Recipe for Level I

Recipe for Level I: Bruschetta with Oven Roasted Tomatoes, Basil, and Percorino Romano

Begin by cutting two to three pounds of mixed tomatoes, include, homegrown, cherry, and heirloom varieties. Cut into bite sized bits and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Set your oven at 300. Then toss in extravirgin olive oil, 2 - 3 cloves of peeled and smashed garlic broken into pieces. Next tear fresh basil leaves into pieces and sprinkle on top. Bake from 1 - 1 1/2 hrs, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cut a large baguette or other bread of your choice into half inch slices, douse with olive oil and grill until charred, turn and repeat. Remove and smear three times from left to right with a large clove of raw garlic. When tomatoes are ready, spoon a mound on each bruschetta, sprinkle with percorino romano and olive oil. Serve immediately.

The Secret Life of Vegetables

Today officially marked the second year of the FCP. The emphasis this year will be to take the knowledge we learned about food and make our lives better. I thought of many ways to approach this topic but the best way to drive home this message was to get the kids back into the soil. As a child we loved playing in the dirt. I had each Level I chef plant an egg carton garden. They actually got back in touch with Mother Earth. Level I had always daunted me but this year there was something different. I felt more at ease with the children, just being myself, but at the same time knowing that I am giving them life altering information that could one day impact them. I moved freely among them showing them how to put the seeds in the soil and then cover them with another layer of soil. The smallest thing amazed them. I felt so blessed that God had chosen me for this mission. This year's beginnings went very smoothly compared to the chaotic start of 2009. Even though I slept well, there was a bit of angst when I got out of bed. My mind was immediately put at ease, when a generous donation from my company came though and also a good friends donation of fresh basil. I had a great idea about what the kids would make with basil and tomatoes, and since we had just plant them, the first thing that came to mind was brushchetta, only mine will have a twist.

Running Out of Time

You know that small dark place in the pit of your stomach that rears it's ugly head when you are about to do something new, it makes you forget what you've practiced, hear things you don't, be afraid when you're not, or even look fate in the face with dark glasses. I came to class that day with very little, a short speech on ratio and proportion, a brief segue way into French baking techniques and a demo on how to butter the small tins that my store had donated to the project. I had started to worry if I would have enough time to pull this off. The mixer and all the ingredients had been preped, a swap out pound cake was waiting in the wings, but I knew these kids would want to see their cakes baked and finished. It's like waiting for Christmas morning. Feeling pressed, I rushed them through the buttering demo and breezed into the kitchen to start the cake making process. Mind you, I am a very didactic person and did not want to omit a single detail on how to make this cake. Of course, I took too long and we had to rush filling of the pans, but we did get them into the oven with 15 minutes to spare. Unfortunately, the oven was slow and it would take not only the 15 minutes but another hour before my little brood of pound cakes would be ready to make their debut. Sadly, my students were long gone and so were the staff. I stayed behind to make sure that all their little cakes were baked perfectly and cooled so that the next day each child would come in to find their overnight treasures. I could see the disappointment on the face of each child as they left and wondered about the fate of their cakes. Sadly, their teacher had run out of time. Continued.