Chef Bill Telepan on Teaching Kids to Love Good Food (with Recipe)
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Laura B. Weiss -- School Library Journal, 11/01/2006
Bill Telepan, owner and chef at the eponymous New York eatery, wants kids to eat well—and love good food. So much so that Telepan recently celebrated Days of Taste, in which chefs and farmers teach kids how fresh ingredients go from farm to table.
Telepan's own restaurant was recently named the Zagat readers' choice for best new restaurant in 2007. SLJ caught up with the lanky gourmand and father of a five-year-old girl in his restaurant kitchen, where he was preparing a version of chicken paprikash. A great soup recipe follows.
Why did you decide to get involved with Days of Taste?
I always thought it was important to do something like this because kids and people in general aren't exposed to a lot of good food. It's not their fault; things have to be easy, so people never get the true idea of a home-cooked meal or of cooking together.
Is food the glue that holds families together?
Your memories are really about food. Was the cake good or was it dry? You don't really talk about the time you had the 15-minute meal at McDonald's.
You daughter must be a good helper.
This past Sunday she said, "Can I help you daddy?" It's a fun thing. When I was growing up, we ate well. My mom cooked three meals a day. I don't think people do that enough these days. I think there's so much crap.
What kind of crappy food are you talking about?
Processed foods. There's a lot that's changed in our food in the last 50 years and in our obesity and cancer rates.
But what can schools and teachers do about that?
When you think of feeding 1,000 people a day it's hard unless you pull [food] out of a box. It starts with the government because they pay for it.
When you talk about eating well with kids, as opposed to adults, what are you really talking about? What foods and recipes are going to appeal to kids?
Most kids eat macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers and French fries. But it's really not that hard to bread chickens as opposed to buying [prepared breaded chicken nuggets]. What I'll do for my daughter is dice up some potatoes and fry them up and call them French fries. Macaroni and cheese isn't that hard to make with milk and a little butter and real cheese and really good pasta. You could take a box of frozen macaroni and cheese and throw it in the oven. It still takes 20 minutes to cook.
What about veggies? A lot of kids aren't big fans.
Veggies are a hard thing. You just have to put them out. What I do for my daughter, she has a love of garlic, so if we put garlic in a lot of things, she'll eat them. Carrots are sweet, so add a pinch of sugar to heighten the sweetness. Peas are something kids seem to like. Introduce them to the sweeter vegetables. My daughter eats broccoli five times a week. If it's there, they're going to have it. If it's not there, they'll get hungry and have to eat something. They'll discover that an apple is really a wonderful thing.
What are you going to prepare for the kids at the restaurant?
One of the things I was thinking of doing was bean chili with rice and veggies or preparing a chicken dish that's an alternative to chicken nuggets. I want to make a meal that the kids like and show them a way to make it together with their family.
No chicken paprikash for the fifth graders?
I could make them yellowtail with tabbouleh, but they're not going to eat it.
From Telepan's Inspired by Ingredients, (S & S, 2004).
Cabbage and Potato Soup with Kielbasa and Sweet Hungarian Paprika
Ingredients:
-¼ cup canola or other vegetable oil
-1 stalk celery, peeled and cut into a 1/3 in dice
-½ onion, thinly sliced
-6 medium leeks, quartered, cut into a 1/3 inch dice, well washed in several changes of cold water, and drained
-Salt
-4 cups of chicken Stock or water
-1 pound of Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into a 1/3 inch dice
-½ pound high-quality kielbasa (preferably artisanal, smoked kielbasa), quartered and cut into ½ inch dice
-3 cups white cabbage, cut into thin ribbons
-2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Method:
1. Warm 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large pot set over medium-low heat. Add the celery, onion, half the leeks, and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook until tender but not browned, about 12 minutes. Add the stock and half the potatoes, raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process until pureed, and set aside.
2. Place the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and the kielbasa in a separate pot set over medium heat. Cook until the kielbasa has rendered enough fat to coat the bottom of the pot and has turned a light golden brown, about 7 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the cabbage and a pinch of salt, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes. Add the remaining leeks and potatoes, and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes. Add the paprika and cayenne, and cook, covered, for 3 minutes more. Add the puréed vegetables and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for 2 minutes. (This soup can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months. Let come to room temperature before gently reheating over medium heat.)
3. To serve, stir in the chopped parsley and ladle the soup into individual bowls.
Wine:
The Smoky notes in this soup would do well with the subtle flavors of a white Rhône-style wine. Try the Cuvée Blanc from Tablas Creek, a New World version of Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc.
Note: It might seem a bit affected to peel celery, but there are times when it's absolutely essential. Because this soup is puréed but not strained, peeling the celery is the only way to eliminate the fibrous outer portion of the vegetable's stalk and guarantee a pleasing mouthfeel.
