Cooking Corner by Various Authors

By Keli Dailey

Trembling and near tears are the last things you'd expect from such a tough-looking guy.

"It brings me such joy to see a little kid tasting something and describing the basic flavors: sweet, bitter, salty," Ricardo Heredia says, sitting in the dining room at Alchemy in San Diego, where he is the executive chef. "It reminds me of me as a kid."

It's after-dinner service. The barrel-chested chef, his forearms tattooed with Mayan serpents and figures, is sipping another Fortaleza Blanco Tequila. And he's talking about the culinary classes he's taught since 2009: Fourth- through eighth-graders from Albert Einstein Academies take the short walk from their campus to train in this casual-cosmopolitan restaurant.

"You start to form bonds with the kids," Heredia says. "I'm going to miss them. I'm getting choked up."

REAL KIDS, REAL KNIVES

Rewind to days earlier, to the last class of Heredia's eight-week course.

Three-foot-tall cooks are throwing celery and carrots into a pot, tossing it above their heads like haulers chucking furniture onto the back of a truck.

"I always pick the smallest kids to make the soup," Heredia says, laughing.

Installed throughout his small Alchemy kitchen are eight children — ages 10 to 12 — in white chef coats. With the help of a couple of Alchemy's regular line cooks — Ami Cisneros and Josh Blake — the multigenerational kitchen is making a full meal: creamy smoked tomato bisque topped with mustard flowers; carrot and marscapone ravioli finished with curry oil; Sorrento lemon cheesecake with a graham cracker crust.

Around 4 p.m., parents will be treated to the happy conclusion of Heredia's class, called the Culmination Dinner.

For now, kids are dicing vegetables with real knives. ("Keep your fingers back," Heredia instructs. "You want to hold it like you're shaking someone's hands.") Kids are flicking an orange mixture onto pasta dough sheets, using an ice cream scoop. Kids are stirring apple pectin into a simmering blueberry compote.

During a lull in the soup-making, two girls play patty-cake.

"I'm hungry," says 10-year-old Marino Friedmann, the only boy in this class.

"Yeah, that's the hard part," Heredia commiserates. "Cooking is about being completely unselfish. You really want people to be happy. Sometimes I don't eat all day long."

Then Heredia peeks over the shoulders of the taller 12-year-olds, Isabelle Pickering and Francesca Trepak, to advise: "Remember, season a little at a time. You can always add something, but you can't take it back ... . All right, 30 minutes to showtime!"

HEREDIA'S FOODIE FIRE

After-hours, as Heredia capably drinks his tequila, he explains why teaching children to cook is so important to him.

"I'm trying to reclaim my own childhood," he says.

His Mexican grandmother thought little boys shouldn't cook — as an 8-year-old, he boldly burned her pans.

"I was born to cook. I was a natural at a young age," he says about his early efforts. "I loved making people happy."

But Heredia's story turned grim.

His mother went to prison for manslaughter. He bounced around foster homes. Gunshots were the soundtrack to his youth in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Eventually, with the help of a little deception, Heredia found his way back to that original joy.

"I hustled my way into cooking," Heredia says, explaining how he was hired at a gourmet deli 12 years ago. "I lied and said I had more experience than I did."

It was his first encounter with Mediterranean cuisine. Now he works with a globally conscious menu — Alchemy has fare like pad Thai, Mexican huarache, pork belly carbonara and fried whole ruby trout.

And Heredia says he's adamant about working with children because he wasn't nurtured.

"My first class (with the kids), I do a chocolate-and-cheese tasting, and Marino, his response (to) one cheese was, 'There's a hint of sweetness in this.' And I'm just peeled back! That's just amazing to me," Heredia says. "Those are the ones who you know are food kids, that they're understanding what I was at that age. It makes me happy. And then it makes me sad."

And that's the tough-looking guy talking.

ROASTED TROUT WITH CARAMELIZED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

8 whole 8-ounce trout, deboned

4 whole lemons, sliced 1/4-inch thick

2 pounds whole Brussels sprouts

2 quarts boiling water

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons sea salt

1 tablespoons ground black pepper

1 cup unsalted, unshelled sunflower seeds

Place fish on cooking sheet. Fill the cavity of the trout with three lemon slices per fish. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate overnight.

Remove any blemished leaves on the outside of the Brussels sprouts. Cut sprouts in half.

Blanch Brussels sprouts by submerging in boiling water for 1 minute. Transfer them immediately to an ice-and-water bath to stop the cooking process. Drain and keep covered in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large pan on the stovetop, heat 4 tablespoons of oil on high heat for about 1 minute until it starts to smoke. Carefully place trout in a pan, belly-first and release it away from you. Drop the heat to medium and sear fish on both sides to crisp the skin. Drain on paper towels and place in a shallow baking dish. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes while preparing Brussels sprouts.

In a large saute pan, heat the remaining olive oil on high heat for 1 minute until it reaches smoking point. Add the blanched Brussels sprouts; reduce heat, and saute for 1 minute. Lower heat to medium, and add brown sugar and butter. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper; add about 4 ounces of sunflower seeds, and cook for 30 seconds longer.

To plate, place fish at 12 o'clock on the top portion of plate. Center Brussels sprouts just below the fish. Top fish with remaining sunflower seeds, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle remaining black pepper around plate and serve.

From Ricardo Heredia, executive chef of Alchemy Restaurant

Keli Dailey writes for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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