Cooking For The Young And Young At Heart

With the proliferation of kid’s cookbooks and cooking shows these days, it’s evident that the kitchen is increasingly becoming the favorite playground of many a child. This week’s show is dedicated to the budding chefs of tomorrow and everyone who is young at heart.

We begin with a conversation with Melina Hammer, author of KidChef: The Foodie Kids Cookbook. Filled with over 75 surprisingly sophisticated and healthy recipes, the cookbook is a crash course in culinary training for aspiring young chefs and adults alike.

Then we speak with Louisiana-born artist Clare Crespo, who has made a career of playfully fusing the worlds of food and art. Clare created and stars as a pint-sized chef in the wild and wacky video series YummyfunKooking, which has dedicated fan-base of viewers young and old.

After that, we’re joined by Sonoko Sakai, author of RiceCraft, who gives us a lesson in how to create onigiri, a Japanese dish much like sushi, but so easy, your preschooler will want to get in the act and just might expect to find some in their lunchbox.

Let’s all play with our food on this week’s Louisiana Eats!

Edible Schoolyard NewOrleans Herbed Soda Bread

Used in conjunction with teaching teamwork, using The Little Red Hen story

3 cups white flour

¾ cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups buttermilk

Variety of garden herbs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Measure and mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Measure buttermilk. Make a hole in the flour and slowly pour in the buttermilk. Add the herbs. (Dough should be soft but not wet and sticky.)

Put the dough on a cutting board with flour. Knead just enough so the dough sticks together.

Pat dough until it is round and about 1 ½ inches high. Add to baking tray.

Cut a cross into the bread. This will help it rise.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until browned on top.