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The children of a chef have a taste for exotic food in their DNA, don't they? Pain au chocolat in the morning, followed by duck at lunch and sushi for dinner? Making daily nutritional requirements look like an enticing food pyramid is probably a snap.
According to Lee Gregory, chef and co-owner of The Roosevelt in Church Hill, that isn't necessarily the case. Daughter Emma Grace, 6, eats a much wider range of food than her younger brother, Keaton, 4. "We call it the yellow diet," says his mother, Chrissy Gregory. "Mac and cheese, goldfish crackers — yellow food." Both children have had the same exposure to lots of different things, but each react differently — just like kids in other families without a chef at the helm of the stove.
What to do? Gregory keeps it simple. He slips eggplant into a tomato sauce that can be used to top either pasta or pizza. "They've really just started with tomato sauce," says Gregory. "They always wanted white pizza. I thought we could blitz [the sauce] real quick so that they don't even know there's eggplant in it."
He also gets them into the kitchen to help. Emma Grace and Keaton each get a ball of dough to shape, and although Keaton jets off with his to put it in his play oven across the room, his sister experiments with different shapes ("I wish we could flatten it and put a smiley face on it!") next to her father. One day, when she's older, this will hopefully translate into making pizza for her parents — and a night off for her dad.
What more could a chef dream of?
Pasta Dough
(4 servings)
Ingredients
4 whole eggs
3 cups of 00 flour (available at 8 1/2 or online at kingarthurflour.com )
1/2 cup of semolina flour (available at various locations, as well as online at kingarthurflour.com )
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Directions
Using a stand mixer with a dough hook, mix ingredients until the dough is smooth. Remove from the bowl and knead the dough on a well-floured surface for 5 minutes. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest for at least 1 hour. Roll pasta and cut with a pasta machine using the manufacturer's directions.
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Drop in pasta and cook for 2 to 5 minutes. Watch carefully; fresh pasta cooks fast.
Turkey Ricotta Meatballs
(serves 4)
Ingredients
1 pound of ground turkey
1/2 pound of ricotta
1 egg
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together until just combined. You don't want to over mix. Shape the mixture into golf-ball sized rounds. Heat the olive oil in a nonstick oven-proof pan over medium high heat. Brown the meatballs on both sides, then place in the oven and roast for 15 to 20 minutes until done.
Eggplant Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add the eggplant and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes and eggplant have broken down and the flavors have married. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
We puree it in a blender so that our kids don't see the eggplant. Serve over pasta or atop pizza.
Pizza dough
(serves 4)
Ingredients
1 cup of lukewarm water
3 1/2 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 ounces of yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of honey
Olive oil
Directions
Place a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as it will go (about 500 to 550 degrees). Add the yeast to the water in the bowl of a stand mixer and bloom for 5 minutes. Add the flour, honey and olive oil to the yeast and water. Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed until the flour is well incorporated, approximately 2 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes in order to allow the flour to hydrate.
Turn the machine back on medium speed, add the salt, and let the dough mix for a full 8 to 10 minutes. It should form an elastic ball with a nice sheen to it.
Drizzle with a touch of olive oil, cover and keep in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. Punch it down, then shape and top your pizza. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, watching carefully so that it doesn't burn.
Strawberry Lemonade
(serves 4)
Ingredients
1 cup of strawberries, stemmed and washed
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of agave nectar
2 cups of water
Directions
Puree the berries and agave nectar together in a blender. Stir in lemon juice and water. Chill.
