Ms.Glaze's Teen Cuisine

Ceasar Salad with Chicken

Picture courtesy of Daxiang Stef

The Caesar was invented in 1924 by Caesar Cardini at his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, where it was made with whole leaves of romaine lettuce. The Caesar is now a popular choice in restaurants of every type. In fact, most people mistakenly assume that the Caesar salad is Italian or French because it is so popular all over the world. Whether or not to include anchovies, raw egg or toss at the table side was once the main controversy. Today the question is what to top the Caesar with. The following is the authentic salad with an option for grilled chicken if you choose to make it into a meal.

Techniques:
Broil chicken to top brown. Put oven rack to the top so that it is 4 inches away from the coils (older ovens might have broiler at the bottom). Make sure to leave the oven door open a few inches while broiling or the meat will get too hot and burn. Don't leave food in the oven broiling unsupervised because it can get up to 500˚F. Use oven mits to remove food.

Emulsion: form an emulsion with the salad dressing between the lemon juice and oil by whisking while drizzling the oil in slowly. This will bind the two ingredients together that would otherwise seperate. This can be done in a blender too.

Materials:
1. Salad bowl
2. Pan or baking sheet for broiling chicken
3. Measuring spoons
4. Measuring cup
5. Bowl for dressing
6. Whisk

Ingredients:
1. Romaine lettuce, torn to bite size pieces
2. 1 clove garlic mashed
3. 6-8 anchovy fillets (optional)
4. 1/4 cup olive oil or salad oil
5. 2 Tablespoons each lemon juice and grated parmesan
6. 1/8 freshly ground pepper
7. 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire
8. Chicken breast boneless and skinless
9. Garlic flavored croutons
10. Extra shaved parmesan

Directions:
1. Broil chicken for 7 minutes in baking pan. Take out and cool
2. Wash lettuce gently with cold water, dry on paper towels, and tear into bite size pieces (no sand). If using hearts of Romaine lettuce then wash and leave whole.
3. For dressing: mash garlic clove and add lemon juice, parmesan, pepper, and worcestershire and mix well. Or put in a blender and mix.
4. While whisking mixture drizzle in oil until blended or if using blender drizzle oil through the lid carefully. Do not blend anything without a lid on or it will go everywhere (duh!)
5. Toss salad with salad dressing with croutons
6. Toss chicken with dressing
7. Place chicken on top of salad, sprinkle with shaved parmesan, and EAT UP!!!!

Note: Normally the dressing is blended with a raw or coddled egg yolk to help bind the ingredients together, but this is not always safe due to bacteria so I have left it out.

kids cooking

Nachos With Salsa Fresca

Picture courtesy of David Schloss

Salsa Fresca means fresh salsa! Be careful when mincing the serrano chili and do not touch your eyes afterwards or they will burn. All pieces should be the same small size (around 1/4") because nobody likes eating big chunks of onion or peppers. If necessary you might have to re-microwave or broil the nachos to get all the cheese to melt.

Techniques learned
Dice: cut piece's evenly into 1/4" strips. Turn strips and cut into even cubes.
Mincing: cut into the smallest cubes possible. Like dicing, but even smaller.
Grating: using big holes on a grater, press cheese against holes in a downward motion.
Broiling: top browning in an oven. Set oven to the highest temperature or to 'Broil'. Place rack on the second rung from the top or so that the dish is 5" away from the top coils. Do not let nachos touch the top or they will burn.

Ingredients:
3-4 tomatoes
1 quarter yellow onion chopped
Five sprigs of cilantro minced
1/2 serrano chili minced
1/2 lime (just the juice)
Salt to taste
Tortilla chips
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Dollop of sour cream
One shallow baking dish

Directions:
1. Cut tomatoes in half. Seed by ripping out the inside pulp with fingers. Press tomato half flat on a cutting board and dice. if possible use a serrated knife so it's easier to cut through the slippery skin.
2. Quarter onion and dice by cutting quarter into strips lengthwise (follow the onion stripes) and then across.
3. Wash cilantro gently and pat dry, pick leaves off sprig, mince.
4. Cut serrano chili in half and rip out seeds. Press chili half flat and mince by cutting into thin long strips and then across.
5. Squeeze 1/2 lime over salsa and toss lightly. The lime will marinade the onion and take away some of it's strong flavor.
6. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Adjust as necessary, the salt will cut some of the lime flavor if it's too powerful. Remember you can always add salt, but you can't take it away, so add slowly.
7. Put chips in baking dish
8. Grate cheese and put over chips
9. Broil for three minutes or until cheese melts
10. Take out with pot holders and spoon salsa over with a dollop of sour cream
11. Eat and enjoy!!!!

kids cooking
salsa fresca