Guacamole Deluxe

What is it about guacamole that's at once decadent and incredibly wholesome/purifying? And there's nothing better than guacamole made by brilliant, funny, hard-working teenagers:

Josh, Ingrid, Sofia, Jerry and Tiana's tasting finger.

Bracelet action. Lots and lots of bracelets in our kitchen. Don't know if it's a health-code issue or not, but they sure make pretty jangling noises while we cook.

Alexi peeling charred chiles for the salsa we were making that same day. A post on that coming later.

Teacher Josh taste-tests. Why do we love to cook? Because of this moment when you feed your friends, families and even strangers and they can't get enough of what you made. Sixth period at Walden gets lots of snacks from scratch straight from our kitchen.

Teacher Matt knows his guacamole, loves to cook and eat good food.

I'm not just saying this to passive-aggressively get the students to keep up the good cleaning work, but this group has been excellent about that all-important cooking skill--dishes. I sometimes dread teaching cooking classes because it's hard to get everyone to clean. Not so in Locavores.

Andrew the Cheese Monger is Rad

What's your favorite cheese in the case?  What do you put on a cheese plate?

Why is Tiana so happy?  What kind of cheese is she eating?

How do you get a job as rad as Andrew's, and what does a cheese monger do?  

What are those crystal things in Parmigiano Reggiano, and how does cheese get that rind?  What cheese caves have you been in?

If you wanna know, go see Andrew at Harmon's on 8th North in Orem.

Clarified Butter

Our guest chef Chance extolled the virtues of clarified butter, which is butter cleansed of impurities and water, leaving pure buttery goodness.

We're melting.

We're bubbling.

We're skimming impurities from the top and leaving water on the bottom.

Pure buttery goodness.  Chance recommends putting it on popcorn but

we were making garlic bread, which we bathed in clarified butter. 

Amen.

Walden Chef Amanda V.

Amanda was nominated for Utah County Youth of the Year!  Congratulations!

Born: Provo

Favorite Color: turquoise and green

Favorite book: Star Girl series

Favorite movie: Nightmare before Christmas & Pirates

Hobbies: Music, dancing, singing, playing games and sports

Learned during intersession: about different food cultures

Favorite dishes from intersession: fruit salad, crepes and pot stickers

Quote: "I like cooking because you can express yourself with different flavors and textures.  I liked that we all worked together to make  things and we all got along."

Walden Chef Katy B.

Katy has a great smile, and she overcame her fear of opening the oven during intersession!

Born: American Fork

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite book: The Secret Journal of Brett Colton

Hobbies: Reading, hanging out with friends

Quote:  "I like food.  My favorite thing about class was eating the food we made."

Favorite dish: I love sweets, so I liked the chocolate lava cake and the birthday cake.

Walden Chef Mckenzie

Mckenzie has a great eye--she took many of the photos for our blog.

McKenzie Christiansen

Born: Utah

Favorite book: Kissing Snowflakes

Favorite movie: Enough

Hobbies: Eating, photography, walking (provo river trails), dancing

Quote: "Cooking class is fun—I didn’t know how to make crepes and now  I do, so I’m gonna use it 24/7."

Favorite dishes: Crepes, chocolate lava cakes

Walden Chef Cali

Cali has great knife skills, and she amuses us with her stories.

Cali Lott

Born:  Lake City

Favorite color: Bluish greenish turquoise kinda

Favorite Book: Maus

Favorite Movie: Phantom of the Opera, the newer version

Learned in Intersession cooking: I liked shopping for ingredients.  It hurts when oil pops out of the pans and burns your fingers.  I learned about mise-en-place and poaching eggs. Random small techniques.

Favorite Dish: I loved the chocolate lava cake, gateau de crepes florentine,  pots de crepes, Chinese chicken salad.

Walden Chef Amanda B.

Amanda B. is always laughing, or making other people laugh.

Amanda Black

Born: Santa Ana, CA

Favorite color: any pastel

Favorite book: Love Makes us Liars

Favorite movie: Enough

Hobbies: Sleeping, Drawing, Cooking, Playing on the computer, shopping

Learned in Intersession cooking:  I learned how to separate an egg, to freeze leftover rice

Favorite Intersession dish:  Chinese chicken salad

Quote: "Best cooking class ever—we actually cooked"

 

Walden Chef Megan

Megan knows her way around the kitchen, having done two years of cooking already and filling the role of main cook in her family.

Born: Provo, UT

Favorite Color: blood red

Favorite Book: Twilight series

Favorite Movie: horror movies

Hobbies: Biking, hanging out with kids, clubbing, going to movies

Learned in Interssion Cooking: How not to cut my fingers (even though I never did anyway),  flavor combining, assembly, organization

Quote: "I Enjoy cooking because it’s a way to get away and do something opposite what you normally do in daily life—a way to relax, have fun and experiment."

Guest Chef Chance Gold: Alfredo and Marinara

Chance, a great Walden junior, spends half his day at MATC's Culinary Program.  Chance graciously spent his morning with us showing off his mad skills and teaching us some new ones.

Chance wants to go to Paris to cook some day. . . .  I'm looking forward to eating in his restaurant some day.

Chance taught us about mirepoix, a mixture of onions, carrots, and celery (50% onion, 25% celery, 25% carrot) that forms the base of many sauces.

Love the industrial can-opener--

Sauteeing the mirepoix.

Getting ready to simmer.

Putting it together.

We bought Parmigiano Reggiano parmesean from the Harmon's cheese monger.

Chance taught us to make Alfredo with it.

Voila!

I'm tossing the salad with the vinaigrette.  With my clean, clean bare hands.  Jaimie Oliver says this is okay, and I agree.  

Fantastic lunch, fantastic day, thanks to Chance's expertise.  

He also taught us to clarify butter, and we made a birthday cake for Cali that day, so watch for those posts!

Chance's recipes:

Alfredo Sauce

 Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 8 fluid ounces heavy whipping cream
• salt to taste
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Melt butter or margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Add heavy cream, stirring constantly. Stir in salt, nutmeg, grated Parmesan cheese, and grated Romano cheese. Stir constantly until melted, then mix in egg yolk. Simmer over medium low heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Garnish with additional grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Marinara Sauce

Directions

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 small onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

2 dried bay leaves

In a large casserole pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste. (The sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat before using.)

My Favorite Day Part Four: Chinese Chicken Salad

Chinese Chicken Salad is a recipe that may be Utah-centric.  I've only had it in Utah or made by people in Utah, especially this version made with uncooked ramen noodles.  We created our own version in class, and it turned out very well.

Speaking of uncooked ramen noodles, Amy, our superstar Special Ed director/all-purpose support network for all students and teachers at Walden, told me that she served this once to some Japanese guests who told her, "You should cook the noodles."  If you are not a fan of uncooked ramen, you could easily substitute toasted almonds or peanuts, and would have the crunch of the noodles plus some added nutrition.

It gives me a huge thrill to see all these photos of student hands at work.  They look so natural and they mastered the skill so quickly.  Cali's hands got photographed a lot, for some reason.

Amanda B. mentioned that one of her favorite things about cooking class was that, on Chinese Chicken Salad day, there was enough chicken for her to snack on while we cooked.  

Here's Matt mixing it up.

Walden School Chinese Chicken Salad

Serves 20-25 (Utah Family Reunion-Sized)

*

1 med. head Napa cabbage, shredded

1 med. head green cabbage, shredded

2 handfuls of bean sprouts

1 large bunch cilantro, leaves removed from stems

3 packages pork flavored ramen noodles, broken into pieces

(or substitute 1 c. toasted almonds or peanuts)

1 bunch scallions, sliced

4 c. cooked chicken 

(we used chicken breasts--shredded roast whole chicken would be even better!)

*

Dressing

1 c. olive oil

1/2 c. seasoned rice wine vineagar

4 minced garlic cloves

2 T. grated ginger

1 t. srirrachia

2 T. honey

1 t. salt

2 T. soy sauce

1 packet of ramen seasoning

1. In large container (as pictured above, we used a clean produce drawer from the refrigerator) add all salad ingredients.
2. Whisk together dressing.
3. Mix gently with your hands (we used gloves) so as not to crush the veggies.
4. Enjoy with 20-25 of your closest friends or relatives.

Slab

The Walden Cooking class had delicious pizza at Slab last week.  We liked the crunchewiness of the crust, and they even told us their secret to keeping the crust saucy but not mushy or slimy. They gave us a tour of their tiny, adorable kitchen, and we got to see them proofing yeast in the hobart and getting ready to prepare a million pounds of pizza dough.

Slab pizza doesn't leave you feeling sick.  The dough and sauce aren't too heavy or greasy, but all of the ingredients are flavorful.  I loved the New Mexico green chile and the Thai Barbeque pizza.

For 5-6 bucks you get this huge slab of pizza and a drink.  I like that you can see them making the pizza, and can see every inch of their kitchen, so you know it's pristine and doesn't contain any nasty secrets.

My Favorite Day Part Three: Spinach Tofu Dumplings

On Thursday we went to Harmon's, First Oriental, Chao's, and Bollywood Market and bought some things we thought we could cook with before sitting down to a delicious noodly, dumpling-esque lunch at Rooster.  On Friday, we got out all of our ingrdients, washed and chopped them, and started creating recipes.  Our spinach dumplings were delicious, and created on the fly.  I'll try to recreate the ingredient list and amounts for you, but here's the method: 1) saute vegetables and aromatics, as pictured above.

Add tofu, rice, and seasonings and saute until you get the seasonings, rice and tofu evenly distributed with the vegetables.  Taste to correct seasonings.  Fill dumpling wrappers by placing a tablespooon of filling in the middle of the wrappers, moistening the edges of the wrappers, folding and sealing.  Deep fry, steam, or pan fry.

Serve these babies with your favorite dipping sauce.  Non-vegetarians will never know they're eating tofu!

Spinach Dumpling Filling

1 bunch spinach washed and finely chopped

3 scallions, washed and finely chopped

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 c. crumbled fried tofu (we used our tofu stick fries)

2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated into the pan

1 T. grated fresh ginger

1 c. rice

1/2 t. salt

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. rice wine vinegar

Saute the garlic, ginger and scallions over medium heat for a minute or less, toss in carrots, then spinach, then tofu, then rice.  Add soy sauce, salt, and rice wine vinegar and cook until mixture is heated through and all seasonings, rice and vegetables are thoroughly incorporated.  Fill wrappers.

Or just eat it straight up.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Day Part Two

The students quickly became pros at prepping ingredients.  This was day five of the class and they prepped twenty ingredients in under an hour.  Isn't the bok choy beautiful?

Here's Amanda B. prepping tofu sticks.  We decided to use tofu in our spring rolls rather than shrimp as one person in class is allergic and one is vegetarian, and one has mixed feelings for shrimp.

Tofu's pretty cool looking, and one of my favorite things to cut.  Just so satisfyingly symmetrical and smooth to the slice.

Celebrity Chef Matt tended the tofu at the stove.

Tofu fries.  I can't tell you how many students wandered into the kitchen, looked at this tray of fried tofu and said "What is that?" or "What is that?" or "What is that?" Sounding a bit terrified, some of them.


Pretty soon the cooking class students started cajoling the Curious Students into tasting.  Most seemed to like the tofu fries, especially dipped in peanut sauce, though one fifth grader went into paroxysms and spit his tofu in the garbage.  No one complained about the tofu as it tasted ensconced in the rolls, hidden beneath some peanut and sweet and sour sauces, surrounded by crunchy fresh vegetables and chewy noodles.  I was surprised that no one complained about bok choy or bean sprouts, either.

Cali soaks the rice paper.

Step one--rice stick noodles.

Peanut sauce, bok choi, bean sprouts, thai basil, and tofu.

Roll.  I hadn't made these for a long time, and forgot to roll the ends in first.

A sweet and sour Thai/Lao sauce with rice vinegar, fish sauce, soy, sugar and peanuts.

Sauce making.

Peanut sauce.  Forgot to buy coconut milk.  Substituted heavy cream.  No Problem.

Someone's lunch plate.  The spring roll is topped in hoisin peanut sauce.  

Be watching for our pot sticker and chicken cabbage salad recipes in the next few days.