Laura Carter, center, creator of My Sister’s Granola and a volunteer at Gather Community Space, helps Sherlyn Veras, left, and Arianna Garcia, right, prepare salad greens.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Teen cooks prepare dinner for 36 at Gather
Byron Gomez. who was in charge of making the fried rice for the big dinner, ladles some into the serving dish Ivan Bogan is holding.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Sanaya Menon spoons yogurt into dessert cups, where the next step will be to add blueberry or strawberry sauce. Looking on is adult volunteer Laura Carter.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
After the teen cooks and their instructors prepared a full dinner for 36 guests, families and friends sat down Wednesday evening to enjoy the meal that brought the inaugural Cooking with Confidence class to a close at Gather Community Space in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Sherlyn Veras, Arianna Garcia and Byron Gomez on Wednesday evening look over the strawberries destined to be part of dessert dessert at the dinner that topped off the Cooking With Confidence class at Gather Community Space.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — First came the bowls of creamy guacamole, full of freshly mashed avocados and a touch of citrus, each surrounded with a ring of tortilla chips.
There were sliders, too, with ground beef patties enlivened with slices of Monterey Jack and dollops of fresh pesto made from the basil that grows right outside the kitchen.
And, at each of 36 place settings, there was a salad of mixed greens, decorated with red onion slices on top.
“These are the appetizers,” 15-year-old Ivan Bogan told his tablemates Wednesday evening at the Gather Community Space in downtown Wilkes-Barre as people sat down to eat.
The dinner, which would continue with a salmon entree, fried rice studded with vegetables, and desserts of yogurt and “edible cookie dough,” was the finishing touch for a five-week course called Cooking With Confidence.
Guided by their instructors, Chef John Prater and Olivia Apolo, and with help from a few other adults, half a dozen teens prepared Wednesday’s meal for their families and other invited guests, including a delegation from the Luzerne Foundation’s Teen Advisory Committee.
Earlier this year, members of the Teen Advisory Committee had visited the Gather Community Space, learned what the inaugural cooking class would be like, and voted for the program to receive a Luzerne Foundation grant.
It had been a good investment, committee member Gabby Gittler agreed as she enjoyed the meal.
“So far, it’s amazing,” she said. And that was before dessert.
Wegmans also supported the cooking class, with a donation of gift cards that paid for food used in the first two classes with a little leftover, program coordinator Beth Dal Santo said.
The donations allowed Gather to offer the class at no charge to area teens, who learned about safety in the kitchen, experimented with spices and, by all reports, were fascinated by the industrial dishwasher that takes only a few minutes to sanitize dishes.
A new class designed for beginner cooks will likely start in a few weeks, coordinator Jonathan Kadjeski said.
As for the teens who completed this first course, they liked it so much most of them want to continue learning.
Chef Olivia Apolo has agreed to teach an advanced course for them over the next few weeks.
“They’re creative, curious, and they really want to be involved,” Kadjeski described the group, praising them for their efforts in preparing the big dinner. “We really made them work as a team.”
“They’ve very good kids,” Chef John Prater said. “They showed up early and ready to work.”
While some of the young cooks, like Sanaya Menon, had the modest goal of learning to prepare meals for their families, and another student admitted he attended because his parents told him to, others can see the culinary arts as a potential career.
“It’s really my passion,” said Byron Gomez, who at home has been known to prepare a savory Dominican-style stew of meat and vegetables called sancocho that takes eight hours to cook.
