On the menu for cooking class this week was one of my favorite meals, ratatouille, this version made by roasting the vegetables on a sheet pan, instead of cooking them all together like a stew, And for the first time, we would be making dessert, strawberry shortcake, with made-from-scratch biscuits and fresh strawberries.

But there was only one problem. We had no students! And the clock was ticking. Turns out, two were absent; one had an injured hand; one had triple homework; and another had to leave school early.

So there Belinda and I were, with our cutting boards and knives and cookbooks and ingredients all laid out and ready to go, with no one to cook.

Every week, students from previous cooking sessions come by to say hello and ask if they can join the class. We always turn them down as we have a full complement of students. But this week, we invited them in.

We were late getting started and we had a lot to chop, so the class was a bit hectic. But Scarlett Godoy, Marielys Martinez , Bella Nguyen and Zuliany impressed us with how well they remembered their kitchen lessons. Bella and Marielys loved donning the swimming goggles to chop the onions, but Bella said the onion vapors still got to her, “just not as bad.”

Scarlett and Zuliany made short work of the zucchini and quickly moved on to the peppers and eggplant. When asked to pass over a knife, Zuliany started to grab the blade, but quickly remembered to hold it by the handle and extend it handle first.

They loved smelling the basil. “It smells like mint,” said Scarlett. “It smells like the relaxing oils my aunt makes,” said Marielys.

And the girls all said the dish reminded them of a Dominican dish their families make where the eggplant is mushed, then fried. I think they may have been referring to Berenjena but since we have no internet access in our kitchen, I couldn’t look it up with them.

Once we got the veggies chopped and tossed with oil and herbs and got them into the oven, we moved onto dessert. They all loved chopping (and tasting!) the strawberries. But Zuliany and Scarlett loved mushing the small chunks of butter into the flour and sugar mixture. Our recipe kit was a bit short on the amount of flour, so I told the girls we would have to eyeball it, and add just enough milk to make the dough sticky.

Once they got their hands clean, no one wanted to shape the sticky dough into balls. So I was left to do it alone!

Just as everything was out of the oven and we were ready to eat, two of the girls had to leave as parents were there to pick up. So we packed their meals to go.

So we enjoyed our meal with Scarlett and Marielys, and handed out leftovers to some teachers and another former student, Amir (Prince) who stopped by to say hello and tell us how much he was cooking at home. (Yay!)

Scarlett commented how much flavor the lemon added to the ratatouille, along with the chevre cheese and basil. But the biscuits and strawberries were the favorite all around. No one missed the whipped cream, which we replaced with yogurt for a healthier take.

“I like the tang of it,” said Marielys.