Today marked class 2! I survived the first one with no scars, just coated in smoothies. The goal of the class in part is to embrace and educate the foods of various cultures and holidays. So today, just a few days before the Jewish New Year, I had to figure out what we could make that would be easy, topical and hopefully delicious. However with all this being new to me, never having taught anyone, let alone kids, I was having trouble coming up with what to make. Who doesn’t love chicken soup I thought — albeit without Matzoh balls, remember I have time constraints! So I found an easy to make recipe and sent it off to the program coordinator. Only problem for me was that I had never cooked on an induction burner and had no idea that you needed specific pots, pans and utensils. Research, reading and I found an easy to make recipe, and set out to buy myself an induction burner and the appropriate pots and pans so I could practice at home.
For anyone who’s never used an induction burner, let me tell you they are fabulous! They cook super quick, you just have to get the hang of it! Soup and all things come to a boil and come up to heat really quickly so that helps in timing, or does it???? Timing, yes I had to adjust my timings and heat settings so that things didn’t cook in a blink and or burn to a crisp. Ugh, the last thing I wanted was for the kiddos to laugh and say I burned everything and can’t cook. Practice makes perfect right, so I practiced.
Game on, first day is with the “older” kids. I walk into class super early, get set up – mise en place you remember. Set out the mats and kid friendly knives and nervously wait for them to walk in and sit. I can hear you all silently laughing. Walk in and sit HA! They run in, jockey for seats, and incoherently shout “Miss Francine, Chef Francine what are we making”? This I discover becomes the norm. So I stand in the front, gather myself together and say, “as soon as you are all done talking I will tell you so I don’t have to say it too many times.” Again choruses of “what are we making” mixed with talking to their friends. Again I wait for them to settle then say to them we are making Chicken Noodle Soup along with Apples and Honey for the Jewish New Year. We chat a bit about the meaning of the holiday, I ask if anyone has had chicken soup before and if they knew why we were also having apples and honey then we got down to it!
Of course before we do anything, they all must wash hands – that’s a must they are taught the importance of being clean in a kitchen setting. Next we go over the rules – no running, no playing with the knives (you’d be surprised!) and the importance of being careful when I am cooking hot foods. They are so eager, it’s great and can’t wait to start learning how to chop and dice and well, make foods in general! So I bring them all up to the front to stand and look over the ingredients and equipment then I set out giving them things to chop for me to add to the soup. I teach them how to hold the knife, how to make the “claw” to hold the food while cutting and then they start cutting and chopping! Yay I think they are really helpful, eager, but oooooo, this takes a long time. But they do it and the soup is now on the burner bubbling away. We cut up the apples in the meantime, dip them in the honey and eagerly await the soup. “Miss Francine, why is it chicken soup if there’s no chicken in it? Miss Francine I can’t eat chicken soup, can I have only noodles, Miss Francine ….” Now I have a problem, 2 can’t eat the meat so quickly I have to think and luckily I’ve set aside some noodles to make noodles and butter for them. They are not supposed to have food allergies in the class so that takes care of some things, but 1 is Kosher and the other doesn’t eat meat or things with gelatin so I have to now make sure that I have vegetarian options.
Soup’s ready, they line up, we ladle it out down to the last drop – whew I think just made enough and just in time. Soup in an hour, plus noodles in olive oil with parsley, not easy but as they clean up I ask, how was it and they all gave me thumbs up. Time to go, and I got high fives, and 2 hugs. I’m loving this! And this is only class 2!
Here’s the recipe.
INGREDIENTS Serves 12-14 (4.5 oz)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 medium Onion Chopped
2 Carrots Chopped
2 Stalks Celery Chopped
1 Cloves Garlic Minced
2 bay leaves
8 Cups (64 oz) Chicken Stock – low sodium (2 boxes of 32 oz)
¼ Cup Parsley, Chopped
1 Bag Egg Noodles
DIRECTIONS FOR SOUP
- Chop the Onion
- Chop the Carrots
- Chop the Celery
- Peel and mince the garlic
- Heat the oil in a large pot, when hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and stir for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and all the chicken stock plus the bay leaves.
- Add the noodles, parsley. Cook until the noodles are soft then season with salt and pepper.
