This just in from Action News: After two weeks of cooking class, the most popular ingredient turned out to be … fresh basil! The surprise choice of the leafy green herb came after our cooking team had used it in both recipes in the first two weeks. They got their first taste in the breakfast recipe for Mini Italian Frittatas the first week and used it again to add extra flavor to Sheet Pan Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in Week 2.
“The basil was amazing,” said chef Omari Upshur, who rated the second week’s food “overall fantastic.”
“The basil was good and a little minty,” added Jairo Hernandez.
“Yes, it was good,” confirmed Milton Sanders. “I also liked the celery.”
The Week 2 class was the young chefs’ first experience making a two-part meal. The Grilled Cheese was one part, with tomato and provolone cheese as well as basil. The second was a plate of hand-cut raw vegetables called crudité (pronounced KRU-di-TAY). Our all-boy crew was interested to learn that the name crudité comes from a word in the French language that means “raw” or “rough.” They were even more interested that the French word came from an older word in the Latin language, “cruditatem,” which we agreed would be a good name for a rap singer. For this crudité, we cut carrots, red peppers and celery into strips and made a homemade ranch dressing for dipping. Creating crudité gave Milton and Christian Estevez-Reyes experience using a vegetable peeler to slice the skins off the carrots (with the fat end down for better results). Omari, meanwhile, was slicing the vegetables and arranging them geometrically on a platter. (“It looks like an artwork,” he declared, and he was right.)
On the other side of the kitchen, John Negron was helping Ms. Linda prepare and assemble the Grilled Cheese Sandwiches by spreading mayonnaise on the side of the bread that would be the outside of the sandwich when it was done. The mayonnaise, which often goes on the inside of sandwiches, helps turn the outside golden brown when grilled in a hot oven like the one we were using. John was joined later by Milton, Christian and Omari to put the sandwiches together by placing sliced tomato and provolone cheese on the bread slices and flipping them over.
At a high temperature of 450 degrees, the sandwiches cooked VERY quickly and came out perfectly brown on both sides. Each chef got a turn using a spatula to scoop a sandwich onto our serving platter, and Jairo proudly paraded it into the cafeteria.
A couple students weren’t fans of tomatoes, but the meal got an overall thumbs up.
“It smelled delicious and it tasted delicious,” Jairo said.
“I liked the cheese and the tomatoes,” Christian added.
“I want more!” Milton said with a laugh.
Best of all, our all-boys cooking team liked working together.
Omari and Milton spoke for everyone when asked about the class. “I liked the teamwork,” each said, before mentioning anything else. And the team is getting stronger every week.
