Last March, when Chef Rob Campbell, executive chef at Ciao! in Sylvania, led the class, "A New Twist to Pasta," at Gourmet Curiosities, he had two assistants: his daughters, Lauren, 9, and Emily, 7. They donned their miniature chef coats and proceeded to assist their dad as he demonstrated stuffed pasta, sauced pasta, and layered pasta. It worked.
Across the country, from Hollywood to Toledo, dads are cooking, often assisted by their kids in the kitchen.
When Claud Mann of TBS's Dinner and A Movie was featured at Taste of the Nation in May, his wife, Perla Batalla, and daughter, Eva Mann, 10, cooked alongside him. The three-some were busily preparing the components of the Posole de Perlita served with condiments such as finely chopped onion, red cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, diced avocado, and Ancho Chili Sauce. Eva, dressed in a chef coat, expertly scooped out the right portion of avocado for each serving.
"She loves to cook," says Mr. Mann about his daughter, who is home-schooled and who travels with her parents.
While most dads aren't chefs, they still can work wonders in the kitchen or with the outdoor grill. Mark Berling of Toledo leans back on his Boy Scout days when he makes tin-foil dinners or cooks on a Coleman stove with his family. His 3-year-old daughter, Audrey, "loves to turn sausages" and stepson Steven Sterling joins in the grilling.
There's a special bond built when dads cook with their kids. Whether it's Sunday morning breakfast, manning the grill, or making a cherry cobbler, there's usually at least one special recipe that becomes tradition.
Lauren and Emily Campbell love to help their dad make cobblers. Among the favorites are strawberry rhubarb cobbler and cherry cobbler. The girls pit cherries and measure flour for the dough, and in the process practice their multiplication recognizing that it takes three half-cup measures to yield one and a half cups flour called for in the recipe.
When Mr. Campbell's daughters helped him teach the pasta class, "my favorite was the beet ravioli with gorgonzola cream sauce and toasted walnuts," says Emily.
The sweet potato gnocchi had a sherry cream sauce with mushrooms. "We got to eat some if it was left over," says Lauren about the class.
One time she made pumpkin pie by herself. "My dad told me what to put in it," she says.
"No matter what we are doing, they help me in the kitchen," says Mr. Campbell. "If we're making tacos, Lauren is the cheese grater. Emily does a lot of mixing and peeling carrots with a peeler."
Mr. Berling's specialty includes grinding homemade horseradish, which he serves with roast beef, and in the summer with grilled top sirloin. For Mushroom-Horseradish-Stuffed Steaks, the meat is cooked alongside tin-foil packages of vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, and baby onions flavored with balsamic vinegar or butter. Cooking time is about 10 minutes, turning the foil pack a time or two.
His signature dish has become sweet potato souffle, which bakes in the oven. It's a year-round favorite, from Thanksgiving to summer picnics. "It's a huge hit," says Mr. Berling. "It's light and fluffy with a pecan pie topping."
For dessert, he grills bananas on foil for about four minutes basted with honey and butter and then serves with vanilla ice cream. The peeled bananas can be also be grilled in a tin foil packet, if desired with honey and cinnamon.
Whether you are camping with the family, or cooking on your backyard deck, these recipes are great to get the whole family involved.
For those dads who want to do more cooking, Emeril's There's a Chef in My Family: Recipes to Get Everybody Cooking by Emeril Lagasse (HarperCollins, $22.99) is written for families as a way for everyone to collaborate in the kitchen. Among the recipes is Baby Bam spice mixture, printed on page 2. It's a way to season foods by bumping it down a notch and is used in many of the book's recipes
First Published June 15, 2004, 9:41 a.m.
