Encino : Teachers, Eateries Dish Out Cooking Lessons

In all her 11 years of life, Nahal Pirian had never eaten ravioli, let alone cooked it.

“I’ve just made cookies and stuff,” the dark-eyed youngster explained after she made the little spinach-stuffed dumplings that have been a staple of Italian cuisine for hundreds of years.

The cooking lesson, held at Rosti, a Tuscan eatery in Encino, was part of Lanai Road Elementary School’s Kids’ Cooking Week, which also included visits to Chevy’s restaurant and tours of nearby Ralphs and Mrs. Gooch’s markets.

In their lessons, teachers focused on nutrition and emphasized the importance of eating dinner together as a family, according to Andrea Fields, a PTA member. Although Nahal and her 33 classmates learned to put a spinach-ricotta mixture onto squares of dough that are sealed with egg and sprinkled with semolina flour, others learned to make gnocchi, lasagna and rollatini, a dish of rolled eggplant.

Chevy’s taught taco-making and donated children’s meals. When members of the school community dine at either restaurant, the eateries will donate a portion of the check for school supplies and equipment.

Ralphs donated groceries for a potluck lunch today, where pupils will feast on the dishes they made at Rosti and in class.

The week was educational for Paul Tejada, 11, whose previous cooking experience was limited to “egg rolls and other stuff.”

“I’ve learned that the oil and stuff makes your arteries stop and it makes your blood stop from going to your heart.” At the end of the ravioli lesson, his classmate, Nahal, proudly displayed her four ravioli--tasty, albeit roughhewn, dough packages.

The lesson was “a really cool experience, especially since I’ve never eaten ravioli,” she said, grinning. “My mom is probably going to be proud.”