The 'pasta tasted like heaven'

As the little chefs served dinner to each other and garnished the pasta with parsley, Mikal Bonilla asked, "Miss, can we eat the leaves?" After a quick chuckle, they devoured the pasta. Stephanie Valerio said she especially enjoyed the linguine because of the lemony butter taste!

- Nicole Molino, Nichole Jackson

Our kitchen was extra busy as we prepared separate shrimp and chicken linguine dishes to accommodate a few shrimp allergies. Team Shrimp and Team Chicken worked side by side, zesting, juicing, and sautéing ingredients for two flavorful pasta sauces. There was a noticeable uptick in confidence as our young chefs moved independently from prep station to stove top. As we tasted, opinions ranged from "too much lemon" to "just the right amount of lemon." And to the surprise of this teacher, no one asked for Parmesan cheese!

- Cindy Rappoport
nolead begins

Checking for taste and flavor was an important part of class. We knew the recipe flavoring was supposed to be subtle, so checking for seasoning was key. Our large lemons yielded a lot of juice and zest. Concerned about overpowering the meal with too much lemon, we decided to layer the seasoning in several additions. Everyone agreed that our extra additions of lemon flavor and salt "woke up" the flavor of the meal. This was unanimously voted our favorite meal so far. During pick up, Beinushi Jean-Pierre proudly handed her sister a cup of saved pasta. "What is it?" her sister asked. Beinushi broke into a mysterious smile. "It's a surprise!"

- Greta Haebel,
Ilene Miller

This was the best meal to date, according to boys. This was best summed up by Kenneth Davila, seventh grade: "Today, the shrimp with lemon linguine was magnificent. I am breathless. Every day gets better. The shrimp with broccoli and pasta tasted like heaven."

- Che Che
and Joe Bradbury

The students are taking over the kitchen. They move effortlessly from one task to another, tackling what needs to be done and jumping in to help each other. As we ate the linguine with shrimp, Chris Hoyler commented that it was nice to see the students referring back to the recipe and figuring out the next steps. Each of them has different abilities and is unique, which is why they work together so well.

- Chris Hoyler, Frank Petrillo, Beth Stack

Our kitchen was humming with productivity from the second the chopping started until the dishes were cleared. The students proclaimed that this week's pasta dish was the best yet, even though we substituted chicken thighs for shrimp to accommodate a food allergy. The delicious end result inspired middle-school chefs, who cleared the dishes with an improv song: "You better clear" to the tune of "Let it go," from the Disney movie Frozen.

- Amy Falkenstein, Maureen Dodson,
Heather Winklern

Our class was super-excited this week when they heard there were no onions to chop and they could give their eyes a break! We talked about how the most expensive part of the meal was the shrimp and all the other ingredients were inexpensive. None of the children was thrilled with the lemon/garlic taste of the linguine, but it didn't stop any from eating it! We didn't tell them that next week, it's back to onions!

- Maureen Barrett, Mariann Owens