Wissahickon Valley’s Kids in the Kitchen – Pasta Night!

Did you know that there are over 350 types of pasta from around the world? Last Thursday during Wissahickon Valley’s Kids in the Kitchen cooking club, our members learned all about pasta!

During Kids in the Kitchen lessons, we focus on the four parts of a healthy plate: fruits, vegetables, proteins and grains. This means, that when we eat lunch or grab dinner, we should try to incorporate a food from each part of the healthy plate to ensure maximum nutrients so our bodies can be strong and healthy! Our Kids in the Kitchen members have learned about different foods from each part of the plate over the past six weeks. Last week, we tackled grains with our pasta lesson! They got hands-on and made two Italian classics – Fettuccine and Gnocchi.

Our little chefs used their muscles to knead the dough and roll it into long “snakes”. From there, we flattened it to put it through the pasta maker for Fettuccine and cut it into pieces for Gnocchi! While everyone enjoyed the process, the best part of course, was eating it! The future chefs were having so much fun that they made enough pasta to share with their parents!

If you are interested in making a simple, delicious, homemade pasta check out this recipe!

Classic Italian Gnocchi

Italian Potato Dumplings: Yields 4-5 servings, Prep time – 1 hour, Cook time – 3 minutes

Ingredients: 2-3 large Russet potatoes, 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1TBL. Romano cheese, 1 egg yolk and tomato sauce to serve

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350F

Bake Potatoes for 45-55 minutes (until soft) & let them cool lightly

Peel potatoes & push through a sieve/ricer or mash finely with the back of a fork into a large bowl

Mix in salt, yolk and cheese

Gradually mix in flour

Knead into a soft dough – about 2 minutes – add flour if too sticky

Cut a piece of dough and roll it into a 1/2in thick “snake”

Cut “snake” into 1in pieces (while working, wrap extra dough in plastic wrap so it doesn’t harden)

Fill large pot with water, add a pinch of salt and let boil

Once all dough is cut, add 1in cubes into boiling water – about 3 minutes

Add tomato sauce and ENJOY!

*to get all parts of the healthy plate in this meal, make a side salad and add apple or berries

Pasta = grain, cheese = protein, salad = vegetable, apple, berries = fruit