Kitchen Notebook

Our students felt this week's recipe was going to be easy. It didn't have as many ingredients. We didn't have a lot of vegetables to chop. And our students are becoming experienced chefs. But the zucchini was hard to chop. Glenda didn't like dumping the food into the pot of boiling water. Apparently it was all worth it. Briana said the hardest part was "waiting to eat our meal." Everyone loved this meal and wanted to share leftovers with their families.

- Nancy Donahue
and Beth Stack

After the suggestions to "spice things up" with this Tuna and Pasta, we decided to follow the original recipe exactly. We provided a few options for the girls to add what they preferred: cut-up veggies, grated cheese, lemon pepper, vinegar. Surprisingly, they really enjoyed it "as is." Lesson learned: You can always add spices, but you can't take them out.

- Susan Munafo
and Jane Pupis

Everyone was very excited about cooking class. There was a buzz all day. While reading the recipe, Yaritza Robles exclaimed, "You bought chicken instead of tuna. Look, it says Chicken of the Sea." Ms. Molino was quick to explain it was just the brand name, an example of figurative language. Everyone had a good laugh.

- Lorrie Craley
and Nicole Molino

The theme of this week was substitution and enhancement while still making a healthy meal. Last week, the students reviewed the recipe and voted against peas. Lucas Graham stated that he can't eat tuna. Consensus was to substitute corn for the peas and do half with tuna and half with chicken.

Aniyah Daniels loved using a microplane to zest the lemon and the juicer to extract the juices. The presentation was beautiful and the food delicious as the students had not only seconds but thirds as well!

- Debbie Haggett, Heather Lewis,
Charles Brinkley

We read the recipes, discussed and passed around the ingredients, and voted on tweaking the recipe. Result: We cooked pipette pasta, and tossed together finely chopped raw zucchini, parsley, hearts of palm, three styles of tuna, and dried basil with olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon. Voilà! We had a success, and everyone ate seconds.

- Diane Fanelli
and Barbara Krumbhaar

When the pasta was al dente (we explained that means "to the bite"), we poured it over the defrosted peas and basil in the colander. After that, we blended the tuna/zucchini with the pasta/pea/basil mixture. The lemon juice/zest went in last. Everyone loved the final product. Tuna is one of their favorite things to eat. When we mentioned this was the halfway point in our classes, all of the boys were disappointed! We are, too.

- Lisa Krader
and Linda Todorow

This week's recipe was an updated version of the old 1960s standard tuna-noodle casserole. Because this is My Daughter's Kitchen and not Your Mother's Recipe, we combined canned tuna with fresh zucchini, peas, and the zest and juice from a lemon. All the flavors blended well together and gave a new twist to the much-beloved tuna-noodle dish. We added crushed red pepper flakes - the final touch that this old classic needed to hit the spot! Yum!

- Amy Steinberg
and Cindy Rappoport