Culinary Adventures with Kids - Quintessential Barrington Magazine

What’s Cooking
By Kathy Harrison
Kathy Harrison is a Barrington Hills
resident who teaches the fine art
of cooking. For more information,
call 847-381-4828.
Culinary Adventures with Kids
recently ran into mindy green, a friend who
was shopping for groceries with her 9-year-old son,
Zach. They had just gotten back to town after being gone
for a long weekend. They were in the produce aisle, putting
together an arsenal of lettuce, peppers and tomatoes for a
salad. She introduced me to Zach, a 4th grader at Hough
Street School, and told him that I was a cooking teacher. “I
like to cook too,” he stated.
“What do you like to make?”
“Well, I just made ratatouille, and I liked that pretty
much,” Zach said.
I just stared, incredulous. Now, you know how it is
when you’re speaking to someone whose primary language
isn’t English? You begin to speak slower and louder
to them, as if decibels alone are the key to comprehension.
Zach’s Ratatouille
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced and chopped
2 medium zucchini, sliced crosswise
about ½ inch thick
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and
chopped
2 teaspoons garlic powder*
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning*
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Note: (I didn’t have garlic powder or Italian
seasoning, so we chopped one clove of garlic
and used some fresh rosemary, thyme and
basil for the Italian seasoning.)
Peel the onion and chop. Sauté in olive oil
until it is tender. Next add the tomatoes and
cook until mushy. Add the zucchini and spices
or herbs. Cover and simmer until tender,
about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to
taste. Serve hot or warm.
60 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com

Both mother and son, each with the most amazing blue eyes, stared back at
me. Then they slowly tried to explain what ratatouille is.
“No, no,” I exclaimed. “I know what it is. I’m just surprised that you
like to eat it.” It turns out, he likes lots of different vegetables and he likes
to eat them both raw and cooked. Amazing. We meet each other again in
the pasta aisle and decide that Zach and I will get together and make something.
With vegetables.
I don’t think we can assume to know what kids will find tasty. Mostly,
they’ll like anything prepared simply, especially if it is well seasoned, and
most especially, if it is on your plate. However, kid’s taste buds are constantly
changing, and what they’ll eat one day will be met with a defiant locked
jaw the next. Go figure.
Chefs, authors of cookbooks, editors of children’s books have all
weighed in on the vagaries of youngsters’ eating habits. We all agree that
our kids need nutritious food. From birth, babies know that eating is a
primary pleasure. As they grow, they develop their own likes and dislikes.
We, as adults, can encourage these tastes by providing food that looks good,
tastes good, and is consumed in a convivial atmosphere. Finding the time
to eat together as a family can be a challenge, what with work schedules and
sport schedules colliding. Sometimes breakfast is the only time to sit down,
talk, and eat together.
Ah! But what about the menu? If pizza makes your child eat with gusto,
how about serving it for breakfast? You’ve got cheese, tomato, perhaps some
meat, and even some vegetables such as mushrooms or broccoli that can be
added to the topping. There’s no bad time for good food.
I think one way to try to introduce kids to some healthy food is to have
them help with the preparation. Knowing the attention span of a child is
short, it makes sense to prepare something quickly. How about pasta? Who
doesn’t like a noodle?
Simply bring a large pot of water to a boil and add some salt. Cook
spaghetti according to the package directions until it is just tender, or al
dente. Meanwhile, have an array of simple items that can be added to the
cooked pasta – some grape tomatoes, peas, and grated cheese. All these
can be on hand and are super easy to throw together. Drain the noodles,
moisten with a little olive oil, toss in the veggies and voila…a meal! And a
good one at that.
Zach’s mom told me she felt that there has to be some balance in her
son’s diet. If she can get him to eat nutritious food most of the time, she certainly
isn’t going to worry if he has sweets or fried food occasionally. There
you have it. Life in the balance: detox/tox.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of cooking with this 9-year-old boy. I
watched him cut the zucchini, and followed his instructions about slicing
the onions into thin rings before chopping them. I learned something
from this experience. If you want a 9-year-old boy to have fun cooking,
give him a mortar, pestle, and some cloves of garlic to bash. I think every
one of Zach’s teeth showed through his grin while he pounded the garlic
and herbs to a paste.
We talked and got to know each other. It was one of the most pleasant
afternoons I’ve ever had. So here is Zach’s ratatouille, (see page 60) a recipe
he got from his grandmother, but one that he made his own.
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QBarrington.com | Quintessential Barrington • 61