Mother's Day Delight

The kids have been helping us cook for years, although the amount of time they cook has recently decreased with school and sports.  So, for Mother's Day I was pleasantly surprised to hear they wanted to do a "Chopped"-like contest for Amy to judge.  We had to make some slight modifications (considering they are 10 and 12 as well as NOT chefs.)  In the actual show, the contestants got baskets of unusual ingredients and have to cook something which included each in each course.  We got baskets of Amy's favorite ingredients which had to be used for each course.  Salmon, cheese, berries, etc.  What they came up with was absolutely fabulous!

Let's go in order of age.  Alex made an arugula salad with toasted pine nuts, Manchego cheese and oranges (the key ingredients), but it was his mustard dressing which was the hit.  Not too tart or sweet and fairly complex.  His salmon was cooked in an onion & marsala wine reduction - perfectly tender.  The dessert was the show stopper though.  He made a Greek yogurt parfait with fresh mango, raspberries and chopped almonds topped with whipped cream that he made himself.  Solid food done well and cooked perfectly.  He will make some lady happy!

Abby on the other hand was wildly inventive with her dishes with one huge hit and a big miss - but worth the effort!  She made a Nuoc Cham-style sauce (substituting olive oil and orange juice for the fish sauce) and wrapped that in fresh basil leaves.  It was so wonderful, I really thought I was eating an appetizer from a master chef.  Her main course lacked some cooking technique - but the sauce of her salmon was unbelievably good.  Butter, capers, onions, curry and feta cheese - with the first four ingredients heated on the stove and the feta added late.  I could have eaten that on cardboard and been HAPPY!  Her dessert was an inventive remix on the smoothie - which Amy called the crunchie.  It was the same concept, but Abby added almonds to the mix then topped with candied fruit and gummie bears.  It didn't work, but a big A  for effort.

All in all, a great display of cooking on Mother's Day which made their mom very happy.  And their dad proud.