The last cooking class of the year is always bittersweet. The students are so excited to cook for their parents but also sad that this little group is splitting up and won’t be cooking together on Tuesdays.
But, we had no time for emotions just yet, because we had to get dinner and dessert for about 20 on the table!
By unanimous vote, we were making turkey mushroom tacos and jelly donut muffins for dessert, after making – and the kids loving — them earlier in the spring.
They were elated to have their families coming for dinner, but there were challenges ahead, not the least of which was doubling both our recipes and figuring out how to get it all done in time for our guests.
Taylor Rodriguez got the mushrooms sauteing, while Laura Ramos and Ezian Delago chopped the peppers and Brianna Veletenga and Milany Rubert chopped the onions, all demonstrating what incredible progress they had made. Even though she was chopping green peppers, Laura donned the goggles to avoid the onion vapors close by. All the others proudly said they didn’t need them.
“Smells so good!” said Laura, once the veggies were chopped and added to the ground turkey simmering on the stove. But it was the spice measurements that were taxing. How to double ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes? “Just put in two of them,” suggested Angy Reyes, in no mood for a math problem.
Onto the muffins, which they all loved preparing, cracking the eggs, mixing the dry ingredients, then making a well and adding the wet. “Look,” said Taylor. “The well overflowed!”
These young chefs loved the assembly lines, putting the cupcake liners in the tins, adding the batter halfway, then a spoon of jelly and then more batter on top. Into the oven they went.
We all tasted the meat and veggie mixture before filling the tacos and decided it needed a little more flavor. We’d add more chili powder, and red pepper flakes, but it was cinnamon that looks just like chili powder that was added! No problem, a lot of Mexican cuisine includes cinnamon. We added more chili powder as well, til everyone was satisfied with the flavor. “I think the cinnamon really added a nice touch!” said Belinda, one of the teachers.
Then, we had another assembly, lining up the taco shells, filling them with meat and veggies, and then topping them with cheese. “The cheese melted on top will be the best flavor with the meat!” said Laura.
Next was setting up the room for our guests and practicing the welcome speech to their parents. Each had a part in explaining what they had been learning for the past eight weeks and what was on the menu for this meal. It concluded with Ezian dramatically exclaiming: “Bon Appetit!”
It all came together with great success, with lots of praise and applause for the young chefs, and lots of requests for seconds on the tacos and muffins.
A couple of the girls were teary-eyed: “Happy tears,” Angy explained.
After a few words of individual praise for each child, Maureen bestowed each with a certificate and a cookbook and Belinda presented each with a spatula with words of encouragement to continue their cooking at home.
“The big surprise for us was that Milany was willing to try new foods,” said her father. “At home it was always a big NO.’
He said she had been talking about the class with her grandmother, who the family is going to visit in Puerto Rico this summer.
“Now Milany wants to try and cook a meal for her grandmother while we’re there,” he said.
What a wonderful coda to a terrific class!
