At Kids Can Cook, students learn skills that mothers will appreciate any day

From left: Hallie Cuddahy, chef Joshua Riazi, Sarah Bartel, and Emily Nagle at the Kids Can Cook program. (Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)

No mom truly expects her young offspring to cook up gourmet fare on Mother's Day. Toast that's a little burnt at the edges, with weak coffee to accompany it, or overcooked pasta and spaghetti sauce from a jar are part of the endearing charm of this annual ritual.

But the moms of the kids gathered in a South Boston kitchen on a recent Wednesday afternoon have the right to anticipate something exciting. These eight Boston middle-schoolers are learning to chop, stir-fry, sauté, bake, and more in the Kids Can Cook program, which offers tuition-free after-school cooking and nutrition classes to area kids. They currently meet for eight weeks at the Paraclete Center in South Boston, but the program will be moving to new headquarters on Albany Street this summer. Come Mother's Day, some of these budding chefs will be in their kitchens at home.

On this sunny day, an intermediate class is about to tackle a vegetable and chicken stir-fry, coconut cookies, and French toast, under the guidance of executive chef Joshua Riazi. These students have completed a beginner level, and may go on to advanced classes. Although the theme for this week is supposed to be Asian, Riazi takes a flexible approach. The French toast relates to an earlier lesson - it's like the bread pudding that was a hit in a previous class - and might make a plausible choice to honor their moms.

The kids file in and take their places around the spacious kitchen's central island, washing their hands and donning aprons. Riazi has set out bowls of vegetables that will go into the stir-fry, and Keeley Callahan, 11, grabs a carrot and starts scraping. "I've got mad skill with this peeler," she says, orange shreds flying into the bowl before her; Riazi slows her down before the carrot is whittled away to nothing.

"Has anyone heard of stir-fry?" Riazi asks the group.

"I've heard of it," says Callahan. The kids reveal that they know it's something Chinese, but beyond that they're not quite sure. They're open to learning, though, and the six girls and two boys are all ears as Riazi describes the colorful vegetables on the table. There's not a "yuck" or a "gross" to be heard.

"What is this?" asks Riazi, pointing to a scallion.

"A green onion," pipes up Emily Nagle, 12, confidently.

"And this?" asks the chef, holding up a piece of Chinese broccoli.

"Spinach?" asks Greg Arthur, 12. It's not familiar, but the young chefs are intrigued; Callahan takes a nibble and declares that it tastes like lettuce. Riazi goes down the line of ingredients: sugar snap peas, shiitake mushrooms (that raises a few giggles), red bell peppers, carrots.

Then the chopping begins in earnest. A roomful of seventh-graders wielding sharp knives might give some pause, but Riazi - a former sous chef at Providence's Al Forno restaurant who's been on the job with Kids Can Cook for all of three weeks - takes it all in stride. He keeps the kids on task and the lessons simple. As students hack away at their piles of veggies, he explains how the dish could be given a citrusy flavor with the addition of lemongrass.

When the vegetables are all prepared, students move to the stove in groups of two. "It's hot," warns Riazi, "and everything cooks really quickly."

"I'm scared," says Callahan, who looks anything but that as she races to throw her veggies in the wok. "Don't worry," says the chef. "I'm a professional."

Hallie Cuddahy, 12, admiring her finished stir-fry with its colorful vegetables, says, "It's so pretty, like a rainbow."

It's mildly surprising to see kids so enthused about vegetables, but since all of these students have been through the beginner course, it's probably fair to assume they have a stronger-than-average interest in cooking. Perhaps that has a genetic component; several of the kids say their moms or dads are themselves good cooks. They're also canny parents who get a night off from kitchen duty every week, courtesy of Kids Can Cook. Meals prepared in class are sent home with the students, and there's always enough to feed the whole family. You might say every Wednesday is Mother's Day in these kids' houses.

For the real holiday, plans are still a bit up in the air. Nagle says she might make the Moroccan chicken the class prepared in an earlier lesson, but she's not ready to commit to it. Cuddahy is also considering that dish, along with today's coconut cookies, made with shredded coconut, simple syrup, food coloring, and touch of jasmine flavoring. (As Sarah Bartel, 12, says approvingly after taking a nibble, "It tastes really good - like air freshener.")

David Duffley, 12, has a concept for Mother's Day, if not a set menu: "Probably I'll ask her what her favorite food is. Then we'll send her shopping for the day, and me and my dad will surprise her with dinner."

Moms and dads of the young chefs will be reaping the benefits of this class well beyond this Sunday. Some of the kids have assumed the role of chef at home, at least some of the time. Jennifer Connolly, 12, says, "I make dinner for her all the time - ziti, chicken, Caesar salad." And Bartel, too, says that while she won't make a special dinner, she helps her mother regularly in the kitchen - something most moms might appreciate even more than a once-a-year effort.

What the kids get out of the classes would make any parent proud. "This is better than Food Network," says Duffley, as he and Arthur take their turn at the hot wok and toss their stir-fry.

Arthur agrees: "You're actually doing it and not just being lazy on the couch."