Today, PJ was absent for the first of the 2 classes due to a Dentist appointment. When he came back for the second class we watched a couple of videos on math strategy.
Pasta with roasted chicken thighs, red sauce, and sautéd broccolini
Lesson Outline
Prepare roasted chicken thighs with red sauce and sautéd broccolini
Session Minutes
90
Minutes Student Attended
90
Lesson Comments
Lucas did a great job balancing the various elements of this dish. We had quite a few moving parts that all required individual attention but he was able to remain focused and give each element the care and attention it needed. We talked about several new concepts, such as par-cooking and deglazing, which Lucas had heard of before but never done. He did very well asking relevant questions and applying his new understanding to the dish.
Prepare a variety of fruit smoothies as away to discuss combing and balancing flavors
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
45
Lesson Comments
Libby did a great job and was immediately adventurous with her flavor combinations! She wanted to make and try every possible combination and really seemed to enjoy adding the different fruits and berries in the exact amounts she wanted (getting as precise as counting individual blue berries!)
Prepare a variety of fruit smoothies as a way to talk about balancing/combining flavors
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
45
Lesson Comments
Teddy did a great job! He was attentive and engaged and did very well when washing and prepping the fruit. He was very excited to make a strawberry smoothie and was pretty sure that was the only flavor he would like, but after trying and enjoying a pineapple, strawberry, banana combo he became much more adventurous and began making all kinds of smoothies combining different fruits in different proportions and tasting each one.
Prepare a classic pan seared steak with garlic mashed potatoes
Session Minutes
90
Minutes Student Attended
90
Lesson Comments
PJ did a great job balancing flavors when seasoning the steak and the mashed potatoes! He remembered most of what we had learned/discussed on Monday when researching steak preparation and he was able to demonstrate and explain how that information applied to our steak. He enjoyed the steak very much and said that he can't wait to try some of these techniques at home with his Dad.
Pan Seared Steak, Fresh Chimichurri Sauce, and Rice
Lesson Outline
Prepare a classic pan seared steak with a fresh chimichurri sauce and rice
Session Minutes
90
Minutes Student Attended
90
Lesson Comments
Lucas did a great job! Preparing the chimichurri sauce provided an excellent opportunity to practice his knife skills and he did very well. He also did a great job balancing flavors when incorporating all of the fresh herbs/aromatics with the oil and vinegar to form the sauce. Lucas was a bit nervous when initially adding the steak to the pan, but he quickly regained his confidence and did a great job cooking the steak to a nice medium/medium-rare+
Plan our next meal and do some online research to better understand the ingredients and techniques we'll be using. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches and decide which approach we'd like to take.
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
45
Lesson Comments
Last week PJ had expressed an interest in learning to cook steak, so thats what we looking into for this week. After watching a few youtube videos demonstrating different ways to cook a steak and discussing which elements of the process are most important we decided to go with a classic pan seared steak preparation. Through our research we had some great conversations about time, temperature and technique.
Teddy joined us for Libby's cooking class today, and although there were a couple of very minor disputes about who got to do what, it went very well overall. With some gentle guidance they were able to find good compromises that made them both happy and they both did a great job handling and cooking the meat safely and cleanly. Libby was particularly thrilled with how tasty the steak was.
