Rookie cooks eating up cooking classes for kids

Angie Lee spent almost 20 years working for NASA in Houston, where she managed experiments on astronauts aboard the space shuttles and the International Space Station.

"But food was always my passion," she says, by way of explaining a 2007 career change.

Now Lee is "Chef Angie," resident chef at Sur La Table at King of Prussia mall, where three students are enrolled in her latest "Kids Can Cook!" class: Kennedy Farr of Manayunk, Norah Hendrickson of Merion, and Anna Welsh of Wynnewood.

Nine years old, already wild about the TV chefs, the girls are part of a growing trend: cooking classes for kids.

All over the country, such classes are finding their way into the adult-dominated world of culinary academe. They're being offered in hospitals, retail stores, supermarkets, children's museums, libraries, and schools. Cooking "boot camps" are popping up during school vacations, as are seasonal classes and themed birthday parties where everyone cooks.

For fall, pint-size chefs make pumpkin hummus and smoothies; Christmas means cookies. Partygoers create personal pizzas from scratch and roll their own sushi.

"Birthday parties are a biggie," says DeeDee Weeks, until last month assistant manager at Kitchen Kapers Culinary Academy in Moorestown.

Such experiences are invaluable to children of all ages and their families, according to Chanelle T. Bishop-Gilyard, pediatric psychologist and obesity expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, whose 2011 pilot study examined the impact of cooking instruction on 18 girls, ages 12 to 16, enrolled in a traditional weight-loss program. Parents were involved, too.

"When we would talk about healthy eating, a lot of them would say they don't know how to cook that way . . . so we taught them skills they can use for a lifetime, like back in the day when we had home economics classes," says Bishop-Gilyard, who found that girls who had the program's cooking component lost more weight than those who were excluded.

Besides being instructive and fun, kids' classes open the door to conversations about family history and cultural differences, as well as how to be open to new experiences, assume personal responsibility, and fairly divide household tasks.

"Kids need to know there's no fairy that comes up behind you to clean up," says Melissa Mroz, recreation therapist at Norcom Community Center in the Far Northeast, who teaches 4- to 10-year-olds to cook Chinese rice noodles one week, plantains fried the Dominican Republic way the next.

"The food is always healthy, lots of fruits and veggies. We talk about the region, what the culture is like, mixing in education about where our food comes from, nutrients for the body, and why that's important," Mroz says, adding that she has never had an unenthusiastic boy or girl in class.

"Who doesn't like to create something they can eat afterward?" she asks. "Especially since they may never be allowed to use the big bowl at home or work with a knife or stand at the stove."

There are no such limitations at Sur La Table. For today's lesson on international snacks, each girl has her own work station, utensils, and printed recipes for guacamole with homemade corn chips (Mexico), pork dumplings with soy ginger sauce (China), and chicken skewers with tzatziki sauce (Greece).

Lee begins the two-hour class with a question: What is the most important rule in the kitchen?

Kennedy: "Don't play with the stove?"

Norah: "Have fun?"

Anna: "Be careful with knives?"

"Wash . . . our . . . hands," says Lee, who sends the girls to the sink then and there, plus every time they touch their hair or face and after every encounter with raw chicken or pork.

Then come the new foods: English cucumber, kosher salt, chips made from corn tortillas, dumplings from wonton wrappers.

There are new terms - oxidation, marinade - and new techniques and ideas. They juice a lemon, grate fresh ginger, grill chicken until the pink flesh turns white, and discuss "fresh and local."

The girls easily master the wontons, which they fill with seasoned ground pork, fold into a triangle, and moisten around the edges to seal for steaming. "Lots of international cultures have a kind of dumpling. This is like a Chinese ravioli," Lee explains.

She thinks kids listen better than adults, and often get superior results in class because they lack preconceived notions about how a dish should be made or taste.

And boy, the enthusiasm!

"I love to cook," Norah says after class. "You can try so many things. You can make stuff up and have a lot of fun. And it makes other people happy."

Serves 4 to 6

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For the guacamole:

2 or 3 large, ripe avocados

3 tablespoons diced red onion

1 small tomato, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon lime juice

½ teaspoon salt

For the chips:

10 corn tortillas

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt

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1. For the guacamole: Cut each avocado in half, remove the seed, and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Using a sturdy wire whisk, mash and stir the avocados until creamy. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Serve with corn chips or tortillas.

2. For the corn chips: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the corn tortillas into wedges, 4 or 6 per tortilla. Toss with olive oil. Arrange the tortilla pieces in a single layer on a sheet pan. Sprinkle with salt. Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes.

- From chef Angie Lee

Per serving (based on 6): 250 calories, 16 grams fat, 217 milligrams sodium, 25 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams dietary fiber, 1 gram sugar, 4 grams protein

Makes 24 skewers or 8 servings

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24 bamboo skewers

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon   dried rosemary

1 teaspoon   salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

4 chicken breasts, sliced into 1-inch wide strips, or 24 chicken tenders

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1. Soak 24 bamboo skewers in water for at least 30 minutes. Preheat broiler on high or heat a gas or charcoal barbecue to medium-high heat.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken and mix to coat the chicken completely and marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.

3. Thread each marinated chicken piece onto a bamboo skewer so that chicken lies flat.

4. Lay chicken skewers on a broiler pan or a metal rack set over a sheet pan. Place chicken 6 inches away from the broiler and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, flipping once. If using a barbecue, place skewers directly on oiled grill racks and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, flipping once.

5. Serve with the tzatziki sauce.

Per serving: 171 calories, 11 grams fat, 50 milligrams cholesterol, 340 milligrams sodium, 1 gram carbohydrates, 16 grams protein

Makes about 2½ cups

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1 English cucumber

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups Greek yogurt, whole milk

3 tablespoons finely chopped dill

1   large garlic clove, pressed

Kosher salt and black pepper

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1. Cut the cucumber in half and remove the seeds.

2. Grate the cucumber with the coarse side of a box grater. Toss the cucumber with the salt and place in a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl.

3. Allow to drain at room temperature for at least one hour, up to three hours, to remove most of the moisture. Discard the liquid.

4. Mix the cucumber, yogurt, dill, and garlic in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately or keep refrigerated until use.

Per serving: 34 calories, 1 gram fat, 2 milligrams cholesterol, 208 milligrams sodium, 3 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams of sugar, 4 grams protein

Makes 25 dumplings

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For the dumplings:

1 small clove garlic, finely minced

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1½ teaspoon   chopped cilantro

1 large egg yolk

½ teaspoon salt

8 ounces ground pork

25 3-inch round or square wonton wrappers

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons   soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 green onion, thinly sliced

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1. To make the dumplings: Put the garlic, green onions, cilantro, egg yolk, salt, and ground pork in a medium bowl and mix well.

2. Dip your finger in water and wet the entire edge of 1 wonton wrapper.

3. Place a small spoonful of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper and fold the wrapper in half to enclose the mixture. Firmly press the edges to seal the pot-sticker. Just before you seal the pot-sticker completely, push gently around the filling to remove any air pockets.

4. Repeat the process with the remaining wrappers and filling. Lay the finished dumplings on a lightly oiled plate (the plate should be small enough to fit inside the bamboo steamer).

5. Set a bamboo steamer over a pot of simmering water. Place the plate (or plates) in the steamer and steam for 8 to 10 minutes, or until translucent and cooked through.

6. To make the sauce, whisk the ingredients together in a bowl. Serve with the dumplings.

Per serving: 115 calories, 2 grams fat, 18 milligrams cholesterol, 308 milligrams sodium, 19 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram dietary fiber, 6 grams protein

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