ARTEZ, a local nonprofit is running a pilot program teaching underserved kids how to cook.
Fourteen Sharpsburg youth, ages 8 to 15, are learning basic kitchen skills such as knife safety, proper boiling and draining techniques, egg preparation, and how to cook and serve a full meal.
The classes are held at La Dorita (ladorita.net), a “kitchen share space” in Sharpsburg, where owners Josephine and Gaston Oria serve as the primary teachers. Other teachers include Rachel Tullio of ARTEZ (Allegheny River Towns Enterprise Zone), along with Ruby Wilkosz, director of Volunteers of America’s All of Us Care (voapa.org/all-of-us-care) after-school program in Sharpsburg, and Ms. Wilkosz’s staff.
Ms. Wilkosz selected kids involved with her program for the pilot series of cooking classes.
So far, the classes are a hit, Ms. Tullio says.
Favorite dishes the kids have made include dark chocolate banana bread and cookies that use La Dorita’s signature dulce de leche as an ingredient. They’ve also learned to make chopped veggies with homemade dip, turkey-and-cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and loved making meatballs, Ms. Tullio adds.
ARTEZ’s goal is to make its member communities “more desirable places to live, work and play,” she says. In its research, the organization identified food security as one of the primary issues facing Sharpsburg. Grants from the PNC and First Niagara foundations helped to fund the cooking classes, which ARTEZ designed to introduce kids to healthier foods and give them confidence in the kitchen.
Other ARTEZ programs addressing food security in Sharpsburg include support of the “Backpacks for Hunger” program, which sends needy kids home from school with food for the weekend, along with the development of a farmers market to debut in Sharpsburg this June. Ms. Tullio is currently registering vendors for the market.
Volunteers of America hopes to replicate the cooking classes in its summer enrichment program, and the Orias hope to teach future cooking classes for local kids either at a local school or at La Dorita.
At their final class next week, the students will prepare and serve a full meal for family members.
Classes/demos
Goat and Sheep’s Milk Cheese: Jen Lawton, East End Food Co-op cheese coordinator, talks about lesser-known cheeses. 7 p.m. today in the Power/EEFC Conferenc Room, Point Breeze. Free; reservations required. 412-242-3598.
Cooking With Chris: WQED-TV’s Chris Fennimore cooks and offers samples of internationally inspired cuisine used to entertain in the 1960s — Swedish meatballs and onion soup mix dip. 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 13 in the Weisbrod Kitchen Classroom at Heinz History Center, Strip District. Free with museum admission. heinzhistorycenter.org.
Move Over Manischewitz — A Tasting of Kosher Wines: Tasting of six kosher wines; bring a glass. 7 p.m. April 13 at Evergreen Community Center, Ross. $30. Reservations: awspittsburgh@gmail.com or 412-657-0777. Information: aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com.
Pasta Making: Learn to make fresh ravioli with an asparagus/mushroom filling, then enjoy the ravioli with preserved lemon and crab over pea puree as part of a three-course meal with a glass of wine. 6 p.m. April 14 at Senti, Lawrenceville. $60. 412-586-4347; sentirestaurant.com.
Dinners
Sobremesa Supper Club: Meet artists in Café Con Leche’s Latino Resident Artist Program while enjoying traditional Puerto Rican food. 6 p.m. April 16, May 14, June 11, July 9 and Aug. 13 at Most Wanted Fine Art in Garfield. $75. April special: $100 for two tickets, available through April 8. 412-262-7350; cafeconlechepgh.com.
Beer and Wine Dinner: Great Divide Beer/Barsotti Wines duke-it-out dinner. Five courses with one wine and one beer pairing for each; one pairing will be crowned champion at the end of the night. 6 p.m. April 17 at Carmella’s Plates and Pints, South Side. $85. Reservations: 412-918-1215.
Charitable events
Great Gatsby Gala: Roaring ’20s-style gala with dinner, live and silent auctions, dancing to live band, and songs of the 1920s and ’30s. 5:30 p.m. April 16 at Pittsburgh Golf Club in Squirrel Hill. $175 for full event; $75 for drinks and dessert only; $350 for VIP pre-reception including performance by Marianne Cornetti. Proceeds benefit Opera Theater of Pittsburgh Marianne Cornetti Young Artists Scholarship Fund. Tickets available through Monday. otsummerfest.org/events/gala.
Tea for Tails: Beaver County Humane Society fundraiser with tea, tea sandwiches, raffles and pets. 1:30 p.m. April 17 at Beaver County Humane Society, Center Township. $25. 724-266-6108; beavercountyhumanesociety.org.
Mushroom events
Mushroom walk, 10 a.m. April 16 at Murrysville Community Park. Meeting/workshop with a representative from New York’s Smugtown Mushrooms, 7 p.m. April 19 at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, Fox Chapel. Both events are free. wpamushroomclub.org.
Contest
PB My Way: Through April 15, submit your favorite recipe using peanut butter for an opportunity to win a Vitamix blender and boxes of peanut butter goodies. Recipes should fit the categories of Snack Time, Fit Fuel, Family Tested and Sweet Celebrations. peanutbutterlovers.com.
Festivals
Tartan Day Celebration: Scottish foods, pipe bands, bagpipers, Celtic music performances, Highland dancers, workshops, demonstrations, children’s activities, vendors of Scottish products. 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Bethel Presbyterian Church in Bethel Park. Free admission. facebook.com/pittsburghtartanday.
Arts & Chocolate Spectacular: Candies, chocolates, cookies and cupcakes from local bakeries and chocolatiers, plus youth performing artists, student art gallery and kids’ craft tent. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Community & Recreation Center in Upper St. Clair. Free admission. 412-221-1099, ext. 607; twpusc.org (click “Recreation and C&RC”).
Neighborhood Block Party: Food stations, live entertainment, kids’ games. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 21 at The Chadwick, McCandless. $30; $15 for kids. Proceeds benefit North Hills Community Outreach. Tickets available through April 8. nhco.org or 412-487-6316, option 1, ext. 3111.
Winning student chefs
The final round of Pittsburgh Community Kitchen’s Project Lunch Tray competition pitted students from local schools against one another at the Farm to Table Pittsburgh Conference last month. Teams of students, working with local chefs, vied for the coveted “Steel Lunch Tray” award. They were tasked with developing healthful, affordable, reproducible (“scalable”) school-lunch menus. A total of 15 schools competed. The overall winners came from Barack Obama Academy of International Studies, East Liberty. Runner-up was Sterrett Classical Academy, Point Breeze. Special nods also went to Community Intensive Supervision Program for scalability and Propel Andrew Street, Munhall, for cost effectiveness. A full list of participating schools and chefs, plus other information, can be found at communitykitchenpittsburgh.org.
Rebecca Sodergren: pgfoodevents@hotmail.com or on Twitter @pgfoodevents.
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Dark Chocolate Banana Bread
PG tested
La Dorita makes commercially prepared dulce de leche that is available for sale by the jar. I used regular cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate cocoa powder and made dulce de leche at home by microwaving a can of sweetened condensed milk for about 12 to 16 minutes, until milk became thick and golden brown. (Rebecca Sodergren)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup traditional dulce de leche
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, with a handheld mixer on medium speed, cream the butter with dulce de leche until light and fluffy.
Then beat in eggs, vanilla and bananas until well combined.
Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out almost clean. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan, then turn the cake out onto a wire cooling rack.
Cut into thick slices to serve. Bread keeps, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for 5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
— Josephine Oria
First Published: April 6, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
