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Lunch prep with MasterChef Junior
Kid-Created, Kid-Approved MasterChef Junior winners make lunchtime delicious BY HOLLIE DEESE
sandwiches and orange slices. “She used to sometimes write notes on napkins and I’d be off on my way,” says Alexander, who will be working dinner service at a SoHo restaurant this summer. One lunch staple Alexander’s mom used to make that he still loves is a panini sandwich, pressed with whatever is on hand in the kitchen. GROCERY RUN “I would add grilled Young chef Nathan Odom chicken with says taking some pasta,” children on he says. a trip to the “That’s one of store can help my favorite them feel things to eat engaged in for lunch the family’s now.” food choices For Season and make 3 chamthem want to be involved pion Nathan in meal Odom, 14, preparation. helping his mom make his lunches at home was actually the springboard to further his interest in cooking without the pressure of pleasing other palates. “The older I got, the more adventurous I got,” says the San Diego teen. “I tended to put a little bit more elaborate things in my lunchboxes just because it was an opportunity to practice the stuff I wanted to learn
ALEX ANDER WEISS SE A SON 1 CH A MPION PESTO CHICKEN PANINI Ingredients:
2 slices bread of your choice ¼ cup prepared basil pesto 1 cooked chicken breast, sliced 3-4 slices of fresh mozzarella 2 T. soft unsalted butter Optional: fire-roasted bell peppers STEP 1
Spread a generous amount of pesto on each piece of bread. Layer chicken slices, peppers and mozzarella. Top with the other piece of bread. STEP 2
Butter both sides of the bread. Place sandwich on panini grill or skillet. Once the sandwich is evenly browned, remove from the panini press, then slice. THINKSTOCK; GREG GAYNE/FOX
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ddison Smith, 11, doesn’t like sandwiches in her packed lunch. Or strawberries. Or pears. But it’s not because she’s a picky eater — it’s because they just don’t withstand hours in a lunchbox. “Strawberries get mushy, and pears get mealy,” Addison says. So instead of those lunchbox staples, she prefers to prepare things like a thermos of lentil soup or goat cheese rolled up in salami and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Addison, who lives in River Forest, Ill., won Season 4 of the kids cooking competition show MasterChef Junior when she was just 9, blowing away even the notoriously hard-to-please chef and show judge Gordon Ramsay with her natural talent in the kitchen. Today she carries her lunch every day of the week except Friday when her school has “Fun Lunches,” and she usually has a hand in what’s served. “I have a very big range of different things that I eat, but it’s kind of hard to find things that I love,” she says. “And I don’t like the same thing every day.” New Yorker Alexander Weiss, 16, won the first season of the show in 2013. He takes advantage of his school’s incredible lunch program most days now — a recent meal included roasted chicken with couscous salad and garlic green beans — but remembers fondly the days his mom packed him Nutella
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up front | food
NATHAN ODOM
ADDISON SMITH
SE A SON 3 CH A MPION
SE A SON 4 CH A MPION
LUNCHBOX STYLE CROQUE MONSIEUR
SALAMI & GOAT CHEESE ROLLS
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
2 T. finely grated Gruyere cheese ¼ cup mayonnaise 2 tsp. Dijon mustard French bread Sliced ham
Round slices of hard salami Goat cheese cut into strips Balsamic vinegar STEP 1
Place salami slices on a plate.
Gruyere Dijon Aioli:
2 T. finely grated Gruyere cheese ¼ cup mayonnaise 2 tsp. Dijon mustard STEP 1
Whisk together cheese, mayo and mustard until well combined.
STEP 2
Place 1-2 pieces of goat cheese on each piece of salami and spread length-wise. STEP 3
STEP 2
Roll the salami into a tube and place each piece in one section of bento box, or any small container.
Spread on bread and top with sliced ham.
STEP 4
If you’d like to take this recipe a step further, make your own mayonnaise by mixing one cup of oil, an egg, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper in a tall container, and using a hand blender until emulsified. If you don’t have a stick blender, you can just place the ingredients in a regular blender, setting it to high until the mixture is pale white and creamy.
Pair any of these recipes suggested by three past MasterChef Junior winners with cherry tomatoes, pretzels, clementines, cucumber slices, apple slices, carrots, hummus, olives or crackers.
Drizzle a small amount of balsamic vinegar over the salami rolls.
MIX IT UP!
THINKSTOCK; GREG GAYNE/FOX
how to make. Since you’re making it for yourself, you don’t really have to worry about making small mistakes that your family wouldn’t necessarily want to eat.” When it comes to lunchtime, all of the former show contestants say variety is important for a successful meal. Nathan says being included on grocery trips is key for kids looking to guide their parents in mixing it up. “I almost always go shopping with my mom whenever we go out to get groceries because I really like having a bit of a say on what ingredients are circulating throughout the house,” Nathan says. “I really like cooking with the same kind of things my mom does, but there’s some ingredients that I prefer in my dishes that she doesn’t necessarily want to buy.” Alexander agrees that his input helps to spice things up. “My mom made sure to ask me what I would want the day before, and sometimes she would just surprise me,” he says. “My mom made sure to change it up every other day.” Healthy options are important to all the winners, and not just because their parents say so. They truly enjoy what food can do for their bodies, and swap out junk food for options that make delicious sense. For instance, Addison likes wasabi crackers instead of potato chips. “I think that it’s important (that lunch) be a well-balanced meal that your kid will still enjoy, because if I didn’t enjoy the meals then I would probably not have eaten them,” Alexander says. And everyone agrees cookies are OK once in a while — as long as they are homemade.
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