Pizza for Breakfast??

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Aurelie Teyssier

Today Chef Nathan Beriau from Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, visited two 3rd grade classes at the International School of the Peninsula to share his passion for world-class cooking with the students.

He chose to cook … a breakfast pizza! A delicious sweet and healthy version of pizza made with orange marmalade, a few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese, fresh strawberries, and topped with fresh mint in a “chiffonade” and balsamic vinegar syrup… unexpected, right? Well, it was a hit and the kids ate it all, down to the very last crumb.

Many thanks to Chef Nathan, Bay Area Tasting Week who provided this great workshop, and all the teachers and volunteers who made it happen.

Pre-Tasting Week Workshop Kicks Off at International School of the Peninsula

Posted on October 11, 2012 by armelle

Today Bernard Moutal, Chef at the Golden Gate Grill in San Francisco, visited the International School of the Peninsula in Palo Alto. He led a group of 2nd and 3rd graders in making palm tree pastries. Palm trees, also known as elephant ears, are made from puff pastry, which is rolled out, coated with sugar, and then the two sides are rolled up together so that they meet in the middle, making a roll that is then cut into about ¼” slides and baked.

ISTP’s “Palmier”

The kids really enjoyed putting plastic gloves onto their hands before starting the workshop. They were quick to name the key ingredients used to stick the palm tree together (water and egg), but they had very creative ideas when asked what went into the puff pastry (cinnamon and eggs for instance), but in fact there is nothing more than butter, flour, salt and water. This just goes to show you that you can make something wonderful out of very simple ingredients. The key factor of success is using the best butter you can find, time and patience. Today Bernard needed even more patience than usual since our oven was very slow…but it was worth the wait!

Below you can find the recipe for the palm tree pastries. Try them with your kids and let us know if they like it!

October 17, Chef Emmanuel Robert, Sofitel, at ISTP

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Carla Matlin

Tasting Week had a strong start today with the visit of Emmanuel Robert, Executive Chef at the Sofitel, to the International School of the Peninsula.

Chef Robert gave two workshops for the classrooms of Ms Katia Belghadid (2^nd grade) and Ms Hayat Saba (1^st grade). Among the many samples he shared with the kids you could find olives, endives, pickles, grilled meat, asparagus, grapefruit, strawberries, marshmallows, apricots, dried bananas, ham, mint, chives, sugar and pepper. What a display!

He showed the kids the different ways to cook meat (seared vs well done) and taught them where chocolate comes from (cocoa beans, white chocolate and cocoa butter).The highlight of each workshop was when Chef Robert melted chocolate chips over a small burner and then let each child dip a fruit into the chocolate mix. This was so popular they went for seconds…and thirds. Chef Robert says he was quite impressed by the fact that all the children were able to name the vegetables he presented to them. When asked what he would put in a lunchbox, he said cold potato or pasta salads are quite popular and they lend themselves to introducing new foods to kids in small quantities.

Overall the kids were thrilled with their tasting experience today, as you can see from the photos. Thanks to Nazee Domiray-Sage from the Sofitel for providing the kids with the lovely chef hats!