Parents Can Share Cooking Tasks With Children : Lifestyle: Youngsters will benefit from learning kitchen responsibilities.

By getting kids in on dinner preparation, parents can induce their young ones to eat a variety of foods--and perhaps create a few blue-ribbon chefs to boot.

To a small child, the arts of the kitchen can be as mysterious as driving a car: It’s adult magic, nothing less than sheer wizardry. Although children may be vaguely aware of the chopping and blending and simmering that precede dinner, until they are initiated into the rites of cooking, the how of it all remains an enigma. And as long as that’s true, all our efforts to raise self-sufficient, nutrition-minded offspring may be for naught.

As a food and wine columnist and the father of five, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen testing recipes, with my children watching me while perched on countertops and step stools. It gives me a chance to gently ply them with food lore and basic cooking tips, and it allows me to blend my work with parenting.

Although few parents cook at home for a living, eating is a daily must for everyone. Preparing food, I’ve discovered, offers a natural opportunity for parents and kids to spend time together doing something creative and constructive.

For working parents particularly, cooking dinner with the kids can provide the perfect transition from office to home. As Rena Coyle, author of “My First Cookbook” and “My First Baking Book” (Workman Publishing Company, $8.95 and $9.95) puts it: “Mom or Dad comes home from work to children who want 110% of their attention and dinner--right now. The temptation is to send the kids to the television and get on with the cooking. But if you offer them a small job--tearing lettuce for a salad or setting the table--they’ll feel wanted and comfortable that you’re right there. By the time dinner is on the table, you’re ready to really enjoy each other’s company.”

Sharing in the preparation of a meal brings about family cohesiveness and “makes the child a hero,” according to Helen Gustafson, author of “Dinner’s Ready Mom” (Celestial Arts Press, $8.95), a cookbook for children 8 years old and older. There’s a certain thrill for a child, she says, in accomplishing something the child has only seen adults do. And because he or she is making a real contribution to the family, the praise the child gets will be genuine.

“Most kids are very capable people and we don’t always acknowledge that,” Gustafson says. “If a child can put together an incredibly intricate model airplane by following instructions loosely translated from Taiwanese, he can roast a chicken.”

For that matter, if a child can bang pots and pans together, he’s ready for his culinary baptism. Now is the time for you to begin fostering an appreciation for food preparation and a respect for kitchen safety. A toddler in a high chair or atop a tall, sturdy stool can learn a lot just by watching you work. A 3-year-old has all the motor skills necessary to break up vegetables, stir batter or crack an egg (although he may need to go through a dozen before he gets the hang of it).

Any child who can build a sand castle can fill a measuring cup with flour or sugar, and if he gets a leg up on fractions by recognizing the difference between a half-cup and a whole one, so much the better. By the time a child is 10, he could easily have his own small repertoire of full-meal recipes, not to mention the confidence with which to serve them.

Of course, there are hazards--real and imagined--inherent in cooking with children. I get raised eyebrows from well-meaning friends who think of the kitchen as a domestic mine field ready to scald, scorch or sever small fingers.

And let’s face it: Little hands aren’t always helpful ones, especially at first. An assistant cook may require extra measures of attention and patience that are often in short supply at dinner time. But it only takes some subtle changes in the kitchen routine and a few child-friendly accouterments to accommodate a young chef.

Dinner for Four

Parents are often tempted to launch their young chef’s career with chocolate chip cookies or blueberry muffins--something special and sweet. But those recipes can be complicated, and besides, children cannot live on baked goods alone. Better to teach them nutritious basics that will serve them well in their adult years.

The following meal--roast chicken on a bed of pasta, served with creamed spinach and biscuits--is a great one to start with. It doesn’t require the use of any knives, the oven stays set at one temperature and never has spinach been so palatable to the young tongue.

BASIC BISCUITS

4 tablespoons shortening

2 cups flour

Dash salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 cup cold milk

UTENSILS: Measuring spoons, plate to hold shortening in freezer, food processor with metal blade (or 2 butter knives or pastry cutter), bread board, rolling pin, biscuit cutter, baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Clear work space of all but necessary tools and ingredients and place those out in order of use. Make sure all cooking hands are clean and dry.

Have child measure 4 separate tablespoons shortening onto plate. Place plate into freezer 20 minutes.

Under your watchful eye, have child measure and pour flour into bowl of food processor. Let child measure and add salt and baking powder into processor bowl. Let child add frozen shortening into bowl. Process briefly to mix, 15 to 30 seconds. (Because most food processors won’t work unless top is in place, this is safe step for your child. If you don’t have processor, you can have youngster blend shortening and flour with 2 butter knives or with pastry cutter in large mixing bowl. If child is very young, do this step yourself.) After mixing, shortening pieces should be about size of little fingernail.

Remove cover from processor bowl, and if child has steady hand, let him pour cold milk evenly over mixed ingredients. Cover bowl and process again briefly, 15 to 30 seconds until contents form ball. Do not overprocess.

Remove ball and on lightly floured bread board let child knead dough. Let child push it out flat with his palms, then fold it over. Repeat process 6 to 8 times. Then, using rolling pin, let child roll out dough into 1/2-inch thick sheet.

Using biscuit cutter or small cookie cutter, child can form biscuits and place them on ungreased baking sheet. Place baking sheet in refrigerator until 15 minutes before chicken is done. At that point, place it in oven. Bake at 450 degrees 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to check once or twice.

(Unless your little chef is a speed demon, you may want to avoid time crunch by preparing biscuit dough ahead of time--a great Saturday morning project. In this case, separate and wrap cut-out biscuits carefully in plastic wrap or foil and store them in freezer until ready to bake with chicken. If frozen first, biscuits should be baked 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Check after 15 minutes to make sure they don’t burn.)

Makes about 12 biscuits.

ROAST CHICKEN ON PASTA

1 medium whole chicken

Dash salt

1 bunch watercress

1 (8-ounce) package pasta

Creamed Spinach

UTENSILS: Poultry rack, roasting pan, plate to hold watercress in refrigerator, pan for boiling pasta, colander, serving platter.

Let child open package and remove whole chicken. Take out giblets (who does this is matter for negotiation--some kids find giblets untouchable) and wash chicken inside and out. (My kids love to hold chicken under spigot and watch water course through body cavity.) Then show him how to pour a little salt on tips of his fingers and rub it inside bird. Because their hands are small, children have an easier time with this than adults do.

Wash watercress thoroughly, then pick off leaves and place them on plate in refrigerator. Have your helper stuff stems into chicken for flavoring.

Place stuffed bird on poultry rack inside roasting pan. While child stands off to side, place pan in preheated 450-degree oven. Show him how much safer it is to first pull rack out a bit than to reach deep into hot oven. Chicken will take 60 to 70 minutes to roast. You’ll know it’s ready when skin is golden brown.

While chicken is roasting, clean up work area. Wash hands thoroughly (make sure child does too) and have him help set the table.

In pan of boiling water, cook pasta according to instructions on package. When pasta is done, make point of turning burner off before removing pan and tell your child to clear wide berth for you while you carry it to sink to drain it in colander. When he is tall enough to reach the sink--and has stronger arms--he can do this himself, so long as he is carefully supervised.

When everything is ready, turn off oven and remove chicken, spinach and biscuits. Place pasta on platter and set roasted chicken on top. Using tongs, remove watercress stems from chicken’s cavity and discard.

Your chef can now take watercress leaves from refrigerator and spread them in circle around chicken and pasta. It makes a beautiful, professional-looking entree that your youngster can be proud of. Carve chicken at table so that juices can flavor pasta. Serve with Creamed Spinach. Makes 4 servings.

Creamed Spinach

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen spinach

1/4 cup sour cream

Dash nutmeg

UTENSILS: Large saucepan, colander, wide serving spoon, food processor with metal blade (or blender), set of measuring spoons, small baking dish.

You’ll need about 25 minutes to prepare creamed spinach. Because it’s frozen, no washing is necessary. Just bring small amount of water to boil and then show child how to slide frozen spinach into hot water gently to avoid splashes and painful burns.

When spinach is cooked, empty saucepan into colander. Let child press spinach against insides of colander with wide serving spoon to squeeze out as much water as possible. Then have him dump cooked spinach into food processor. Cover it and process about 1 minute--until it is pureed. (If you don’t have processor, use blender. In this case, don’t have your child squeeze out all excess water.)

Because of sharp metal blade inside processor bowl, you should spoon spinach into baking dish yourself. Your child can measure and add sour cream. Have him sprinkle nutmeg on top and mix it up well. Set spinach aside until 5 minutes before chicken is done. At that point, place in oven to heat.