly 5 pounds we had to do something with it), blueberry johnnycakes with blueberry syrup, berry quick bread, Mexican tinga (shredded chicken), Bread of the Dead, fruit pizza, roasted red pepper ravioli, ciabatta bread, gnocchi, breakfast burritos, and even some cream puffs and eclairs!

I think the tinga was one of the biggest hits, which surprised me because I honestly thought the sweet, aromatic Bread of the Dead would be the clear winner that day. One day we even made ice cream. That particular class had a lot of energy so they had no trouble jumping and hopping and rolling their way to fresh ice cream in a ziploc bag! They also made a delectable peach kuchen.

The garden is still going strong and we've finally been able to harvest the cantaloupes at their peak of ripeness (as opposed to all the other times we picked one only to find out it wasn't quite ready yet). They're small, but incredibly flavorful.
To add to the excitement, we are suddenly overrun with tomatoes! Big ones, red ones, purple ones, yellow ones, small ones, and teeny tiny ones too! Swiss chard continues to grow tall and strong, and we picked the last of the beets this week. Eggplants are putting on weight, and zucchini and yellow squash are abundant. We're still waiting for the miniature yellow bell peppers to 
turn yellow. They're close, just not quite there yet.

We'll be heading right into the fall program starting September 26th, so don't forget to head over to www.childrensculinary.com to sign up for the regular session as well as the special, 4th Annual Ghoulishious Grub Halloween Class!

Also an important note of thanks to Stephen, Emily, and Sarah for all their volunteer help this summer!! We couldn't have done it as smoothly or as effectively without them. I loved having them around all summer and I know the kids enjoyed being with them too. 

Have a wonderful last week of the summer everyone! Good luck with the start of the new school year, and stay in touch!! 

Nostalgia

Last week I was feeling nostalgic about the kids who have been with me from the beginning of the program. I've had the pleasure of watching them grow for three years. Many have moved from Rake and Bake to Green Teens this year, and they've done so seamlessly. A couple of the teens are becoming teachers and mentors to the younger kids, which is a joy to watch.  Sometimes I'm surprised by what they've retained. The kitchen is a comfort to many of them, and they don't seem to mind doing dishes, putting away equipment, or even cleaning before we leave for the day. I like having them around. They're funny and weird and self-assured in ways that only kids are. Sometimes I think I can see glimpses of their future selves. It's tempting to try to tell them what I see, but I know they won't understand and will look at me like I'm a three-headed squid, so instead I just observe and enjoy.

And because of this sort of sentimentality (sucker!) occasionally get roped into letting them make something crazy like doughnuts and soft pretzels.

Henry P., who has matured so dramatically over the past three summers that it caused me to experience some sort of mental break, was the catalyst. He mentioned how much he loved the soft pretzels we made last summer and asked if we could do them again this summer.  I acquiesced, which only served to empower him to make a more outrageous request. He then said that he wanted to make glazed doughnuts, which are not something we'd ever normally make because they fall a...ahem...tiny bit outside the guidelines for what I think of as a healthy treat.

Nevertheless, he kept asking until one day I finally gave in. BUT! There was a catch. These weren't going to be your average run of the mill deep fried doughnuts (What?! Doughnuts are deep fried?! Most of the kids had absolutely no clue about this and expressed great shock before falling to their knees muttering "but they're sooooooooooooo good!").

I told Henry the doughnuts would have to be baked.

He was thrilled that I'd given in, but I wasn't 100% sure he'd be happy with the final product. I'd never tried baked doughnuts before. At best, it they would taste wonderful. At worst it would all make for an interesting experiment.

I chose an enriched, yeasted dough--the same we used for French Toast earlier in the week, because it was soft and sweet and rose well. We made a big batch of dough and then rolled and cut the doughnuts with the doughnut cutter. The kids were surprised to learn that doughnut holes actually do come from the hole of the doughnut. 

We laid them out on sheet pans, waited for them to rise again, baked them, and then glazed them. They were fantastic!

Some of our other creations last week were barbecued chicken (in the oven) with corn bread (made with agave syrup), and more vegetable samosas, mainly because it just tickles me that the kids will devour something so spicy and foreign to their taste buds.

The garden is in full swing and we've harvested beets, onions, tomatoes, all sorts of herbs, a couple of really hot peppers, and of course lots of zucchini and yellow summer squash. My biggest surprise of the season so far, however, has been the cantaloupes, which are growing like crazy! I planted them but didn't expect much and right now we've got at least a dozen growing out there. Amazing! Hopefully they'll make it to full ripeness. When they do, you can be sure there will be pictures here!!

Evolution

I’ve been doing this cooking with kids thing long enough now that the nuts and bolts of it all come pretty easily, even in a less familiar space. Setup is easy, clean up is getting easier (although nothing will ever make confectioner’s sugar easier to clean), and all the in-between time seems to go more smoothly than ever. Not having to sweat the details gives me the opportunity to spend more time enjoying the kitchen dynamics. Antics, even.

The biggest shift has come from the kids who have been with me for the past three years. Jenna and Ben have now seamlessly taken on more responsibility in the kitchen, watching out for the other, less experienced students.
They’ll help with knife grips, warn them about safety hazards (“keep your eyes on your knife,” “don’t run in the kitchen,” etc.), and they’ll even offer little tips and tricks for how to do things more easily—smashing garlic with the side of the knife, rolling a lemon on their board before juicing , and rolling up basil leaves to make for an easier chiffonade.  They’re even focusing more on technique, working on a clean station, and, of all things, doing the dishes! And that’s just the 5 to 9 year olds.  

The teens have evolved in ways that delight and surprise me every day. They are realizing that they have actually learned the basic techniques (I can write “Biscuit Method” on the board and they know what to do), and they’ve developed a rapport with each other that is both fascinating and charming (in a teenage sort of way).  What used to present a challenge to them is now executed with ease, and most of the time they’re engaged and interested in what I have to say.

So they’re evolving. And so am I. And I’m enjoying and appreciating the process of it.

One of the most fun developments this week was that Emily made us an enormous (4- by 8-foot) chalkboard and we’re loving it! Saving paper and ink is a breeze now. 
No one has to shuffle paper around their station, and when Jenna approached the board to talk her classmates through the recipe she used the visuals I put up there (pictures of measuring spoons and cups) to help clarify the directions.

What did we make this week?  We started with Breakfast Pizza, which is basically a pizza with scrambled eggs as an added topping, Chicken and Pesto Quesadillas with fresh Basil Pesto, 
Power Bars, Berry Mango Slushes, amazing Pink Lemonade (colored with strawberries, not food coloring!), Lemon Bars, and Vegetarian Chili with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits. The teenagers also got to make their own Graham Crackers and Marshmallows from scratch and we catered a small gathering for Stephen’s mom who has just partnered up with some friends to open the Massage Co-Op in Sandwich. Check it out!

Rake and Bake 2010: Week....The First!

I love this summer program! I get five days in a row to work with some really fantastic kids and see their eyes light up when their amazing creations come out of the oven. And this year we’re able to do it in the HUGE kitchen at the Police Athletic League (PAL). Our new home is serving us well. Everyone is happy and comfortable and our garden is getting amazing amounts of sun and regular watering and it shows.
  (The Chive Monster)
 
 
  The week started with Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and Blueberry Syrup, which were an incredible hit, in spite of the fact that there’s, uh…um…cheese in them? The kids were amazed to find that the pancakes didn’t taste cheesy at all. And oh! They whipped egg whites to soft peaks! And they *folded* those egg whites into the batter and got
creative on the griddle, where they learned to use the spatula and successfully flip their way to breakfast-y success. We moved on from there to Filipino-style empanadas that were filled with peas, carrots, onions (oh those onions made everyone cry!), garlic, and ground turkey and seasoned with rice vinegar and soy sauce. I know! Can you believe all that tasty goodness in one package? They couldn’t either, really. Some ate the extra filling while waiting for their pastries to cook, while others held onto theirs so family and friends could have a taste. The dough was part whole wheat and was easy to roll and had a great crumb.
Next was snack day, which was probably everyone’s favorite because it involved chocolate and a frozen treat. Well, the frozen treat was almost frozen—everyone was so hot they didn’t want to wait until their popsicles had time to freeze solid. Slushy was more like it. Actually, one person was able to wait—Madeline. The next day she had a special treat while her friends looked on, green with envy. Thursday we went wild and shucked ear after ear of corn for some spicy corn fritters. The spicy dipping sauce, made with sriracha chile sauce, was well-received, even by those who claimed not to like spicy things. On the side we made a lovely lemongrass-infused coconut jasmine rice that provided a nice balance to the spicy sauce. The lemongrass and scallions came from the garden, and all week we used eggs from my backyard chickens. The girls (Gladys, Wiggles, Chickadee, and Peeps-a-Lot) worked hard to provide us with nearly 3 dozen eggs.
We capped the week off with Peach Cobbler. Everyone was a fan of the crunchy part (the doughy topping) and the cinnamon and nutmeg we used to liven things up. The one thing I would definitely change in that recipe is the amount of sugar we used. At this time of year, with fresh, in-season peaches, it’s not necessary to sweeten them so much. I can’t wait to meet next week’s students! Rake and Bake in the morning and Green Teens (a huge class) in the afternoon. A BIG shout out and thank you to Emily and Stephen for all their amazing volunteer help this week! Class would be a lot more difficult without them there to help and the kids would miss having a chance to bond with some pretty great teenagers.

Asafoeti...wah?!

Asafoetida: A gum derived from the sap of the roots and stem of a giant fennel that stinks to high heaven. Literally translated, it means "stinking resin," but it has also been referred to as "devil's dung" and "stink finger."

Sound like something you want to eat? Probably not so much. The kids in Sunday's class could tell you that it doesn't smell like anything you want to eat either.

Those of you in the know have probably already guessed that we did Indian food last week--more specifically, Vegetable Samosas, which call for asafoetida as one of the many spicy ingredients. 

I brought in my masala dabba
to show the kids how spices are stored in kitchens in India, and we explored cumin seeds, ground cumin, red chili powder, garam masala, amchur (dried mango powder), and the almighty asafoetida.

We started out peeling potatoes and then made a nice, smooth, elastic dough for the pastry, which we set aside to rest while we made and enjoyed some mango and pineapple lassi. 
We've made mango lassi before, and they all loved it, so I thought it would be a good trade for the challenge presented by the number of spices I was about to ask them to use in their samosa fillings.

I'm going to be completely honest here, I truly did not think the kids would even consent to put the asafoetida in their potato/pea mixture, never mind eat it, but each and every one of them complied--happily, 
no less--after I assured them that asafoetida, once cooked, imparts the flavor of garlic and onions.

They folded and filled the samosa dough and cheerfully carried the uncooked samosas to me for pan-frying. And then the true test. Eating them.

I waited for the first review.

"Good," she said.

Then the second.

A full mouth and a thumbs up. And then another thumbs up and another, each one taking a moment to come over to the stove to tell me they liked the samosas. Some even dared to try a little mango chutney too. The only one who seemed at all hesitant was Sarah, who I reminded about the time she was afraid to eat jicama salad and after she finally did, declared it one of the best things she'd ever eaten. Before she left she was happily eating her samosas (although she continues to not be a fan of peas...we have to work on that!).

I'm proud of this class. They all stepped out of their comfort zones and tried new things this session, and I truly couldn't have asked for a more perfect ending to the spring session.

Summer, here we come! Classes for the summer begin on July 12. Registrations are ongoing, though several classes are now full.

It Has Real Corn In It!

The cornbread we made last Sunday had fresh corn kernels in it, and when their parents picked them up the kids excitedly exclaimed, "It has real corn in it!" Of course the cornmeal was made from real corn too, but what thrilled them was the whole topsy turvy (to them) idea of putting whole corn kernels into the batter.

 

What excited me was the agave syrup we used in place of granulated sugar. Agave syrup is a liquid sweetener that comes from the agave plant and is low on the glycemic load scale.  
And, in simple terms, it is also sweeter than sugar, which means you can use less to get the same level of sweetness you'd get in table sugar. Thus, healthier cornbread!!

We also made oven "barbecued" chicken, slathered with our own homemade spicy barbecue sauce. Onions and garlic were chopped,  spices were mixed with tomato sauce, and the whole thing was cooked slowly until the flavors were just right. Then each child brushed two chicken legs with sauce and we put them all in the oven to cook.
  Twenty minutes later the chicken emerged hot from the oven, ready to eat.

 
The kids loved everything on Sunday's menu and the parents sent rave reviews too!

This week we're going to do some Indian food and I can't wait to see what the kids say about one of the more unusual ingredients we'll be using.

In other news, I just agreed to write a monthly column about cooking and gardening with kids at www.camps.com. I'll let you all know when the first article appears.