The pleasant surprise of this week’s cooking class was how many of the students knew how to make guacamole. “I have made guacamole SO many times,” said Margie Hernandez. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, as all the students are of Hispanic descent, their families hailing from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Not only had Gabriella Diaz, Jizelle Santos, Leilah Cruz and Margie made it at home, they could all recite the recipe, almost verbatim from the one we were using: avocado, salt, pepper, onion, tomato, lemon juice and their beloved cilantro.
“We love cilantro,” said Gabriella. “It goes with everything.”
Not to be outdone by all the guacamole making at home, Leilah proudly announced that she and her mom had made last week’s cauliflower fried “rice” dish at home over the weekend.
“My Dad didn’t want it, but then he tasted it and he loved it!” Leilah said.
That is the mission of this cooking class: that the kids will bring these easy, healthy, affordable and delicious recipes home and make them with their families.
This week we were making Chicken Tortilla Soup in addition to the Guacamole and Chips. We talked about how soup can be a hearty meal, a good way to use up leftovers, and if you make it yourself, much tastier than what comes in a can.
The prep for the soup began: Joel Palillero got right to sauteing the chicken thighs, even though Jizelle was upset that we didn’t trim the fat before they went in the pan. Jizelle measured and mixed the spices, while Gabrielle chopped the pepper, Leilah donned the swimming goggles to dice the onion; Margie cut the corn tortillas into strips for the soup and triangles for the chips. Once the chopped veggies were added to the pan, Jizzelle sprinkled the spice mix around, while Joel stirred it all together. “It smells amazing,” said Jizelle.
Once we added the chicken stock and black beans, we let the pot of soup simmer on the stove and got started on the guac and chips.
Margie laid the triangles out on a sheet pan and then began brushing them with olive oil, while Miguel Montero sprinkled them with salt. Into the oven they went.
The girls were very excited about the guacamole. “Here’s how my Mom removes the pit,” Leilah said. The avocado had been cut in half, exposing the pit, and she struck it with a knife, and lifted it out of the avocado. The others debated how to remove the flesh from its skin. Gabriella pinched the skin it and let the flesh fall into the bowl, while Margie wanted to scoop it out with a spoon.
“Both methods work,” I said.
We added the tomatoes that Miguel had diced, a little lemon juice, salt and pepper. We forgot to save out some onion from the soup, but no one cared. “I hate onion anyway,” said Jizelle. When we mixed it all together and gave it a taste, we thought it needed a touch more salt, so we added that. “It’s perfect!” said Margie.
Next the chicken thighs had to come out of the soup and be shredded. Everyone got in on the act, separating the cooked flesh into strips with two forks, then adding it back to the soup.
Once it was ready to serve, each student ladled soup into their bowl, then topped it with cilantro, grated cheese and tortilla strips. And then helped themselves to a handful of tortilla chips and a spoonful of guac.
“Mmmm!” said Margie. “I would make this at home and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“The chicken tortilla soup was so good and the guacamole with chips was amazing,” wrote Gabriella.
“Honestly, I loved it all,” write Leilah. “The chips were salty, crispy, crumbly, so .. yeah!”
“The soup was so so good,” wrote Miguel. “I would add some spice to the guacamole.”
“My favorite dish was the guac,” wrote Jizelle. “It reminded me of when I made guacamole for the Super Bowl… “I would love to make this dish at home,” she wrote. “I could make it myself, but it would be more fun if I made it with my Mom…. I would take more fat off the chicken, though.”
