The Children's Culinary Academy

Winter Holidays 2010

I ran three special events classes in December--Cookie Decorating, Sugar and Spice, and 3D Desserts. In Sugar and Spice we made some lovely ginger cookies, chocolate-dipped peanut butter pretzels, and sugar plums. It was the first time I let the kids use the tempering machine and I was a little worried that someone would drip water into the bowl, causing the chocolate to seize, but the kids were great and even though we had to rush to get it done, the pretzel rods looked beautiful and the chocolate was perfectly tempered. Sugar plums, a healthy treat, were a big hit with both the kids and parents, and everyone was happy with the ginger cookies. Of course, in my haste to get 10 kids through three recipes I only got one shot of a plate of sugar plums....

Not so on cookie decorating day, however! I managed to get quite a lot of pictures. Cookie decorating is always fun. I love to give kids a pile of undecorated cookies and watch them go wild with icing and sprinkles. They made fantastic treats for Santa!

 




Some were going to attempt to freeze them in hopes that they'd be able to keep them longer, but I have a feeling the icing probably gave them some trouble as it thawed (colors tend to run).  It's always good to try, though--that's how we learn.

The final day we attempted to do some three-dimensional food art and settled on the gingerbread trees (as seen in Martha Stewart Magazine) and some enormous, but strangely cute, Rudolph cake ball heads. The size of the heads wasn't planned. In fact, I'd originally intended them to be rather small, bite-sized lollipop-style cake balls a la Bakerella, but because we made the frosting and cake that day and had a very small window of opportunity, the cake didn't cool quickly enough, and the cake balls were sliding right off their sticks. We ended up just dunking them without sticks and all was well.

   



After all those classes were over I went home and made piles and piles of chocolate mice and chocolate peanut butter pretzels. And because of the work the kids and I did on the Rudolph cake balls, I was inspired to make chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzel Rudolphs too!

On to winter session now. Happy New Year, everyone!!

Winter Session and February Vacation

Happy New Year everyone! Just a quick post to let you know that classes at the Falmouth Police Athletic League will resume on Sunday, January 23! The winter session will run for five weeks, ending the Sunday before February vacation.

February vacation camp begins Monday, February 21 and runs through Febrary 25th. I hope to see you in the kitchen soon!

Be sure to check out the new website and click on the Schedule/Registration link at the top of the page to view the calendar.

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!! 

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.

Whole Wheat Flax Pasta and Spinach Cakes

This week the class made whole wheat flax pasta with roasted garlic, tomato, and basil. We also made cheesy spinach cakes which weren’t such a big hit with the kids, or Stephen! First we made the dough, Ben’s was too wet and Sara’s was too dry, getting it perfect is tricky. Then we put the pasta through the hand-cranked pasta machine, 
which is very fun!

While the pasta dough was resting we started on the cheesy spinach cakes, we had to chop the spinach as small as we could get it.
When the cakes were baking in the oven we made the fresh tomato, basil, and roasted garlic sauce for the pasta. Both the roasted garlic and the basil smelled scrumptious; the tomatoes were perfect, all of that added together, magnificent! I loved that the kids got to see that fresh, uncooked foods can be delicious. 
Finally we tossed together the hot pasta and tomato and basil medley, just in time for the spinach cakes to come out of the
oven. I think altogether we had a wonderful class. 

--Emily

Guest Blogger

Just a quick post to let you know that Emily, CCA's first ever guest blogger, will be posting about today's class later in the week. I am interested to read about how she experiences the class as one of my teen helpers. She's been a student in most (maybe all!) of my Young Epicureans classes and has been a wonderful asset over the past three weeks. I'm looking forward to involving her more in future projects.

Stephen has been a great help these last three weeks too--arriving early to help set up, cleaning, helping the kids, staying late to make sure everything is put away, and bringing a new sense of maturity into the kitchen.

I am pleased to have them both in the kitchen with me.

I also wanted to thank Fran and Gina for donating a huge bin of cleaning supplies and paper towels to the kitchen--we've put them to good use over the last two weeks and have plenty more to last through the rest of the spring session. THANK YOU!!

The CCA is extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful people as part of its support network.

Stay tuned for Emily's post!

Paklava

  
When I made my decision about what we were going to cook in class last week I was confident it was the right decision. I was excited to teach the kids about this unique food from another culture. I was certain they’d love the flavors, the process—all of it.

And then I suddenly thought, “Are you INSANE?! Phyllo dough with nine kids under the age of 12?!” I flashed back to the time we used phyllo dough in one of my very first Young Epicureans classes. The kids in those classes are 12 and up, and they had a doozy of a time working with that paper thin dough. I can’t tell you how many damp paper towels I removed from cutting boards as they were about to be folded neatly into spanikopita triangles. The kids mistook the paper towels for dough over and over again. Laughter rang through the kitchen each time. They were having fun, at least! We threw away countless dried out sheets of dough, and I even had to have a friend run to the supermarket for more during class, which is something that had never happened before and has never happened since. 

I’d already purchased all the ingredients for Sunday’s class at that point. Too late to turn back.

We started out slowly, chopping walnuts and almonds, melting butter, grating orange and lemon zests, and then the phyllo dough. I cut sheets into quarters and handed everyone a small stack.   They brushed and stacked and filled and stacked and brushed their way to the tops of their mini loaf pans without incident. To my joy and amazement, using phyllo dough went incredibly well this time. 
No paper towels had to be removed, and hardly a sheet was wasted. I’d bought three pounds of dough in anticipation of the worst and we used exactly one. Every paklava (think baklava, but from Armenia, not Greece) that emerged hot from the oven looked and tasted wonderful. Um…that is, until I gave them forks, which they used to pulverize the perfectly browned phyllo into piles of sweet shards of dessert debris.

Ah well.  Perhaps in this case a third time will be the charm.

Back to School is Cool--If You're Cooking!

Today was CCA's first day in the new kitchen and by all accounts the kids were extremely happy to be there. Everyone was amazed by how big the kitchen in the Police Athletic League is--at least three times the size of the old kitchen. And for me, the best part is that the area where we cook is completely separate from the area where we do our prep work. Much safer for the little guys! 

As I mentioned on CCA's Facebook page a couple of days ago, the recipes for today's class came right out of one of my favorite books, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients. I started using the first book in this series, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking in class last year and the results were amazing! When I heard there was a second one coming I pre-ordered it immediately and waited anxiously for its arrival. Like its predecessor, it's worth every penny! I usually create my own recipes for each class, but the recipes in these books are perfectly suited to these two- and three-hour classes that I couldn't possibly come up with anything better.

For today's class we made the 100% Whole Wheat with Olive Oil dough and made made the Grissini and Spicy Whole Grain Crackers. I wanted the kids to see how easy it is to make a bunch of different things with one dough.

They enthusiastically mixed, rolled, cut, and sprinkled with herbs, salt, and chili powder and popped them in the oven to bake. The kitchen smelled fantastic and everyone was happily munching on their whole grain crackers and breadsticks (and extra sharp provolone cheese!) when their parents arrived.

 

I'm always trying to explain to the kids what gluten is and how developing it makes breads chewy (or how not developing it keeps pastries tender and flaky), and today I decided to have the older girls and my teenage helpers do a little gluten ball experiment.

Each of them measured a different kind of flour into separate bowls (in this case, rye, whole wheat, all purpose, and bread flours). Then they added enough water to create a dough ball, which they kneaded for about fifteen minutes each. After that they rinsed and squeezed their dough balls in water (Stephen said it was the weirdest thing I've made them do yet.) until the water stayed clear.
Then we baked the dough balls in the oven. The rye dough ball never made it to the oven because there wasn't enough gluten to make it work, but the whole wheat, all purpose, and bread flour gluten balls all went in the oven where they puffed up and showed us how flours with different gluten contents produce different textures in bread.

Here are the cross-sections:

The kids were pretty amazed when I told them that seitan is made from the wheat gluten left behind after the starches are removed (the stuff left after they squeeze and squeezed and rinsed the starch out of their dough balls). Something tells me the kids wouldn't believe the assertion in the link above that seitan is gaining in popularity (truth be told, I don't believe it myself!).