For a globe-trotting chef, cooking is elementary

NEWTON -- Luis Hurtado, known professionally as Chef Raffie, spends much of his time on private yachts all over the world, cooking exotic foods for rich people.

When he's on land, Hurtado brings recipes from his travels, adapted for North American palates, and basic cooking skills to a new audience -- children in his older son's aftercare program at Underwood Elementary School. The Cooking Club at the Underwood aftercare program, featuring Chef Raffie, is so popular that students have to sign up in small groups. This particular crop numbers six children, ages 8 to 11.

During a visit a few weeks ago, the green room that houses the littlest kids -- complete with a working kitchen -- is filled with wonderful smells. It's decorated with a Caribbean theme including plastic palm trees with lights. Hurtado, an exuberant man wearing a necklace of seashells picked up on his travels, is sauteing chopped onions in an aromatic green oil that turns out to be avocado oil from Mexico.

The meal today is black bean and ginger soup with yellow rice pilaf.

"This is a Latin American valentine meal," announces the chef. "A nice, cozy meal for your parents. You'll impress them."

The activity today is less cooking than assembling. Hurtado has brought arroz amarillo, or yellow rice, already cooked. And the black beans have been soaked overnight. When Hurtado came the last time, in September, he and the kids made pumpkin-ginger bread, and the kids grew impatient waiting for it to bake. So now everything's fast. Hurtado cooks the beans and assembles the garnishes -- cubes of avocado, scallions, wedges of tomato and lime, diced green and red peppers -- and a bowl of his special spice combination.

As he chops, he grills the kids on fundamentals of cooking he taught them the last time he was there.

"How do you know there's a good cook in town?" he asks.

"They always clean up after themselves," says one girl.

"What did we say about knives?"

"You try not to cut your hand off?" asks Simon Wolfe, 10.

Hurtado laughs. "We always respect knives and keep them in a safe place," he says.

He tells them it's easier to add seasonings than to take them away, to never burn their garlic, and to use kosher salt, because it's less salty, so there's less of a chance of using too much .

And creativity is all: They can use whatever kind of beans they have on hand : kidney, white, navy, or even lentils. He says chicken can be added, as well.

"How about lamb tips?" asks Simon, who's got "future chef" written all over him. He's the one who declares when tasting the avocado oil Hurtado has passed around in a tiny cup, "It adds a bit of citrus."

Hurtado has to think about the lamb tips, but finally decides they'll work.

The chef mixes the sauteed onions into the cooked rice. The beans are hot, the garnishes are ready. He instructs the class in assembling the dish. First, ladle some of the black bean soup into the bowl. Next, press rice into a 1/2-cup measure and plop the compressed mass into the soup. (That keeps the soup from drowning the rice.) Then come the various garnishes.

"Why is presentation important, people?" he asks, answering that it says a lot about you -- about how much you care for your guests, the food, and yourself. Hurtado tells the kids to e-mail him at chefraffie.com if they have questions about cooking and he'll reply. But perhaps not right away; he's on the open ocean for days at a time and quick responses aren't always possible.

Everyone digs into bowls of steaming, fragrant rice and beans and no sound is heard for a long time. Hurtado's two sons, Augusto Luis, 5, and Luis Alejandro, 4, also dive in. After students pitch in with cleanup, Hurtado asks, "What do you want to make next?"

"Gnocchi," says Simon. "I love to make gnocchi." The others just look at him.

In a post-meal interview, Hurtado says cooking for the children was a great reward. "I wasn't ready to find so many curious and participating minds at that level," he says. "To come here and see my boys, and have a chance to cook for these minds, it's exciting. They're very flexible."

Catherine Foster can be reached at foster@globe.com.