Janet Gordon is married, retired, obsessed with her Westlake Terrier, Rollo – and books are her passion. She reads multiple books a week across all genres and reviews them for Rest Less.
I thought it would be so easy. Drive up to Highbury with a bag of ingredients and a copy of Warren Nash’s Junior Explorers Complete Cookbook, stop off for bagels on the way, dig the grandchildren out of bed, and spend some time cooking together. I’d been sent a copy of Nash’s cookbook with a request that my grandchildren, William (16) and Victoria (13), cook a couple of dishes for us all for Sunday lunch.
One of the recipes chosen included red wine and boy did I need it!
The first setback was that William decided to abstain from cooking on the grounds that he was studying for his GCSEs. OK, he was excused. Vic had invited around a friend from school, so Tamara was recruited instead.
The first recipe I’d chosen for us to make was cottage pie – simple, nourishing, and easy. My son, Daniel, and I did cheat a bit; we peeled the potatoes and chopped the carrots ready for them. But the girls chopped the onions themselves and, after much discussion about removing the skin and making sure each slice was equal, they eventually went into the frying pan.
So, with the onions and carrots browning, it was time to add the mince. Two wooden spoons later, and they were pounding away at the mince to remove every single lump. After spending 10 minutes trying to open a stock cube, they added the water, to the millimetre. I opted to add crushed garlic (which wasn’t in the recipe but they didn’t argue), two tablespoons of tomato purée, and a dash of Worcester sauce. Then, they left it to simmer – after I’d explained what ‘simmering’ meant.
Daniel put the potatoes on to boil and showed them how to test whether they were ready to mash. Then, we left them to it after explaining how to add milk and butter. Hooray, they managed it! Pouring the meat base into a casserole dish proved difficult, but they enjoyed adding the mash to the mixture and drawing lines into the mash with a fork.
This was futile, really, since I’d asked them to sprinkle grated cheese over the top anyway. Oh, the anguish in grating the cheese – “my arms hurt”, “this is so difficult”, and “surely that’s enough”. But, once again, they enjoyed making sure every inch of the potato was covered in cheese before it went into the oven.
After writing down the time, they told us it would be ready in 45 minutes. I didn’t argue.
And onto spaghetti bolognese – surely a staple meal to know how to cook. They now knew how to brown onions and when to add the mince. Happily, that’s when we could also add the red wine; a good glug in the pan, and a large glass for my son, husband, and me. This really helped our stress levels!
I haven’t adequately explained just how much shouting and arguing had gone on, with the two girls insisting that they couldn’t lift this, how did I know that, and, no, it still had another minute to go. I hadn’t realised that as youngsters cooking for the first time, they were terrified of doing something wrong, or not following the recipe timings to the minute. They simply didn’t know anything about anything.
When I was just a little older than them, I’d had housecraft lessons at school. We were taught how to roast, boil, and mash potatoes; cook eggs; and even make jam tarts. But these two were literally starting from scratch. Yes, they could make a cup of tea, toast, and even a sandwich (provided there was sliced cheese in the fridge), but other than that, they were simply at a loss.
With the bolognese sauce simmering, it was time to pop the pasta in. The recipe called for 500 grams, and much discussion ensued about how much pasta to allow per person. Settling on about 100 grams each, they began complicated mathematical calculations until I pointed out that the packet had 500 grams of pasta, and with six people sitting down to eat, we could add a little more from an already opened packet. “Oh”, they said.
The pair stood over the pasta pan willing it to boil – and eventually it did. My son thought it was safer to drain the pasta himself (it was an enormous pan the girls had chosen), and there it was – everything was cooked.
William deigned to join us, and even opted to take part by grating parmesan over the bolognese before we tucked in. Both dishes were delicious and the girls were given a round of applause, whilst we adults had a well-deserved second glass of wine!
The Junior Explorers Complete Cookbook is a neat idea and provides a great grounding in how to cook simple and easy meals. I do think, however, that there should be a note in the recipes that all timings are approximate.
The girls had a great afternoon of cooking and both felt a huge sense of achievement. I enjoyed helping them, too. And as for William, he was happy just eating the food. Asked if he’d cook in the future, he told us he’d just order a takeaway. That’s 16-year-old boys for you!
Do you enjoy cooking? Will you be trying any of the recipes in the Junior Explorers Complete Cookbook? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!